Page 126 of Clean Slade
“The girls should be back from their break shortly. I…I need to go.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I ducked out and jumped into my car.
Tiago was my best friend. He always had my back.
But my father wasn’t.
And he’d broken into my house.
He better not be there when I get home. He better not be there or…or…I’ll unleash the wrath of Thelma and Louise on him.
And Nino. He was supposed to have my back. Why had he let him do that?
TWENTY-NINE
SLADE
Autumn put down another cup of coffee and glared.
“What?” I asked, looking up from my laptop.
“You’re drinking us dry.”
I grimaced.
“I thought that was the point of a bar.”
She crossed her arms and kept her stern look.
“Yeah, and at this rate, I’ll have to start charging you.”
I put my hands up with a shrug.
“Hey, it’s not my fault you don’t already.”
She rolled her eyes and pointed at the laptop.
“What are you working on?”
“A virus. Of sorts.”
It had been my passion project for the past month or so. And after a lot of head-banging, hair-pulling, nail-biting days, it was finally coming together.
“A virus? What kind?”
I looked up and checked out the patrons surrounding us.
A couple of guys were playing pool at the end, and a group of moms was chatting over—spiked—coffee while their toddlers played on a mat at their feet.
“Well, I’m trying to build something that will help us figure out who’s behind the dealer King is dealing with and whether Salieri is the one running the show around here.”
Her gaze narrowed, and she sat opposite me, the jug of coffee still in her hands.
“How does a virus help with that?”
“Well, in theory, we can send a message to the guy King is messaging and take control of his phone. Then use that to send messages to all his contacts. But I’m still working on the second part. There’s…too many variables. At the moment, the best I can do is spy on the phone and freeze it.”
Autumn leaned closer and swallowed a gulp.
