Page 23 of Shadowed Hearts: Frost
My hands tremble slightly as I outline tomorrow's conference strategy.
"I'll hack into their systems from inside the conference. If Asher is connected to Paradise Elite, his reaction to my digital breadcrumbs might confirm it. If not..." I trail off, unsure what I'm hoping for.
"These girls need our help more than you need answers about mystery man," Maya reminds me gently, tapping a victim's photo.
She's right. Whatever pull I feel toward Asher Cross is irrelevant compared to what's happening to these women.
Maya closes her laptop decisively. "You know who might have more insight? We should call Slate. He was tracking similar financial patterns before he went off-grid."
"Slate?" I straighten up. "Nobody's heard from him in weeks."
"Yeah, well, you know how he is." Maya sips her coffee. "Gets a new conspiracy theory and dives down the rabbit hole. Remember when he was convinced that tech CEO was actually three children in a trench coat?"
I laugh despite myself. "And spent two months trying to prove it with facial recognition software."
"Exactly. But he's still the best person I know for pattern recognition besides you." Maya taps her fingers on the table. "If anyone can verify what we're seeing here, it's him."
"You're right." I pull out my phone, scrolling through encrypted messaging apps. "He taught me half of what I know about financial tracking. And he owes me after I helped him with that hospital security system hack last spring."
"So you think he's just off the grid by choice?" Maya asks, her voice casual but her eyes sharp.
The question hangs between us. I hesitate, remembering the last message I got from him—something about stumbling onto a bigger pattern than he expected.
"I hope so," I say finally. "I'll try his emergency channels tonight. If he's just hiding out in some cabin with no internet like last time, he'll check in eventually."
"And if he doesn't?"
I meet Maya's eyes across the table, the unspoken possibility settling like a weight on my chest. "Then we have more to worry about than I thought."
I pace across my loft, feet silent against the hardwood floor. The space is dark except for the blue glow from my monitors, casting long shadows across the walls.
"Come on, come on," I mutter, chewing on my thumbnail as the encryption protocols run their course. The secure connection takes forever to establish, but Slate insists on using his own custom protocols. "Always assume someone's listening," he'd drilled into me when I first started.
The screen flickers, then stabilizes, revealing Slate's familiar face. His beard's longer than the last time I saw him, and there are new lines around his eyes, but his quick smile is the same.
"Nessa! About time you surfaced. I was starting to think you'd gone fully nocturnal."
I drop into my chair, pulling one knee up to my chest. "That's rich coming from the guy who disappeared for three months. Where are you, anyway?"
"Somewhere with decent coffee and questionable internet." He leans closer to his camera. "Maya said you've been digging into Paradise Elite. Show me what you've got."
I share my screen, walking him through the financial web I've uncovered. "They're moving women through three different agencies, each targeting specific demographics."
Slate's fingers tap rapidly on his keyboard as he accesses the data. "These aren't amateur traffickers, Nessa. See these medical supply orders? They have expertise, equipment. And look at these shell companies. They've got political protection too."
My leg bounces faster against the chair, a persistent rhythm I can't control. "Jenny was onto this before—" My voice catches, throat closing around her name.
Slate's eyes soften. "I heard about what happened to her. I'm sorry, kid."
I shake my head, a sour taste flooding my mouth. "Her research led to the same trafficking network. We can't let it happen to anyone else."
"What about digital security? Are you using the protocols I designed?"
"Plus a few improvements." I can't help the touch of pride in my voice. "Triple-layered VPN, air-gapped backup systems, and I've got a physical kill switch that wipes everything if triggered."
He nods approvingly, but his expression darkens as he examines more of my findings. "You need to be careful. The last person who got this close was—"
"Jenny. I know." I cut him off, nails digging into my palms.
