Page 68 of Savage Ruin
“The sick bastard tortured her mother,” Grayson murmurs. “The photographs were in an envelope on our front gate, along with a blonde barbie doll hanging from a rope.”
“The press conference must have pissed him off,” Mateo rasps.
Henley raises her head. “Maybe we should keep pushing him. This is the first sign of impulsiveness I’ve seen him exhibit. Everything he’s done to this point has been meticulously planned.”
We need him to show himself and act recklessly. “I agree. We’ll go out and take pictures and I’ll have my contact at the Miami Herald put them in the paper. Might as well make a big splash, right?”
She looks startled for a second, but then a fierce smile takes over. “Absolutely.”
This day has been hellishly long and brutal, and the hits keep on coming. I stride over to the bar and pour myself a bourbon. My eyes close while I take a minute to regroup.
“Got one of those for me?” Zane asks beside me.
Pouring one for him, I stand there looking down in my glass. The deck is getting higher. How can I keep it all from falling on top of us? There’s got to be a way. I’m just not seeing it yet.
“You look like hell,” Zane grumbles. “We need to pull everyone together and get a game plan here. Do you want to or should I?”
I down the rest of the drink. With a flick of my hand, I catch Mateo’s eye and motion for him to bring Henley into the living room. “Grayson.”
Zane pulls in his team, but none of them sit.
Grayson walks up. “Why don’t we each give an update?”
I move back to the bourbon and pour a second glass.
“Sterling was able to confirm David is Philip’s son, which means there might be a way to leverage the information and trap them both. We’ll work on a plan and let you know,” Grayson states firmly. “He couldn’t find much about David’s life at MIT, or his friends, but he did discover—through Henley—that David often helped Dr. Langford’s grad assistant, Aaron. It was he who introduced David to Henley. We’re trying to track him down, as well as Dr. Langford. It could be a dead end, but it’s worth tracking every lead to get this fucker.”
“When Mateo and I used the rootkit to access our enemy’s computer, we found a lot of code solutions and papers written by Dr. Langford’s students. I checked with the authors, and none of them were stolen. A few people were disturbed by the enhancements made to alter the code for less noble purposes, but it’s all perfectly legal,” Henley says, bringing us up to date. “Aaron is tall enough to be my stalker, but for some reason, I can’t picture it. That’s all I have for an update tonight.”
Mateo leans forward to speak directly to me. “Maria Gutierrez will not be calling you anymore.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “What did you say to her?”
“I told her we have proof Diego’s been taking bribes from our enemies for the last five years, and if we turn the information over to the government, they will come in and seize her house and all her assets,” Mateo replies in a hard voice. “As his wife, she had to have known something was going on given the significant amount of money in their joint account. I told her we wouldn’t turn over our evidence unless it was necessary. She got the point.”
A weight lifts from my shoulders. When I’d spoken to Maria, she’d been screaming about a lawsuit against SEI. While I don’t think it would have gone anywhere legally, the additional publicity would have been a nightmare.
“What did your father say?” Henley asks quietly.
“We have three days to stage his death and pull together an exit plan,” I say, tiredly. When is this all going to end? “If not, he’ll tear us down and take SEI with it.”
“How can he do that?” Henley asks with a puzzled expression on her face.
“We’re illegal immigrants. If anyone found out, it would open a huge can of worms and could give the government a foothold into SEI. Plus, it would kill our credibility,” I explain. “Any ideas?”
“Turn him in,” Raider inserts smoothly. “Let Paulo Costa Fontes take out the trash.”
“How do we get to Paulo?”
“I know him,” Raider reveals. “I can set something up. Immediately. It would be a huge show of good faith if we went to him first.”
“My father’s got eyes on me. If I disappear for a day, who knows what he’ll do? It’s too risky,” I say with a frustrated sigh. “Any other ideas?”
“I’ll go,” Mateo interjects.
“No, I’m not sending you into the lion’s den,” I retort.
“It’s our best shot. I’ll go to Brazil with Raider. You set up the accident and get his death listed in the paper,” Mateo insists.
