Page 15 of Scarlett Thief (Criminal Underground 2)

I held up the file clutched in my hand. "Where else?" I rolled my eyes. "Pack your bags. We're going to Italy."

* * *

Several daysafter the impromptu dinner party and lots of searching later, I had my answers.

"Alright, let's see what the two of you are being blackmailed with," I whispered, scanning the screens as quickly as the information appeared. There were a multitude of searches going at once across my systems.

I had expected there to be virtually nothing, and even working extra diligently, there was only one thing officially marked for Wolf from my facial recognition software. A grainy image from a social media post with a man in the background of some random mommy blogger at a playground. My brow raised and a frown formed as I scanned the rest of the photograph and found exactly what was being held over his head for this job. The well renowned hitman had a kid.

"Guess that's a good bargaining chip," I muttered, wondering how in the fucking hell the gruff, closed off lumberjack had a baby, but I shoved it away and continued looking through the information. Other than the usual bits of random criminal history sprinkled in that I had expected, there was nothing of use.

Switching gears, I mentally tallied the little I'd learned about Wolf—or Charlie Bennington as he preferred to be called—and started to investigate my otherpartner. The Scarlett Thief had anextensivelist of information my computer was decoding and working through, and just like with Wolf, I knew my patience would soon be rewarded. I didn't have more than her false identity—the minx had lied before we parted ways—but I did have a burner number, description, and criminal name. It took a bit longer, but I still cracked her.

Scarlett, age twenty-seven. The rest was tangled in a complicated web of carefully woven lies and fronts. My lips thinned and my eyes narrowed as my fingers flew across the keys. The only noise in my condo was the clicking of my typing and the hum of my machines, but then the loud ding of an alert filled the calming ambiance of my workspace, and a message expanded across all of my monitors. Grinding my teeth, I scanned yet another message from the elusive Mr. Black.

Dear Diablo,

Enclosed you will find the information on the location of your target and when it will be leaving the country. Best of luck to you and your team on this endeavor.

Regards,

Mr. Black

"Seriously? What is up with this here's a clue, have a good day bullshit you keep playing at?" I nearly shouted as my computer scanned to make sure it was safe to open. Once it was, I stewed, angrily reading through the attachment he'd sent. A few photographs and pin on a map for Rome was marked with a window of time when the happy couple would be in the country before they returned to their fortress in Switzerland.

A little over two weeks until the heist and there was no way on God's green fucking Earth that I was going to go into this job blind, so I scribbled out a list of everything I needed to research before we left for Italy—but before I got into that, I needed to wade through the complicated web Scarlett had created.

And tangled it was because only after several hours had I finally cracked that complex barrier she'd created. The digital signatures on every encrypted file and front I recognized; they were some of the best of the best hackers for fake paper trails in the business. She had an expertly curated facade of lives that were only smoke and mirrors that probably cost millions to create. She was good, but I was better.

Scarlett, therealScarlett, was the daughter of infamous conman Tomás Medina, and was originally named Rose. No wonder her reputation was big and her shell was as hardened as it was; she no doubt learned the tricks of the trade from her father. The good and the bad, and that meant she had more tools than I originally accounted for at her disposal.

I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

"Guess that explains the rose, Miss Medina, and how you got so damned good. Now the only question is … can we get through this job without all of us killing one another?”

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