Page 4 of Unknown Protector

Fuck! How can this random person know about these missing kids? This was something that took Copper and me what felt like forever to figure out. And now, someone from the station wants to know more. They want to know what we know. He wasn’t lying when he said I wouldn’t get past the firewall. I’ve been attempting to crack into that station for the longest time, and I am always coming up short on what I need. But this time, I don’t get anywhere. I got the IP, and then it was like this person knew I’d go looking, threw in the proverbial middle finger, and shut me out completely. Whoever this person is, they know what they’re doing. They also know more than they should. I was hesitant to answer the email in the first place and now even more so, but I’m afraid that if I don’t answer, that will speak more volumes than saying something—anything. This could very well be Connard attempting to get information out of me, and I, like a goddamn dumbass, fell into the fucking trap by emailing this person back. Fuck!

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: You’re Welcome

What kids are you talking about?

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: You’re Welcome

Mallory was a mistake that should not have happened.

Reading her name made my blood run cold. No one in that station acknowledged that Mallory is missing. The official report was that she ran away. Long story short, she’s not their problem anymore. Yet, this person is now telling me that Mallory was a mistake. Does that mean this person was in on what happened to her? Was Mallory a mistake in the sense that she shouldn’t have lived? That she shouldn’t have gotten away from the hospital? What about Mallory was a mistake? All this person is doing is making me question everything, and I hate not being able to find the answer. Regardless, I can’t let them know that I know about Mallory. I don’t know who this is, and until I can find out, I refuse to give this person anything.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: You’re Welcome

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: You’re Welcome

I have been trying to find her, too. I have combed through all the files and there is nothing! Get the file that I dropped off. Look at it. You’ll change your mind about playing innocent about all this when you read it.

I sit back and stare at the email. When that doesn’t somehow manifest into a better answer or something that I can actually make sense of, I turn toward my other screen. The IP search had shut down, so it was just blank—like it has been since the search was kicked in the nuts and taken down by this person. With the address having gone cold and me getting completely shut out, any trace, or chance, of me finding out who this person is became null.

CHAPTER TWO

“Knuckles! Open the damn door!” The banging snaps me from the daze I was in. I had been reading chats going back and forth between people on the dark web, and I’ve read enough to last me a lifetime or two. Everything I’ve been reading for the past, who fucking knows how long, is shit that I know will take me years to forget.

I shake my head, hoping to gain some sense of reality. Looking around the room. I see the cats spread about, not even phased by the loud noises. I run my hands down my face and stretch out my back. I guess I had been sitting here longer than I originally thought. The kinks and cricks in my back make me feel every bit of my age. The banging on the door, and the calling of my name, get louder. Zombie’s Boston accent was coming out stronger the more frustrated he became. As I whip open the door, I see my elusive neighbor from across the hall poke his head out as well.

This was the first time that I’d ever seen him. I knew that someone lived there, but up until this moment, I didn’t know if it was a man or a woman. There was never a lot of noise coming from his apartment, so I always assumed that it was one person.

When his eyes connected with mine, there was what I can only describe as a zing that shot through me. A feeling that I’ve never experienced before and one I don’t understand. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and it was as if I was being pulled to him. I fought the need to take a step toward him. Instead, I kept watching him. He has green eyes that captivated me. It was hard to pull my own away from his to really look at him. His salt and pepper hair carried from the top of his head to his thick, trimmed beard. I can’t help myself. I continue to stare and analyze all his micro-movements, all while watching him follow me with his own.

“You okay?” There was a roughness in his voice that shoots through my body, right between my legs to my hardening cock.

Well…. This is a new, unexpected feeling. What is going on with me? I have never in my life reacted like this to a man.

“Ya, I’m peachy.”

I almost didn’t recognize my own voice at that moment. I sound like a love-struck teenager. Before he could say a word, Zombie shoved me back into my apartment and slammed the door behind us. I stood there, shocked that he was in my living room, as I completely forgot that he was the reason I opened my door in the first place.

“Well, now thatthatawkward staring contest is done, you need to get your shit. We need to head out. Church is being called, and you need to be there. I’m gonna take you in the truck.” Zombie levels me with a look that tells me the day I had been dreading has finally arrived.

Cowboy didn’t take it well when he found out that I had been working with Copper long before Cowboy decided to trust him. He lost his shit when he found out that his father backed Copper and me, but as a Founding Member of the club, Judge still has pull within the ranks. Even if he didn’t, no matter how much shit Cowboy spoke, he would never take his father to the ring. That’s saved for everyone else, and today it’s my turn.

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