Page 7 of Twice the Rivalry

“Fuck if I know,” he grumbled, pissed that anything would get in the way of him enjoying his celebration. He opened the phone, and then he stilled when he realized what he was looking at. Or, rather,whohe was looking at. But just as quickly as the alert was there, it was gone.

A blip in time, really, but it was enough for him to smile that cold, cruel smile that came naturally to him whenever he thought about her. The very one she would see when he finally killed her the way he should have all those years ago.

It seemed she had finally gotten sloppy, and now she was on borrowed time. He knew her location. Which meant they were going to need a plan, because he wasn’t going to let her slip through his fingers again.

CHAPTERFIVE

GLITCH

She stood surrounded by her team, her gut churning with a mixture of fear and anger. Goddamn Code had gone too far. It was one thing to be pissed at each other and trying to best one another, but putting her name and face out on the internet, and on a fucking dating site no less, was too fucking far. Especially since he knew what kind of work she did. What their team did.

Code had no idea what he had done. Or how pissed her team was.

“I say we ride over there and kill him on the spot,” Taz thundered. It wasn’t often he got this angry, but he was furious knowing what Code had done. Hell, if Code was standing here, she was pretty sure Taz would shoot him and be done with it.

“Can’t risk our alliance with them,” Simba said with a grim look. “But he’ll have to answer for this somehow. He doesn’t get to fuck with Glitch this way and think nothing will happen.” There was a chorus of agreement from everyone, and Glitch felt it like a punch in the gut.

This was why she loved her team and why she was so fiercely protective of them. They weren’t worried about what kind of connection could be made to them, they were worried for her.

She took down the dating profile that Code set up, blocked him from posting any more, and had sent him one simple message to let him know that what he had done was damn stupid. Then she found her team and called an emergency meeting.

The entire premise of their team was secrecy. Not only because of the work they did, and still continued in other capacities, but because they all had enemies that would love to get their hands on them for one reason or another. When you did mercenary work, you weren’t exactly in the business of making friends. She had more than one enemy who would jump at the chance to eliminate her.

She had to hope that none of those enemies had seen the page before she was able to take it down. Not only had he given her location, but he had somehow managed to dig up her legal name and use it on the profile. She had no idea where or how he got that information, but when she found out, she was going to make sure no one else could find it.

“I say we head on down there and handle this face to face,” Jag suggested darkly. “That asshole published Glitch’s name. If someone saw it, they could trace it back to us. We’re compromised, and we need to get the hell out of town.”

“We don’t have any jobs right now,” Vulture remarked with a nod. “And if we get any, we can put them off unless it’s pressing. The biggest thing is, we need to get Glitch out of here, and fast.”

“Then I’ll shoot the bastard’s ass,” Taz agreed, nodding righteously.

“No one is shooting him but me,” Glitch huffed, narrowing her eyes warningly at Taz when he opened his mouth to argue. Taz snapped his mouth closed, but didn’t look happy about it. “And I’m not leaving until we talk to Xena and her club. Simba is right, we can’t break an alliance because that shit gets around. So I say we call Xena, let her know the situation, and get her to arrange a secure video call with their MC. And we insist that Xena sits in on it. I don’t give a flying shit about their caveman ways, she will always be a part of our team, and that means she’s involved in this too.”

Simba held her gaze and gave a wry smile. “Who knew the little sprite would be the voice of reason,” he joked. She flipped him off, but her lips twitched. “I agree with Glitch. We call Xena, and we get this set up. The question is, what do we do once they realize the magnitude of their fuck up?.”

“We’re going to have to leave town either way,” Warg answered grimly. “Compromised is compromised. We lock up shop, and we head out of state. Considering that the Dragons are our allies, we head there and they put us up. And if we make that puny asshole squirm, well, all the better.” He gave Glitch a sliver of a smile that was full of promise. The man didn’t hold back when someone threatened any of them.

“Too big a target,” Copper warned. “If they can track Glitch, and us, they can track Xena. Glitch would be harder for them to spot, because she’s a secret hermit that rarely leaves her computers, but the rest of us, if they find out where we are, they’ll come in guns blazing if they’re after our whole team.”

“Fuck, this is a mess,” Glitch moaned. She scrubbed a hand over her face in frustration. “We can’t just drive around with no purpose, that makes no sense.”

“I wasn’t going to mention it, but I received a communication from someone who is looking to have their daughter and grandson pulled out of a bad spot in Louisiana. It’s not really our thing, and the man who messaged me can’t pay, but this could be our reason for leaving the state without raising alarms,” Simba announced.

Glitch frowned. Normally all requests came through her, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “And who is this person who messaged you?” she demanded, hands on her hips.

Simba gave her a cool stare in response. “Someone I knew a long time ago, and one of the very few I trust to have my personal number. Don’t worry about it, Glitch. Everything was encrypted and encoded the way you set it up.”

She huffed again, but didn’t say anything. There was something there, and she would figure it out later, but right now they had more pressing issues to deal with. “Fine. If you want to use that as your way out of the state, that’s a good reason. Still, I don’t know that I want to spend any more time with the Dragons than necessary. Or do you think I can’t protect myself?” she arched a brow at them all.

“No one is saying that,” Tiger said with a roll of his eyes. “But if we’re talking about all kinds of people coming after you, no way in hell you can take them all on unless you really are secretly Wonder Woman under all that nerd.”

“If you are and you’ve been holding out on that sexy as shit outfit, I’m going to be pissed,” Taz added with a wicked grin.

“Personally, I think she’s more Harley Quinn than Wonder Woman,” Vulture offered.

“Oh, yeah, I could see that,” Taz agreed. “You’d make a hot Harley Quinn, babe.”

“Jesus Christ, it’s like a bunch of damn crows,” Jag muttered in exasperation. “Can we get back to the task at hand? Glitch is a badass, but she’s not a superhero or villain. So, no, Glitch, you can’t stay here on your own. We need to keep you safe, and the easiest way to do that is sending you to the Dragons to make sure you’re protected until we know no one is coming after you or us.”

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