“We have a bigger problem right now.” Malco had a horrible feeling he knew where this was going.
“We have a leak.”
He’d known the second the bullet hit that something was wrong. There was no way that anyone should’ve known they were responsible for the raids on the Blood Razors.
Shane nodded. “We have a leak.”
“Any thoughts on who it might be?” Malco asked carefully.
“I have full faith in the Alliance Team. No doubt whatsoever. However, I’d be a fool not to investigate, and there are only two people that aren’t part of this team and had access to our plans.” The way the words were said so carefully, Malco knew exactly who one of those two were. Malco clenched his fists, his jaw hard as he tried to contain the fury.
“No fucking way.”
“Malco, hear me out for a second. I’m not accusing Frida. Fuck, she was my friend before she was your woman. But it’s either her or Ward. Now, my money is on Ward because I know Frida, and I don’t believe she’d knowingly betray anyone, let alone us. That said, she and Ward are the only two people it could be. So, if you trust Frida and for the record, so do I, then we have a big fucking problem because Ward knew our plans, and he knows about the kids being here, and JaKheel being somewhere else.”
“Does he know where they are?”
“I don’t believe so, no. I put Caitlin and Alex on him as soon as my suspicions were raised. He’s still with Danie, but that, in its own right, isn’t great. We need to get him away from her, Tycen, and his mother without arousing suspicion.”
“But we still don’t know it’s him,” Malco said, not wanting to believe the man he’d worked with these last few years to rehabilitate so many kids was on the Blood Razor’s payroll.
“No,” Shane said carefully, “we don’t, but at this point, my priority is keeping my team safe.”
Malco nodded and slipped off the bed, moving for the door. “Where the hell are you going?” Emme asked with her brows in her hairline.
“Alex is busy, so I’m going to dig into Ward’s finances to see if we can find anything to prove or disprove your theory.” Emme and Shane followed him toward the tech room, where he sat heavier than he intended, jarring his side. He grimaced but bit back the pain in case Emme went full mother hen on him again.
His fingers began to fly over the keys as he used software to hack the computer system, hating that he was so slow at it.
“We need a fucking hacker on the team.” He knew he grumbled, but couldn’t help it.
“I know, I have it in hand,” Emme said.
Malco looked at her.
“You do?”
“Yep, we have someone starting the end of the month.”
“Can’t they start sooner?”
“No. Let’s just say this person is having a holiday at Her Majesty’s pleasure currently.”
Malco had no clue what that meant, but he was glad they were getting someone on board soon.
“I’m in,” he said a few minutes later as he scanned Ward’s accounts for any obvious clues to if he might be involved. It didn’t take long for Malco to spot the one thing he didn’t want to see. Regular deposits of twenty-five thousand dollars had been hitting his account for the last year. He frowned as he turned to Emme. “Do we have the dates each kid was taken?” Emme, who had been looking over his shoulder, must have realized the conclusion he was drawing. She moved to the computer beside him and started tapping away on the keys. Moments later, she turned to him and reeled off the dates. Every single one was a day before the deposits hit Ward’s account.
“Fucking hell.” Malco felt bile and disappointment crawl up his belly. “We need to bring him in and find exactly how deeply he’s involved in this.”
Shane already had a phone to his ear.
“This will stretch us thinner than I like.” Emme murmured.
“I can bring him in, tell him we need his help with JaKheel. I’m fairly sure he will buy it.” Emme frowned, and he saw her weighing it in her mind. “Shane should go with you in case he gets spooked. I don’t doubt your skill, but you lost a decent amount of blood, and while we stitched you, you should’ve gone to a hospital.”
“Fine.” Malco bit out, not liking the feeling of being half functioning. Not since he’d lost his leg had he felt this useless. He had a feeling it had to do with the fact that he couldn’t protect Frida at this given second, and he didn’t like that at all.
Shane paced back toward them, his face severe, making him look unapproachable until he looked at Emme and his face softened.
“That was James. They were struggling with JaKheel, but within ten minutes, Frida had him agreeing. The original plan was to take Danie to him, but I feel happier having her here, and JaKheel brought to us.”
“What about Tycen and his mom, are they safe?” Malco asked, trying to get up to speed in this fast-moving situation.
“Yes. We moved them as soon as this went down. I have some frog buddies of mine looking after them at a black site.” Malco nodded.
“Is it wise to bring Ward and JaKheel here? If JaKheel sees Ward, this could get messy.” Shane grinned at Malco, and he got his intent.
“That’s what you want.” Malco smiled.
“The best way to see if Ward is guilty is to put him in a controlled meet with JaKheel. With JaKheel knowing what he does about Danie, if Ward is guilty, he’ll expose him in a heartbeat.”
“Do you think he knows?”
“Undoubtedly. He’s Bullet’s right-hand man. Of course he’ll know who’s dirty.”
“Let’s bring these fuckers in and clean house then,” Malco said, wanting this over so he could
