She looked up and met his deep dark eyes. “I’m sorry. I hated to leave you, but time was of the essence, even more so since we have a traitor in our midst.”
His fingers caressed her cheek. “I’m sorry for getting shot.”
And just like that, Frida smiled and dug her fingers in his good side a little. “Smartass.”
A low laugh rumbled deep inside before he resumed his hold on her, and Frida soaked in his strength as much as she could.
His embrace tightened even more around her. “I may be a smart ass, but I was sincere. I was distracted and got shot, but I couldn’t live with myself if you were the one hit.”
“We lead dangerous lives, you more than most. And because of our pasts, we know better than anybody that life can be shorter than we hope. I guess that’s why we must enjoy every moment.”
“Enjoy every moment as if it were the last.”
The emotion in his voice was undeniable, and it was clear he was thinking about his lost brother the same way her heart was aching for her sister. They were gone, but they were there, holding on to their memories and trying to make the present better for the kids in the same situation.
Finally, when he released her, his mouth came down on hers like a drowning man seeking air. His taste was all that she craved, and she gladly yielded to him, circling his neck, pressing her body against his as much as possible without causing him discomfort.
As Frida deepened the kiss, wondering how she could have him without reopening his wound, Malco stepped back. “You’re right. Life is short. However short it is, I want you in my life. I love you, Frida.”
A sudden surge of emotion clogged her throat, closing it so tight no words could come out. There, in front of her, was a man who was strong and dangerous but also committed, honest, and who respected her and her work like no other. He valued her as his equal, which was the rarest find of all.
She must have kept silent for too long because she could see a grimace on his handsome face. “I think it’s your turn to say something.”
Bubbles started to form in her belly and fizzed up until it unclogged her throat, and she could speak. “I love you too.”
The relief on his face would have been comical if she weren’t certain she had the same expression on hers, and before she could blink, he was kissing her senseless.
Out of breath, Malco put his forehead against hers. “I would like to take you home and make love to you until we’re exhausted, but we still have so much to do.”
The man was right. The mission was far from over.
With one last peck on his lips, Frida stepped back. “I heard about Ward… this is just a mess. I would never believe he was dirty, selling the kids to the Blood Razors.”
Malco sighed. “Yeah, it got to me. I’ve been working with Ward for some time now, and I didn’t think him capable of this. He’s good, he fooled all of us.”
Frida agreed with him. She’d always thought she had a good radar for bullshit and had missed it as well.
“Show me the data you have on Ward, what you found.”
Most people would have argued with her, but Malco only shrugged and when to the computer to pull up the documents on Ward and project them on the main screen.
What she saw was Ward’s bank statement with regular sums deposited in it.
“We checked it out, and each payment corresponds to one kid’s disappearing from the center.”
Frida processed the information as she looked at the numbers. Something felt off. Moving closer to the screen, her lawyer’s brain took over, years of experience helping to decode the information on the screen until it clicked. “These are pinged deposits.”
Malco got to his feet to come to stand beside her. “What?”
“Look at the confirmation numbers for each of the deposits, what do you see?”
Silently, he did as she said, a frown on his face until his eyebrows shot up. “The numbers. The confirmation numbers are way too close together, considering the span of the deposits. Normally, that kind of sequence would be for transactions done the same day.”
That’s what she was seeing. “Can you check when Ward last accessed his account?”
Malco returned to the computer and typed a few more keys. “Three weeks ago. Same day as his regular pay was deposited in his account.”
“If you were promised that much money each time you delivered a kid, wouldn’t you check to make sure your employer held up his end of the bargain?”
Malco raked his dark hair before looking at her. “Ward isn’t the leak.”
“I don’t think so. And if I’m right, we still have a leak.”
“We can check Tycen and his mother. They’re the only ones we haven’t verified yet.”
“I’ll do a thorough check on them, but I don’t think they’re it. You need a specific background to have the skill to create pinged transactions. Tycen is from the street, and it’s not something a gang would typically know how to do.”
“You think it’s Kasten or Pool?”
“I always think about them. But knowing them, I don’t believe they’d get their hands dirty for something like that, thus the leak. I think there’s someone lower down doing the dirty work, one with computer skills and the capacity to easily access the network. We can try and see where the pings originated, that may give us a clue.”
“We need a hacker for that, and we don’t have one yet, but we can try, although it will take us some time. I’ll see if Alex is still around, he’s the best in that area.”
Frida shook her head. “I think he took Rina home. She’s worked non-stop, and I
