"Well, I wish I could say I came in here to tell you what a wanker you are, but that will have to wait for another day."
His gaze narrowed at me, and I could tell that he was on the verge of reading me the riot act. But then I smiled beatifically at him. "I’ve had a break in the case, and I need to speak with the Royal Museum of Monaco’s London agent, East Hale." I quickly relayed the information I had. “Dad already approved it.”
He scowled then. "Jesus Christ, Nyla, what the fuck? You went over my bloody head?"
“Is that what this is really about?” No amount of shaking my head was going to shake my irritation. “No, I merely informed my father of something. That’s all. Then he gave me the go ahead. If you don't like it, take it up with him.” I left out the part about me keeping the information about Theroux from both of them.
I wasn’t going to keep the text a secret for long. I just wanted to look into it first.
Sure you do. So what happens if you get another mysterious text?
Wasn’t that the question of the hour.
6 East
This was going nowhere. After nearly a week, Nyla was still clouding my brain and I couldn’t bloody well think.
The four of us had been arguing about the Tottenham and Man United game for well over an hour. Drew and Ben were barely talking because things had gotten a little heated over the new top player that had originally been on the Man United youth leagues. Then Bridge had said something sassy about Ben's choice of player, and it had become a powder keg. But the tension we were feeling had nothing to do with the game. The muttered curses were the result of us walking the tightrope of hero vs. antihero for the last week.
And then we made the mistake of attempting to work.
Ben was testy when he asked Drew. “Any news from the Five?”
Drew shook his head. “They know nothing about Theroux. They wanted to know if we have exposure. I deflected. I’m sure they were unconvinced.”
Deep inside, the shadows inside my mind suggested that if the Five didn’t know Theroux, then we were truly flying blind.
Ben cursed before turning attention to Bridge. “Did you fare better?”
Bridge shook his head. “No. None of the fences I know, even those with high end clientele have a line on him. Everyone agrees. He is not your average thief. He’s likely using a broker. Or he looks the part and can get away with private sales. I’ll also note that despite the company he keeps, there hasn’t been a single kill.”
Ben expelled a long breath of air. “East, tell me something good.”
All I had for him was disappointment. “Sorry mate. Chaka Khan I’m not. Telly and I could find nothing. The closest he came to leaving a trail was early in his career thirty years ago when Roger Kincade almost had him. Kincade winged him with a bullet, but he still vanished into the ether. His DNA is on file though.”
Ben crossed his arms and started to pace. “So what, he has us by the bollocks and now he runs us? Controls us?”
Bridge coughed. “The fuck he does.”
“I’m working on tracking him. It’ll take time. We might have to take it a step further and see what he asks for.”
“I don’t fucking like it,” Bridge ground out.
“None of us like it, mate, but we are where we are.”
Bridge’s jaw ticked. Something was up with him. I felt it, but there was no getting it out of him until he was good and ready to talk.
“At least tell me you are somewhere with Agent Kincade,” Ben said.
And by somewhere he doesn’t mean fantasizing about her every night while you wank off and sniff her shawl.
Fucking hell, I did that one time. Once… okay twice. It had been almost a week since the hospital benefit, and it was like the woman had poisoned me with her kiss. Injected me with her essence so that now I couldn’t fucking breathe without thinking about her.
Well maybe you shouldn’t have kissed her.
My dick twitched with his tacit disagreement. Christ.
I cleared my throat. “I’ve dealt with her father. She won’t be a problem.” You mean you hope she won’t be a problem.
Bridge raised a brow but said nothing. But I could see him trying to ferret out what I was hiding. Ben was clearly distracted because he could usually see through me better than anyone.
“I’ve also got surveillance set up on her, so I’m watching.”
Drew smirked. “I’ll bet you’re watching.”
I normally didn’t give a shit when they ribbed me about my voyeuristic tendencies, but now it felt somehow inappropriate.
Because really, what was a little light cyber-stalking between friends? If she was coming after us, I needed to know everything about her. Right down to what perfume she wore. That information led to an adequate profile.
Or maybe you needed to know the scent that has been haunting you.
“I have tapped into the CCTV cameras across from her flat. I have a camera in her flat, but I’m leaving it inactive for now. I have one at her desk at work as well as a separate bug. Again, I’ll leave that camera off unless we need it. I didn’t want to be too intrusive.”
Which was unusual. I could be intrusive as hell. I liked being intrusive.
Bridge rubbed his jaw. “Maybe Telly should have a look at the beautiful agent to make sure she’s backed off since you seem distracted."
“Telly?” I jerked back as if I’d been slapped. “Low blow, mate. You know she’s my hacker nemesis.”
“Yes, but does she know you two are nemesi? Nemeses? How the fuck do you say the plural of nemesis?” Ben muttered under his breath.
I narrowed my gaze at my former best mate. “Et tu, Bennett?”
He merely shrugged. “Mates, I feel exposed and you lot know full well we have targets on our backs.
