by India Kells
“He’s with Shane in his office, planning how to keep everyone safe.”
Frida needed to see him, make sure he was all right as her last image of him was him bleeding on the floor in her arms.
“Hey, Frida, you’re back!”
Rina came rushing and took her in a big hug. “I’m so happy you’re all right. This place turned into a fortified castle while you were gone.”
Even if she badly wanted to see Malco, she owed it to Rina to give her a little time, so she followed her into the conference room and felt nauseous at the endless piles of papers all over the place.
“Anything new on the finance front?”
Rina grimaced. “Not really. I keep digging, but nothing else comes up.”
“Well, change of plan. Start gathering everything we’ve got so far. We’re going onto offense. But for now, you need a break. You’ve been working non-stop, and you need a clear head for the next phase.”
“Just trying to keep up with you. You’re a machine, boss.”
Frida felt blessed to have Rina by her side. “Go check with Emme and see if you can bunk here or if someone is available to drive you home.”
Rina winked. “Do you think that if I beg, Alex will escort me home and nap with me?”
Rina sauntered away as Frida laughed, but it quickly died. Sitting on one of the chairs, she thought about what she had to do and almost felt overwhelmed. But she had done it before when she’d brought down her dad and his organization, and she would do it again.
Removing her shoes, Frida looked for a pad and paper and scribbled down notes for Rina on what data would be needed.
Deep in thought, her brain stimulated despite the fatigue, Frida started to put the skeleton of her case on paper. Better to start now as once they were done here, she’d need to submit her case, and DA Pool would need to be bypassed.
She kept writing until her eyes began to burn and the words in front of her blurred. She heard a sound behind her that made her jump and look around. It took a few blinks before Malco came into focus. As Danie had done before, it was her turn to go to him as the reality of what had happened hit.
“Are you all right?”
Malco didn’t answer and only opened his arms, and she went to him, careful of his side. When her face pressed into his chest and his familiar scent filled her nose, a half-sob came out of her. How close she’d come to losing him hit her full force. If they had aimed higher, she’d no longer hear the steady rumble of his heart in his chest.
Malco didn’t say a word as he rubbed her back steadily, his cheek pressed to the top of her head.
When she could finally draw a full breath without breaking down, she spoke. “You scared me to death, Malco.”
“You walked out on me when I was unconscious, woman. That scared me too.”
Damn, she hated it when he showed his vulnerability to her. It threw her off and was so different from the men in her family. And she fell for him even more for being that way.
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 gave her the rest of the day off, so tomorrow we can start building our attack. Also, she’s hoping to get lucky. Rina’s had her eye on Alex from the beginning. I can ask her to start digging into the pings in the morning. She’s a wizard for finding those sorts of things.”
Malco nodded, but it was clear his mind was busy with something.
“What? What are you thinking?”
He didn’t answer at first and sat behind the screen and started typing. Malco closing down on her was so unusual, it irritated her.
Just as she was about to speak, the main screen flickered. Malco was doing another search, and when she saw the name, Frida couldn’t help but gape.
“Rina? You’re researching her? Why? I vetted her when I hired her. She’s been amazing, dedicated. I won’t have you smear her name because of a doubt.”
Despite her sudden explosion, Malco remained calm, which pissed her off even more. He continued to type, and several windows came into view: Rina’s bank account, her loans, her social media accounts.
“Don’t you think I already checked her out before I hired her? Do you think I’m that careless?”
Malco typed a little more, but she was now looking at him instead of the screen. Once he was done, he leaned back, his attention solely on her. “You’re not careless. You’re thorough but think. The game has changed, and our perspective too. What if you didn’t know Rina and had to hire her for this very case? Would you dig into her background the same way you did back then?”
Even if she hated it, Frida had to be honest with him. “No. What we know would color my background check for sure.”
When he extended his hand to her, she gave hers to him. The connection was soothing. With gentleness, he pulled her toward him and kissed the back of her hand. “I don’t doubt your abilities or expertise, but I’m just looking at things from a different point of view. I love your brain too much to insult you.”
She rolled her eyes at him but grinned. “Continue crawling. I like it.”
His face turned somber. “And I think I’ll need to do a bit more when you see this.”
Malco had run a facial recognition software on the web from Rina’s driver’s license photo, and there had been a couple of hits. However, the one that stood out like a glaring light was a picture of Rina with DA Clark Pool, and from what she could see, they were quite intimate. Kasten might hate the Hispanic community, but Pool certainly had no problem enjoying its beautiful women.
“Damn it.”
What else could she say? Frida felt like a fool and deeply betrayed. It meant that not only had she brought a traitor into the Agency, but for months, Rina had access to her most private cases and had probably been feeding Pool information on open cases and investigations.
“I have to contact Chief Randall and tell him what’s going on and the fact that Pool might very well have a hand in some of the proof I’ve gathered against him.”
When she fished out her phone, berating herself for being so stupid, Malco stopped her.
“Hey, easy. This isn’t on you. None of us suspected Rina. You can blame me for not seeing it sooner.”
“You don’t understand, she had access to everything back at the office, and even here at the Agency. No wonder I had so much trouble finding proof or documentation against Kasten. I had someone on the inside, blocking my every move!”
Unable to believe what was happening, Frida covered her face with her hands until Malco gently pried them away, forcing her to face him.
“On a mission, we have to trust the people around us. And because of you, we now know Ward was set up, and we can shift our focus to her.”
Frida nodded and inhaled deeply and slowly, forcing her brain back on the case and not on her own failings. Her first instinct was to go to Rina and punch the bitch, but as she calmed down, another idea emerged.
“What about we act like nothing has changed? Rina is our link to bring Pool and Kasten down in one fell swoop. They’re convinced Rina is part of the team and feeds them valuable information, so let’s use that. Between that and JaKheel’s testimony, we might be able to put the last nail in their coffin for good.”
The full-blown smile that appeared on his face threw her off balance. “What? Did I say something funny?”
“I’m admiring my girlfriend about to kick some ass, and it’s sexy as hell.”
After an intense kiss that left her head spinning, Frida smiled back. “And now I’ll admire my boyfriend’s perfect ass while he informs his boss of this latest development and gets the plan on the road.”
And she did exactly that when he chuckled on his way out.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Having updated Shane and Emme, it was decided they would still bring Ward in. His reaction to JaKheel and vice versa would give them added weight when they questioned them, which they’d have to do, despite what he’d found on Rina.
More worrying was the fact that Alex hadn’t checked in after driving Rina home. Malco was now in the conference room as Shane called Alex for the fourth time.
Shane’s face turned thunderous as he hung up, not bothering to leave a message.
“It could be he got lucky,” Malco said with hope more than anything else.
“Or it could be Rina has been tipped off, and one of our own is in danger because of it.” Shane crossed his arms as he glared at the phone.
“I can go over and see? Pretend I forgot to give her something and check?” Before Frida could finish the sentence, Malco reacted.
“No fucking way.” Malco frowned as she glared daggers at him. Since she’d come back from her call with the Chief, she hadn’t been in a good mood. He suspected she’d gotten her ass chewed for not seeing it. But the truth was, the closer you were, the harder it was to see the snake in your garden until it struck.
“Why not? It makes perfect sense?”
Malco folded his arms and glared back, not willing to back down. He leaned in close to her face as he spoke. “Because it’s fucking dangerous, and I’m not prepared to take any risks that might mean I lose you when I just fucking found you.”
Malco watched her face go from furious to soft in an instant. Her hand moved to his cheek, and she cupped it gently, suddenly understanding his deep-rooted fear.
“Okay, honey.”
Shane looked at them and shook his head. “You need to teach me your skills, man. Emme never backs down.”
“Hey.” Emme poked her fiancé in the belly, and he hooked his arm around her, pulling her close.
“Malco is right, though, we need another plan.”
“What about tracking his phone?” Emme looked up at Shane.
“That will tell us where he is, but if he’s with her, it won’t tell us if he’s there by choice or not.”
“It’s a start.” Malco moved toward the laptop on the desk. His fingers flew over the keys as he accessed the program that tracked the team during work hours, which was basically all the time.
The screen came to life, showing the team members in various colors. Alex was indeed at Rina’s house, which told them nothing.
“He’s with Rina.”
“Damn.”
Frida placed a hand on his shoulder as he typed, and her touch soothed the burn that had begun to pain him as the painkillers from earlier wore off completely, and the wound in his side began to hurt like fuck. His face must have shown the pain because Frida moved to
her bag and came back with Tylenol and Ibuprofen tablets. He took them with a smile and chucked them back dry.
“Thank you.”
Her smile lit the sky when she replied. “My pleasure.”
The alarm on the outside gate sounded, and Shane pulled up the camera. “Ward is here.” He released the button and called him in.
They watched as Ward walked to the entrance and stopped at the locked door. Shane lifted the phone and asked King and Caitlin to be ready to bring JaKheel through as Ward entered.
Malco walked to the front door and unlocked the door letting Ward in.
“Thanks for coming, Ward.” Malco watched his reaction as the door opened, and King led JaKheel and Danie through. Ward tensed, and Malco watched, waiting for JaKheel to notice him. When he did, the reaction was not what he expected. JaKheel moved fast, and Malco and the others tensed ready to move, but Ward moved first, and then JaKheel was throwing his hand up to Ward.
Ward grasped his hand and held tight as the two-faced each other. “Thank you for looking after her while I couldn’t.”
Ward’s face was solemn when he nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job, brother.”
JaKheel shook his head. “Not your fault. This is on me. I should’ve listened to you.”
“Some lessons can’t be coached, only lived,” Ward spoke with sincerity, and Malco was convinced from the exchange that Ward was indeed innocent in every way and just another victim of greed.
Malco stepped forward. “Ward, we need a word if you have a minute.”
Ward looked at him with an open face and nodded. “Of course.”
King led JaKheel and Danie to the kitchen to get food, Caitlin, with her loyal beast at her side, following. Anyone willing to try anything with Killy around was indeed an idiot. Malco didn’t think JaKheel would. Just being around Danie, he’d changed, dropping the hardness he’d worn and allowed the soft around him. Malco had no doubt he was still a killer, but he wasn’t evil, just wanting to do the right thing and having lost his way in the process. Danie and this child could very well save this young man from certain death.
“I was that boy once,” Ward said as they entered the conference room with Frida, Emme, and Shane, his eyes on JaKheel and Danie as they walked away.
