The world was a kaleidoscopic haze of concrete and distant car horns. Eventually, the sounds faded, and there was only the crunch of gravel beneath our feet. “Apologies in advance.” Now that we were somewhere quiet, the voice sounded clearer. More familiar. I’d heard it before.
Where? “This is going to hurt.” I didn’t get a chance to process his words before something hard hit me over the head and full darkness engulfed me.
47
CHRISTIAN
Sentinel CEO’s to his top cyber developer filled my computer screen. It was a role Kurtz had copied from—who else?—me, since most security companies didn’t develop software or hardware, but that wasn’t the issue. The issue was what was in the email. As expected, the traitor had run straight to Sentinel with the information I’d fed him at the poker tournament. He worked faster than I thought; it’d only been two days. I read and reread the last line of the email, which included the details I’d changed for each suspect to parse out who the leak was. Now I knew. Ice sluiced through my veins as I exited the email app and pulled up surveillance footage from the front of his building. I waited until he got in his car before I stood, slipped on my jacket, and walked calmly to the Mirage’s garage. Instead of my McLaren, I selected the gray sedan I used when I tailed someone. It was utterly unremarkable and blended in with every other vehicle on the road. I’d put a tracker on all the suspects’ cars weeks ago, so it didn’t take me long to tail the traitor to an abandoned junkyard on the outskirts of the city. Kurtz was already waiting there with a smarmy smile. I wanted to rip out every tooth and shove them down his fucking throat, but I forced myself to breathe through my crimson haze. Patience. I would deal
with him later. I parked in a spot that was out of their eyeshot but gave me an indirect view of them via one of the old junk cars’ rearview mirrors. It was there that I watched Kage exit his car and greet Kurtz. My hand tightened around the steering wheel. Of the four suspects, Kage had been the most and least likely. Most, because he was the one who’d been best positioned to access the high-level leaked information. Least, because he’d been the closest thing I’d had to a brother at Harper Security since Rhys left. Rage rolled through my blood in an icy, unforgiving wave. It begged me to release it, to destroy not only the people in the junkyard but everything they loved. Kurtz’s company. Kage’s reputation. Their money, their families… I forced the urge at bay. Later. “Do you have the blueprint?” Kurtz asked. “Not yet. It’s a brand-new device.” Kage ran a hand over his buzz cut. “I don’t have the details yet, and I can’t leak it too soon or he’ll get suspicious. He’s already on alert because of Scylla.” “Then why the fuck did you tell him about the copy?” Kurtz’s smile collapsed into a scowl. “Now he knows he has a problem.” “I had to get him off my ass,” Kage growled. “Keep his trust. He was getting suspicious about why it was taking me so long to figure out what happened. It’s that damn woman he’s dating.” His tone darkened further. I hadn’t told anyone except Brock that Stella and I had broken up. It was none of their goddamned business. “Don’t worry about him tracing the copy back to you. He’s so distracted by pussy he’s lucky the company is still running properly. He took a month off to play tour guide for her around Italy, for fuck’s sake.” “Ah, yes. Stella. I met her. At least it’s fine pussy.” Kurtz laughed, and my rage deepened into a crimson-tinted cloud. “You know Harper.
He’s so blinded by hubris he thinks he can handle anything and that no one would dare betray him. I would’ve loved to see his face when he found out about Axel.” Kage snorted. “That fucker was getting on my nerves. Always trying to kiss ass and one-up me. Thank fuck we made him the fall guy and Harper fell for it. One less problem on my plate.” I’d suspected Axel might not have been responsible for Magda’s theft when I discovered another leak months ago. The confirmation elicited a rare twinge of regret, but I couldn’t change the past, so there was no use agonizing over what happened. The best thing I could do was exact proper justice on the real traitor. “Yes, well, that had to be done. Too bad we never figured out what was so special about that hideous painting. Went through all that trouble to get it only to have to sell it before Harper traced it back to us,” Kurtz grumbled.
“That’s one thing he never told anyone, not even me.” Kage shrugged. “If I find out, I’ll let you know.” “You do that.” Kurtz’s smile was not unlike that of a shark grinning at prey. “In the meantime…” He retrieved a briefcase from the trunk of his car. “Your second half of the cut for the Scylla information. Cash only, as requested.” A briefcase? Really? I couldn’t decide what pissed me off more—Kurtz’s face, Kage’s betrayal, or the fact that they were acting like villains in a bad TV cop drama. “You must really hate him to fuck him over like this,” Kurtz said as Kage counted the cash. “Thought you and Harper were brothers in arms till you reached out a couple of years ago.” “We were,” Kage said coldly. He snapped the briefcase closed. “Things change.
No one wants to live in another’s shadow forever.” “Ambition. Love to see it.” Kurtz clapped him on the shoulder. Kage grimaced, but the Sentinel CEO didn’t seem to notice. “You know, when you first contacted us, I thought you were setting me up, but you’ve proven to be a useful ally.
I’ve been dying to see Harper taken down a peg or two for years.” He got in his car and winked.
“Nice doing business with you, as always.” Kurtz drove off. I would deal with him later. Now that I’d confirmed Sentinel was behind the Scylla knockoff, I knew they were also the ones who’d
supplied the device to Stella’s stalker. That fact alone earned them more than a little system crash. Kage tossed the briefcase in his trunk and walked around to the driver’s seat while I got out of my car, my footsteps silent against the soft earth. “Whatever he paid you, it wasn’t enough.” My casual observation bounced off the twisted metal heaps surrounding us. I stopped a few feet from where he’d parked. To his credit, Kage only froze for two seconds before he recovered. He straightened and faced me, his mouth relaxing into an easy smile. “Christian.
What are you doing here?” Despite his casual tone, I saw the emotions play out in his eyes.
Surprise. Panic. Fear. “I had some free time. Decided to check in on my best employee.” My smile matched his. His eye twitched at the word employee. We stared at each other, the air taut with the scents of rusted iron and brewing violence. Now that we were face to face, I allowed my emotions free reign for the first time since I saw Kurtz’s email. Kage was my oldest employee.
My right-hand man. Once upon a time, he’d saved my life, and he was one of the few people I’d trusted. His betrayal twisted around my insides like barbed wire and squeezed out drops of blood. One drop for every meal we’d shared, every conversation we’d had, every problem we’d tackled together and every tough situation we’d pulled each other through. The crimson pool filled my stomach with acid and ate away at my armor until grief and another twinge of regret over what I had to do peeked through. I eased a breath through my lungs. The armor rebuilt itself and trapped my floating emotions back in their cage. Five seconds. That was the longest I allowed sentimentality to stay. “What was it?” I broke the silence. “You wanted a higher salary?