Chapter Eight #3
When he reached it, he glanced down. Sure enough, the oblong gray panel had a door on the front, secured by a small lock. Nothing else he could see nearby opened with a key.
“Hey,” he called out when Sasha drifted toward a nearby trash can. He held out his hand to her, and she strolled closer. “Did Mike have any friends who worked for the city? Someone who might have given him a key to this box?”
“We had a neighbor whose wife worked for the city. She and Mike talked fairly often about sites they loved and what it was like to work for local government. In fact, I think she worked for the city’s parks and parkways department.”
“Come here.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him. Their bodies collided. He dipped his head again, trying not to get lost in her sweetness as he unfastened the chain from her neck and let the key slide into his palm. Regretfully, he pulled away. “Let’s see if your key fits this lock.”
She sent a sideways glance at the panel. “Could we really have found it already?”
He shrugged. “It makes sense. I don’t think Mike meant the search to be hard.”
“He stumped me.”
“No. He just didn’t explain everything because he didn’t intend for you to dive into this dangerous shit alone.”
Sasha frowned. “How was I supposed to know that?”
“He sent you the flowers with the card and the key. And he told you to find me, right?”
“Yes,” she admitted as if the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place. “You’re right. He planned everything.”
Nick nodded. “He meant for me to help you find his evidence.”
In fact, the more Nick looked at the situation, he began to wonder if Mike had wanted him to take care of Sasha, not just now but always.
Dangerous fucking thought…
Nick pocketed her chain and palmed the key. His heart thudded as he sent her one last glance, then scrutinized the area. The coast was clear. He had the wind and the dropping temperature to thank. Who knew how long this boon would last?
He didn’t waste another second before he bent to the hip-high box and shoved the key in the hole.
It fit—but it didn’t turn. The lock, like the door itself, had weathered with the elements.
It was slightly rusted and stubborn, but with some brute force, it gave way.
With a scrape and a squeak, it protested as it unlocked and the door slid ajar.
Nick wrenched it the rest of the way. Beside him, Sasha gasped.
“What are we supposed to find?” She glanced up and down the electrical panel, scanning well-labeled breakers and a few plastic-coated wires. There wasn’t much else to see.
“I don’t know.” He dragged out his phone and launched the flashlight app to make sure he wasn’t missing anything hidden in the shadowed recesses of the box.
With eager fingers, he tapped his way around the inside of the lid, the sides, the crannies underneath the guts of the panel.
Nothing. Then he felt his way along the top.
His fingertips brushed over a hard, plastic ridge.
“I think I got something.”
“What?”
Nick groped to find the best grip around the edges. A flash drive. He yanked it. The sounds of Velcro drifted up with the wind.
Just like that, he held Mike’s evidence in his hand. Triumph and hope for Sasha’s future roared through Nick. For the first time since receiving Mike’s phone call asking him to look into Clifford because something seemed crooked, he had hope this situation might turn out right.
He shoved the drive and phone in his pocket, locked the panel door, and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
Sasha clutched him tight as she scanned the park with wary eyes, as if she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, either.
When they reached the car, he handed her back the chain and key.
He didn’t know how sentimental they might be for her.
But damn it, he hated the thought that Sasha might be sitting right beside him and pining for Mike when some part of him wanted her to be his so damn badly he could barely stand it.
She slipped them back around her neck. “Now what?”
He pulled out of his parking spot and back onto the road. “We have to find some way to read what’s on this drive. Make sure it’s the evidence Mike meant to leave us.” That time, weather, and human tampering hadn’t erased it.
“Public libraries usually have computers anyone can use.”
“We can’t risk someone else getting a glimpse of whatever we’ve found, any virus zapping it, or any system administrator erasing it.”
“You’re right. Clifford is sneaky. He has eyes and ears everywhere.”
Which was why Nick felt like, now that he had the flash drive, he was racing against the clock.
It was only a matter of time before the corrupt SOB came after them.
He didn’t know how, when, or where; he just knew it was inevitable.
He had to get the data to someone with enough power to take the DA down and get Sasha to safety.
Nick yanked his phone out of his pocket as he gunned the accelerator through a yellow light.
Xander picked up quickly. “You find it?”
“I think so.” Nick explained the situation. “I need a computer.”
“You just left the park? Go west on Veterans Memorial. A few blocks beyond Division, you’ll run into an electronics store on your left.
” He rattled off the address of the big chain’s location.
“I’ll have something ready for you by the time you get there.
You’ll just have to haul inside and pick it up. ”
“Thanks.” He frowned. “Are you tracking this SUV?”
“Yep.” Xander sounded proud of himself. “GPS is my friend.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“Well, I’m a son of a bitch who’s worried about you. Call me once you know what’s on the flash drive. And tell Sasha that Harper is doing really well today. Her fever has broken.”
“Will do.” Nick hung up and focused on the road, looking beside and behind him to ensure no one followed them as he relayed the message about the girl.
Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. “Xander seems like a good friend.”
“He and Javier are fantastic…now. Without London, I’m not sure either of them were going to make it much longer. Javier was quickly drinking himself to death after his first wife’s murder, and Xander seemed well on his way to getting some flesh-eating STD.”
“How did they wind up with the same woman?”
“Well, Xander and his brother weren’t speaking at the time. London was working as Javier’s secretary—and everyone knew he wanted her. So of course Xander was trying to seduce her. If the situation hadn’t been so fucked up, it would have been funny.”
“What I mean is that she’s not legally married to them both, so—”
“No, she’s legally married to Xander. Dulce is biologically Javier’s daughter.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how they make it all work, but those three love each other. Whatever they share…it’s what they all need. I’ve never seen either brother happier.”
“If I hadn’t seen them for myself, I would have doubted a successful relationship like that was possible.
I certainly would have been wary about London’s moral character.
” Sasha winced. “I grew up in a pretty religious household, and my dad would label their marriage blasphemy. But they really opened my eyes, and I’m so grateful for all they’ve done. ”
“Me, too.” Nick waded his way through more lunchtime traffic until they reached the electronics store. He parked and yanked the keys from the ignition. “Let’s go.”
Three minutes later, they were walking out with a top-of-the-line MacBook Pro that would have no problem reading—and storing—whatever was on Mike’s portable drive.
“Now what?”
Nick’s thoughts raced. They’d checked out of the motel. But if this contained what he thought it did, they couldn’t leave New Orleans without getting this fucking evidence to the FBI or the mayor—someone who could prosecute this wretched son of a bitch.
“You drive.” He tossed her the keys and made his way around the vehicle. “This computer may have just enough battery life to read whatever Mike left us.”
He tore the machine out of the box and booted it up as she left the parking lot. He skipped as much of the setup process as the operating system would allow, then shoved the flash drive into the port. One item popped up in the Finder window. When he clicked on it, the screen came to life.