Chapter 22
Koen
The handcuff on my left wrist ties me to the metal table. I stare at the two-way mirror, unflinching at whoever stares back at me from the other side.
A camera in the upper right corner of the room flashes at me, recording every mind-numbing moment that I glare at my captors, saying nothing.
After what seems like an eternity, in walks a man I peg as FBI as soon as he pulls the chair back.
"Feds already took over jurisdiction? That was fast."
"We've been watching you for a while."
"No, you haven’t. But keep lying to yourself, Agent..." I trail off, allowing him space to introduce himself.
"Lasko."
"Lasko.” I scoff. “Fitting."
He sits straighter, eyes narrowed.
Something about him feels familiar, like I'm sitting across from a kindred spirit.
Joseph's words about sending me a mark in the morning ring through my memory as I look him up and down.
Single, judging by the untidy way he'd thrown himself together.
Rings beneath his eyes tell me he's burning the candle at both ends, and there's an uneasiness to him as he fumbles with my file and the fragile amount of information he has inside of it.
He doesn't want to interrogate me; it's too close to home.
"So, Mr. Grady," he starts, clearing his throat.
"Koen. Might as well get on a first-name basis, you and I are going to be fast friends, Agent Lasko."
I sit forward, rattling my handcuff against the table.
"You and I will never be friends, Mr.Grady," he grits out, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't speak out of school if you don't know what you're talking about."
Smirking and full of confidence, I sit back in my chair.
Thoughts of where they have Greer pushed aside, I remain focused on every detail I can get out of Lasko before I'm extracted.
A weighted sigh leaves him as I stretch out my legs beneath the table, crossing one ankle over the other. “I’d hurry if I were you. You don’t have much time left.”
“Excuse me?”
“I didn’t stutter, Agent Lasko. You don’t have much time left, so ask your questions.”
“You’re very cocky,” he snaps out, and the look on his face says he didn’t mean to lose control.
I grin. “Rightfully so.”
“Who was the girl we found you with?”
“You know who she is. Why not ask me the questions you want to? Get down to the juicy, sordid details.” I lick my lips.
“I don’t know what you mean.” He shifts uncomfortably.
“You do.”
Silence rings between us.
“You haven’t found me in all these years. You don’t find it funny that all of a sudden, you were pointed in my direction, Agent Lasko.”
“Cases take time. That’s beside the point.” Even so, his next swallow is thick.
I watch his throat slide with amusement.
“When you’re as careful and controlled as I am, Mr. Lasko, nothing is beside the point. Nothing is a coincidence.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I—”
The door opens, and a pudgy, red-faced man walks in. He just got his ass reamed out by the looks of it, and he’s not handling it well.
“Well, looks like our time’s up, Lasko. I did warn you.”
“Hallway. Now!” the stout man says, turning on his heel angrily before storming out of the room.
I hear bits and pieces of the conversation through the door.
“Untouchable. Release him. Out of our hands.” The usual.
When Agent Lasko comes back into the room, snatching up his meager folder, he sneers at me. “Who the fuck are you?!”
The other man uncuffs my hand, and I wring it, never letting my gaze drop from Agent Lasko’s. “I have a feeling you’re about to find out.”
Whistling, I exit the interrogation room and leave the station in better spirits than I’ve been in in a long time.
It’s been three days, and it’s high time I get out of this orange jumpsuit they put me in and get a fucking shower.
Then I need to secure my girl all over again.
I could make it quick and easy, but remembering the way it felt to have her fear at my beck and call has me thinking about toying with her all over again.
All thoughts of Greer and the fun I could be having cut off when a dark SUV screeches to a halt in front of me, and a man hops out of the back, looking every bit the part of Man in Black. “Get in.”
Rolling my eyes, I groan. “Before my shower, boys? Really?”
“Get the fuck in the car,” he reiterates.
I step toward him, snapping my teeth.
He flinches. “Your nerves are showing.” Running my nose along the length of his jaw, I breathe him in. “I smell fear radiating off you. I’m the predator here, Company Man, don’t let that suit go to your fucking head.”
Leaning away from him, I pat him on the shoulder. I smile. “Now, say please.”
I cross my arms over my chest as he clears his throat.
“Please, Mr. Grady, get in the car.”
“Much better. Good boy.” Sliding inside, I move to the far side of the middle bench, landing behind the driver’s seat.
The driver shakes his head at me, but doesn’t say a word as he pulls away from the police station.
Games with Greer will have to wait; it seems the boss wants a sit-down.
Director Helms sits behind his desk. I’m escorted in and led toward a chair. Neither of the two men who led me here sticks around.
I’m sure one of them needs to change his panties from the way he nearly shit himself earlier at my taunting.
“Good. You’re here.” Helms takes off his glasses.
“Was this morning really necessary?” Plucking a mint off his desk, I unwrap it and pop it in my mouth, tossing the wrapper on the ground.
“Yes. You needed a reality check.”
“Reality check? Me? I’m one of the best fucking agents you have on payroll. Also, nothing about this morning fazed me, so mission not accomplished.”
“Goddamnit, you’re so fucked-up, even the threat of arrest doesn’t bother you,” he growls, pinching his nose.
“They read me my rights and never once told me what I was being arrested for. I’m not a fucking moron. Plus, the agent who interrogated me reeked of rat, so I assume he’s the reason I was lifted.”
“He is, but fuck I hoped it would knock some sense into you.”
“About?”
“The fucking girl! That’s what! What do you think you’re doing with that girl? There’s a fucking nationwide BOLO out for her, and then I find out she’s sleeping in your bed, sucking your fucking cock, riding on the back of your bike to a kill!”
I shrug. “I’m just passing the time.”
“Bullshit! If this is going to be an issue, let me know now.”
I narrow my gaze at him, rage simmering to a rolling boil in my chest. “Watch yourself.”
“No.” He slams his hand down on his desk. “You’re psychotic ass needs to realize you can’t just pluck a fucking citizen off the street and keep them because you think they look pretty!”
Helms doesn’t need to know she’s the one who took me out of commission ten years ago. He’d probably have her wiped off the playing board if he did find out.
My recovery cost the agency a pretty penny.
“She’s a hobby, Helms. Chill the fuck out.”
“If she becomes more than a hobby, Grady… If I so much as notice a change in your work ethic or level of professionalism, she’s gone. Do you understand me?”
I sigh, grabbing another mint. “Sure. Got it, boss. Why did you summon me here? For this lovely talk?”
His anger paints his face fire-engine red, and it’s hard not to laugh at him.
“Sit down, Helms. You’re going to give yourself a fucking coronary.”
Sitting, he scrubs his hands over his face. “Why does the best motherfucker I have have to be the most infuriating?”
“It’s part of my charm.”
He scoffs, breaking into a laugh. “If you have charm, I’m the Queen of England.”
Standing, I bend at the middle. “Your Majesty.”
“For fuck’s sake.” He shakes his head.
I drop back into my chair. “So, Lasko is my mark?”
“He is.”
“A Fed? Don’t they typically handle their own internally?”
“This one’s different. He got on our radar.”
“Ahh,” I muse. “Become a threat to national security, has he?”
“He has.”
“Well, then today’s not his lucky day.”
“We have it on good authority that Mr. Lasko has become associated with the group known as Nameless.”
“The cyber collective?”
Helms nods, closing a file and tossing it over to me.
“Of course, we have eyes on the leader of the group, as do the feds; we have intel that he might be getting in a bit too over his head and has now become a threat.”
I flip through the pages of data and images. Nameless is a cyber collective that emerged about nine years ago, just as I was about to return to work.
They claim to operate in the public’s best interest, but some of the ventures they are involved in are deadly if not handled properly.
For years, they’ve been on our radar, but have done nothing of consequence for us to move on them. As long as their purposes align with ours, they get to live.
“He’s been moving a lot of money offshore,” I say aloud, flipping through pages of documents.
“Yeah, and not all of it’s his.”
“Why am I privy to this?” Typically, I’m given my marching orders, I carry them out, and I get a cash infusion into my bank account. It’s never this in detail, nor does it warrant a trip to headquarters.
“I want this handled properly. I don’t need the Feds to come at us for taking out one of their own. This needs an expert hand. Someone who will have keen senses that I can trust.”
I smile, closing the file. “Go on. Say it.”
He sighs. “You’re the only fucker I trust with this, Grady.”
“You say such pretty things to me.”
“If you can’t handle this with all you have going on, I’ll give it to Ward.”
“Ward’s a twat. He’s trigger-happy.”
“Ward’s focused.”
“Come off it. I’m fine.”
“You better be. I swear to God, Grady.”
“Don’t worry about where I get my dick wet, and I’ll extend you the same courtesy.”
He nods. “And no more of your extracurricular activities, either. No more fucking bodies, I mean it!”
I put my hands up. “Those days are behind me, boss. I swear.”
“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he grumbles, flicking his hand at me. “Take the file with you.”
“You wish that were true,” I toss over my shoulder as I head toward the door.
Once I’m in the car, I order the driver to take me straight home. I have work to do before I can have any fun with my deadly girl that escaped me.
I fidget the entire way home, rushing into the cabin to check my camera feeds.
All intact.
The Feds ransacked the place, but the hard drive is intact, and they didn’t breach my firewall.
Logging into Greer’s cameras, I don’t see her in any room in her house. Nor is she in Allison’s house.
I hate to admit that I can’t fucking think straight because I don’t know where she is.
Opening my safe, I tug out all the devices I’d taken from her: her iPhone, an e-reader, and an AirTag I found hidden among her bag, probably her insurance that Allison would be able to see her in the event I escalated.
Too bad for them, my safe is inside a Faraday cage.
I told Helms I was fine, that I was in complete control, but the more I search for Greer on feeds all over town, the more manic I feel.
Until I have eyes on my pretty poison, I’m not going to be able to get anything else done.
Snatching her things off my desk, I drop them onto the kitchen counter.
I shower, dress quickly, and head out, truck keys in one hand, my only means of contacting her in the other.