Chapter 11 #2
Five days after negotiations had been concluded, the lowlife’s beaten, unconscious body had been dumped on the front porch of Dara’s acquaintance, courtesy of Drew and her crew.
What had happened to him after they had delivered him to their “client” was not their concern, they had decided—even though they’d made it clear when they took the contract that revenge murder would result in swift retribution.
Now, with a reputation of being able to find and deliver anyone in the seven-county Tampa Bay area APS covered, The Shadow and her crew turned down far more work than they accepted because of the strict contract criteria they had put into place.
At the core of what they provided, the target had to be someone who—in addition to any money they had stolen—had an easily verifiable, grievous history against a woman or women.
Before any serious negotiations took place, it was also made extremely clear to those who were interested in their services that planning the death of the target upon their capture meant serious reprisal.
With the money they earned on their completed contracts, Drew and her team put a good portion of it into a special account for the victims who had been harmed or abused, arranging to give them anonymous donations as compensation—especially for those with children.
The Purgatory forum on the dark web had originally been established as a control center for The Shadow and her associates, although the business conducted there had gone far beyond that which only involved women.
Now, there were myriad illicit services offered, from buying and selling illegal weapons to exchanging stolen information such as credit card and bank account numbers to offering hacking services to advertising ransomware and other extortion-related technologies to gambling—to money laundering.
When Cyb3rmoon had directly approached her one night—with no Kilgore or anyone else associated with Reflex in sight—Drew had been surprised.
Although plenty of women had tried over the years to entice The Shadow, for various reasons, it was well known in Purgatory that Drew didn’t play.
That this woman had struck up a chatty conversation with her meant she was either completely clueless or was convinced she could change Drew’s mind.
Hardly.
“It seems a bit on the quiet side at the moment, don’t you think? How are you tonight, Shadow?” Cyb3rmoon had inquired.
“Busy. What can I do for you?” Drew had been direct and to the point as she’d typed her response, keeping her eye out for Kilgore or one of his associates.
The huff on the other end of the computer had been almost audible. “That’s not very neighborly, is it? Actually, I had a question I wanted to ask you. If you aren’t too ‘busy,’ that is.”
Unable to keep the corner of her mouth from tilting up at the woman’s bold snark, Drew had typed back, “Ask. Although you should know I won’t guarantee an answer.”
“Fair enough.” There had been a pause, then, “I find a couple of players in here rather…intriguing. No need for you to bite my head off and tell me it’s none of my business either, Shadow.
I know the score. But it seems to me a woman of my…
talents…may well be what they could be looking for. If you know what I mean.”
Exasperated, Drew had been about to shut her down, not interested in playing matchmaker between a bunch of thugs and a woman who was quite clearly looking for a hookup, when Cyb3rmoon had casually added, “Of course, sometimes a…‘reflexive’ conversation, shall we say…can be just what the doctor ordered. I adore spontaneity. Don’t you? ”
Drew had frozen, pausing mid-keystroke as Cyb3rmoon’s words had landed with a thud.
“Reflexive”? What. The. FUCK?
Her mind racing at the play on Reflex’s name, Drew had swiftly typed back, “I have no time for games, Cyb3rmoon. Impulsive gets you killed in my line of work. A bit of advice: be careful with the games YOU decide to play. The knight you are looking for may end up with feet of clay. If you know what I mean. Now, if you’ll excuse me.
” Trusting that Cyb3rmoon had caught the Reflex partner’s name in her response, Drew had abruptly signed off.
Now, thinking rapidly through several scenarios, she came to the conclusion that she needed to get the rest of the management team’s input in their daily management meeting the next morning.
Turning back up herself in Purgatory again tomorrow would be out of character for her—something she never did, even if she and her crew were on the hunt—potentially leading to speculation she didn’t want on the dark web.
At the very least, Blake needed to know another player was looking at Reflex, for whatever the reason.
While Drew shoveled an enormous amount of shit Blake’s way, as they all did—payback for the crap Blake subjected the entire management team to on a frequent basis—the fuck Drew would ever do anything that would put Blake’s femme in harm’s way or could hurt Blake.
Pulling the band out of her thick hair and shaking it out so the waves fell free, Drew shut down her computer and went to take a shower, her mind still whirling.
She had one hell of a lot of questions and not nearly enough answers.
Most importantly—who the fuck was Cyb3rmoon? FBI? Another federal agency like DEA? The CIA usually didn’t operate domestically. Was this woman on the other side of the fence? Drew didn’t think so, although it was apparent she would be waiting for answers for a while.
As she strode into her bedroom, Drew mused out loud, “Okay, little moonchild. I’ll play.
My gut instinct tells me you have a vested interest in this money-laundering scam, if not whatever else is behind it, as we have suspected.
You had a very specific reason for approaching me personally, honey.
I don’t know who you are or what you’re up to, but I’m sure as fuck going to find out.
“In the meantime…it seems as though the ball is now in your court.”