Chapter 14 #2
“Exactly. I have a part-time associate, who has only been in Purgatory a handful of times and isn’t known to have an affiliation with APS, heading down to see if she can’t dig out any more intel, especially since Liz and Toni have been hanging out for a while,” Drew told them.
“You all know Syd. If anyone can loosen the lips of any peripheral players, she can.”
Giving Blake a piercing look, she said, “Cuz, the thought fucking sucks, but I can’t help but feel in my gut that everything Kilgore is doing is interconnected in some way.
Everything, even if we don’t know what the scam is yet.
Plus, if it turns out he is trying to screw over his partners with some big master plan that benefits him alone?
Some serious shit is going to go down, and we for sure don’t need Brooke anywhere near that bomb when it detonates. ”
Her eyes dark, Blake ground out, “She won’t be going anywhere near Cask & Canvas or those shitbags.
One of my crew will always be with her when I can’t be so she’s not stuck at home 24/7.
Granted, she doesn’t leave the apartment much—because my woman is a workaholic and has a ton of graphic art shit going on right now—but I wouldn’t confine her like that anyway.
Besides, my crew loves Brooke. Those assholes will fight for the privilege of guard duty if she wants to go out.
I know some skanky motherfuckers who will be broken into pieces if they dare to come anywhere within a mile of her. ”
Bryn was busy making more notes on her phone.
“Since I assume you’ll be having Syd find any players who have ever had contact with Kilgore, even if it was a lone conversation,” she arched a brow at Drew, who nodded, “we can keep our fingers crossed that something has been said somewhere that will be helpful and she can dig it out.”
“Kilgore isn’t an idiot,” Drew ruminated, “but more than a few of the other players in Purgatory aren’t always the sharpest knives in the drawer.
If our man Rob is scouting, but not making contact with anyone Reflex has done business with in the past, though, that in itself is a tip-off.
He’s keeping whatever the hell he’s up to under the hood.
However, you can’t tell me that Clay isn’t suspicious on some level.
He might not be the brainiac Kilgore is, but he’s not the idiot Thom and Jack are either.
“I suspect there’s a good reason Cyb3rmoon alluded to his name in particular when she went on her little fishing expedition with me. Maybe Clay is smelling something he’s not liking much with his bestie, and she caught it.”
“Then have Syd start paying attention to the most active users in any conversations about digital currency when Kilgore is around,” Blake proposed.
“The loudest players are the ones who’ll have the juiciest info.
It’s not much different from influencers in the gaming world: you can’t shut the fuckers up when they get on a roll.
Kilgore is listening to those conversations to determine who to approach for his side hustle, but Clay Langston may be using that information to try to figure out just what the fuck Kilgore is up to.
You’ll never convince me Langston doesn’t have an alter ego with a backstory in play roaming around these assholes in Purgatory. ”
Raising an eyebrow, Drew said, “Look who’s been paying attention in class,” and smirked as Blake flipped her off.
“Honor among thieves, right?” Teagan snorted.
“From what I can see, Kilgore has every intention of coming out the big winner in this. Sure, he’s working the embezzlement and money laundering scam of those area craft microbreweries along with the others.
But he has a hell of a lot more lucrative shit up his sleeve that will benefit him and him alone. ”
Trill’s fingers were flying over her laptop.
“How many times has he fucked his partners out of a score in the past as well and they’ve never known?
Convince me this is his first rodeo.” Cynical murmurs filled the room.
“Maybe Langston is finally getting wise to his tricks. But, like Drew said, Thom Berber and Jack Norris are morons. It might not be that difficult to pull the wool over their eyes.”
“Let’s see what Syd finds out in the next day or two,” said Drew.
“Kilgore needs to be ready to pull the trigger on whatever extracurricular activities he’s secretly planning concurrently with the Reflex hit on the microbreweries.
That doesn’t leave him a whole lot of time because Piper’s contact is pretty sure the microbrewery embezzlement isn’t that far out. ”
“We need more ears in The Hideout. While Syd is doing her thing, we’ll coordinate that.
” Blake nodded at Drew. “Too many fucking moving parts on this bullshit, but we’ll manage.
We can coordinate status reports in the morning.
” A slow smile spread across her face as she stood up to return to Utopia.
“What Reflex doesn’t know is that the last thing they should have ever done was bring their schemes to Tampa Bay, let alone upset one of our femmes.
Because they’re about to learn a very painful lesson about what it means to fuck with APS and what’s ours. Bring the popcorn.”