Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SLOANE
I wanted to spend the day wrapped up in Hayes' arms now that he was back in my life, but duty called, and we had an organization to put an end to.
"Have we heard from Hawk?" I asked as soon as I entered the common area. My teammates turned to look at me, but it was Nyx who opened her mouth. Or more accurately whistled.
"Hot damn, girl. If the glow on your face is any indication, Hayes knows his way around the female anatomy."
"Fucking A, Nyx," Anita snapped. "Do you have to spout out everything that pops into your head?"
Nyx beamed. "Of course I do. Otherwise our lives would be boring as shit."
"Right, because torturing and killing people makes for an uneventful life." If there was ever a time for Anita to roll her eyes, it would be now.
Nyx didn't let Anita deter her from her line of questioning. "So spill the beans. How was it?" She wiggled her brows. A go-to reaction for her. "Did he rock your world? Was it worth waiting your whole life?"
One very rare and stupidly drunken night I admitted my only sexual experience was the night of my rape.
Although, I didn’t use that word. Ever since, Nyx tried to make it her life mission to change that, but I put my foot down.
I had no desire to have sex with a complete stranger.
I was okay with how I lived my life. Although, had I known it would be so good, I might've taken Nyx up on that offer.
Scratch that. It was only good because of the connection Hayes and I shared.
"Leave her the hell alone. We have more important things to deal with." Anita came to my defense.
“Fine," Nyx surprisingly huffed. "I'll drop it for now, but we're circling back to it later.
" I had no doubt we would be. "So while you were off canoodling, I got in touch with Hawk.
" She smirked at me. "You're welcome, by the way.
Remember my sacrifice when it comes time to share the dirty details of your night. "
Oh geez. She wasn't going to let me off the hook. Nyx hated dealing with Hawk. It bothered her she didn't know who it was, and despite her begging, they refused to give in to Nyx. They were the only person who could get away with such secrets.
"Can you just tell us what you learned?" I tried to hurry things along.
"Geesh, you two are no fun. Note I didn't lump Lilith in with you both." No, she wouldn't. Lilith kept her head down, and Nyx was aware of that. However, it didn't stop Lilith from shaking her head at Nyx's ridiculousness.
"Hawk," Anita reminded her.
"Right. Here is a list of every agency that mentions 'fairy godmother' in their information."
I grabbed the tablet and projected the information onto the large TV. The sheer number of agencies was staggering.
"Shit," Lilith hissed. "This is bigger than we thought."
Understatement for sure. There had to be hundreds of agencies across the world on the list.
"What other information did Hawk provide?
" I asked even though I couldn't take my eyes off the screen as I scrolled through the list. I stopped on one name in particular.
The adoption agency I used for my pregnancy.
Knowing and seeing it in black and white were two different things. Seeing it made it so much more real.
"Hawk is looking for connections between The Givers and these agencies, but right now, they are coming up empty." Nyx crossed her arms over her chest. "Personally, I think it's some kind of secret society that only the one-percenters know about. Those pricks always think they're above the law."
I smirked. Nyx hated the rich, and she didn't have a problem expressing her dislike. She would take any opportunity to blame them, but in this case, she was most likely right. Especially considering what Toby said during his interrogation.
"We need to find a way to infiltrate one of these agencies." Anita stared a hole into the screen.
"Oh! And how do you suppose we do that?"
I tried not to roll my eyes at Nyx's sarcastic question. Just once, I wished she could tone it down.
"We focus on the smaller agencies first and look for patterns. That should give us a common denominator. Once we know who it is, we have a discussion with them."
And by discussion, Anita probably meant torturing them. My teammate wasn't exactly known for her communication skills.
"Does Beckett have any connections we can tap into?" Lilith asked quietly.
"I can ask him. I'm sure he knows someone."
I heard what Anita didn't want to say. Asking for help would put Beckett back into the world he wanted out of and potentially leave him to owing someone a favor. In our line of work, that was dangerous.
But I knew Beckett. If it meant helping children, he would do it in a heartbeat.
"Nyx, Lilith, and Sloane. Divide the list up by regions and see if you can find any crossover. I'm going to find Beckett and see what he thinks."
With the orders handed out, Anita stomped out of the room without looking back. Lilith followed shortly after. It would be up to me to separate the list and send the agencies to the others.
Now that we all had our own houses, we usually preferred to work there.
"I guess research is in my future. Yippee." Nyx turned to leave but paused. "Oh, and, Sloane."
I paused at the hesitation in Nyx's tone. "Yeah?"
"Hawk mentioned there was an email for your eyes only." The seriousness threw me for a loop.
"And you didn't look at it?" Nyx was a nosy Nancy. A cryptic message like that would grab her attention better than a red flag being waved in front of a bull.
"Not this time." With that, Nyx slipped out of the room and left me alone.
I worked up the courage to open the email. And nearly stopped breathing at the contents. Six little words stared back at me but they held a powerful meaning.
In case you want to know.