Chapter 34 Kade
THIRTY-FOUR
KADE
Ricci had been blowing up my phone all morning informing me that information on his laptop had been leaked to the Sinaloa’s with Phantom’s trademark signature—a fucking grim reaper emoji.
The emoji trend was something I’d started years ago by posting a ghost emoji anytime I came across another hacker.
Phantom had added to the trend with his own, as had others.
Phantom had also been dormant for almost six months. Why was he appearing now? What was the purpose of leaking any information? Was it in fact Phantom? Too many questions invaded my brain. I handed Evelyn a thumb drive with all of the information that I had.
“I need you to cross-reference the files on this drive to determine if the signature is in fact Phantom’s.”
She took the drive and gave me a curious expression. “If it does belong to this Phantom person, what then?”
Machine rubbed a hand down his face. He was exhausted, like I was, about everything regarding Ricci. “Some secured information has been leaked to an ah… competitor and we need to find out if Phantom is responsible for the leak or if it is someone else trying to cover their tracks.”
I nearly choked on my own spit at Machine’s word choice.
Evelyn nodded in understanding. I heard the vibrating rings of her cell phone.
“Do you want to grab that?” I tipped my chin up at the lit-up screen on the desk.
She shook her head. “No, it's fine.” Standing up from her chair, she gave me a smile before turning around. Before she reached the office door, I rounded the desk and pulled her into my arms. Tension rolled off of her. Not wanting to get into it in front of Machine, I planted a kiss on her lips.
“Dinner? Your place?” I whispered.
She nodded and gave me one more peck on the lips.
When the door closed behind her, I looked over at Machine.
Lucy was now lying on top of him with her nose nearly touching his.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. I was tired of all the drama with Ricci.
So far, all of our dealings had been going smoothly.
No other shipments had been tampered with but I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I had a feeling it would be soon.