Page 184 of Deep Cover

"If it's a clone? Why?" Beam was a hard-driving woman, dedicated to her family and in over her head just a couple times on playing the horses.

Amazing in bed, too. One of those few vanilla times that totally didn't suck.

Or totally did suck. Depending on how one looked at it.

She'd bribe her way on her knees to find information for me if she had to, knowing without a trace of doubt if anything came of that, I'd make it go away.

Nothing would come of it, no matter how she got her information. "I'll round up everyone I can."

I disconnected. Called a man in Vegas, just miles from where I stood.

"Derrick." His voice was always short and choppy. This time it was shorter. More cut off.

Like maybe he knew I'd be calling. Because Vegas is a smaller town than people give it credit for. So he could have heard already.

Or he could have had something to do with it.

It would be worth keeping an eye on him. Jason could do that. Get himself back in good graces. Because I'd sacrifice the son of a bitch if that's what it took to get somebody bringing Annie back. When Kie had hurt Annie, instead of moving to protect her, Jason had laughed. I knew Annie hated him. Of all the men in my employ, he was the one who looked at her body when she was humiliated in front of them. I didn't like the way he looked at her, but I liked her uncomfortable reactions so I kept him on. He was a good guard even if he was an asshole. He could do some work on this. Pay off some of the hospital bill. He'd been well cared for after being whipped for not protecting Annie.

Call after call. Setting cops and state senators and prostitutes in motion. All of them with the same orders. Get her back if you can find her. Get me all the information if you can't.

Sending out the signal from the tracker so people in every city would be waiting for that signature. Now it would be a waiting game.

If only I meant to sit still and wait.

My boots echoed on the polished hallway floors. I'd left the control room to send out some of the secure communications to military officials and high ranking politicians. It's amazing what the fear of having one's deviant sexual history exposed will do to people. I had assistance all over the world.

Problem was, so would Vincent.

Suddenly I was running, tearing up the corridor thinking of all the cameras everywhere in the world and knowing one of the hackers in the secure communications room would know a way into one. Once upon a time hackers had broken into Department of Transportation computers and used them to light up those big orange and black roadway signs so they read ZOMBIES ON ROADWAY – RUN! It was pure lighthearted silliness but they were still arrested and charged. Apparently only the Dept of Transportation with its annual holiday warnings – ONLY SANTA'S REINDEER CAN FLY – YOU CAN'T – WATCH YOUR SPEED – can put out playful fantasy messages.

But cameras and warnings were everywhere. I could put out amber alerts or something close to them since Annie wasn't a child.

I slowed for a second. No, she wasn't, and probably she didn't have a lot of time left before she at least looked in her twenties rather than a cute seventeen, but for now she looked young enough I could tap into that system and put that out there.

Probably wouldn't help. Those clone trackers were reporting in from everywhere in about the time it would have taken Vincent to get the tracker out of her and send them on their way.

That made my fists tighten and my breathing come rough and angry - The idea of him touching her intimately enough to remove the tracker.

How he'd known it was in there was no mystery. Undoubtedly Kie was chipped. It was logical and I think at some point, drunk at some meeting of our circle, he and I had exchanged thoughts on using the sexual part of a woman to mark her.

It would have amused us.

Shame doesn't usually have anything to do with my life, my lifestyle, my choices. When it does, it's met with rage.

The two emotions swept through me, one after the other, and both of them ignited the need and yearning to fuck some submissive within an inch of her life.

Instead I kept moving. Back to communications.

"How many of you can get me into municipal cameras in the cities that are showing up for the tracker?"

There was no hesitation. Every hand went up.

"Do it," I said. "If there's any fallout, I'll handle it."

There were no questions. Annie's photograph graced the top left corner of every station. Now they'd set algorithms to search for her or whatever it was they did. Probably some of them had already done this.

Maybe all of them had already done this. I was out of my depth. That's why I brought them in. That and I was currently too upset to think straight. Because this should have occurred to me hours before.

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