Page 56 of How Much For a Life of Lies?

With that ominous warning hanging in the air, Indigo rose from her seat, her presence looming large over the mayor as she left with the guards following her. As the door closed behind her, the mayor slumped back in his chair, a weary sigh escaping his lips.

I exchanged a glance with Luca, who rewound to the “shithole town” comment.

“She’s running scared,” Luca murmured.

“She doesn’t look scared.”

“No, see, the way she says ‘I’m here to tell you’ is just that—she’s been warned to keep control, and she’s passing that down the line.

“Which means she’s not so much Kozlov’s right-hand woman with her own agency, but just another lackey?”

Luca nodded and reached for the soda he had balanced on the arm of the sofa. “That’s what it looks like to me.”

I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of frustration at the thought of Indigo being nothing more than a pawn in Kozlov’s game. We’d been tracking her movements for weeks, hoping to glean some insight into her role within the organization. But if she was just another cog in the machine, it raised questions about the true power dynamics at play. Kozlov was the man to take down.

“So, what’s our next move?” Luca asked, shifting my focus back to the task at hand.

“We wait on Kai coming back with intel, and try not to dwell on Indigo’s insignificance in the grand scheme of things. There’s still plenty of loose ends to tie up, and our window of opportunity is rapidly closing before Kai is found out.”

“You’re worried about Kai?” Luca took a sip of his soda.

“He’s a loose cannon,” I said and waited for Luca to agree.

“I think you underestimate him. A loose cannon, yeah, but he loves this undercover shit, and there’s no way he’d do anything to jeopardize you.”

“What do you mean?”

“He fucks up, it puts you in the crosshairs, and man, that man is so far gone on you.”

“He’s not,” I spluttered, and Luca rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, dude, whatever.” Then his eyes narrowed as he stared back at the screen and contemplated our options. “We need to keep digging,” he replied, his voice firm with determination. “Let’s start with the surveillance photos you took.”

I scrolled to the folder. “We have the ones that the security cameras caught outside the town hall and stores. Security, a man that comm identified as Viper’s co-pilot, Viper himself plus that Bulldog idiot. Until Kai links us in, we can’t dig into anything else there, and Kozlov has NSA levels of encryption on his data.”

“I hate sitting on my ass doing fuck all.” Luca was frustrated as he crumpled his can.

“You’re here to keep the mayor honest.”

Luca sighed. “I say boo, and he nearly pisses himself. Trust me, he’s staying honest.” He stood and picked up another soda. “Talking of which, I need to leave in ten, I’ve got mayoral babysitting to do.”

My thoughts kept drifting back to Kai. For the first time, I found myself consumed by worry for my partner, a feeling that cut deeper than any professional concern. Kai’s safety weighed on my mind, a constant, nagging presence that refused to be ignored. Had Kai planted the chip without raising suspicion? I wished I could reach out, to check in with him, but I knew that wasn’t an option so I paced for a while.

My earpiece buzzed. “Sierra Base to Sierra Two?” Ethan’s voice was as clear as if he were in the next room.

“Sierra Two receiving.”

“It’s in place and reading.”

“Copy.”

I breathed a sigh of relief—if the chip was planted and data was being read, then that meant it hadn’t been found yet, so Kai had been safe when he’d placed it.

This wasn’t proof of life, but it was enough to take the edge off.

Images began to arrive in the secure inbox—stills from the internal security cameras that were being downloaded to Swim Central. Some had notes—IDs that Ethan and the team had made.

“Sierra Base to Sierra Two,” Ethan said, his tone urgent on the secure line.

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