Page 13 of Miki

The irate looking driver shouting something as he gave me the finger.

I did not know what he was saying, but I could imagine.

My body’s fight-or-flight response sent me into a tailspin of horror at how close I’d come to being in a head-on collision with a van.

My heart pounded and my breaths came out in short, shallow puffs.

I sucked panicked air into my lungs.

Bloody idiot! Almost got yourself killed!

With my eyes glued to the road in front of me, and my hands holding the wheel in a death grip so it couldn’t drift, I finally made it home in one piece.

Yawning wide, I parked outside my house and slumped back in the seat.

God, that was a close call. If I wasn’t more careful, I wouldn’t need to worry about anyone discovering my investigation and trying to kill me. I’d end up killing myself first.

I shook my head.

Stupid eejit!

Eventually, when I stopped chiding myself for my stupidity, I hurried inside the house, determined to get some sleep. I desperately needed to recharge my batteries, as I had important plans for this evening, and I couldn’t mess them up by being too tired to think straight. Things were dangerous enough without me adding to it by not taking proper care of myself.

Until now, I had done nothing illegal in my investigations. Tonight, that would change.

As I readied for bed and brushed my teeth, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The woman staring back at me wasn’t the same one I was used to seeing. This woman had a hard glint in her eyes that I didn’t recognise. She looked a little tougher than before, or maybe she was just a little less soft, a little less gullible, and a lot more jaded.

Sighing heavily, I had to acknowledge the fact that after the revelations of the past week; it was no wonder I’d changed.

Well, if the truth be known, until a week ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed of breaking the law I had sworn to uphold to get evidence on a case. Of course, until then, I hadn’t dreamed that I was working with corrupt police. In fact, I really never believed there were any at my station. Oh, I knew there had to be some in the force; I wasn’t that naïve, just not in my station and not among those I knew.

Shaking my head, I couldn’t believe the depths I was going to for the information I needed to end that corruption. If I was discovered, I could lose my career and end up in jail. Tears sprung to my eyes. I just hoped that wherever my dad was, if he was watching me, he understood what I was going to do.

“Sorry, Dad,” I whispered, and hoped he would forgive me.

Breaking into Mathieson’s office was definitely not how we had foreseen my career as a detective going.

CHAPTER 6

MIKI

GLASGOW – THAT AFTERNOON – CLOSING IN

Afew hours after returning home for our meeting with Simpson, Vlad and I were headed to Glasgow, with Marko in tow.

Sitting in the back of the SUV while Vlad drove as usual, Marko and I looked over the blueprints to the building which housed Mathieson’s Law Office and discussed the plan for the night ahead.

As expected, the moment I provided Marko with Aiden Mathieson’s name, he had got to work and within minutes we discovered Mathieson was an old-school friend of Simpson’s wife. That was their connection, yet we still hadn’t found the connection between Mathieson, Glowacki, and us. Marko had wanted a few more days to delve into Mathieson further and find out. However, I was sick of waiting.

It was strange because usually I took my time with everything. I liked to dot all the I’s and cross all the t’s and thoroughly plan for every eventuality before going ahead with anything. However, something compelled me to just go for it today. It felt like someone was tugging on an invisible rope wrapped around my mind, pulling all my thoughts towards Mathieson and that building.

The idea was ridiculous, yet I found myself unable to shake it off.

For years, this guy had been hiding behind the scenes, messing with us, no doubt laughing at us. The unknown puppet master pulling the strings of our enemies and playing us all for fools. But he wasn’t unknown anymore, and I wouldn’t allow his interference in my Brotherhood or Glowacki’s any longer without consequence. We’d played by his rules long enough. It was time to change them.

Besides, we were due to meet with a contact in Glasgow in a couple of days anyway, so heading up a bit earlier felt like the right thing to do.

My fists clenched as I scowled at the picture of Mathieson that Marko had sent to my phone.

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