Page 56 of Forged in Deception

Not that she’d ever trust a phone owned by Senera, if she was paranoid enough to believe that her cell phone could be bugged.

“Yo, bro!” the deep voice on the other end of the line boomed.

It was his brother, Ben, and he suddenly wished he’d picked up with one of his usual, more colorful, greetings.

Alas, his opportunity had slipped away.

“Hey, what’s up? Finally someone remembers I’m still alive,” he said, releasing a yawn.

“I remembered,” Ben retorted. “I’ve been busy. I’ve been digging into this Dr. Daman Bajwa character.”

Now, that was something. Asher twisted the gray cord between his fingers, waiting.

“His history is a lot more complicated than it seems on his Senera website bio, that’s for sure. He’s spoken publicly about his family history in business back in India. His father was some fancy-pants businessman, super rich, all the rest. But as it turns out, the story didn’t end there. Apparently, dear old dad lost the entire family fortune and his good name due to the dot-com crash, and in particular, his own reckless spending. DamanBajwa’s father’s last name is actually Kapoor. But Daman Jr. wanted a fresh start in America, with no baggage for anyone to Google.

“First, though, he had to get to the United States. To bring in the money to get himself through an international grad school program, he got involved with some seriously shady business dealings back in the old country.”

“Shady how?”

“He was never convicted of anything personally, but he helped manage a call center that was exposed as a front for insurance fraud. Oh, and did I mention they specialized in targeting the elderly in North America?”

“That’s insane.”

“Yep. And of course, after all of that, he legally changed his last name to Bajwa.”

Asher’s mind was racing. “No way. I wonder if Karlin–my client, I mean–knows anything about this.”

“I highly doubt it,” Ben said proudly. “Took me a ton of digging to get this info. I doubt even the big bosses at Senera Pharmaceuticals would have been willing to take on the risk of employing him if they knew.”

“Well, it explains some things. Mainly, why Bajwa is so desperate to be the pioneer behind DX8. It’s the chance at redemption he’s probably been looking for his entire life. His family, too. Thanks for the help.”

“No need to thank me. You know I live for this stuff,” Ben said.

“Can’t relate.”

Though the two men were twins, Ben was pretty much Asher’s opposite. Where Asher liked to get into the thick of things and investigate on the ground, Ben usually preferred to hole up in his office, running software and searching databases. His skills served Forge Brothers Security well.

“So,” Asher continued, “how’s the wedding chaos going?”

“I’m trying to stay away from it as much as possible,” Ben said gruffly. “Though I was forced to learn, against my will, that Bristol got her way and they’re doing black bridesmaid’s dresses.”

“How does Grace feel about it all?”

Ben paused, letting out a long sigh before answering. “She’s driving me bonkers. She’s trying to act like she’s totally not hinting about me proposing, but as you know, she has about as much tact as, well, you.”

“You’re right, I don’t have any tact,” Asher agreed. “So, I’ll just say it. Ask that girl to marry you already and stop being a wimp.”

Ben groaned. “Even Dolly wants me to hurry up and marry her.”

Asher laughed. The older woman ran the daytime security crew at FBS, and Grace’s chaotic office management style often drove her crazy. “Why?”

“She thinks that maybe Grace will quit and become a housewife.”

“You know, she might,” Asher mused. “I can see that. Knowing Grace, she’ll be all in. Martha Stewart in hot pink heels and some kind of designer apron that costs a week’s pay.”

Ben sighed dramatically, but Asher could imagine him smiling on the other end of the line. His brother loved Grace deeply, even if it had taken him forever to realize that she was perfect for him.

“Hey, did you ever get in touch with Jacob?” Ben asked.

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