Page 128 of Maddox

He shook his head. “Tell me another lie. I saw the way you were looking at her.”

I barely shot him a look, trying my best to keep my attention on the screens. Chuck was working fast, using some sort of computer application to try to unlock the other files while also working out a possible encryption of the single file I’d managed to open. “She’s my extraction. Remember?”

“Uh-huh. From what, four months ago? I think she’s more than that now. You might as well admit it.” His jesting should piss me off, but it didn’t.

That’s because he was right. I’d been unable to get my mind off her for even a few seconds while also wanting to wrap my hands around her neck for being so careless with her life. Including tonight.

“She seems nice. I won’t allow the fact she digs you to change my opinion.” Kage laughed again, his smile finally fading. “You should come out to Colorado sometime.”

“Maybe someday.”

He could sense I wasn’t in the mood for chitchat. “Did you speak to Gray and let him know she’s here?”

“Yeah, I did. That’s when he mentioned someone is actively attempting to find her location.”

“Alfaro.”

“I don’t think so. At this point, he’s secure in thinking he’s off the radar or immune to prosecution. There have been a few indictments, but unless the Feds and the justice department are purposely keeping something about the man locked down, they don’t have a true case against him. Or anyone else for that matter.”

“I thought what you provided was a smoking gun.”

“We thought that too,” I admitted. “What we realized is the people on the list doing business with Alfaro are all low-level players.”

“Taking the fall on purpose.”

“Exactly. Meanwhile, Alfaro is casually eliminating the last of his enemies. I think he tasked someone in whatever alliance he formed to hunt her down.”

“She mentioned she wrote an article with detailed notes. Unpublished?” Kage asked.

“Yeah, and it’s going to stay that way.”

“You could use it to lure this person into the light.”

I threw him a look. “What the hell did she say to you, because that’s what she wants to do.”

“It might become necessary if what you’re thinking is true.”

As I studied Kage, I bristled even though I knew he was right. However, I refused to budge. Doing so would place Charmaine’s life in the kind of danger I feared I couldn’t stop.

“You were right,” Chuck said out of the blue.

Kage and I shifted our attention to where he was sitting.

“Meaning?” I asked.

He glanced up from the screen. “The message you managed to open was nothing but a signature. Typical for hackers and radicals.”

“How so?” Kage leaned over the table, studying the screen.

“Every hacker has one. They use it on the dark web to brag about their successes. In this case I think the person was building a resume in the creation of the lists on this drive.” Chuck rolled his chair back so we could take a better look. He pointed to what the encryption application had determined. “His or her claim to fame is in how the data was protected. But I suspect he might have hacked into someone’s computer to gather additional data, maybe to use as blackmail. Maybe this drug lord you mentioned has no clue or sanctioned the hacks. My guess is whatever is in those files is highly dangerous to dozens of people one way or the other. I can’t tell the responsible party right now. Except for one glaring clue. Does the name Raptor mean anything to you?”

“Raptor?” Kage repeated, taking a sharp breath.

“Yep. Catchy.”

Kage and I rose to our full height, immediately looking each other in the eyes. A smile curled on Kage’s face. This wasn’t a coincidence.

Raptor. The piece of shit.

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