Page 44 of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

“Perfect. See you when you get back.”

Firing up the laptop, I only have to wait as long as it takes me to log in. With working remotely, I’d gone for fast, not cheap. Now, with the weight of finding Liv pressing down on all of us, getting heavier each minute we leave her swinging out there on her own, it’s a damn good thing I did. Patience isnota virtue in the brotherhood. My phone as a hotspot to connect with Wi-Fi, the computer screen soon fills with my email homepage and I click on the new email.

There it is, the goddamn file. I move the cursor and click to download. The thing is massive and despite the lightning-fast processor, takes longer to load than I’d like, which I had my way, would be instantaneous.

“Gah!”I slam my fist down on the table. The waiting is driving me nuts.

“Calm the fuck down,” Duke orders. “Ain’t gonna load faster because you throw a hissy-fit.”

He’s right. I know he’s right, but… “It’s easy to tell me to calm when it’s not your woman in the hands of a psychopath.”

Our prez walks over to clamp a hand on my shoulder, squeezing just enough to get me paying attention. “You were busy tending to business, so you don’t know. But it was. Know damn well you heard I took three bullets to save Doc and Peaches. I fuckin’ know. Boss fuckin’ knows. You ain’t alone in this. Now I will repeat, and I fuckin’ hate to repeat myself. Calm.The fuck. Down.”

Given the time it took for him to get me to pull my shit together, I look back to check the screen to check how much is left to load and notice the file is ready to open. I double click on the icon and video feed fills my screen.

Each video is timestamped in the lower left corner, which means something’ll finally go easier for us. Using the timestamp on the text Liv sent me the day she texted ruffled by her first confrontation with the man, I scan back and back until the date in question shows in the left-hand corner.

I bend in close, scanning every frame with scrutinizing eyes. No way is this bastard gonna get away because I don’t pay close enough attention. A large, black SUV—it looks like a Yukon—drives into frame and turns into a parking spot. Then a tall, broad-shouldered man with brown hair and wearing an expensive suit drops down from the driver’s seat. As he turns, a full brown beard comes into focus.

“Yes,” I hiss. This is it. Michael, the fuck.

“Got something, brother?” Sneak asks, peering over my shoulder.

“That’s him.”

Boss bends in to get a closer look. “Can you enlarge the truck? Get the plate?”

Finger to touchpad, I point the cursor on the license plate and click to zoom. The plate is somewhat distorted from zooming, but we’re pretty sure we got the number and I stand from the chair and offer it up to Blood. He’s a hack wizard. It’s one of the reasons, only one of the myriad, that he’s so damn good at tracking. It won’t take long before he hacks his way into the police mainframe; from there he’ll use their own software to run the numbers.

Watching as his fingers caress the keys at lightning speed, I feel a twinge of hope forming in my gut. It’s too soon, but damn. The man’s talented. No denying it.

At the same time Blood calls, “in,” Boss’s phone dings with a text and the bottom drops out of the whole god damned plan.

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