Page 34 of Six
“That was a joke, wasn’t it?” he demanded.
She grinned back. “Maybe,” she said, then spun away. “I need coffee.”
“That was cruel, Salvitto,” he said, following her into the kitchen.
“That’s what you get when you look at me like you want to devour me,” she said over her shoulder as she started up the coffee machine.
“I already know I’m playing with fire when it comes to you, Violetta,” he said, taking a seat at her kitchen table. He set his coffee mug down and sprawled his legs in front of him, looking every inch the man he was.
“And that’s the point, you shouldn’t be playing with me at all,” she retorted. He remained silent as she poured whole milk into the stainless-steel pitcher and started steaming it. By the time it was the right temperature, her two espresso shots were done, and she poured everything into her favorite cup—a pale yellow mug with an adorable little chicken on it made by a potter in England.
“Why?” Gavin asked. She didn’t need any clarification on the question; she’d known it would come eventually. He wanted to know why, when they were obviously attracted to each other, she kept pushing him away.
She didn’t join him at the table, and instead, she walked back out to the living room, picking up the paper he’d set down as she passed. “What paperwork?” she called out.
There was a loud sigh followed by the scrape of his chair on the kitchen floor. Appearing in the doorway, holding his coffee again, Gavin gestured to the document in her hand. “Someone will have to file the suit against Shanti Joy. I thought I’d help get the paperwork started.”
Six glanced down at the sheet she held. It was the standard checklist her team used to ensure that everything was in order before filing a suit. He’d made notes in the table indicating that he’d already created a record for the case. He’d also cataloged the interview transcripts and the pictures and had started collecting past precedence on prior alien tort cases.
“Like I said, we’ll need someone else to file it, but I thought it might help to start pulling things together.”
She stared at him. How long had he been up? The case research alone would have taken a few hours. She cleared her throat and looked away. “Thank you,” she said, then quickly continued. “Based on this, I take it the transcripts came in from MI6?”
He nodded and walked past her and back into her office. She followed behind, not used to being the person being updated on an op she was running. Sure, technically it wasn’t an op in the true sense of the word, but she was treating it as one—without all the resources of AISE.
“I already emailed them to you. It’s more detailed than what we could make out watching the videos of the interviews. The situation was about as bad as it could get without the women actually being killed. There’s confirmation that there were more incidences than the ones in the pictures, although I’m sure that’s not a surprise. And do you remember that part of Candra’s interview that neither of us could quite hear no matter how high we turned the volume up?”
She nodded.
“It was her confirming that she was one of the ones in the photos.”
Six sank in her chair and let the anger and revulsion flow through her—it wasn’t worth fighting, nor did she wish to. “Heather will want to file the suit,” she said. She was feeling much more bloodthirsty than her statement might imply. But since she couldn’t do what she really wanted to do to the men involved, at least she could ensure they paid for their crimes.
“Jeremy’s sister? That’s fitting,” Gavin said, taking a seat on the opposite side of her desk where he’d set up his own computer and makeshift workstation.
“Any chance you got started on the phone access?” She felt guilty for even asking. He’d done so much while she’d been asleep that she didn’t want to make him feel as though he hadn’t done enough if, in fact, he hadn’t started the process. And then there was the not-so-small fact that he’d done it allwhile she’d been sleeping. She’d needed the nap, but it felt as if she’d let him down.
He didn’t seem to notice her reticence and answered as if they were truly a team working together on a case. “I got Franklin’s number from Cyn this morning and called him. He’s started the official warrant process, but I didn’t start the unofficial part. I’m very good at navigating intelligence and data, but hacking isn’t my strong suit. I didn’t want to start bumbling around and risk making a mistake.”
“I can take care of that. I’m pretty good, but if it looks above my skill set, I have someone I can call in.” Lucy James and her husband, Brian DeMarco, had become good friends with the members of the club ever since Cyn and Nora had met them on an op the year before. There was no one better in the business than those two and Brian’s twin sister, Naomi.
He nodded. “I also want to look into the blackmail angle. It could be nothing, but…”
“But it’s worth looking into. Are you going to run a check on the financials of Julian Newcross and Austin and Kaden Fogarty?”
“My people are doing it,” he answered, bringing a smile to her face.
“You havepeoplenow?”
He smiled back. “It seems Franklin has a soft spot for you, and sinceyouare my op, as you pointed out, I now officially have people.”
She let out a small laugh at that. “Well, let me know what your people find. In the meantime, I’m going to get started on the phone records. I also want to identify that fourth man. You may be onto something with the blackmail, but even if that’s not the case, he’s involved, and we need to know who he is.”
“While I’m waiting for the financials, I’ll keep plugging away on this,” he said, holding up the checklist. Normally, it would take weeks—weeks they didn’t have—to pull together everything they needed and draft the complaint. Getting started now was efficient, but to Six, it also spoke of Gavin’s commitment to the women, to doing what was right. She might be just an assignment for him, but a little something inside her was starting to accept that if she let him, there was a chance they could be more. There was a chance that they could be true partners. And that thought was as fascinating as it was terrifying.
Ignoring the unease bubbling inside her, Six picked up her phone and shot off a text to Heather asking who Jeremy’s cell provider was. Two minutes later, she had her answer and was debating with herself the best way to gain access to the system. There were ways to get in that wouldn’t trigger any alerts, but it wasn’t a walk in the park, and she’d need to be careful.
“How close were you and Jeremy?” Gavin asked as she continued to puzzle out her impending hacking approach.
