Page 201 of Carrick
Then he turned toward the door. “Come on. The others are waiting. And we’ve got a hell of a mess to sort through.”
As he stepped back inside, I stood on the porch a few seconds longer, letting the breeze brush over my skin, Carrick’s hoodie warm and grounding around my body.
And for the first time since my brother died, I let it sink in that I wasn’t alone. Not in my grief. Not in this fight. Not anymore.
When I walked into the living room, they were already gathered—Niko, Jax, Sully, Deacon, and Carrick. The furniture had been pushed slightly out of place; the room rearranged not for comfort, but for business. Maps and files and one of Jax’s iPads were spread across the coffee table. The light streaming through the blinds cut harsh lines across their faces, and no one was smiling.
I crossed the room, moving without hesitation, and sat on the edge of the loveseat between Jax and Sully. Carrick shifted subtly where he stood, arms crossed near the mantle. Closer now. Within reach if I needed him. But not crowding. He didn’t have to. I could feel him in the room like gravity.
Niko didn’t waste time. “So. Jax has managed to decrypt a portion of the files on the flash drive that we got from Rayden, and… it’s a lot. It looks like he just grabbed whatever he could during the window that he had, so it’s been difficult to piece together, but what we have figured out paints a pretty bleak picture. We’ve got a problem.”
No one moved.
He gestured to the materials in front of him. “The Dom Krovi’s reach is deeper than we thought. We’ve identified at least three new shell corporations within the larger umbrella of Revenant Logistics that look to be tied to their laundering operations, and one of them is directly linked to a city official who just so happens to be on the mayor’s finance committee.”
That earned a low whistle from Sully. “So we’re not just dealing with gangsters. We’re dealing with people in suits who shake hands on television.”
“Exactly,” Niko said. “Which means media coverage is useless. We can’t leak. We can’t pressure. Not until we know how many are compromised.”
Deacon leaned forward, elbows on knees, his jaw tight. “They’re dug in. Deep.”
“Deeper than anticipated, certainly,” Niko agreed. “Rayden wasn’t exaggerating. ‘Companies within companies.’ This is a spiderweb—and every time we trace one thread, three more branch off.”
Carrick swore under his breath.
“We’ve got names,” Niko continued. “Potential leaks inside the police department. Two judges. A private security firm based out of Chicago that’s laundering money and hiding trafficked assets under the guise of missing persons cases.”
Jax tapped on his iPad and turned it toward me. “One of their shell companies bought a property half a mile from your old apartment. They’re turning it into a supposed ‘rehab facility.’ It’s a front. Three people have already gone in and haven’t come back out.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“How long?” I asked. “How long have they been operating this way?”
“Years,” Niko said. “Decades, maybe. This goes beyond Kansas City.”
Jax spoke up again, fingers still swiping across data streams. “They’ve got patterns. Behavior markers. Even with new shell names, they still use the same tactics. Carrick noticed it in the offshore accounts—they cycle the same numbers every twelve weeks.”
I turned to Carrick, eyebrows raised.
He shrugged, jaw still tight. “Didn’t think it’d matter until I saw it match four different banks. They’re smart. But they’re arrogant.”
Niko closed the file in front of him. “None of this changes our mission. It just makes it more complicated. Harder. But we’re not walking away.”
Sully grunted. “Didn’t plan to.”
Deacon gave a single, quiet nod.
Jax murmured, “Let them dig deep. We’ll dig deeper.”
“And they’ve already made one fatal mistake,” Niko said, a grim smile crossing his lips. He glanced at Carrick. “They may have taken Rayden out, but they didn’t make sure they finished the job with Carrick and Quinn. And I promise you, that mistake will be their undoing.”
Carrick said nothing.
He just looked at me. And I knew.
This wasn’t just a fight against the Dom Krovi anymore. It was personal. For all of us.
Niko exhaled and stood. “We’ve got time. Not much. But enough to get ahead of their next move. Take the day. Regroup. Then we’ll get with Quinn and figure out our next steps.”
