Page 17 of One Cry Too Loud
“The entire point of Nefarious is that you wouldn’t know,” she said. “It’s that he slinks around in the shadows, unseen, unheard, untouched. He’s a ghost who is gone before you know he’s there. All that’s ever left is the damage he’s done.” She signed and looked down at the table. “Trust me. I helped build that monster.”
“You don’t even know that it’s your boyfriend,” Tag said.
“Myex-boyfriend,” the Englishwoman corrected him. “And I know it’s him. I recognize his handiwork. I can feel it.”
“Fine,” Taylor said, finally pushing himself from the table as he looked around at us. “It doesn’t matter who it is, though. I’m not counting on Nefarious not knowing I’m with you guys. I hope he does know. I hope he knows I have this phone with me. It would take a team of government trained hackers weeks to break through the securities I’ve put on this baby. Wanna know how I know?” He smiled again. “Because we tested it. That’s right. As opposed to you guys, we didn’t get cancelled.”
“We didn’t get cancelled,” Kat said.
“Fine. Canned. Pink slipped. Wiped out of existence. Whatever you want to call it, it didn’t happen to us,” Tag said. “We still have access to the best computers and the most highly trained people in the world. All of those people have one thing in common. They’re all worse than me. I do better, I do more, than all of them put together. They couldn’t get into this phone, and neither can Nefarious.” he dropped the phone on the table like he was a petulant child hoping to prove a misguided point. “Besides, you’re all focusing on the wrong things. You’re asking the wrong questions.”
“And you’re about to tell us what the right questions are, I presume?’ I asked, my jaw tight.
“Well,question. It’s just one. I misspoke earlier. I guess my excitement in proving my point.”
“Just say what you want to say,” I muttered.
“The dark web. Nefarious is all over it,” Tag said. “And he’s got a proposition.”
“A proposition?’ Kat asked. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“You shouldn’t,” Tag said.
“Oh God. Is it Cindy?’ Holly asked as her face went from pale to green with sick worry. “Does his proposition involve her?”
“No,” Tag said quickly, shaking his head. “It’s nothing like that. In fact, there’s been no peep of Cindy Masters on the dark web at all. This proposition involves you.” He looked at us. “All of you, save for Holly.”
“Why not me?” Holly asked.
“I’m not sure. Maybe Nefarious is your boyfriend after all. Maybe he doesn’t want to hurt you,” Tag said.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she repeated.
“That’s not important,” Kat jumped in. “What do you mean when you say he doesn’t want to hurt her? What’s the proposition?”
“There’s a bounty on your heads,” Tag said. “You, Jack, and Nate. He wants you dead, and he’s reaching out to any interested parties in the Southeast with the skillset to carry out the deed.”
“What’s he offering?” Nate asked. “I’m sure I can beat it.”
“He’s not offering money,” Tag said. “He’s offering something much more valuable.”
“What’s more valuable than money?” Nat asked, narrowing his eyes.
“His services,” Tag said. “A favor from Nefarious. It’s damn near priceless.”
“Which means it’s likely a very popular offer,” I surmised.
“Which also means every bastard with a taste for blood, no moral compass, and an internet connection is probably looking for us as we speak,” Kat said.
“Which alsoalsomeans this just got a hell of a lot more complicated,” Tag said. “Good thing you’ve got me.”
As the words left his mouth, an arrow flew through the window of Miller’s Coffee and Whiskey Sling. It whistled through the air, barely missing Kat’s head and driving itself into the wall, shattering a mason jar lined against the bar.
Looking out the window, in the direction of the arrow, I saw a man in sunglasses with a huge bow in his hand walking toward us. This was no accident. He was coming for us. He was coming to take us out.
“Wanna repeat what you just said about us being lucky to have you,” I muttered to Tag. “Or about how impressive the security around that phone is?” Tag remained silent as I leveled my gaze at the archer coming toward us as my mind started to work on the situation at hand. “Yeah. I didn’t think so.”
CHAPTER 12
