Page 115 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. Kades and Yair now considered Baylyn family. “Yeah, she’s good. Send me everything you found on Trent.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m speaking to Shadow Court in the morning. I need to end this shit.”
“Trent reached out tonight. I was going to hit you in the morning.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“’Cause you said you needed today. Kades told me to let you have that.”
Yeah they really fucked with Baylyn heavy. Enough that they didn’t want to fuck up our vibe today. I respected that.
“What did he do?”
“Check your recent job requests,” Yair said. “It came through the network. The last one that came through is him.”
I set my glass down, grabbed my laptop, and flipped it open, navigating to the secure portal. The job request sat at the top of the queue, unread. I clicked it open, scanning the details.
The job came through as an encrypted message like always, buried beneath layers of security, routed through multiple dead drops and anonymized channels.
It was a high-profile mark. International arms dealer. Deep pockets. Dangerous, but an easy, clean job.
I scanned the details with my mind already working through logistics. Contracts like this came through every now and then but were mostly the type I took when I wanted a high payout for a quick job.
But something about it was off.
The payout was high. The job wasn’t much of a challenge, but the client was new. I didn’t know them and with a payout that high in our world, that was a problem.
“This is Trent.”
“Yeah, hang on.”
A few seconds later, a message popped up. Trent thought he was smart enough to bury the source under enough layers to keep me from finding out it was him because typically I wouldn’t check unless something was off about the job. Yair found a routing signature from a transaction Trent made months ago, a tiny thread leading straight to him.
Yair continued. “He set this up thinking you wouldn’t check but I traced the transaction. He layered it well, but he left a signature in the routing. He knows you wouldn’t refuse this kind of job. That’s how he planned to get to you.”
“This is exactly why he’s in this shit now.”
“Yeah, sloppy work,” Yair confirmed.
“I’ll hit you in the morning.”
“You good?”
“Yeah, I’m straight. Just ready to get this over with.”
I ended the call with my brother and sent a message requesting a meeting with Shadow Court. Twenty minutes later I had a time and location. Once I got their approval, I was ending this shit. Even if they refused me, I was still putting a bullet in Trent’s head. He wanted my attention, now he fucking had it.
I was annoyedat the location I was sent for the meeting. I pulled into the abandoned parking lot showcasing cracked asphalt with weeds and nothing else around. I would basically be fully exposed, which was intentional on their part.
Two black SUVs sat idling in the center of the lot with their tinted windows keeping the people inside hidden. Outside one of the vehicles, four men were posted up and heavily armed, dressed in all black. They were just as intentional as the location with their presence offering a silent warning.
Do something stupid and die.
I cut the engine, grabbed my laptop from the passenger seat, and stepped out of the car. My stride was confident as I approached the SUV. The men moved immediately, blocking my path. One of them stepped forward to pat me down.
I didn’t resist. This was the procedure. After a quick but thorough search, he nodded toward the backseat of the SUV, pulling the door open. I slid inside and frowned hard as fuck. Carter was sitting in the backseat across from a Shadow Court member. The vehicle interior had two rows facing each other instead of the typical interior.
