Page 68 of The Lies We Tell
We walk past Spark’s room. He and Iris had a disagreement in the yard earlier that resulted in a furious Spark carrying her back into the clubhouse to sort things out. Given Spark’s room is next-door, I stepped inside mine to make sure nothing got out of hand. As soon as I realized there was nothing going on beyond a whole lot of fucking, I got out of Dodge.
Vex flips on machines and the tech room lights up like the deck of theEnterprise. Perhaps I’m aging myself saying that. I wonder what Briar would make of it. She doesn’t seem to care about the age gap. Neither do I.
“So what do you know?” I ask
Vex opens the files on his laptop. They’re organized. Color coded. Detailed.
For a moment I’m entertained. “Strikes me that you have a million and one options with the skills you have. How did you end up full-time on the payroll of an MC?”
“Special invitation from Camelot, King’s dad. I was messing around on the dark web. Hooked up with this group that would hack into places and hold them to ransom. Tried to pick organizations that weren’t good social citizens. Corrupt politicians, that kind of shit. They were shit at paying me my share though. Then one day I get wind of them messing with the idea of hacking the Iron Outlaws. I figured the club would owe me big if I stopped it. So I showed up one Tuesday night and asked to see the man in charge.”
I grin. “How old were you?”
“Seventeen. Spoke to Camelot. Told him what they were planning. He asked how much I would have made from the gig. I told him, and he said he’d pay me that if I could lock the club up tight. So I did. Cellphone encryption. Bank-level security of information. I wired up the clubhouse, their homes. Secured that shit right down. Was even able to show them the attempted data penetration the night they tried to hack. Good as his word, Camelot paid me out and asked if I wanted to join. Let’s just say I had an easier path through prospecting than most, given they all knew I could undo what I’d done and steal their secrets.”
I sit down in the chair opposite and ease back. “You never thought about doing something legit? With those skills you could make a fortune.”
Vex laughs; his rich bass echoes around the room. “I’d get a suit instead of a cut, an office instead of a cupboard, and a nine-to-five instead of this. Never regretted the choice once.”
“Fair. I get that feeling.”
“You regret the army?” Vex asks.
Of course he thinks that’s what I mean, when I’m talking about the ATF. “It was good for me. But I was drifting before I found this.”
Vex nods. “I’ve managed to get a couple of pictures of who Joseph Hosea was with, the day King and Spark saw them at the diner bothering Iris.”
“You did?”
His fingers fly over his keyboard. “Went and asked Bev, who runs the diner, if she had those Righteous Brother shitheads on her security footage.”
“You know Bev?”
“Wired her camera system. She kept getting broken in to. I’ve been trying to trace them by searching the web for their names.”
I know a system that can deal with that. “Want to send them to me too? I’ll see if I can help. I have a friend who’s conversant with facial recognition.” I can also show them to Briar. See if she recognizes either of them from the time when she was ...
I find it hard to say words likecaptiveandabducted, even if it’s only to myself.
He clicks away, and my phone vibrates in my pocket. “Done. Once we know who they are, we can hack bank information. How do these guys get paid? The club has a whole cottage industry to launder everything we have, but I wonder if these guys are quite as sophisticated. Could probably hack his cellphone if we wanted.”
“For shits and giggles, let’s say we do.”
It would be illegal for a government office to hack a phone without clear cause. At least that’s what they tell civilians while they do it all day and twice on Sundays for terrorist threats and subversive organizations like ours.
It would be hard for them to prove a cause right now.
But if Vex can do it and we can provide information to the FBI on their next intended victim, it could be huge.
“Okay.” Vex squints at his screen. “The truck has travelled around Millhurst, Adelphia, and Howell. Wonder if he’s looking for something.”
“Property, maybe? If they are trying to get a property footing here, we need to know.”
Vex nods. “I can check land and property listings. See what we get.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see what I can do with those images. Thanks, Vex.”
“No worries. You okay, preacher man? You’re looking tired.”
