Page 77 of Tasting Fire
“They’re both technical geniuses. And to say they’re mildly competitive is the understatement of the century. They have some ongoing scorecard about which of them gets asked to solve people’s problems.”
Emmy shook her head. “Good to know ego doesn’t drive anything you do, Jonah.”
“Hey,” he said, “you’re in Steele Ridge because of my ego.”
“Maybe not for long,” she said under her breath, and Cash squeezed her shoulder.
“So what’s up?” Jonah asked.
“Did you hear about yesterday’s SWAT call-out?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Maggie and Captain Styles keep me looped in because…”
“Because you give them a shit-ton of money.”
“I don’t ask for special info.” He gave an easy shrug. “But I also don’t turn it down when it’s offered.”
“Then you’ve probably already heard Emmy stepped down.”
Jonah’s easygoing expression tightened. “Yeah. I planned to track you down today and talk to you about it.”
Emmy waved him off. “You can chew me out later. Right now, we need your help on something else.”
Jonah gestured toward the couch. “Let’s sit down—”
“We might want to do this in your tech cave,” Cash said.
Jonah sighed. “Only wanted for my technical prowess. It’s my lot in life.”
Tessa held out her arms to Emmy for Badger and the women exchanged the dog like he was an infant. “Y’all go on back. I’m happy to get everyone tea or something else to drink.”
Although Cash could really use a beer, he knew that was a beverage Jonah no longer stocked in his home. The first time Cash brought a six-pack as his contribution to an all-night gaming marathon, Jonah had pointed him back toward his truck and said, “You can’t bring that in here.”
They’d never talked about the reason, but Cash had deduced that it had something to do with Tessa and her past.
Jonah led Cash and Emmy back to the massive room that housed all his computer equipment. Emmy turned a circle, ogling the array of hardware, monitors, and other crap Cash couldn’t begin to name. “Wow,” she said, “you could command NASA operations from here.”
“Don’t tempt him,” Cash said.
They sat in a trio of low black leather chairs with rounded bottoms. Gaming chairs. Jonah was a helluva gamer, but he’d also created Steele Survivor, one of the most popular video games of all time. Which was exactly the reason Jonah had won this point in the Steele Twins Wimbledon.
“Can you somehow get us information about a particular game of Call of Duty?”
“Thisdoeshave something to do with that call-out.”
“The kid got swatted.”
“Dumbshits,” Jonah muttered as Tessa came in carrying a tray of ice tea. Not just squatty glasses of ice and brown liquid, but elegant highballs garnished with lemon, berries, and mint.
“Meaning kids are doing the same kinds of stunts you and Micki used to pull,” Tessa said mildly. “And sometimes still pull.”
“I never—”
Tessa shot him a pointed look, and Jonah shut his trap. “What are you looking for?” he asked Emmy and Cash.
“Someone else in the game obviously made the call so the police would target Jesse. We want to know who else was playing in that game.”
Jonah rubbed a hand over his stubbly jaw. “You think this was more than just a kid’s prank?”
