Page 132 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection
“Oppa! Oppa! Oppa! I was so scared!”
“I have you. I have you, baby. I have you. You’re safe. I’m so proud of you, my brave bee.”
“I don’t want to go home,” she says, peppering my face with kisses. “Want to stay with youz.”
I nod. I want her where I can see her, too.
When Logan and Emily come up the front steps, I hold the door open, then carry my bumble to the elevator. I’m not letting her go and I can’t carry her all the way up to my apartment. She stays wrapped around me, equally unwilling to have any distance between us.
Once we’re in my apartment, I strip off the black sack she wore to be safe on the subway, then wrap her around me again. I carry her to the couch so we can sit and be comfortable, but I don’t let her go.
Logan and Emily sit down on the futon. Emily curls into her daddy’s side.
“Transit cops are pulling the CCTV footage,” Logan says. “But they weren’t hopeful. Although the fuckers gave her a scare, they didn’t do anything criminal. Even if the cops catch them, I’m not sure they can do much more than give them a warning.”
I nod. As soon as she was free to text, Cynnie explained that two men grabbed her as the train neared Lexington Avenue and demanded she come with them. Showing the presence of mind that comes from being a New Yorker, she immediately began screaming. When bystanders intervened, she scooted into a corner, hit her panic button, whipped out her phone, and started a livestream to her two million followers. The two men disappeared into the crowd, but she wasn’t sure they’d left the train. She felt they were still watching her and she was afraid to do much with her phone other than continue the live stream in case they tried to grab her again.
If I’d thought for a second, I’d have checked her damn social media instead of looking for vloggers at the station she was headed to. Once we’re no longer in crisis mode, I’m setting up alerts on every one of her accounts.
“Max, what do you want to do from here?” Logan asks.
“Take the fight to them,” I say. “When Mac checks in and we know everyone’s safe, we hit back. No more hiding. I’d have let the drones and the bullshit in England go. But they’ve tried to grab my girl. DefCon One, buddy.”
Logan nods. “I’m pulling De Leon back in.”
“No argument from me.”
“Let’s go hunting. Where do we start?”
I take a deep breath, the density of Cynnie’s body against my chest pressing on me like the best weighted blanket. Her resourcefulness on the train gives me an idea. “I contact Ness, agree to his terms, start the op, and blow it wide open. Turn a spotlight on the entire fucking thing. Stream it live. All over the internet. Make sure they have nowhere to hide.”
Logan rubs the hand he doesn’t have in Emily’s hair over his face. “What about you? Won’t it expose you?”
“It will,” I admit. “I’ll proxy it as much as fucking possible, but anyone with better skills or resources than me will be able to trace it back.”
“No, Maxie. It paints a huge fucking target on you. And what if it opens you to investigation? What if the feds come knocking on your door?”
“It won’t be on American soil. None of the ops Ness has had me working on have been.”
“What if Interpol comes knocking on your door?”
“Risk I’ve gotta take. I don’t see any other way to turn the tables on them.”
Logan sighs and strokes Emmy’s head. “Okay. For now, okay. But if we come up with a better plan that doesn’t expose you, we go to Plan B.”
“Again, no argument from me. I don’t really want to burn myself, but I don’t know what else to do. Walking away didn’t work. Scorched Earth is all I have left.”
“I’ll help you,” Cynnie says, her voice muffled by my shoulder. I thought she’d fallen asleep, as pliant as her body has gone against mine. “Fairy kei and other kawaii artists can be persecuted, particularly in countries with more restrictive social media, like China. They’re experts at hiding their digital identities. I’ll put out a call over my social media. We’ll have help. You’z see.”
“I believe you, bumble-baby. Thank you.”
She wriggles a little closer. “Anything for you, Oppa.”
I kiss her temple.
twenty-seven
After Logan and Emily leave,Cynnie and I hole up for the day.
