The Life - Rebirth (The Life 4)

“Why the rush to find this guy?”

“Logan, do you know what a level ten grandmaster is?”

“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“They’re damn near superhuman. If what Track says is true, then it would be a waste to let this kid die. Think, Jason and Nia, and all they can do.”

“Yeah, you never got around to telling us what all that entails.” I saw Jason getting twitchy in his seat and decided to can it for now.

“Later, right now, I have to go find this kid.” I walked over to the bank of computers and fired mine up to get started,

I could feel the blood singing in my veins. If all that Track had described is on point, then the kid is a gem. I went through the basics first, and sure enough, there’s a no-name competitor out there. No wonder he’d flown under my radar; I had to dig deep just to find that little tidbit. From there, I ran into a wall, though, which confirmed Track’s assertion that the kid is good.

I was at that shit for hours before getting a nibble and then walked right into another wall. “Who the hell is this kid?”

“Are you trying to break those keys?” Crap, I got so lost in the zone I forgot anyone else was here.

“Nah, this kid!” I’m amazed, and we haven’t even met yet. I don’t have people doing shit for me because I can’t do it myself, but because there’s too much work so it needs to be shared so we can move faster.

When it comes to hacking, I can do it with my eyes closed and have been for years. In fact, I can do everything I ask the men and women under me, well under Lyon now, to do. “What’re you working on, Quinn.”

“Lyon told me to look for the Luna Fratelli woman.” Well, shit, why didn’t I think of that?

“Any particular reason?”

“Track said she was acquainted with the UnSub; I guess I’m going to try to find out who her friends are.”

“Sounds good!” That’s why he’s our fearless leader. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that shit.

I didn’t give up on my search, though, and went through my own database and found the chatrooms associated with the organization. I could easily ask Track for the contact, where he usually meets this guy online, or I can hack Track and get that information. But if he wanted me to get it that way, he would’ve told me.

It’s a hard line to cross to betray a friend, and I’m glad that at his relatively young age, he has the presence of mind to think like that. Still, if push comes to shove….

LYON

These two have been at it all night and now again in the morning. “I guess the kid kicked both your asses because you ain’t found shit.”

“You can look at it that way. Or you can surmise that someone this good will be of great help to the squad when we bring him in.”

“You’ll have to find him first, Mancini…. what the? Mengele, what do you want?”

I side-eyed her because she’s been worse since we started living on the island. One of my hopes was that since we’re so far away from the mainland and she doesn’t have access to most things, that she’d calm down with the mad scientist bullshit, but asshole Mancini is like her little errand boy, who runs to get her shit whenever she asks.

She climbed into my lap because, in two years, she’d grown half an inch, short like her mother, and still as deadly. Anyway, she’s still tiny, so she likes to climb into daddy’s lap like she’s a toddler. Plus, I think she has beef with the triplets because they’re still young enough to do that and treat my lap like a carryall for cute little munchkins.

“Nia said to give you this, daddy.” She passed me one of those computer sticks; probably had world secrets on it, knowing her and her little gang. “What is it?

“Something Uncle Hank’s been looking for.” Mancini’s head popped up at his name, and he lost the scowl on his face, which turned into a smile.

“What is it, Catalina?” He walked over and held his hand out. My precious daughter passed it to him, yawned, and jumped down off my lap. She sighed in that way she does when she’s calling one of us stupid without saying it in so many words.

“Old flight plans.”

“Uh? What’re you talking about?”

“New Hampshire to Sicily, old flight plans. She said she went back months to find any flights, and she found some.”

“How did you…?” How do I keep forgetting the damn dog and her spyware? Mancini had taken away her rights and removed the little listening device she kept in this room because she was clasping hands with the women to do shit they had no business doing.