Shiver (Unbreakable Bonds 1)

“Here, Jen. Sit and Rowe will give you the details.” Andrei pushed her down into Hollis’s open chair. He sent a warning look at Lucas who just smiled at him before Andrei returned to his place against the wall behind Rowe. The space helped, but it did nothing to get rid of the feeling that they were on a runaway train racing toward someone doing something incredibly stupid.

Rowe gave Jen a quick rundown of the situation and what little they had managed to learn. Taking a piece of paper and pen from Rowe, she scratched out a few notes in her own unique shorthand. She chewed on her bottom lip, taking in the information and turning it over at lightning speed to look for new angles. If anyone could uncover the identity of the business owner, it would be Jen. She’d told Andrei that she’d acquired her first computer when she was ten and there was very little that she couldn’t accomplish with one. She was an activist, determined to fight for and defend the weak and the helpless. Andrei was just glad Rowe had snatched her up and pulled her into his company. He helped to set boundaries for her, giving her a good cause to fight for that wouldn’t land her in jail or worse. Sure, her techniques weren’t entirely legal and Hollis had been correct when he called her a hacker, but she didn’t care for that term. She preferred researcher. She just didn’t let things like passwords and firewalls stop her.

“Need anything beside the owner?”

“Complete list of employees if you can find it,” Lucas said. Any hostility he might have felt toward the woman seemed to have disappeared as they directed their attention to the problem at hand. “Also, see if the company or any subsidiaries have been purchasing any other land. Lynton and I might not be the only ones who’ve encountered resistance.”

“Areas I should focus on?”

“Anywhere in the loop,” Rowe directed, referring to the I-275 highway that encircled the tri-state area with Cincinnati at its center.

Jen nodded, making a couple of last notes. “Got it.”

“How long will this take?”

“If this guy’s careless or reckless, a day or two.”

“And if he’s not?”

Jen’s eyes darted over to Hollis and then held Rowe’s for several long seconds. “If we’re talking a Nevis LLC buried inside of a Cook Islands trust, I’ll have to be creative. Could take weeks, maybe months. Those darn lawyers have gotten sneaky.”

Rowe nodded. “Get started. Do what you have to.”

Jen jumped up from her seat and swept around the desk to give Andrei one last hug before hurrying out of the room again.

Hollis pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger before rubbing his eyes. “So I’m going to pretend that I never met that woman and didn’t hear that conversation at all.”

“It’s just a little research on the Internet,” Andrei said with a smirk. “She would never do anything illegal.”

“Yeah and I’m the fucking tooth fairy. Don’t give me grief right now, boy toy. I can feel the ulcer forming in my stomach each second I spend with you three.” He glared at all three men and shook his head. “You got anything else for me? Anything useful?”

“No,” Andrei sharply said before anyone could speak up. He had a plan, but he knew that he couldn’t include the cop in it. The man might not always stick to the straight and narrow of things, but Andrei didn’t want to risk him stopping them.

Hollis eyed him for several long seconds before cursing them all and stomping out of the room. Yeah, he knew there was something in the wind, but he also couldn’t do anything to make them admit to it. Worst-case scenario, Lucas just had to call Sarah in to growl at the detective, forcing him to back away. Hollis was trapped.

Andrei waited several seconds before he looked down at the back of Rowe’s head. “You know we can’t wait a week or longer for Jen. She’s good, but this guy is escalating. The first few were little more than scare tactics, but the drive-by was aimed to kill. Patrick Laughlin’s death has made this asshole desperate. He’s either afraid we know something or he’s running out of time to get to Lucas.”

“I know,” Rowe said in a low voice, staring down at the top of his desk. He sighed and turned in his chair to look at Andrei. “You got a plan?”

“Fire me.”

“What?” Lucas shouted, coming out of his chair. “How the hell does that fix shit?”

Andrei refused to look up at Lucas, couldn’t meet his eyes. No, he kept his stare on Rowe, whose expression had become hard and unreadable.

“You sure about this?”

“We need someone on the inside,” Andrei said firmly. “Not only have I been there, but they’ll come to me if they think I’m pissed at Vallois.”