Catching Teardrops (MAC Security 5)

“Evan—”

“Already on it,” he says, cutting him off.

“Good. Charlie, do you have enough evidence to bring him down?”

I hear his grunt before he answers. “No… we only have enough to raise suspicion.”

The atmosphere becomes tense at his words. Evan wants to bring this guy down and I don’t blame him. It’s all because of him why Lexi has been treated the way she has. There was so much more behind her than I first thought when Evan brought her to the warehouse needing to be fixed up.

Evan raises his hand saying, “Shhh,” as some other voices come through the speakers on his laptop.

We’re all on alert, straining to hear what’s being said on the line that Evan tapped when he figured out what Lexi’s uncle was doing.

“You said this would be easy,” her uncle sneers over the line. “You asked me to arrange this and I did. Alexis was put back in prison and even the hospital. I want my payment.”

“Tsk tsk.” My brows rise at the sound of Darrell’s voice and Evan’s head snaps up. “You may have distracted them for a little while, but what about when they get her out? Evan will be onto me again.”

The realization that both Lexi’s uncle and Darrell were behind it comes over Evan’s face. It’s just another piece to add to the puzzle.

“I don’t give a fuck! You promised me my money if I planted the drugs on her!”

“And you’ll get it… all in due course.”

The line goes dead and Evan stands up. “He was in on it,” he fumes.

“What? Who?” Charlie asks as he steps forward, his gaze swinging from Ty to Kitty, trying to get a read on them.

“I think it’s time you all left,” Ty says, his voice a low growl. “This is MAC business. If we need any help, we’ll be sure to contact you.”

My mind is spinning, trying to make all of the connections all the while keeping my gaze trained on Dean. He’s good, I’ll give him that, but I can sense something about this whole thing and him is off. He doesn’t seem the least bit surprised about the fact that Evan has a line tapped. There was only two people who knew that apart from Evan: me and Ty.

Everyone shuffles out of the warehouse but I don’t take my attention off Dean. He’s calm, too calm.

“He was behind this.”

I finally rip my gaze away from Dean, focusing on Evan. “We should have known. The same day of the job and Lexi gets arrested… it was too convenient.”

He bangs his fist down on the table, his gaze flickering between all of us before he shouts, “The code!”

Evan sits back in his chair as we all talk around him, discussing best ways to get evidence on both her uncle and also Darrell now that we have a confession of him being in on the whole thing.

“He’s accessing the facility where this is being made,” Evan grunts.

“What?” Kitty asks, coming to stand behind him as I move forward too. “What does that mean?”

“He never wanted a code inside the software to spy on people when it’s released.” He looks up at Ty. “He wanted it so that he could get ears inside of the place; he’s accessing everything there.”

“Where is there?” I ask.

“Center 109.” Fuck. “He’s got access to it all: FBI, CIA, NSA, DEA, ATF, the military… there isn’t a system he can’t crack.”

“Turn it off!” Ty thunders.

Evan’s fingers fly over the keys again. “I can’t,” he says. “I can’t stop him, but…” He looks up at Ty as he walks closer. “I can see what he’s looking at.”

Ty stands next to me behind Evan, leaning down and watching the screen in the same way we all are. Someone clicks onto a file named “Derock #5629,” it opens up and several other files appear on the screen.

We all move closer, watching in fascination as he searches through all of the information in the system. What looks like several dozen alias files are flicking on the screen, all with different back stories and names, most of the information blacked out, but not enough to know that whoever this person is, they’re dangerous. No one has this many aliases for no reason.