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“Maybe nothing,” she says as she taps a few keys to mirror her screen on a larger monitor we can all see. “But I did a search of church records to see if we could find any locations where Crane operated or where he might feel comfortable. Most churches have digitized their records over the last decade or so, and I found a church back east with Crane’s name on the roster.”
“Okay, but how is this helpful?” I ask. “We know he finds victims in churches, so of course we’re going to find his name.”
“True, but I wasn’t expecting to find Stewart Craneandour friend, Agent Betts, listed as members of the same church.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I bark.
“Who’s Agent Betts?” Demon asks, his eyes darting from the screen to me.
Thrusting a hand through my hair, I reply, “Agent Todd Betts with the FBI is a target I was assigned to handle.”
“He’s fucking dirty, but we never found anything indicating he’s a pedo,” Diabla adds. “Most of his sins have to do with covering up murders and shit for the mob.”
“Like I said,” Jinx states. “Could be nothing. Just a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Demon snaps.
“Yeah, neither do I,” Jez agrees and lifts her gaze to mine. “When you went off book and messed with Betts, did you find anything that was suspicious?”
“Wait, you went off-book?” Diabla demands.
I shrug. “Sure did. And don’t give me any bullshit about lying because you do too when the mood strikes.”
“Well…” She huffs out a breath. “Yeah, fine.”
“To answer your question, no, I didn’t find anything that raised any red flags beyond what we already knew,” I tell Jez. “But I was focused on his office. Maybe there’s incriminating shit at his home.”
“Okay, so now what?” Demon asks, his fury overriding his earlier panic.
“Now we?—”
Music blares from the speakers, and my shoulders stiffen as the tune from ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ fills the room. When the lyrics begin, they’re being sung by what sounds like a child, but the voice is haunting.
“Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes?—”
The music stops, and every computer screen in the room goes dark. A split-second later, words pop up on the large monitor, and I grit my teeth at the message.
You’re gonna fall down.
Back off or the only ashes will be from the remnants of your burned bodies.
“What the fuck?” Loki mutters.
“I thought you said we were unhackable,” Bela complains.
“We are,” Jez snaps, her entire focus on her keyboard as she tries to find the source of the hack. The others are doing the same. “Or we should be.” Rage laces her words, and I move to stand behind her at the same time Demon does. When we each place a hand on her shoulder, she shudders out a breath. “Fuck, I even changed all the biometric locks here at the clubhouse so no one but the seven of us could get into this room when it’s locked.”
“What about my room?” Demon asks, and I have a feeling he’s trying to lighten the mood.
“Yeah, yeah. I did that, too. Only the three of us can get in there.” She tilts her head back and grins at us. “But I can’t think about that right now. We need to figure this out.”
“Uh, Jez?” Loki says, and all eyes shift to her.
“What?”
“I found some code, but I don’t know what to make of it.”
“Whaddya mean?” I ask.