Page 101 of Defending You

“Gagnon’s the mastermind. Mid-sixties. He’s made his fortune by digging up dirt on bad guys and then blackmailing them with it.”

“The others?” Bartlett asked, checking his sidearm.

“If I had to guess, I’d say Souza’s next in charge after Gagnon, but these guys don’t have history.” He glanced at Alyssa, expecting her to explain how the muscle came from two different operations in two different cities.

She was too busy picking through the contents of the velvet bag, Callan holding a flashlight so she could see.

Asher explained quickly their theory that Gagnon had used leverage against the leaders of organized crime operations in New York and Boston. “They aren’t friends with Gagnon, andthey aren’t friends with each other. The two who came back here bickered the whole time they searched.”

“Good, good,” Grant said. “Disorganized, not a team.”

“That’s true for the guys we’ve dealt with,” Asher said, “but this new crew?—”

“According to Yartym, they worked together seamlessly,” Bartlett said. “Mercenaries, maybe.”

Which meant they were well-trained, probably former military.

“What about Souza?” Bartlett asked. “What’s your take on him?”

“Bald, built like a brick wall, determined and competent. No idea if he was acquainted with Gagnon before this all began. Gagnon’s ostensibly a business owner in Philly. Souza’s with a gang in New York.”

“I got something.” Alyssa held up the locket Cici had shown him the night before, the black one she claimed was silver.

“What about it?” Grant moved closer.

She shook it, eliciting the tiniest rattling sound, then opened it up.

“Whoa,” Callan said, peering over her shoulder.

“What is it?” Grant asked.

Asher stepped closer and saw what they were looking at—an SD card.

Her eyes widened. “Power down all your phones. Now.”

Bartlett said, “We can’t. We need?—”

“We need them not to know we found it!” She looked at Asher. “My guess is it’s got some kind of tracking device, a locator.”

A tracker, in that tiny locket? That explained how Gagnon and his men kept catching up with them. It wasn’t a mole in Forbes’s operation.

They’d been carrying it with them all along.

While everyone powered their phones down, Alyssa opened the passenger door and came out with a laptop. She powered it up and slid the SD card inside. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Asher forced his gaze away. It didn’t matter what was on that card. It didn’t matter what Gagnon was trying to find. All that mattered was saving Cici’s life.

He met Bartlett’s eyes. “Let’s make a plan.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The heavy clank of boots on metal stairs announced the men’s return before Cici saw them.

Souza appeared first in the doorway, his expression grim. Behind him, Mendez and Falcone shuffled like schoolboys caught skipping class, their earlier bravado replaced by something that looked suspiciously like fear.

Gagnon must’ve seen what she did because he pushed off the desk. “Well?”

The silence stretched, coiling around the room.