Page 11 of One Cry Too Loud (Coastal Crime Unit #9)

“ Y ou can’t have that here!” Kat yelled, nearly jumping out of her seat.

It was the thought that was undoubtedly on all of our minds.

That phone-any phone, was something Nefarious could trace.

Good coffee and swampy ambience aside, not being traced was the reason we came all the way out here to this backwater coffeehouse/bar.

In one fell swoop, it looked like this barely post pubescent cocky bastard had rendered all of our efforts mute.

“Damnit,” I said under my breath, also standing. I shot a withering look in Nate’s direction. “You didn’t check him?”

“Don’t look at me,” Nate said, staying seated, crossing his arms over his chest, and shaking his head. “He’s your ‘get’. I would have never called in the government if left to my own devices.”

“He’s not my get,” I said, huffing in Tag’s direction. “And since when did you listen to what anyone else has to say?”

“Since it seems like we’re in way over our heads,” Nate said. “Kat told me Tag was needed. She said his expertise could mean the difference between finding this girl and her remaining missing. So, I called Kat’s old fiancé and had this smugly irritating toddler on the next plane.”

“I’m not a toddler,” Tag said. No. He didn’t just say it.

He chuckled as he said it. The sonofabitch was laughing at us after putting us all in danger.

“And I’m not the government. I might be hired by the government, but I don’t think anyone in this particular conversation has any room to talk when it comes to that. ”

“You’re an idiot. That’s what you are,” I said. “I assume you’ve had that phone the entire time. I assume that means Nefarious probably knows exactly where we are.”

“Of course I’ve had the phone the entire time. This is a backwater swamp. Do you think there’s an Apple store out here?” Tag balked in a voice so aggravating I very nearly punched him. “But that doesn’t mean that whoever is tracking you knows where we are.”

“I don’t understand,” Holly stated, narrowing her eyes. “Are you saying that, because Joe doesn’t know that you’re working with us that he won’t know to look for your phone? We don’t know the scope of Joe’s knowledge here. For all we know, he could be in the New Orleans CCU systems as well.”

“He’s not in our systems,” Tag said.

“How do you-”

“Because I’m not you,” he said, cutting Holly off.

“I’m not saying you’re a relic. All I’m saying is that it doesn’t take long to become a relic when the systems you're working with change hourly the way ours does. I’m also saying that my firewalls are better than yours and my security and monitoring could run laps around that little ship that you think is so safe and sound. ”

“Because an abandoned speakeasy is so much better?” Holly asked, referencing the New Orleans CCU base of operations.

“He wouldn’t have gotten into our systems,” Tag said.

“You really believe that, don’t you?” Holly asked.

“I know it,” he said.

“The entire point of Nefarious is that you wouldn’t know,” she said.

“It’s that he slinks around in the shadows, unseen, unheard, untouched.

He’s a ghost who is gone before you know he’s there.

All that’s ever left is the damage he’s done.

” She signed and looked down at the table.

“Trust me. I helped build that monster.”

“You don’t even know that it’s your boyfriend,” Tag said.

“My ex -boyfriend,” the Englishwoman corrected him. “And I know it’s him. I recognize his handiwork. I can feel it.”

“Fine,” Taylor said, finally pushing himself from the table as he looked around at us.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, though. I’m not counting on Nefarious not knowing I’m with you guys.

I hope he does know. I hope he knows I have this phone with me.

It would take a team of government trained hackers weeks to break through the securities I’ve put on this baby.

Wanna know how I know?” He smiled again.

“Because we tested it. That’s right. As opposed to you guys, we didn’t get cancelled. ”

“We didn’t get cancelled,” Kat said.

“Fine. Canned. Pink slipped. Wiped out of existence. Whatever you want to call it, it didn’t happen to us,” Tag said.

“We still have access to the best computers and the most highly trained people in the world. All of those people have one thing in common. They’re all worse than me.

I do better, I do more, than all of them put together.

They couldn’t get into this phone, and neither can Nefarious.

” he dropped the phone on the table like he was a petulant child hoping to prove a misguided point.

“Besides, you’re all focusing on the wrong things. You’re asking the wrong questions.”

“And you’re about to tell us what the right questions are, I presume?’ I asked, my jaw tight.

“Well, question . It’s just one. I misspoke earlier. I guess my excitement in proving my point.”

“Just say what you want to say,” I muttered.

“The dark web. Nefarious is all over it,” Tag said. “And he’s got a proposition.”

“A proposition?’ Kat asked. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“You shouldn’t,” Tag said.

“Oh God. Is it Cindy?’ Holly asked as her face went from pale to green with sick worry. “Does his proposition involve her?”

“No,” Tag said quickly, shaking his head. “It’s nothing like that. In fact, there’s been no peep of Cindy Masters on the dark web at all. This proposition involves you.” He looked at us. “All of you, save for Holly.”

“Why not me?” Holly asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe Nefarious is your boyfriend after all. Maybe he doesn’t want to hurt you,” Tag said.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she repeated.

“That’s not important,” Kat jumped in. “What do you mean when you say he doesn’t want to hurt her? What’s the proposition?”

“There’s a bounty on your heads,” Tag said. “You, Jack, and Nate. He wants you dead, and he’s reaching out to any interested parties in the Southeast with the skillset to carry out the deed.”

“What’s he offering?” Nate asked. “I’m sure I can beat it.”

“He’s not offering money,” Tag said. “He’s offering something much more valuable.”

“What’s more valuable than money?” Nat asked, narrowing his eyes.

“His services,” Tag said. “A favor from Nefarious. It’s damn near priceless.”

“Which means it’s likely a very popular offer,” I surmised.

“Which also means every bastard with a taste for blood, no moral compass, and an internet connection is probably looking for us as we speak,” Kat said.

“Which also also means this just got a hell of a lot more complicated,” Tag said. “Good thing you’ve got me.”

As the words left his mouth, an arrow flew through the window of Miller’s Coffee and Whiskey Sling. It whistled through the air, barely missing Kat’s head and driving itself into the wall, shattering a mason jar lined against the bar.

Looking out the window, in the direction of the arrow, I saw a man in sunglasses with a huge bow in his hand walking toward us. This was no accident. He was coming for us. He was coming to take us out.

“Wanna repeat what you just said about us being lucky to have you,” I muttered to Tag. “Or about how impressive the security around that phone is?” Tag remained silent as I leveled my gaze at the archer coming toward us as my mind started to work on the situation at hand. “Yeah. I didn’t think so.”