Page 95 of The Loves We Lost

“Later.” I grin. “Message me the details, and I’ll send them on to Vi.”

When I step into the office, Clutch and Vex are already there. Two laptops are open on the counter.

“What’s going on?” I ask as I sit in my usual chair.

“Spark can’t make it. Iris has a doctor’s appointment for the baby, and you know how he gets. So I want you to sit in while we think this through. Go ahead, Vex.”

“I got lucky yesterday and last night. I found Brad Collins, the alleged leader of the Righteous Brotherhood.”

Clutch leans forward. “Is there any ambiguity in the trail you followed?”

Vex shakes his head. “Verified connections, a few charges with race-related hate crimes. Enough when all put together that I’d be comfortable putting a bullet through his head without worrying about mistaken identity. This is what he looks like.”

All three of us lean forward to get a good look at the man on Vex’s screen.

“Fuck,” King mutters. “Was hoping the resemblance would be like you and Avery. Mirror images of each other. I could see that person being related to Halo or Spark to be honest. He’s a bulky build but nothing obvious.”

“What else did you get?”

Vex grins. “You might like this. You might not. But how do you feel about the emptying of multiple bank accounts with over eleven million dollars in them?”

Clutch’s brows almost reach his hairline. “What?”

“Explain,” King says.

“So, I followed a whole bunch of trails. Started with some phishing software and emails with fake shit in ’em. These guys are all stupid as dirt with poor data security. Anyway, I was ableto hack their bank details with a bit of help from a dark web guy I know. Cost me two grand, but all I have to do is enter a few buttons and go in and steal that shit. I set up an offshore shell we can transfer it to. Then we bounce it through a banking system in a country that has a noncooperative legal system with the US, before washing it back into the country.”

“Eleven million,” I choke out.

Vex shrugs. “We steal their weapons, take their lives when we get the chance. Why wouldn’t we raid their treasure chest? And what are they gonna do about it? They can hardly go to the cops. Looks like most of the money is sex trade money. Some washing of it to make it look clean. Judging by their poor technical setup, they don’t have the skills to catch us. And I have a specific router that will make it look as though they were hacked by someone outside the US, like Russia or China maybe.”

“What are we waiting for?” Clutch asks. “Press the button.”

“What do you think?” King asks me.

“If Vex says it’s untraceable, then I believe him. But with proof or not, unless the Brotherhood is engaged in a tussle with some other group, they are going to think it’s us. And we need to prepare for that. Although eleven million will buy a huge amount of protection.”

“This changes the game in terms of crimes we committed,” Clutch says.

Vex nods. “I’ll take the fall if this goes wrong, because I’ll bank on my skills to do it without it being traced back to us.”

King sits back in his chair and runs his hands over his face. “We should vote on it.” He quickly taps a message on his phone, and when I look at my own phone seconds later, I see it tells everyone it’s church, now.

“Fuck, I wish I still smoked,” King says.

“I hear you got a sticker chart at home,” Vex says.

King’s eyes narrow. “You got a cam into my house or some shit?”

Vex chuckles. “Nah, man. Was in my tech room when Gwen was asking Rae how she helped you quit. You get a gold star for every day you don’t smoke and can cash ’em in for sexual privileges.”

My mouth opens, and both Clutch and I turn to look at our president. Clutch is the first to bark out a laugh. “Gold fuckin’ stars. I’ve heard everything now!”

“Might as well explain yourself, Prez,” I say.

King rubs his hands over his face. “Fuck the lot of you.”

“No, seriously,” Clutch says. “Is it like one star for a blow job, two stars for sex, and three stars for anal?”