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When Hex and Abra arrive, I can’t suppress my grin when Hex immediately seeks Cleo. He pulls her into his arms as he studies the buildings in front of him. Seeing how much he loves her gives me a sense of peace. While I’ve never been one to encourage my children to find a mate, seeing Hex discover his soulmate in Cleo has been rewarding.
I get a thrill when Dixie steps up behind me and wraps his arms around me. “What trouble did you find?”
I shrug. “I think we’ve found a spy’s lair.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: DIXIE
“Before we end this meeting, we need to figure out what to do about the hit on Vladimir,” I remind Hex and his brother. “Do we kill him or not?”
“I’d prefer not to die,” Vladimir says. “But I think it might be useful to be presumed dead. At least for a short term.”
“Why?” Hex asks.
“I have my reasons,” Vladimir says, but doesn’t elaborate. I grin at Hex’s scowl of frustration. “There is a project I’m working on that will take me out of the public eye for a few days. We could fake my death, and that will let me disappear. I take it someone else is handling the other targets?”
“Yes. The shortened timeline made it necessary for the Sigil to dispatch multiple assassins. Whoever is paying for these hits has deep pockets. Because he’s also offering a bonus if they complete the hits within three days,” I add.
“Can you plan out the details, or do you want me to do it?”
“I’ll take care of finding a location,” Pirate chimes in. “What do you need to provide to Sigil to confirm the death?”
“Just a photo.”
“I want my death made public. I need a few people out there to think I’m out of the picture. Is there a way we can accomplish that without making my death permanent?”
“I can come up with something,” Pirate says. “We may not get your death televised on the news, but I can add the story to various news websites.”
“That works,” Vladimir says before ending the call.
Hex ends the meeting and we file out. I was hoping to find Delphine in the common room, but the room is empty except for an anxious Jack, who pounces on us as soon as we exit Church.
“Cleo sent me to get you and Abra,” Jack says to Hex. “We found something that you need to see right away.”
We follow Jack outside toward the garden. I’m expecting to see the girls working on it, but Jack leads us further into the property.
“What were they doing back here?” Hex asks Jack.
“Shayna went exploring,” he explains as he leads us into a clearing where an old building sits neglected.
Hex heads immediately for Cleo while Abra follows Levi around the corner. I spot Delphine, who is watching Cleo and Hex, with a satisfied look on her face.
I slide my arms around her and whisper into her ear. “What trouble did you find?”
She shrugs. “I think we’ve found a spy’s lair.”
Giving her a squeeze before releasing her, I join Hex, who has taken off after Abra and Pirate. Abra and Pirate are examining the equipment while Hex and I glance around the room. Whoever is spying on us has quite the setup. He’s made himself a comfortable spot to eavesdrop on the club. We need to find to find out how much he’s learned about us.
“Whoever this guy is, he didn’t scrimp on his equipment,” Pirate says. “He can likely hear everything we’ve been saying in the common room and in the other rooms along the same wall. I don’t think he can hear what we’ve said in Church, unless he has a way to extend the coverage. He’s recording everything on that laptop. I’m not seeing a Wi-Fi connection, so he either transmits when he’s onsite via his phone or he’s taking the recordings back with him.”
“Any way to tell how long he’s been here?” Hex asks.
Pirate shrugs. “I’ll have to go through the files and see what he has on here. I also need to check our permitter and review our security to figure out how he’s bypassed them..”
Pirate takes off while the rest of us search through the room, but we find nothing to tell us who this guy is or how long he’s been squatting here. Either way, I’m pissed off, but not as much as Hex.
“He should have never gotten this close,” Hex snarls. “This is unacceptable. I thought we had this place secured.”
“We obviously have holes,” Abra says. “Walls would help, but I doubt we can surround the property. We could build walls around the clubhouse, but that wouldn’t have stopped this guy from reaching this spot. We have too much acreage to cover and most of it’s overrun with vegetation. Anyone can hide in that mess out there.” Abra gestures outside, and he’s not wrong.
