Page 96 of Power of Shadow

I roll my eyes again and shrug. But I say in a serious tone, “I’m not hiding it.”

Eli closes the door and sits down in front of my desk. I take my seat, turning off all the monitors with a button.

My friend’s attention is completely on me. “Ryker, I know what you said. I thought you were messing with us. Now that I think about it, I can see how much you’ve changed. She’s changing you. I’ve been your brother since we were in diapers. By choice, not by blood. I won’t beat around the bush, so I’ll say this once. Watch your back and watch hers. If she’s special to you, you’d better work on that poker face. You’ve got it written all over your face, and we don’t want some rat snitching to your father.”

I know Eli’s right. He’s saying out loud exactly what I’m thinking.

Fuck... I’m not even trying to pretend I have this under control around him.

I change the subject, diverting his attention to something else. “What brings you here? Don’t you have work to do?”

“I gave your father the person who hacked into his computer. The guy’s dead. Case closed. I’m working on your father’s data security system.”

I nod, full of admiration for how well our plan is working. “Shouldn’t you be in a better mood then?”

Eli loses his cool right away. “Hell no! You have no idea who’s really behind all this. I’m so pissed off, I could rip her to shreds!”

“Wait. Who did you plant on my dad?”

“No idea. I found a guy on the dark web. He was a decent hacker, I’ll give him that. Good enough to get your father to take the bait. His mistake was wanting his head on a silver platter without questioning him first. His mistake benefits us, so...”

“Did you gain his trust?”

“I doubt it. Your father’s too good at this game and too suspicious to trust anyone. You know that.”

“Still, it’s enough for him to have you secure his data.”

Eli adjusts himself and rolls up his shirt sleeves. Then he snorts. “He demands top-notch security with retinal scans, fingerprints, a thousand passwords, variable VPN...” He lists more security measures, while I pretend to know what he’s talking about.

“But the web has its own rules,” I whisper with a smirk.

Eli can’t resist being snarky. “He’s too old to know that.”

“Good. Let’s see what you can conjure up with these ingredients. Did you find anything in his files we can use?”

“Not yet, but I’m working on it. We need something really big, not just info about smuggling. That shit means nothing compared to how deep his hands are in the pockets of the government and politicians.”

“Sure,” I say, though I’m disappointed. “So? Who’s really responsible for these files?”

“That’s the fucking point! You’ll never guess, Ryker.” Eli runs fingers through his hair. He pulls at the ends. “I’m going to fucking kill her! Zoe. Zoe is behind this.”

I laugh out loud, but seeing Eli’s completely serious expression, the smile fades from my face. “That’s impossible. You must be wrong. Zoe—” I stop when it downs on me that I don’t really know anything about her. The few times I’ve seen her haven’t led to any proper conversation.

Alex was the one who gave Ash her tasks, but I assumed she did most of the research work herself. I never asked. However, I remember how quickly she found out about the lake house. If Zoe did that, she’s good. Good enough to be a mirror image of my friend’s skills.

Eli studies me, waiting for all my thoughts to settle. “There’s no mistake, brother. You know how many hours I’ve spent digging into this case.”

My heart clenches in my throat. If Zoe has screwed up... Ash could be in danger.

“But how did you even figure this out?”

“She’s good, I’ll give her that. She’s built so many walls around herself that even getting through the walls of ADX Florence seems trivial. The only trace she left behind gave her away. I won’t even try to explain it to you, but trust me, I’m right.”

“Holy shit,” I groan and rub my face with my hands.

“I couldn’t agree more. She probably doesn’t realize what she’s gotten herself into.”

This complicates an already difficult enough situation. “God knows what else she found on his computer. We need to talk to her.”