Page 55 of Jonas

“You didn’t like her all that much when she played you and landed you and Dutch in jail,” Nebraska reminded him.

“Time heals all wounds, Dove.”

Jeez, these people and their nicknames.

“I need a cheat sheet if you all are going to have multiple names,” I griped.

“I’ll print you out one, right after we figure out a way to convince POTUS that the intel he’s going to receive about multiple nuclear meltdowns are bogus and he needs to stay at the White House,” Kira told me. “But we’ll start with the easy ones: Anna, Ann, Pigeon, and Pidge are all the same person. Nebraska is Dove. Stella is Lore. Zane’s names change daily, feel free to make them up as you wish. I’m Kira, KK, Kid Genius or Drifter Seven. Layla is Ghost One but not to be confused with Zane’s brother, Lincoln, who is just Ghost. He still refuses to use Layla’s callsign because he’s a baby. Garrett is Drifter One. Theo, Two. Easton, Three. Your man Jonas is Four. Smith, Five. Cash is Six or he likes to call himself King, though none of us subscribe to that nickname.”

When Kira was finished with the rundown, I was left blinking.

Lore didn’t blink, she smiled.

“Cash is King,” she snickered. “I like it.”

“Bet you’d like something else more,” he returned with a wink.

“Easy, big fella. I don’t play where I work.”

Cash’s head tipped to the side a fraction. “Do you work here?”

“I work everywhere.”

That sounded like the truth to me.

“Anything else you need to tell us?” Zane broke into the banter.

“Nope. That about covers it.”

“You sure? No intel on Liam Gagnon or John Wu?” he pushed.

“John Wu who?”

“The two men who kidnapped Derrika and Jonas yesterday.”

Lore’s gaze flew to me, then to Jonas, then back to me.

“You were kidnapped yesterday?”

“I thought you were watching me?” I reminded her.

“No. I was watching Seth Hackett. Which reminds me, I didn’t finish telling you about him. He’s being blackmailed. The idiot.”

This web was never-ending.

Jonas got there before I could. “Who’s blackmailing him?”

“Keith Mitchell. He was the guy in the suit who was in the black Mercedes yesterday. Seth had a little adult fun time with a stripper.” Lore wagged her eyebrows. “In exchange for not telling his wife, Seth’s been tasked with looking the other way when those resumes come in with matching references. They can’t chance another Kent situation. Now, why were you kidnapped?”

Jonas gave her a rundown on what we knew about John Wu and Liam Gagnon, which didn’t take long. He then went on to tell her about Daryl Barnes and Lou Peterson.

When Jonas was done, Lore looked perplexed.

“They might be turning on each other. Anson, Karen, and Lou all received payments. Ten million each.”

Ten million to sell out your country.

Greedy freaking bastards.