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“This hack…if we don’t think of a get-out for you by Friday,” Rory continued, lowering his voice to exclude Sky, “we’ll help out with the job, get it over with as quickly as possible.”
“No way. I’m not getting you involved. I’ll go it alone”
Draco moved to the table and lifted his bottle of beer, pointing it at Sean. “You’ve done that once too often. We’re in this together. Once we sort it, we’re all clean.”
“There’s the rub,” Sean replied. “With this guy, there’d be no end to it. If I do as they ask, you can bet your last penny they’d want more. If I say no, they’ll deal out a hard lesson.”
Sky came back from the door, and looked at him, aghast. “You mean they might still keep the threat hanging over you, even if you did the hack?”
The awe in her eyes hadn’t entirely disappeared, even if she did look all grown up now. Sean gave a wry smile. “These guys are real criminals.”
“How about jinxing the job, like we did with Jackson,” Rory suggested. “If we could create enough angst for them they won’t want to use you again.”
“Too dangerous.” Sean was beginning to regret opening up. Ideas he could accept. Involvement, not so much.
“Hold that thought.” It was Draco who commented, and his eyes narrowed, as if his mind was whirring ahead in that way of his. “Did they mention the name of the place for the hack?”
They had, but Sean had been seething and had to scrabble to recall it. “Kerridges? Something like that.”
Draco fished his phone out of his pocket and started scanning info. “Going big time, huh?” A sly smile crossed his face. “When are they next getting in touch?”
There was a businesslike attitude about him that matched the fancy suit he wore. Sean still couldn’t get over it. Draco looked like a city gent, and he was chilled and confident too. He looked good. They were all so familiar, yet changed somehow. He supposed he was too. The four of them had gelled instantly when they’d come together here in Rory’s place earlier that evening, but they each brought new things to the table. “They want me in situ tomorrow afternoon in order to get the lay of the land and timetable for Friday.”
Draco swigged from his beer and put the bottle down on the table. “Give me a couple of hours.”
Sky frowned. “To do what?”
Draco reached over and tugged on her hair. “Never you mind, and don’t gossip to Rowan, the less she knows the better.”
She rose to her feet. “Jesus, Draco, I’m not a kid any more.”
“You’ve made that blatantly obvious these last few months, but you still seem to be a magnet for trouble.”
“You bloody hypocrite!” Sky fumed. “After the shenanigans you’ve been in these last few weeks, banged up in the cells and hacking under an assumed name…”
“Wait, what?” Sean slammed his hand down the table. “You’ve been hacking?”
“No, not as such.” Draco flashed Sky a warning glance. “I was hired to find a mole, internal stuff.”
“You sold your hacking skills?”
“I had a contract from the…er… Management.”
“Jesus, you claim you’re not hacking and clearly you are.”
“Nope.” Draco stood his ground. “I’ll explain, but not now. Trust me on this. It wasn’t what we vowed off, it was different. Besides, I might be able to help you out.”
The three guys looked at one another, and then at Sky.
The dog was barking from the garden.
She ignored it, folding her arms over her chest.
Rory stood up and let the dog back in. “Come on, Sky. Give us a minute for guy talk.”
Glaring at them each in turn, she strode off into the hallway muttering to herself.
“Come on, what you got?” Rory nodded at Draco’s phone.
