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“I mentioned it to my counselor after the first night Maceo was gone. She said it was normal to feel anxious after an attack, and what I was likely feeling was residual from my encounter with Jacob and nothing more.”
Punk and Reaper grumble but say nothing else.
My mind recalls my conversation with Tony. “When did you start feeling like you were being watched?”
Josephine looks at me sheepishly. “Since Jacob attacked me, but it seemed to magnify when you left with Gauge to go see my parents.”
“Whoa! What?” Punk asks, dumbfounded. “You went to see Jo’s parents?”
“Can we talk about it later?” I chide. “I’m more concerned about Jo at the moment.”
“I don’t want you to fly into a rage and assume this is Esteban when I have no proof,” Josephine says quickly. She’s probably nervous about me retaliating out of emotion rather than using commonsense.
Holding her close. “I don’t think you’re overreacting, and I don’t believe it’s Esteban who’s watching you.”
“You don’t?” all three of them say at once.
I tell them about my conversation with Tony and what he mentioned about Bianchi. Punk and Reaper both curse, and Josephine goes silent.
“It makes sense if the activity picked up right after I left Josephine. He was waiting for a moment he could ambush her like he did today on the road.”
“Again, what the fuck am I missing? Why was Josephine alone on the road? Weren’t you with her?” Punk sputters in disbelief, pissed. I would be all over any of my brothers if they let her out of their sights, and here she was under my care, and I let her runoff.
Josephine and I give each other a look before giving in and telling them how Bianchi came across Josephine unguarded.
“If we’ve been fucking tailed this whole time, I’m going to lose my shit,” Punk says angrily.
“There’s no way. We totally would have caught someone peeping on us,” Reaper says defiantly, folding his thick muscled arms over his barrel chest.
I nod. “I agree with you, but what if it wasn’t an actual person following you?”
Reaper looks confused. “What? You mean like a drone?”
“Or someone who flies a drone,” Punk says, catching on.
“Exactly,” I say.
“Huh?” Reaper scratches his head, clearly not following.
“Bianchi has his very own Chase,” Punk elaborates.
Reaper finally understands. “He has a cyber hacker.”
“Bianchi probably still has eyes and ears on the ground, but I’m willing to bet he has been monitoring Josephine’s every move through the city cameras. He took a special interest in Chase and his hacking abilities. I’m going to have Chase’s team do a sweep of the build site and rental to make sure there are no bugs or hidden cameras,” I say.
Josephine’s brows pull together. “You don’t suppose it’s my imagination?”
“No, I don’t,” I say reassuringly. “I do believe this haseverythingto do with Bianchi. Grab your cell and computer. I’m going to have Chase check everything for bugs.”
Punk runs a hand over his shaved head. “Ah, shit. You think we have one planted on us?”
“Only one way to find out,” Reaper says. “Most of the guys will be back from the Florida mission tomorrow. We can start with everyone here and see if anyone has been bugged. Do you believe the rental has been compromised?”
“God, I hope not,” I mutter.
“How would anyone gain access to the rental?” Josephine asks. “Chase has it locked up like Guantanamo Bay.”
“It would have to be an inside job,” Punk says, and we all curse.
