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Hawk shook his head. “You couldn’t have known. It’s not your fault. What’s done is done. We need to move forward.” He needed to punch something. But he couldn’t blame this on anyone but himself. It wasn’t the Callahans’ fault. It was his and it had almost cost Remy her life. He let out a long breath and turned to Mitch. “Remy wants the key back. It was the Moroccans on the roof.”
Logan asked, “Do we know who the Moroccans are? These ‘student’ looking guys aren’t the mastermind behind getting the key.”
“We do, and you’re right,” Mitch said. “These guys are just henchmen. I had one of our techs run some fingerprints from where the asshole who was holding Remy had left on the building’s railing. His name was Farouk Haidar. He is a known associate of one Asad Najeddine.”
Logan froze for a second. “Shit.”
“Fuck,” Mitch agreed.
“What am I missing?” Hawk asked. “I guess I’ve been out of the game too long. I don’t know any of the players.”
Logan explained, “Najeddine is a fixer for the royal family in Morocco. We’ve had a few run-ins with him. Not us exactly, but our people. He’s a nasty piece of work.”
“Fucking wonderful.” Hawk scrubbed his hands through his hair, hanging his head.
“Getting the key back from him is going to be damn near impossible,” Logan said.
Mitch nodded. “It’s going to have to be the museum event. That’s going to be the only time he’ll have the key with him.”
“What intel do you have on him?” Hawk asked. “Can we figure out how he’s going to carry the key?”
Mitch got up and went over to a mini fridge in the corner and pulled out a bottle of water. He offered one to Hawk, who nodded even though he truly wanted a double shot of something more potent. Mitch tossed the bottle to Hawk, then grabbed a second one for himself. “What are you thinking?”
Hawk twisted the cap off. “I think that other than Remy, who doesn’t know any better, everyone else will carry the key in some kind of special way. They’ll want it to be hard to steal because they are going to be at the event and they know chances are good someone else will, at least, attempt to take it off them.”
Logan folded his hands together. “I see where you’re going with this. It’s not like he can bring fifteen guys to protect him. It’s a social event, and no one is allowed to call attention to the Lock and Key Society. I think that’s why Gray decided to hold it there. If the board members, including whoever will take the newest seat on the board, can’t hold a meeting without attracting attention, then they don’t deserve to be on the board. Sort of like running the gauntlet.”
“Makes sense.” Mitch took a swig of his water. “I imagine he’s also thinking it might keep the violence to a minimum. If they did it at one of the other locations, no doubt there would be bloodshed. Hard to do that at the museum without the world hearing about it.”
Hawk opened his bottle. “So back to my original question. Do you have any intel on him so can we figure out what he’s going to do with the key to keep it safe?”
Logan tapped his blotter with a pencil. “What would be the safest method of carrying the key so no one else can steal it while at this party?”
Hawk snorted. “I know what the safest would be, and if he’s doing that, he can keep the damn key. I’m not getting it.”
Mitch started to laugh. “Me either.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t mean…” He curled his upper lip. “Well, if he does shove it up his ass, he’s going to have to dig it out again at some point. He has to show it to get inside the meeting.”
Hawk smiled. “Still not touching it.” Then he set down his water bottle and rubbed his face with both hands. “Realistically, I don’t think he’s going to do that. I think he’ll carry it in some kind of case that probably locks through biometrics.”
Mitch nodded. “Yeah, that seems the most reasonable. Let me do some digging. We might be able to find out if he’s used such a thing in the past.” He stood up.
“Do you mind if I come along?” Hawk asked. “I’d rather be doing something than staring at the walls.”
“Come on,” Mitch waved at him. “I’ll show you the brains of the operation.”
Hawk got up, grabbed his water, and followed Mitch out the door. The last thing he wanted to do was go upstairs and see Remy. He was still so angry at her for taking such a huge risk. Beyond that, he was furious at himself for not stopping her before she went up there. He had known something was off but hadn’t trusted his instincts.Always a mistake.She just threw him off his game so much that sometimes he wasn’t sure which way was up.
They arrived on the fourth floor and got off the elevator. A huge steel panel without any doorknob or any other way to open it, barred their progress. There was a biometric scanner beside it, not unlike the setup down the stairs at Remy’s shop. Mitch put his hand on the screen and then his eye to the retinal scanner to the right of the door. A few seconds later, the door slid open a couple of inches. Mitch used his fingers to push the door to the side, and they walked into a small anti-chamber.
“You guys take this stuff seriously,” Hawk commented.
“You have no idea.” Mitch waited until the door they’d entered through closed again, and then he punched in a code on the keypad next to the door ahead of him. Once again, he had to do a retinal scan, only this time, it was his left eye. Again, a few seconds later, the second steel door slid open, and this time they were in a large room.
The open room appeared to occupy almost the whole floor but it was hard to tell because there were no windows. Instead, banks of computers and oversize monitors lined the walls. There were five people looking at screens. He only recognized a couple of the men who were down at one end. Gunnar and Dex. The third guy he recognized but couldn’t recall his name. He nodded to the guys and they nodded back. Gage and Dani were staring at a screen on the far side of the room. Mitch walked in their direction, and Hawk followed.
“Hey,” Mitch said as he grabbed a nearby chair. He wheeled it over and offered it to Hawk. He took another one, and the two men sat down. “Got anything yet?”
