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“Oh, to be a fly on the wall,” Hen said. “What do we do in the meantime?”
Killion rolled his chair away from his desk and faced the group with his fingers laced together across his chest and leaned back. “We wait.”
“You don’t look so great,” Wit said with a sour face when the full disheveled mess that was Killion was put on display. “Maybe you ought to take a nap and get somethin’ to eat and soak up all that coffee.”
The group roared with laughter.
Sweat beading at his forehead, Killion tugged at the neck of his shirt. “Is it hot in here?”
* * *
“There weren’tany other heirs there,” Carter began to explain to the teams. “Different lawyers ran both readings at different locations, but that was the only difference between the two.”
Wit spun a large yellow manila envelope around on the table in front of him. “This here’s it, huh?”
“My understanding is that there was a formal reading of each will days ago,” Carter explained. “I thought it was odd that both attorneys for the estates mentioned that to me.”
“A private reading for each of us, huh?” Hen stared at his envelope that, short of the name on the label, matched Wit’s to a T. “Sounds like a setup. Get us there alone and off guard.”
“I had the area stacked with eyes, and there wasn’t anyone sitting in the shadows… that we could see anyway,” Carter said. “The attorneys aren’t affiliated with anyone or thing that I can tell either. All very legit.”
“You think this reading was legit then and not a setup,” Wit said.
“It sure seems that way.” Carter sighed. “We were ready to grab anyone who seemed even the slightest bit out of place, and it just didn’t happen. Now, the extra traffic in the area could have spooked someone, causing them to abandon their mission, but I think this leans more toward the idea that whoever has been watching out for the two of you set this up so you would be safe.”
“I’m going to have to agree.” Killion yawned. “That public notice we found announcing the readings was digital, and now it’s gone.”
“It was put up for your eyes only,” Wit assumed. “If that’s possible. And once whoever posted it knew you saw it, they pulled it.”
“Is that even possible?” Rip asked. “If someone is capable of directing things like that to us –– Killion and Relay specifically –– and can see when they’ve reviewed it… don’t we have a security breach?”
“Yes and no,” Relay said. “It means they know about us, but they can only see the equivalent to say… tracks in the snow that lead here.”
“That’s an odd way of putting it,” Rip said. “Not sure that’s reassuring.”
“Basically, they track IPs and trace the towers we bounce off to create a fake path here. It’s kind of like hearing someone but not seeing them.”
“Or seeing them in the distance but not being able to make out who they are.” Killion piggybacked off Relay. “It’s very complicated tech stuff you guys never want to know. The point is, we’re safe. At most, they know someone saw the post, and they banked on it being someone connected to Wit and Hen.”
“And anyone who knows Wit, knows I’m connected,” Landry said. “And we got the message.”
“That just confirms they know Hen and I are brothers.”
“Precisely,” Killion said. “That’s the working theory and most logical explanation at this point. It’s someone close enough to both of you to know you’re colleagues through Safe Haven at the very least and brothers at the very most. The truth is somewhere in the middle.”
“This didn’t go down the way you’d think. From an ops point of view, anyway,” Landry went on. “I don’t think the attorneys know much more than what they were paid to give me on your behalf. But they also weren’t surprised a proxy was sent on your behalf. They expected that, which means whoever is working this told them to expect it.”
“They knew we’d play it safe,” Wit said. “Because those bounties are still up for grabs, and hunters are everywhere.”
“This was another effort to protect us again,” Hen added and held up his envelope. “What’s in these things, Landry?”
“I didn’t read anything. Just collected the envelopes and signed off on a sheet.” Carter reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out two business cards and tossed one in front of each of the two men with an envelope. “I got these. Handing out a business card is standard in these scenarios, but there was more to it.”
“How so?” Wit asked.
“It felt… off. Both of them said to reach out with any questions at all, and they’d be happy to help iron out any concerns,” Carter said. “But Wit… your guy said it more than a dozen times and emphasized if you needanythingat all. Anything was a keyword.”
“Is that code for somethin’ you think?” Wit asked.
