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Continuing to keep his answers short, Killion said, “I have all of the ledgers.”
A long silence filled the room and no one made eye contact as they waited for the truth to sink in for Rainy. A truth that was vague, complicated, and only a half truth at best because, in all honestly, not even one of them could confirm or deny the validity of what they believed to be the truth behind Chalice or the Ledgers. Not when it kept rearing its ugly head time and time again, revealing new truths which meant… new threats. For all they knew, there was a silent rogue cell lying in wait for the dust to settle before they chased after their claim at power.
“You,” Rainy whispered. “They’re coming for… you.”
“Someone wants his throne,” Wit said. “And they’ll stop at nothing to steal it so they rule their own maniacal kingdom of death and destruction all in the name of power and wealth.”
“I’m just a means to get to you.” Rainy’s eyes filled with tears seeing how it pained Killion to know he was the indirect source of the threats made on her. “The twins…”
“Are safe.” Killion finished with panic in his voice. “As long as you stay here, with me –– with the team and your brothers… you’re all safe. You understand that? You walk outside this building for any reason, and all bets are off. It’s a different world out there, and it does not give a shit about this thing we know as Chalice because they’re invisible to the rest of the world. You understand that? You can’t leave here. You can’t leave me. I can’t protect you if you do.”
Killion’s warning sounded more like a plea. Like that fear he’d been carrying around was finding its way to the surface once more. Given the exchanged looks around the room, it was clear to everyone… but him. She’d left him before, and it was to run –– everyone knew that. To make matters worse, she was pregnant with his children. Anyone with half a heart understood the kind of gaping wound that had to have left Killion with. Though his warning had more merit than anyone would realize, it didn’t entirely have to do with her safety… it had a lot to do with his heart too. But Killion was even unaware of that tiny fact because… he was Killion.
When the room remained quiet and he had a moment to consider his words and the reactions that followed, it was as if he knew he’d done or said something that flew over his own head. It wouldn’t be the first time, likely not the last, and all he could do at that point is change the direction of the conversation because understanding the emotional response typically didn’t ring in his favor. It would embarrass him and he didn’t have time for that.
“Uh, what else we got on Lindstrom?” Hen broke the silence. “Who’s shit list could he have ended up on and would know he was in town?”
“There’s a file on him.” Killion pecked at the screen on his smart phone. “I just sent it to your phones.”
“I think,” Relay began, offering Killion a sympathetic look. “It’s fair to say that our presence here could be more valuable than we realize too. We might be part of the puzzle. A lot of our cases overlapped.”
“Good point.” Hen nodded. “We’ve been cleaning up our own messes and taking out the trash for some time now. That don’t mean we don’t have some rogues on the list who’ve managed to slip under the radar a bit while we chase bigger fish.”
“Half our team is out settling old scores,” Bozz said. “But you got me, Jazz, Nico, and Hen to run down leads from our end that Relay can find.”
“I’m already a step ahead.” Relay interrupted. “I’m cross-referencing our cases against anything remotely close to Lindstrom and casting a wide net looking for hits. I’ll also run them against the BK cases, if I can get access?”
“I can give you access,” Killion said, pecking at his phone again. “Just linked you in. Let’s run the databases against each other and land them in their own. Easier to set up conditions and programs to dig and do the heavy lifting for us.”
“On it. I will…” Relay paused and looked at Killion before she started rapidly tapping again.
Killion, familiar with Relay’s work and how she operated, sat straighter, noting the concern she was expressing. “What is it?”
She shrugged, and brows furrowed. “Your database. It’s…”
Killion rose and made his way to Relay and watched over her shoulder. “What is it? Do we have a data breach? Relay—”
“No.” She quickly cut him off. “It’s your whole operating system. It’s…”
Killion took to the computer next to her and went to work searching for a problem since Relay wasn’t forthcoming and seemed more and more puzzled by what she’d accessed.
“I just linked you into our setup.” Relay said. “Take a look.”
“Hold on. I’m still looking into ours. I don’t see an issue,” he replied.
“Just… stop what you’re doing and go look at what I sent you.” The frustration she expressed made the room uncomfortable.
“If there’s a breach…”
“Dammit, Killion. There isn’t a breach,” she chided. “Your system is fine and quite… thorough. That’s the issue –– quite user friendly. Just go look at what I sent you.”
Killion shook his head, now sharing her frustration. Killion and Relay worked swiftly and quietly, with little to no communication. They worked seamlessly, like a team who’d done this a thousand times together and did so without a single word between them. They motivated each other and complemented each other –– both determined to get to the bottom of the crisis at hand. They worked well together, and that didn’t go unnoticed by Rainy.
“You see it yet?” Relay asked, leaning back in her seat. “Who designed your programming, databases, and basic infrastructure here?”
Killion turned to her, offering what appeared to be an offended look. “I did. Technically. My cousin Liam built the initial system, but I’ve taken it over and have been restructuring, expanding, you name it. For years now.”
“When those two get their tech brains together, they’re like two peas in a pod.” Jazz said. “I know it’s been said before, but it’s kind of interesting to watch… in a weird way.”
