Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

Jonas Lang

"Thank you for meeting with me. I'm Amy Hart."

I hung back with my team and watched Zane shake the blonde's hand.

"Please have a seat." She swept her hand in the general direction of the longest conference table I'd ever seen.

The fucker had to be twenty feet long and solid mahogany.

Plush, dark-brown leather chairs crowded the table.

Dark-brown Victorian wood paneling on the walls.

The same dark wood in a grid on the coffered ceiling, creating cream squares.

Marble on the floor.

Typical government building.

"Always nice to see what government overspending looks like," Cash not so quietly said as he pulled out a chair.

Clearly, the woman heard Cash's remark. Her mouth twitched but she controlled her smile.

"Call me curious," Zane amicably returned.

"Curious?" Amy inquired.

"Curious as to why the US Treasury Department is asking for a meeting."

"Please have a seat and I'll explain."

"Actually, before we get to comfortable and waste time, you should explain why you called."

Too late, Cash was already comfortable and reaching for a Danish from a perfectly arranged assortment of breakfast pastries.

The man was getting soft in his old age, or maybe it was civilian life.

Never take food or drink from an unknown .

And Amy Hart was an unknown. She didn't look like she worked for the Treasury Department. She certainly didn't look comfortable in her smart, boring business dress and sensible high heels. She'd pulled at the necklace around her neck twice in the two minutes I'd been in her presence. Beyond all that she did not look like an Amy. Not with her wavy blonde hair and big blue eyes.

Further, this woman didn't sit behind a desk in a dress and jewelry, but if she had to she'd do it in jeans and boots.

She worked in the field.

All of this was bullshit.

A farce.

A game.

Three things I excelled at, the last I always won.

"Information in exchange for protection."

Zane gave the team a dip of his chin and pulled out his chair.

Guess we're staying.

"What kind of information?"

"The kind you and your team were looking for in Virginia."

Nope, this woman didn't work for the Treasury.

"What kind of information do you think we were looking for?"

Amy's gaze didn't waver from Zane's. She didn't show any signs of intimidation even though Zane's tone had turned aggressive.

Impressive.

"Delcon has a security issue. Your contact has reported it to management, management is sitting on his warning. He went up the chain, reported it there, and is now being told to shut up or he'll be terminated."

"Let me see if I have this right. The US Treasury Department is concerned about a possible security issue at a data center. And this concern runs so deep they dug into it and found information I might want? That's the story your selling? Why the hell would Treasury care about the cooling systems at a data center that does not house any of their data?"

"They don't."

They don't .

And there it was, I was right.

Amy Hart was a bullshitter.

Then she went on with an attempt to fix her faux pas but it was too late, we'd all caught it.

"We care about the large sums of money being paid to SimpCo in the form of thousands of small transactions."

"Why would Treasury care about that? And if you tell me taxes I'm calling bullshit."

"SimpCo is owned by Bolin Chen. He's on the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned list. This went unknown until very recently. Now that it's known, OFAC has an interest."

Plausible, but bullshit.

Especially the part about Amy working for OFAC or any bureau within Treasury.

"And, you? What's your interest in this?" Zane asked.

She looked confused for a moment but she rallied quickly.

"My interest is to broker?—"

Zane made an annoying buzzer sound. "Lie detected."

"You're not the only one who's interested in stopping what Maddon Judd sold to the Chinese."

And… the truth comes out .

"Well hell," Zane sighed. "Guess I can take my team, head back to Maryland, and let the good ole CIA handle what they should've been handling all along."

"Like you trust the CIA not to fuck this up."

"Good, you know your employers are fuckups."

"She's not CIA," Nebraska broke in. "Her name's Derrika Layne. She's an investigator."

Derrika Layne.

Now that name fit her.

"Private or government?" Zane asked Nebraska.

"Highest bidder."

Derrika's mouth curved up. Her hands came up off the table before she made a ‘what can I say' gesture.

Then followed that through by saying just that. "Can't blame a girl for needing to eat."

"A girl might have to eat, but her appetite…now that says something about her."

Derrika's gaze snapped to mine. I felt a strange twinge in my gut. I hadn't meant for that to sound as suggestive as it sounded. But since she was smiling at me with humor dancing in her eyes, I couldn't say I regrated it.

"Are we talking chicken or steak here?" she quipped.

"No," Zane cut in. "He's asking if you eat your young."

"Actually," Cash drawled. "I think what he's really asking is if she eats her mate like that spider."

"I swear to Christ, if this shit is going to cost me money, I'm retiring. Just cut the bullshit and tell me what you want and what you'll give me in return."

"I need Kira Cain on the inside. Two of your men to work security at the center, and the rest on standby for backup."

"Oh, shit, that's all. Why didn't you just lead with that?"

"What you'll get in return is all access to Delcon and the intel you want."

"How is it you'll get Kira in?"

Derrika smiled, this time like the cat who got her cream and she was enjoying the fuck out of it.

"I've worked at Delcon in HR for six months. I was placed there by the board of directors. I have authorization to bring you in and get Kira inside."

Well fuck .

"You mentioned information for protection. Who needs protection?"

"Me."

Zane glanced at Layla, then to Nebraska. Obviously, they gave him something because when he looked back at Derrika, he nodded.

"You can have Jonas and Cash for security. It might take a few weeks to build a legend for Kira."

For the first time since we'd started this charade of a meeting, Derrika relaxed.

"Thank you."

"Can I take it to mean since Treasury offered you their conference room, they're paying?"

"Yes."

Zane looked around the ostentatious room that exuded over-the-top waste and smiled.

"How soon can your men be in Virginia?"

"Tomorrow," I answered.

"In a hurry?" Cash mumbled from beside me.

"Perfect. I have an apartment set up and ready for you in my building."

"I hope it has two bedrooms, Jonas hogs the covers."

Dick .

"That's unfortunate to hear."

Derrika winked then pushed her chair back from the table.

"Man down." Cash continued his idiocy.

Not to mention, he was incorrect. I wasn't going down, but a certain part of my body had taken notice and was currently on the rise.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to run upstairs before I can get the hell out of here and take this stupid dress off. Oh, please tell Kira to pack for casual. Most employees wear jeans and tees to work. It's a building full of geeks, so mostly graphic tees with geek sayings I don't get. I'll email you the address of the apartment building. If you text me what time you'll be there, I'll help you move your stuff in." Derrika shifted around her chair and went directly to Nebraska with her hand held out. "It's nice to meet you in person, Dove."

Goodbyes were quickly exchanged. Cash shamelessly grabbed three more pastries, while shoving the last bite of his first one in his mouth.

"It's like you're a wild animal," I told him.

"I'm more feral than wild. That's what happens when you're raised by the system instead of humans. If you have a problem with it, I suggest you write a letter to Victorville Child Services and tell them they did a shit job."

He was joking.

But he wasn't.

"I'll do that." Then before we left the room, I stopped Nebraska. Because we'd have more privacy in a government building than we would on the streets of DC, I asked her, "Did you know we were meeting with Derrika?"

"No. I actually thought it would be Lore. This is more her game than Derrika's."

Lora was a friend of Nebraska's from her old life.

"What do you know about her?"

"Derrika? She smart. She's also reckless and dangerous. If there's intel to find, she'll find it and leave a wake of destruction behind her. There's a reason why Delcon hired her—she doesn't have an off switch, she'll keep going until she finds what she was hired to find. This job could take another six months or six years and it would be all the same to her. Life is one big game to her and she moves accordingly."

Reckless and dangerous.

My kind of woman.

As for life being a game, I couldn't agree more.

Game. On.

Jonas and Derrika coming Spring 2025 pre-order your copy here.