22
Spence
My phone vibrates. My watch vibrates. The alarms that surround my home sound off, and drag me out of what was a deep slumber. Abigail sleeps half on top of my chest so her cheek is squished against my pec, and her hair tickles my arm. Her breath fans against my skin and cools the body heat that radiates between us, and her hand clutches my hip like she’s afraid I might run away in the middle of the night.
I couldn’t run from her if I tried. But my phone won’t stop buzzing against the bedside table.
Turning my head only, I slide one hand over Abigail’s back to keep her close, and lean a little to the side to read my texts.
Jay:Jericho!
“Fuck.” I reach across and snatch up my cell, because in mine and Jay’s world,Jerichomeans someone is dying for real.
Abigail stirs against me, so I hug her close and slide my thumb across the screen. Four texts in a row, all from Jay.
Jay:We’ve gotta move.
Jay:Soph has a location.
Jay:He’s too damn close.
Instead of texting back, I hit dial and wait just two seconds for him to pick up.
“Summarize.”
It’s like I can hear him moving through his home. Rushing around, packing his shit and watching everyone’s back as he moves.
“Soph has been trying to follow this guy electronically. We know he has money, he has means, he has staff. But that’s all we got so far. Which technically ain’t shit. This fucker is slick, but somebody tried to hack the Checkmate system overnight. Whoever he is has tech skills, but not as good as Soph’s.”
I frown and study the ceiling. “He got in?”
“Yeah, but only because Soph let him. She wanted to see what he was looking for, so instead of bouncing him, she let him slide in and take a peek.”
“So what was he looking for?”
Abigail’s sleepy eyes flutter open and draw my gaze down. She’s sleepy after a long night, exhausted after telling me her secrets, and physically drained after giving her body to me. But it takes her only a second to turn from sleepy to suspicious.
Her brows pull close, and her body tenses, but because I don’t want Jay to be alerted to her presence, I gently shake my head and press a kiss to her forehead.
“He took a look at the company files; address, insurance, banking, legal. It’s like he wanted a look at how long Checkmate has been running, who owns and operates it, financial turnover, client list.”
“That’s a lot of information for this guy to have. Why didn’t she bump him out?”
“Because she replaced the real data with information she thought would serve us better. A distraction. She didn’t wanna boot him straight away, because the longer he was in and browsing, the easier it was for her to track him. He’s on the border and less than a day’s drive away.”
“Fuck. He’s getting closer.”
“Yeah, but he knows where we are. He knows our coordinates, so the fact he’s not up our asses is a strategic move on his part. He’s keeping his distance for a reason.”
“Because if we saw him, we’d recognize him?” I ponder. “Or we don’t know him, and he’d like to keep it that way?”
Jay gives nothing but a grunt that sounds a hell of a lot like ‘dunno.’
“What’s the plan?”
A door slams on Jay’s end, the loud crack making Abigail jump. “He has no clue we saw him slide in. He has no clue we know where he is. So we’re going to him.”
“When?”