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Ren looks at Tilly and nods before turning his attention to Tessa. “Come on, Angel, let’s go pack up so we can get you out of this dump.”
“Wait!” Tilly starts to run after Ren. “You can’t take my sister away from me.” I stop her, grabbing her arm.
“We’re not taking Tessa away from you,” I try to reassure her.
“Where are you taking her?” Tilly’s eyes are now reflecting fear.
“Relax.” She struggles, trying to pull out of my grip. “You and I are going to have a little chat out in the warehouse with the others.” I start pulling her toward the warehouse. “Don’t worry about Tessa. I promise you she is a lot safer than she was in her mattress hiding place. Ren really will protect her if anything happens.”
“Please, don’t hurt her,” Tilly pleads again. “She’s only six.”
“I know!” We step into the warehouse. “Your sister and I had quite the conversation, and when we’ve wrapped up here, you’re going to help us.“ My eyes meet hers once again and flash with defiance. “Then you and I are going to have a conversation about your father.”
“That’s none of your fucking business,” Tilly hisses once again on the defensive.
“I’ve just made it my business,” I tell her. “And be thankful that I have, or you and your little friends wouldn’t be seeing tomorrow.”
“You’d kill a bunch of kids?” Tilly looks at me in disgust.
“Not me.” I shake my head. “But whoever the bad men or man that Tessa was talking about would.”
“You grilled a little girl for information?” She looks at me with even more disgust than she did before. “That’s low even for the likes of you.”
“Keep going, kid.” I nod. “You’re endearing yourself to me more and more.”
“What are you going to do with us?” she asks as we walk to where my men are dismantling the computers under James’s command. “What are you doing?” Tilly’s voice is filled with panic. “If they come back, they will kill us.”
“Who is he?” I ask her.
“I can’t say,” Tilly says.
My eyes meet James’s. “Did you find anything?”
“I found that GhostBytes...” He points to Tilly. “That’s her hacker name. She and her friends have been communicating with someone through an encrypted chat. It looks like they were hired to disrupt our operations and they are looking for some code. It will take some time to get it figured out. But we can’t stay here.” He glances around. “I’ve also managed to shut down the hack and close the gap that gave them access.” He frowns.
“What?” I look at him.
“Nothing!” James shakes his head.
“Did you find any indication as to who hired them?”
“It doesn’t say. Whoever it is goes by the name Downfall1994,” James informs me. “They are gathering cargo for another shipment due to leave tomorrow.” He raises an eyebrow. “Apparently, they’ve organized for a Strategic Packing crew to do a pickup at an address that turns out to be one of Angus Cullen’s warehouses on the outskirts of Boston.”
“Figures.” My eyes narrow. “Angus is known for his trafficking.” I turn to Tilly. “Is that who you work for?”
It would make sense that Tilly’s father would owe someone like Angus, who runs a loan sharking and sportsbook operation through one of his warehouses. Possibly the same one James is referring to.
“No!” She shakes her head. “I don’t know any Angus Cullen.”
“Are you lying to me?” My eyes narrow warningly at her before I glance at Gunther. “Choose one of her hacker buddies, and let’s show Tilly what we do to people who steal or try to manipulate us.”
“Sure,” Gunther replies. “What were you thinking? Hand, neck, arm, leg, fingers…”
“Let’s go with one finger at a time,” I tell Gunther.
“W… what?” Tilly’s eyes widen, and her head swivels to where Gunther is playing: eenie, meenie, miny, mo, catch a rat by his tail with her hackers. “You can’t do that!”
“At least we’re not taking a life.” Shrugging, I grab Tilly by her shoulders and turn her to watch as Gunther chooses the tallest and oldest of the three.
