Page 11 of Hades

“You busy?” I called through the doorway, before walking into the office and pushing Raven into a chair.

“Nope. What’s up?”

I told him about the community center. “Chances are probably slim but if we can find who did this, we can confirm if it’s Kozlov or a coincidence.”

He nodded and handed me a laptop. “It’ll go faster if we both look, and I can see how much you retained from our last lesson.”

I wanted to glare at him but more than that, I wanted answers. I opened the laptop and fired it up, running through the steps Slate had shown me, starting with the community center and trying to follow the asshole back to wherever he started. I came up with jack shit. “He’s a fucking ghost.”

Slate chuckled to himself. “Pull back and get creative. You’re looking for suspicious activity. Patterns. Look at the people hanging around. Also see who rushes away when the cops arrive. Some assholes want to watch the aftermath and see the panic they created. If Kozlov is sending a message, then he probably knows what result it’s gonna have, so there’s no reason for whoever he sent to do his dirty work to stay.”

The room fell silent except for the clicking on the keyboard and tapping the trackpad for several long minutes while Slate and I tried to find who wrecked the community center. “Why would they think Katya left the drive at the community center?”

“I don’t know where she was staying before that last night,” Raven answered absently. “I didn’t ask because that’s not the kind of thing you do, you know?” She shrugged. “As long as she felt safe, we don’t ask a lot of questions because you never know who you can trust.”

“So someone was following her. And I’m assuming they searched her body after they killed her,” I muttered.

“Did she have any money?” Slate glanced over his shoulder quickly before turning back to the monitor.

“Not sure. Oh wait, she said she was decked out in jewelry when she ran off, and she pawned it as she went to fund her escape.”

“I’ll look at hostels and cheap rate motels,” Slate offered.

“I’ll check shelters and rented rooms,” I said, switching tactics. Suddenly I understood exactly why this type of work got Slate so fucking excited. It offered more answers or at least helped us quickly eliminate leads without spending the whole fucking day to find that out.

“They did all that damage for the flash drive, right?”

“That would be my bet,” Slate said, nodding as he tapped into all the cheap places to stay.

“And if they didn’t find it there, which we know they won’t,” she began. “They might start checking with the employees. Shit, what if they took employee files?” She got to her feet and started pacing. “We can’t let them go to their homes. We know what they’ll do just to find out that none of them have it.”

Slate froze. “You’re right. I’ll have some of the guys go around to check on ‘em.”

“Thank you,” she sighed, dropping into her chair again. “I know I’m being a little crazy, but I know what they’re capable of. They will hurt them first, maybe kill them just to stop anyone from asking questions.”

“You’re not crazy,” I insisted. “You’re worried about the people you care about, and you know better than anybody, what these fuckers can do. Slate’s gonna have some guys check on the employees and volunteers. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried, I’m terrified,” she spat out.

“Okay,” I answered. “Be terrified, it’s much more productive than worrying.”

She glared at me and then flipped me off. “Agreed.”

“We got something!” Slate’s excitement stopped whatever else I might’ve said. “There he is, shimmying up the fire escape.” He pointed to the screen, to a figure decked out head to toe in black. He was a tall fucker, well-built too, with broad shoulders and long legs. “It’s not much, but you can see he’s inside for a few hours, which means he’s working alone.”

Raven was on her feet, staring at the screens on the wall. “Look up there,” she pointed. “When he walks onto the street, he’s in a red track jacket and jeans.”

“And no fucking bag!” Slate’s grin widened. “It’s probably still in the trash.”

“We should go get it,” Raven insisted. “Come on, Hades. Let’s go!”

“Not so fast. If anyone’s watching the community center, they might recognize you.”

She deflated instantly. “Shit. You’re right.” Raven turned to me.

I pushed away from the table and stood in front of her. “This is the beauty of having a big team, Raven. Just because you can’t get it done doesn’t mean it can’t get done.” After the Army I wasn’t all that ready to trust people again either. It was hard but those long months as a prospect gave me people to trust and taught me who I could trust. “It’ll get done.”

“I trust you,” she said so softly I wasn’t sure I actually heard the words.