Page 44 of Innocent Salvation

His sense of pride and justice was strong, and he wanted to do good in the world through maintaining that system with integrity. The way he protected Fleur and put himself between her and the door when they walked, shielding her when he knew she didn’t need it, showed her he cared.

Her watch pinged with a text, and she glanced at it, knowing the tone meant it was an internal communication.

Watchdog: Tech room 999

Snow knew that couldn’t be anything good and with a heavy dread in her gut went to excuse herself, telling Seb that she had a work thing to do.

He brushed a thumb over her cheek watching intently as if trying to see into her soul and she was afraid if he looked too hard, he might.

Hurrying to the tech room she met up with Bás, Hurricane, and Bein headed the same way.

“Anyone have any idea what this is about?”

Bás shook his head, remaining silent, his stoic expression revealing nothing of how he felt.

“What took so long?”

Watchdog sometimes lost touch with the real world when he was cyber sleuthing and time meant nothing to him.

“We came straight away. What is it?” Snow knew in her gut it was about her.

He pointed at the screen. “This.”

Snow looked at the multitude of code running across the screen and had no clue what it meant. She could get by, but this was next level stuff.

“What is it, Watchdog?” Bás’ voice was short and terse.

“This is code I caught on the dark web, and it’s a hit put out on Fleur and Sebastian Alexander.”

Snow felt the blood drain from her face, her body refusing to hold her for a second as the words hit her full force. Bás’ hand on her upper arm made her blink and release the breath she’d been holding, getting much-needed oxygen to her brain.

“You good?” Bás showed no outward concern but to those who knew him, it was clear he was worried.

She needed to pull herself together and be the operative they’d trained her to be and not a woman who feared for those she loved. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Bás nodded once and let go, his focus back on Watchdog. “Who issued it?”

Watchdog’s fingers flew over the keys, his mind working faster than she could imagine as he worked his magic. “I traced it back, which wasn’t easy because this asshole bounced around all over the place, but he used a signature I’ve seen before so I was able to find him through another network.”

“Watchdog!” Bás said firmly getting him back on track from his verbal rambling.

“Sorry. So yes, I traced it back to a hacker who goes by Cypher. When I followed the money, it came back to Jean-Claude Dupont.”

“Motherfucker!” Bein spat as he paced the room, his fury nothing compared with the cold murderous rage going through Snow’s veins.

Bás held up his hand to calm the mood, which was suddenly dark with tension and anger. When someone came at one of the Shadow team, they came at them all and by default because of her, Fleur and Seb were Shadow now, even if they didn’t know it.

“Calm down, we need to formulate a plan. Seb and Fleur are safe for now and that’s how it will stay.”

Bás turned to Watchdog, his hands on his hips as he took control of the room and his operatives, showing the leadership that kept his team operating as it did. “I want everything you can find on Jean-Claude, Dominique, and Patrick. I want to know every person they’ve ever spoken to, who cuts their hair, who wipes their asses, and then I want to know their connections. We’ll meet back here first thing in the morning to form a plan with the new information.”

“I don’t want Sebastian to know about this.”

She knew it was stupid to try and protect him, but this was her fault. She didn’t want him to worry when she was going to fix it one way or another, and if that meant her mother’s blood on her hands then so be it. She’d slaughter anyone who threatened her family and didn’t care what that said about her.

“I’m not sure that’s a good call, but it’s yours to make for now. If I feel he needs to know then I’ll tell him. I know you have something going on with him but this team and those in it are my responsibility, and I have the last word.”

“Understood.”