Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“You okay?” Mika asked him quietly.
He looked to her and didn’t lie. He also didn’t share about Hale. He’d do that later.
“Just want this done.”
“I hear that,” she agreed.
There was a knock, and before Jamie could call out, it was opened.
Two women entered.
One was Native American. She looked taller than she was because of her presence and her shoes. And if for some reason in her profession she needed to hide how smart she was, she’d likely find that impossible.
Last, she was stunning.
The other was younger, curvy, dark hair, bombshell features.
The Native American was in a stylish power pantsuit with slim trousers and some of the highest heels he’d ever seen a woman wear.
She navigated them like she was in bare feet.
The other woman was wearing black jeans, a gray T-shirt, black leather jacket and streamlined, feminine black biker boots.
The first woman was probably in her mid- to late-thirties.
The second, Tom thought, early thirties.
“She was able to come,” the Native American said to Jamie as both women made it to the table.
All the men stood.
“Welcome,” Jamie said, extending his hand to the woman in the leather jacket.
They shook, and Jamie turned to the table.
“This is my investigator, Kateri True Arrow,” he introduced. “And this is Georgiana Black. A journalist at The Worldist.”
A journalist?
Tom didn’t like that jump. It was too soon.
“Jamie—” he began.
“We’re there,” Kateri cut him off.
“We are?” he asked sharply in return.
“All the women are on record. And the whistleblower wants to remain anonymous, but he’s on record too,” Kateri returned. “We need Georgiana, not only to blow this open, but also, when Core Point is involved, they’ll play hardball. I could be legally obligated to divulge my sources. Jamie could. You could. We all could. Georgiana breaks this story, the whistleblower will be protected.”
Whistleblower?
Fuck, that was how they had all the documents and emails.
There was a whistleblower inside Core Point.
“You have the women on record?” Mika asked.
Kateri turned her attention to Mika. “Yes.”
“You approached them?” she demanded, her voice brisk.
In other words, she was pissed.
Before Kateri could reply, Georgiana butted in.
“Maybe it’s better if we sit down and share with you what we’ve been doing.”
“Good idea,” Judge said.
They all settled.
Georgiana accepted the coffee pot from Jamie and poured herself some.
Kateri didn’t even glance at her cup or the little Perrier bottle on its perfectly-sized silver coaster.
“Considering you all need no introduction,” Georgie began, “let’s dig in.”
Kateri was the one who spoke the most, as she’d done most of the work.
She’d started with uncovering who the whistleblower was. Once she had him, he was her gateway to everything else, including the survivors. He ran interference for her.
They didn’t quite trust him, but they did trust his motives as apparently, in all the collusions, he was the one who seemed to have the women’s interests at heart.
“His daughter was raped about a year ago and boom,” Kateri said coldly. “The man grew a conscience, and instead of making sure they got a couple hundred thousand more than was offered while they were being gagged, he was vulnerable to Vaughan and now he wants to ‘do something.’”
Both Tom and Judge perked at that.
And Judge went for it.
“Do you know Rhys Vaughan?” Judge asked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “He’s a legend in the business. Almost synonymous with Nightingale, except murkier.”
“Murkier?” Tom asked, not knowing who she meant by Nightingale, but since they could learn more about Chloe’s inheritance of a henchman, he wanted to know more about that.
Kateri turned to him. “Vaughan is young. He’s talented. He got cherry-picked by Corey Szabo early. He used to be freelance. Szabo, because he could”—her eyes coasted through Hale—“made him exclusive. He did everything for the guy. And by that I mean anything and everything. And when I say ‘the guy,’ that’s what I mean. He was attached solely to Szabo. At first, it was a job. He grew so loyal, there has to be something else there, and it wasn’t just money. Not even a serious amount of money. Vaughan is a closed book, so nobody knows what that is. But his work is signature. I knew when I first looked at the file it was him. When he’s working, he’s deft. He’s invisible. And he’s meticulously thorough.”
Tom and Judge exchanged a glance.
Tom then looked to Hale who was regarding his bubbling Perrier glass with an enigmatic expression on his face.
But he had to feel that. A man close to Corey, loyal to him, so loyal he carried out his wishes after his death.
Hale didn’t have that with his father.
Not even close.
“As he was with this,” Kateri continued. “The mole, and mind, this man is still working for Core Point, was in his grip, but Vaughan went deeper. We have everything. It’s not all substantiated, but enough of it is that I brought in Georgiana. She’s working the story, and The Worldist is keeping it under lock and key. Legal is side by side with her on it. Soon, though, she’s going to need to contact Winston, Cyrus Martin and AJ Oakley to give them the chance to tell their side of the story. That’s when we have to brace. It isn’t when the story breaks it gets ugly. It’s before. When they try to break the story before it’s told.”