“A friend of Katrina's,” she says. “My name is Darcy.”
I remember the name, and unlock the door. “What are you doing here?”
Darcy steps inside and lets me close the door behind her. “I should ask you the same thing, but I know the answer. Peter's sources may have kept it minimized in the news, but I know what happened. Of course officially, it was just a random shooting without even a body, the bastards. And I know you've had some help, there's no way you got into Katrina's computer without it. It's a pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Jackson.”
“Katrina mentioned you, the pleasure is mine,” I reply automatically, remembering a little bit of my manners. “How'd you know I was here?”
Before Darcy can answer another knock at the door comes, and I hear Andrea outside. “It's me. I've got breakfast.”
I open the door, and Andrea looks startled when she comes in. “Who's your visitor?”
Before I can say anything, Darcy introduces herself. “Darcy Weaver... also known as BlakDhal1A.”
Andrea looks surprised, but I'm even more surprised when she offers her hand to shake, since she rarely does that. “Andrea DeLaCoeur... Blue Sakura.”
I hold my hands up, confused. “Okay, I'm now officially lost. What the hell's going on, and Darcy, why are you here?”
Darcy points to Katrina's computer. “I helped her build that thing, and I taught Katrina a lot about how to become a world-class hacker. And I had a tag on it that let me know if the computer was accessed. It was a request from Katrina, since she knew what might happen to her. She told me if she disappeared, I was supposed to come here and unleash everything, including what's in her cloud.”
“She's got a cloud, too?” Andrea asks, and Darcy nods. “Just how big?”
“Only the juiciest stuff. And her gate controls.”
“Her what?”
Darcy smiles. “She had media contacts, network connections, the whole works. The gate controls are that and more. Basically, if we use them, we can shotgun everything we need to take down your father, along with Samuel Grammercy, and a lot of other very bad operators in this town.”
Andrea looks at me, and I realize they're leaving the decision in my hands. But it's not really a decision at all.
“Give me twenty-four hours to hit him as best I can my way,” I say, my hands clenching. “Then... unleash hell.”
Chapter 26
Kat
The converted office I'm using as a hiding space is unfamiliar, and the computer I'm using is barely better than what I could have gotten if I'd just gone down to an electronics shop, but it was all Darcy had available to give me quickly, and for a laptop, it works okay.
“So he's on board now?” I ask, and on the screen, Darcy nods. In the background, Bo is wagging his tail and setting his chin on her shoulder, she's let him up on the couch.
“He is. He made me promise not to wide band the direct stuff on his father until tomorrow, but Samuel... the Miami-Dade cops and FBI are going to be getting the stuff in about ten minutes.”
I nod, and rub at the back of my head, where the shaved patch on the back of my skull still itches. Darcy laughs, and I have to chuckle, too. “I don't know why it bothers me, it's just hair. It'll grow out.”
“Well, next time you decide to fake getting your brains blown out, maybe remember to fall on the grass and not the sidewalk?” Darcy teases. “Besides, it's been a few weeks. I bet in another month nobody's going to be able to tell the difference, not with as short as you keep your 'do.”
I smile and nod. “You're right. So Jackson is going to talk to Peter?”
“He's not going to do anything stupid, I made sure of that. He knows that Andrea's on his side, and Nathan's going to make sure, too. Remember, Jackson still thinks he needs to walk on eggshells to even get close to Peter, so he won't have a gun or do anything stupid like that. I think he's going to just tell him off, maybe try to hurt him mentally, but I just don’t see that having any effect.”
I nod, reassured. “That's good. And he believes that you just tracked my computer this whole time?”
“Yeah. I hope you decide to tell him the whole truth someday soon.”
“Me too. Okay. I'll confirm his actions with Andrea, he can't let himself get hurt.”
“We'll do what we can. Listen Katrina, I don't want to doubt you, but are you sure this is the right way to go about it? I mean, he seems pretty much on our side.”
I think about it for a second, while meanwhile on her end Bo licks her on the ear, causing Darcy to laugh and push her dog away, sending him off the couch and into the backyard. “I see you like getting ear kisses, too,” I joke.