Total D*ck(67)
“Scarlett!” Carey shot up from his seat on a couch in the midst of several people and rushed over to me. He hugged me so hard, I had to pat him on his back viciously just to get away.
“My man Kennedy.” They hugged, but it was much more casual and less constricting than my treatment.
“I’m so glad you’re safe.” I huddled with the two of them. “What’s going on? What happened at the hotel?”
“They fucking got me with a dart gun, same as you. I didn’t know what happened until Chantilly told me what she’d seen on the video. God, I’m so fucking sorry. I would have run in and ripped his motherfucking head off.”
Kennedy held out his fist. “Pound it.”
“Right on.” Carey fist-bumped him. “But I was out. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who figured out Fluffy’s death wasn’t a suicide.”
Laughter erupted from the small group Carey had been sitting with, some private joke among them. They acted like drugging and kidnapping were par for the course. Maybe it was for them.
“They’re going to let us go?” Kennedy asked.
“Yeah, as soon as they get Eric’s confession.” Carey squeezed my shoulder. “I really would have killed him with my bare hands.”
“It’s okay. Kennedy saved the day.”
“And I got the girl.” He pulled me into his side as Carey rolled his eyes.
“There’s no way I could beat that. You saved her from a knife-wielding maniac. I can’t compete.”
“Technically”—Charlotte’s Web had sneaked up behind us—“I saved her from the knife-wielding maniac, so I should get the girl.”
I squeaked as she pinched my ass when she walked by. I would have had words if we weren’t knee-deep in hackers with no qualms about violence to further their goals.
“Listen up. We got Eric Stiles’s confession. It’s ready to go live as soon as the rest of our plan is in place. Chantilly, you will escort the civilians back to their ever-so-secret warehouse hideaway that we’ve known about since they showed up there. Lynx, have you contacted the hired guns and told them to stand down?”
“Yep.” The burly guy who’d untied us spoke up. “We had to pay double, but they won’t take any more work from Rhone.”
“Fine. Quartz, where’s Rhone right now?”
A woman spoke up, her eyes glued to her laptop monitor. “Mansion on the river.”
“Lynx, you and I will handle the wet work. Quartz, you’re lookout. Everyone else, I want you working your channels to hype the upcoming Discord transmission.”
“Wait. Wet work?” I asked.
Charlotte’s Web glanced at me over her shoulder. “Lynx, get them out of here.”
“Got it.” The burly guy moved toward us and Kennedy tried to scoot me behind him.
“You’re going to kill them?”
Kennedy squeezed my hip. “Scarlett, I don’t think this is the time or the pl—”
I held my ground. “Wait, you can’t just execute people.”
“We’re Discord. We do whatever the fuck we want.” The group erupted in “fuck yeah’s” in response to Charlotte’s Web.
“But—”
“He was going to rape you, kill you. Scarlett.” Kennedy gripped my elbow. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“Listen to your boyfriend, Scarlett.”
Something flittered around in my mind, an idea that might not work, but it was worth a shot. Kennedy tried to hustle me out the door as Lynx pushed Carey along.
“Wait, I have an idea. What if you could bring them to justice without having to kill them?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Charlotte’s Web kept her back to me.
“But what if you got paid?”
“What are you talking about? Let’s just go.” Kennedy shook his head.
“Millions!” I yelled as the door closed.
“Wait!” Charlotte’s Web barked.
Lynx sighed and pulled the door open, pushing me back through.
She’d turned to me, hands on her hips. “What are you talking about?”
“Yeah.” Kennedy echoed, “What are you talking about?”
“You could be a federal whistle-blower.”
Half the room laughed, but Charlotte’s Web didn’t. “What do you mean?”
“While I was researching the intellectual property violations Rhone was alleging against Greenwood, I stumbled on a federal whistle-blower statute that was enacted in the 1990s during the dot-com boom. It grants federal immunity and millions of dollars to whistle-blowers who alert the government to just the sort of fraudulent practices Rhone was trying to run with this hack.”