Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3)(84)

Not this.

And if he could help it, she would never find out the truth about that day.





Chapter Twenty





Luna had heard a great many things about the resident hacker for the Den. Despite not being a formal member, Winter was the one they called on when they needed any tech information—she also liked to think of herself as the Den’s mascot.

Luna wasn’t sure what brought Winter into contact with the Den, especially considering what they did, but she had a feeling she would find out now that she was going to see her in person—a rare occurrence since the hacker was rarely available to meet in person.

She arrived at a ranch-style house, one complete with a white-picket fence and flowers planted along the driveway. This neighborhood felt like something out of a 50’s movie.

Luna glanced over her shoulder, unable to shake the feeling she was being watched. Earlier, she’d been sure she saw a white Mercedes trailing her, but after a bit of maneuvering on her part, she lost them.

Now, she wasn’t so sure.

Raising her fist, preparing to knock again, she jerked her hand back when the door swung open, revealing a girl that couldn’t be more than a teenager staring at her with an amused sort of smirk as she pushed tortoise-shell glasses up her nose.

She wore skin tight black jeans with a slash at the knee, patent white Doc Marten’s on her feet. Her shirt that stopped just above the waistband of her jeans read: KILL JOY.

“Finally. I though it was only a testosterone party at Chateau mercenary—not that I’m complaining because they’re all nice to look at.” She brushed silver strands of hair back, snapping the elastic band off her wrist to tie up her hair. “You’re Calavera, right? Syn told me you were coming.”

Luna’s surprise had rendered her mute, but as she shook it off, she couldn’t help but ask, “How old are you?”

Winter shrugged with a laugh, stepping to the side as she waved her in. “I get that a lot. But don’t let the birth date worry you—I programmed my first root kit when I was eleven.”

Shit, how old was she now?

“What can I do for you, Calavera—and does that ever get annoying, having to go by that name? Like everyone calls me Winter, but that’s my name, you know? I’m actually Winter. Which is one of the reasons why I love that show—the books are way better, obviously—but everyone gets all ominous when they say ‘Winter is coming,’ and of course I’m like f*ck yeah, I’m coming.”

A burst of laughter left Luna as she listened to the girl talk. Everyone was always so serious—for good reason considering what they did—but despite that, this girl still acted her age.

“Call me Luna,” she offered, the first time she had ever given her name to anyone that didn’t know her from years ago.

Even Skorpion didn’t know her name.

“Awesome, let’s get to work.”

Dropping down onto her bed, Winter stretched out across it, digging beneath the full-sized bed for a black laptop with stickers decorating it.

“Serious question,” she said as she powered the device on. “Are there any health benefits with the Den? Or do you get paid enough that you don’t worry about?” She laughed suddenly, grinning slyly. “I can just imagine walking in there riddled with bullet wounds and you have to hand over your insurance card.”

“Where did the Kingmaker find you?”

“I wouldn’t say find, rather I found you guys—Syn, actually. My dad’s brother, James, owned a pub in Philly, and he would let me hang out there when he had to work. I’m sitting under the bar, usual riff raff comes and goes, but there’s one guy that’s set up in a corner—all blonde hair with that braid in the front.” Winter said this with a wide smile and dramatic hands.

It was obvious she had a thing for the mercenary, and Luna could even understand it considering the man was pretty on the outside.

But the inside …

That was another story.

“So anyway, to make a long story short, the bad guys looking for my dad came in, and when they tried to grab me, Syn literally kills them all.”

With a pencil, if the stories were true.

“But I’ll tell you the rest if you stick around,” she said glancing at her out the corner of her eye. “You mercenaries just come and go as you please, but never call to say hi in between. It’s so boring when I’m not hacking some shit for you guys. Anyway, what are we looking for?”

“A man—Andrei Kanekov. I need you to find me anything you can on him—or a warehouse that was at the address I sent you.

“Right, already looked that up—the warehouse burned down or something. Nothing worth mentioning there.”

Winter’s fingers flew over the keyboard, the heavy silver rings glinting, but as she worked, her black painted lips turned down at the corners.

“What’s wrong?” Luna asked, sitting beside her to see the screen, but her eyes nearly crossed as she tried to make out what she was reading.

“Nothing, it’s just … weird. Who is this guy, anyway? Somebody important?”

“Maybe.”

But Luna wasn’t sure, though she figured he had to be since she’d been tasked with finding him.

“Someone set up a mainframe directory that—meaning someone set up a system to track anytime that name is searched,” she further explained when Luna looked confused.