The Fall(50)

The look on her face told me everything I needed to know. She had a little bit of this and a little bit of that which amounted to “Hearsay, Your Honor, we would like to petition the court for a shut-the-f*ck-up motion.”

“I know I can access what I need if you let me use your computer.” Her sideway glance hinted that she was pretty sure that answer would be n-oh. “Those friends of yours, I’m sure they could fill the holes that I have.”

I stopped eating, the plastic fork frozen between my lunch-in-a-bag and my mouth. She was actually f*cking serious.

“They aren’t my f*cking friends. I don’t have any friends.” I laughed, her idea so freaking crazy she might as well have suggested infiltrating the Pentagon. “They do work for me, I pay them. It’s a transaction.”

“If it’s money you are after, I can get it for you.” She held up her hands defensively. “I have a trust fund I haven’t touched. I have money.”

“Sofia, if you have a f*cking trust fund, why the hell were you renting that shithole you were calling a home?”

“Because it’s his money.” She didn’t need to clarify who the he was in that statement. “I didn’t want it. He signed over control to me before I entered the police academy. I haven’t touched a dime of it because I know how he earned it, and there is no way I could sleep at night taking anything from him.”

“But you’re happy to crack it open for illegal hacking activity.” I looked her in the eyes to see if she was serious. What do you know, she didn’t blink. “Seems like your upstanding morality has conditions.”

Amazing how shit could change once you took the rose-colored glasses off and actually saw the world for what it was. It was a huge contrast to her earlier views and how she’d never be one of us. Not that I was bound by the same f*cking set of ethics, but she’d been pretty clear on which side of the line she stood.

“It’s different.” She shook her head, ready to plead her case. “In this instance the money would be used for good. I couldn’t think of a better purpose for it.”

“And you’re totally cool with breaking the law, right?” I pointed out the f*cking obvious. “Those guys don’t get their information via Google.”

“Do you know what this whole thing has taught me?” She waited like I had any idea on what her journey into self-discovery had produced. “That there is a very thin line between good and bad. And maybe sometimes you do something that isn’t exactly good, but you need to do it for the right reasons.”

“I can’t believe you are still hung up on this whole good and evil shit.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you understand what’s at stake? There is only one person concerned about doing the right thing here, and it’s not them.”

“I know.” She nodded, her hand playing with that cross around her neck. “But I need to do this.”

Wow, had she not heard a word I said? “My answer is still no, Sofia. I’m not going to help you be a rat. Besides, we have bigger issues right now.” I didn’t give her a chance to ask; we both knew it was coming so I saved us both the time. “I’m sure me not ending up a corpse was a huge disappointment for Franco; he’s doesn’t usually leave his toys unattended, so I would imagine he probably followed you.”

“No, I was careful.” She straightened her back and her head did the tell-me-it’s-not-so. “No one followed me, I checked.”

I pointed to the back of my head where there was still a decent size reminder on how even I wasn’t careful enough. “Do you think they got the jump on me because I had my head up my ass?”

There wasn’t a chance to elaborate, my cell phone vibrating, demanding attention.

“Yeah.” I gave my standard greeting, the caller ID tipping me off it was Jimmy on the other end of the phone. He sure seemed to find out about shit super quick these days. And I was really getting tired of the micromanagement.

“You’re alive.” There was a distinct note of dissatisfaction in his voice.

“Awww, Jimmy, and here I thought you cared.” The mention of her father’s name made Sofia still, her eyes boring into the phone like the connection might give her ears more than what they were getting.

“I need you to meet me.”

Words I’d been hearing all too frequently lately.

“Yeah, well I’m not taking any meetings right now, so whatever you need to say will have to be over the phone.”

“You know that can’t happen.”

“Need I remind you, Jimmy, that you’re the reason that we are where we are?”

Franco knew more than he should which meant someone was talking. Chances are that leak was coming from Jimmy’s house, because it sure as shit wasn’t mine.

He took a pause, the breath he sucked in causing him to cough. “Where is she?” It sounded like he was trying to kick gravel up his throat. “You need to bring her to me.”

“Yeah, because that is gonna happen. Think of a different plan.” Not a request.

Sofia was getting antsy, one-sided conversations would do that to most people, especially when they knew they were the topic of conversation.

“I need a secure line,” Jimmy coughed out. “Five minutes, send me a suitable number.”