Good Girls & Gangsters. (Book 2)

Chapter 24

Calum POV

"How did Torin even get out of the country?"

Hadassah comes into the bedroom with a tray in her hands. "Covert aircraft. Connections. Bribes. The usual."

I type furiously, my eyes trained on the screen of the laptop with high-grade software and applications, the type they don't sell in ordinary stores. The dull ache wakes with a roar. I use both hands but frequently one strays to hold my injured side, grimacing but fully attentive to my task. Hadassah moves to the beside table to lay down the tray with my breakfast on top.

"What are you doing? I thought you lost everything after that goon shot up the computer?"

I shake my head regrettably. "Torin is a meticulous bastard. He made me make hourly uploads of my progress to an uplink, a cloud-based storage solution like google drive but highly secured. I sealed it with my own code. My own insurance policy if he starts getting idea once everything in the book is completely decoded."

She sighs, tossing a hand to my food. "Eat, please."

My gaze takes a detour to my breakfast. "Aw, wifey. You know I love my sunny side eggs."

I bop my brows. "You'll love the pancetta even more."

"I could marry you."

I take up the laptop off lap, then I pause. An alarming notifcation pops up. I put it back.

A grim look dims her eyes. "What, what's wrong?"

"No..." A dread-filled whisper.

"What?"

She comes closer, angling her head to view the screen but all she can see is a mounting litany of texts and numerals.

"An incoming transmission."

A jolt of panic. "Who? How?"

"Encoded message...just so you know. I let you win the fight." My eyes snap to her with unexplainable excitement emerging inside me. "It's that hot spy lady, beach-blondie."

She shoots a bewildered look at me. "Seriously? Block it. She can use it to track us."

"End‑to‑end encryption. The call will be untraceable."

"No," she says furiously. "It's not worth the risk."

"Isn't it? Yeah, the agency got leaks but at least with them there's an actual chance of survival. We're talking about the CIA here. If we explain that I broke in under duress, they'll put us under witness protection. Better the devil you know than one you don't. And I'm telling you, Torin can't be trusted."

"Neither can they. Cut it."

"No."

"Calum?"

I swivel the laptop around so it can face her. "You do it then."

"Calum, I swear to God, switch it off or I'll use your head to break that laptop."

My jaw clenches, looking away momentarily as I fix it back around to hide the request before I slam the lid of the laptop close. I rest back against the plush headboard, glaring up at her.

"You're acting like I'm your mom telling you no more Fortnite."

"I don't even play Fortnite?"

"No, you're just being unreasonable." She point at my food. "Eat."

I take the tray grudgingly, picking up the fork with a frown. "I need to wash."

She shrugs. "So?"

I makes a pointed gesture to my injured side. "I need a bath. A sponge bath."