The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy, Malone, Nana [inspiring books for teens txt] 📗

boat that day, and we have nothing tangible on not Hazel, or Krista, or whatever the fuck we're calling her. That about sum it up?"

I sighed. "No, we still have an ace to play. We can call Theroux. He'll at least fill in the blank of whether or not Krista is involved in his side of the game. And we can also ask him about Leah Braddock."

Lucas finally stopped typing on his laptop. "I have something for you if you want information before you talk to Theroux."

I lifted my brow, completely having forgotten that he was even here. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet. "Yeah? What do you have?"

"I was just doing a quick search, cross-referencing jobs, locations, access points, who accepted responsibility. There doesn’t appear to be a connection.”

I frowned. "Okay, so maybe she's aware of him. And then there's still the matter of that cuff link we found at Ryder Stone’s murder scene. We can make the assumption it belongs to Garreth, but we need more proof, don't we?"

Amelia nodded. "We do. All right, so I'll work on team Wilson. Figure out everything we can about her."

I nodded. "And I will call Theroux and see if I can get some information out of him. He might not be too thrilled about talking to me, but he's our only lead, and I can feel him out about Krista and Leah Braddock."

I glanced around, and it seemed that everyone was on board with that plan but Bryna looked worried. "I don't know. I want you to be careful, Nyla. Krista Wilson, unlike Theroux, has made it clear she's willing to shoot people, not to mention cutting out their tongues. And she almost kidnapped you, which means that she's getting bold and has no regard for human life. So you're going to need to be extra careful."

She was right. I was going to have to be extra careful. Because in the snap of my fingers, I could lose everything.

* * *

Nyla

Still nestled in bed, I moaned as East massaged the knots out of my shoulders.

It was amazing how one small revelation could change the whole course of your life, the whole outcome of how everything had been going.

Ever since that little Hazel-is-Krista revelation, things had been hopping at work. Which meant less time with East over the last few days. Well, more like less time on Theroux.

My father had it in his head that Lord Jameson was right and that Theroux had been out to steal precious art from him. I knew Jameson, aka Henry Warlow, was lying, but I couldn’t tell Dad for obvious reasons.

And so, we were chasing two cases. Even though as yet, we had no connections between the two, at least none we could prove legally. But since Lord Jameson had identified Theroux as the supposed thief, every agent in our office had a new prime directive. Which was problematic at best and worrisome at worst because another member of my team might bring in Theroux instead of me.

"Look, it's okay. You're just anxious."

I rolled my neck as East massaged me. "I'm not anxious. You don't understand. Everyone is looking for him now. Every single agent on record is looking for that man, and there's not a bloody thing I can do about it. I have to get to him first, so I have to do this."

He kissed my neck. "Does it help to say that I believe in you?"

"Sure, and… I guess, thank you."

He laughed. "All right. Look, no matter what happens, we're in this together. We’ve got this. I will protect you."

I turned in his arms and cupped his cheek. "And I will protect you. It’s just that I'm not sure how right now."

"Well, we'll figure it out when it comes down to it. Don't forget. I have friends in high places. Right now, you worry about what you have to worry about, okay?"

"Yeah. I have to go."

Thirty minutes later, blurry eyed, I walked into the office, and Amelia practically bounced up to me at security. "Don't even drop things off in your office. Meeting. The conference room. Now."

I sighed, swiping my badge through the card reader and then marching behind her.

"Shit,” I muttered. “I'm worried this is all going to come crashing down… you and me, the Theroux thing…"

She nodded. “We’re on the same page. Now you and I have competition.”

“Right? We have to watch our backs, because our colleagues are coming for us. Well, not for us, but they want our collar, and we've already put too much into this. So let's do what we need to do."

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess we will."

We crowded into the back of the conference room. Instead of being seated as usual, my father had taken a stance at the corner, glaring at all the agents, looking foreboding and formidable. But it was Denning who leaned across the table, glaring at us all in the eyes. "As you've all heard by now, my former fiancée, Hazel Frost, is actually Krista Wilson, a member of the Wilson Crew. She targeted me and used me to attempt to gain intel. We're doing an assessment at present on just how much intel she's had access to, but the damage has been done. She has hit us hard."

Amelia slid me a glance. We hadn't expected Denning to go full confession. What did this mean? I was quite unused to Denning taking any responsibility for anything and outright admitting he was wrong. It was as if the world had gone topsy-turvy.

He continued speaking. "We have two priorities. All other cases will be on the back burner. Priority one…" He glanced at my father then, and Dad's jaw ticked. "Is finding Krista Wilson. Rumor is, she's after the Thomas Ackerman piece her crew lost in Monaco and that she's got a buyer for it. Given the ledgers that we found in the car park, we have an advantage. We’ve located the piece, which is in the Royal Museum of Monaco. And we need to warn