Page 71 of Sweet Refuge
“Maybe he used some combination of that and the number three as his password.”
She bobbed her head. “Good point. I’ll try that, thanks.”
“You can always get Gunny or Eden on the job.”
“I’m not ready to give up yet.” Biting down on her lip, she returned to the iMac laptop in front of her. After two more attempts at logging in, the window opened.
“A-ha! Got it.”
“Nice work, Graham.” Mustang returned to his work sorting through all the boxes they’d confiscated from Trey’s apartment. The information he kept there was extensive. While other college students had bags of trash, dirty laundry and empty alcohol bottles lined up on their shelves, Trey had a collection of what could only be dirt on his father and his crimes.
Quickly, she copied the files to an external hard drive just in case there was a program to wipe the software once accessed. Then she settled into the task of searching for threats made by the Black Bloods.
There were some encrypted documents, but she went straight for the videos saved to the computer. One was labeled with the date and a timestamp of the day they rescued Slade.
Her stomach bottomed out. With the cursor hovering over the video, she hesitated for the barest second before clicking.
When it opened and she saw the footage of the garage where Slade had been held captive, a hard lump of nausea blocked her airway. She sucked in a breath through her nostrils, trying to dispel it, even as she looked on in horror.
Having been in that garage, she could almost smell the pungent sweat rolling off Slade. And god knew how many others had been held there before him. Her insides rippled, and she made note of the proximity of the wastebasket just in case she needed to make a grab for it.
In the video, Angel Hernandez walked into the garage, and Slade leaped to his feet. He stood tall and proud. Even after being held for days in that dank, sweltering place, his presence still commanded respect and instilled fear.
A shiver snaked down her spine.
Hernandez continued to unlock his chains and tugged them, pulling Slade behind him like a dog.
A shudder broke over her.
Finally, Lena appeared on the screen. She didn’t need to watch what came next, but she was riveted to the video.
When Slade set eyes on her…oh god. His expressionhurt. It gutted her. That leap of joy on his features twisted to fear when he realized she was in danger along with him.
Finger trembling, she rewound the video enough to see that joy on Slade’s face once more.
The love he always wanted to show her—and she shot down every single time—spread over his face. The exact instant the emotion flipped to fear, a spike of strong emotion stabbed her in the chest.
I know you love me…and I love you too. I’ll never stop.
So why was she even hesitating? They were having a baby. Their child could grow up with two parents who loved each other, creating what wasn’t so typical these days.
But the things Lena would have to give up left her hollow. She loved Blackout. Adored her team. She’d given up everything to fight for her country. But she couldn’t have it all. Something would need to go…and it wouldn’t be this child growing inside her.
She clicked on another video. For a moment, the shadowy footage didn’t reveal what was going on. Then she realized what she was seeing.
Charlie team taking out the arms dealer and killing most of the men. This raid had been the reason Slade was targeted in the first place.
And there he was onscreen, decked out in full gear, toting his rifle. The fight was down and dirty and over fast. When Charlie was finished, bodies lay on the floor and one was bound wrists and ankles and carried out—the arms dealer’s brother who was handed over to the authorities to lock away as an example.
Something told her to check out the photos folder next. Images sprang up on the screen. Some harder to make out than others because they were screenshots of the video she’d just watched, but they were unmistakably members of Blackout Charlie.
And they were all targets.
She scrolled through the pictures of men she knew and fought alongside, pausing a split second longer on Slade’s.
Then with her heart in her throat, she stopped on an image of herself. With a gasp, she scrolled down and sat there staring at photos of her, Frost and Mustang.
The Black Bloods put targets on all their backs.