"How are we doing?" Azriel asked.
Nuala and Cerridwen gave him thumbs up on the video camera. "Good, head back. Rhys and the others should be back any minute."
Nuala and Cerridwen gave an affirmative. Azriel leaned back in his chair, stretching. It was good to be king. He watched the security feed as Spring Court Consolidated's employees walk by. Nuala and Cerridwen straightened their blazers and walked passed the security guards, talking to one another. Up ahead they had more security guards, a few straggling accountants doing overtime and- oh fuck.
"Hey, girls? Bitch coming up," Azriel warned.
"Yes, sir."
"Az!"
Azriel let the girls do their thing. He turned to Rhys. "Hey," Azriel said. "How did Vassa go?"
"All fine." Rhys sat down next to Az. He dropped his feet onto Az's beautiful tabletop touch screen. Az pushed them off. "Hey!"
"Not on Truth-Teller."
"Yeah, yeah." Rhys rolled his eyes. He shifted, looking at the camera feed. "Is this live?"
"Yep."
"What's Amarantha doing at Spring Consolidated at three AM?"
"Not sleeping. Don't you have a big day tomorrow?" Azriel asked.
"Subtle."
"I'll get it done, Rhys, just like I always do."
"Like you hacked Vassa's computer?" Rhys asked as he stood.
"She was the honest man, Rhys! I shouldn't have to have!" Az shouted after him. Azriel scoffed and rolled his eyes, "what is Amarantha doing there?" he mimcked under his breath, "like I don't know how to do my job…""
"Did you say something, Boss?" Nuala asked, her voice a whisper.
"Nah, nothing. You good, girls?"
"All clear. On our way back." Cerridwen said, ducking her head as they walked out the doors.
"Good, then get some sleep."
"Big day tomorrow, huh?" Nuala asked.
"For all of us."
"We won't be awake." Cerridwen added.
"Tell the Boss break a leg from us," Nuala added.
"Will do. Keep me updated."
"Yes, sir," the twins chorused.
"'Night." Azriel cracked his knuckles. The amount of work he did for these cons… he deserved a fucking raise. He'd mention it to Rhys after it was done.
"'Night."
Amarantha was having a shitty day. First Hybern—the idiot—was going to bring enough cocaine across the border for intent to sell. Did she have to do fucking everything around here?
Amarantha strode into Tamlin's office, swiping her key-card at the desk. With her administrator passwords in she entered into Tamlin's calendar. He had a few meetings tomorrow, but nothing that Amarantha couldn't tell him to ignore. She scanned them for anything she could fake, it would be easier than making up a fake meeting in another state.
Her phone buzzed. She checked it. Just her stock-broker checking in. She texted him back that he'd better get her those options or she'd kill him.
Heh, and he didn't even believe her about that. Yet.
Perfect, Never-Fading Cosmetics. She took out a post-it and wrote down a message to Tamlin on it. She took the packages out from inside her blazer, and dumped out her leather briefcase. She placed them and a smoke-bomb inside and stuck the note on the case. She'd call him tomorrow and show up early to make sure he got the message.
She'd get Rose over the border on his private jet and would call the cops as soon as he got off of the plane. With him gone, and her in position to buy the majority shares in Spring, she'd have Spring Court Consolidated under her thumb. With them, and the secrets she knew on Winter Inc, Summer Co, and Day LTD, she'd have half of Prythian's ruling corporations under her thumb. All she'd need is Autumn, which shouldn't be a problem now that Vanserra was out of the picture, wherever the fuck he was. She'd told Rose not to get rid of him yet, but did anyone ever listen to her? No.
And now they were all going to find out why exactly they should have.
Next came to Dawn, who would fall in line with everyone else, and then finally: Night. Rhys did still have a soft spot for her. Or, well, she still had one for him, and he had one for those little projects of his. Fucking around on her territory, she'd show Rhysand just who he was fucking playing with with that grifter of his. And those girls? Who did they belong to… that hacker of his—accountant, that's what he called himself when the Feds came sniffing. Azriel… something. Those wraiths of his, like she couldn't spot them from far off.
Whatever con Rhys was pulling on Rose and Hybern stopped now. She needed them to get through the fucking night, after that? Well, she wouldn't need them any longer. She'd be the head of Spring Court Consolidated, Rose would be gone, Hybern could fuck himself, and then she would focus on Rhysand.
Amarantha stood and strode out of the building. Four AM, she needed to get some beauty sleep. Tomorrow was a big day, after all.
Mor woke up to her phone ringing. What time was it? She squinted at her phone. Alf… Alfie? Who…?
Oh Mother, Hybern? Why was he calling?
Mor took her real phone and called up Azriel. It rang three times before she heard a groggy "hmm?"
"Hybern's calling me. I'm picking up now. I can give you… maybe ten minutes?" But after the first three words came out of her mouth she heard a scrambling sound and some yelling. Mor rolled her eyes, and that was why she was a grifter and not a computer monkey. She hung up on Azriel's grumbling and answered Andromache's phone.
"Hey, Alfie, baby~" The words were like honey in her mouth, just like she liked them.
"Andy! Something's gone wrong! They've found me!"
"What-?" What? No. That wasn't right…
"Your gang, they know, okay?" Alfred hissed. "I have to talk to you, face to face."
"Alfie, babe, I just woke up-"
"Two hours. I'll text you the address."
"Alfie-" But he'd hung up on her.
Mor sighed and called Azriel. "You get that?"
"Yeah," Azriel mumbled. He yawned loudly. "I'll call Rhys."
"Okay, but if he decides to shank me I'm going to haunt Rhys forever," Mor mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah."
Tamlin Rose was exhausted. With Lucien and Feyre go-… not with him anymore, he was doing triple the work he was before. He hadn't realized how much the two of them did. He needed them back. He'd apologize. He'd promise not to hurt them again. It was just… sometimes they were so insolent. And Lucien understood, Feyre was the troublemaker. He was just trying to protect her. She knew that. There were dangerous people out there. People who salivated over Feyre, like that Rhysand from the Night Court…
Tamlin checked his phone. It had become a habit of the recent days, constantly looking to see if he'd missed anything from Detective Russel. She never updated him but every time he called to check she yelled that she'd have something when she had something and that she wouldn't text a moment sooner.
"Mr. Rose!" Alis called as he entered Spring Consolidated's offices. "Your lawyers want to talk about the slander case against Suriel Tabloids, they're in your office right now, but-"
"I'm not talking to them today, Alis. Tell them I don't want a settlement, I want a complete apology."
"Yeah… You haven't seen today's headline, have you?" Alis asked nervously.
"No, I don't read that crap. Why?"
Alis handed him the magazine.
HOT SHOT BUNNY: BIG SECRETS REVEALED, EXCLUSIVE INCRIMINATING PICTURES OF LUCIEN VANSERRA AND FEYRE ARCHERON
WHAT DID TAMLIN ROSE HAVE TO SAY? EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
"MY SISTER ALWAYS LIKED MEN WITH MONEY!" SAYS NESTA ARCHERON
All lies. All of it, lies. Tamlin knew this. Hell, they were saying that he'd given them an interview which he hadn't remotely done. All of it was lies.
But that didn't mean he hadn't thought about it… about them. His best friend and his fiancee. Feyre was gorgeous and funny and creative and beautiful, who wouldn't have thought about her that way? And Lucien, Lucien was conniving. He could have convinced her into falling in love with him, just as he did all of Tamlin's enemies. That was the problem with people like Lucien Vanserra, they were great to have on your side, but you never trusted them, not fully.
It was a ridiculous claim, the rational side of him knew. Lucien was still hung up on that dead girlfriend of his…. Jesminda? Right? But the emotional side of him still ruminated on the possibility. Had they eloped together? Was that why they'd run? It hurt. What had he done? He just wanted to protect Feyre, why couldn't anyone understand that? He was just protecting her!
"Mr. Rose?" Alis asked.
Tamlin shook his head. Ever since Feyre had run away, Tamlin hadn't been sleeping well. Maybe it was the betrayal, maybe it was the empty bed…
"Mr. Rose!" Alis said insistently.
Tamlin jumped. He'd zoned out again. "Yes, Alis?" The response came out tiredly even to him. "Oh, right, the tabloid… tell my lawyers that I never gave that damned rag an interview and to add it to the list of offenses."
"Yes, sir. And..."
"And what, Alis?"
"Miss Scarlett is here, sir."
That bitch. What did she want? Hadn't he told her everything he knew? Hadn't he done everything she asked? And yet, here she was, still on his heels.
Tamlin strode into his office. Here she was, in his fucking office. He scowled. Her long red hair flowed silkily over her back. She wore a black pantsuit, and her long legs leisurely stretched over his desk. "Get out of my chair."
"Now, now, Tam, is that any way to speak to your savior?"
You're not my savior. Lucien was my savior. You're a bitch.
"Get out of my chair."
Amarantha rolled her eyes. "Men and their toys." She stood and Tamlin sat in her seat. She planted herself on the corner of the desk. "Listen, I need you to do something."
"What?"
"I've canceled all of your meetings from three until six. You have a meeting in Itica with Never-Fading Cosmetics. I need you to deliver something personally."
"Why am I just hearing about this now?" Tamlin asked.
"Because it's how I'm going to fucking dig you out of this whole that Vanserra left in this company. Your stock prices are falling, we need this deal to stop that. You bringing the contract yourself is an act of good faith." Amarantha took out a briefcase. "I'm going to put this here, don't forget it."
Tamlin glanced down at the case, seeing the red scrawlings on the sticky note.
Never-Fading Cosmetics.
Don't forget!
Bitch. Like Tamlin would forget something like that.
"I get it." Tamlin snapped from between grinding teeth. "Anything else?"
Amarantha rose to her feet. "Get on that plane."
"Fine." He'd get on the plane, he'd hand over the goods, he'd smile and be the perfect CEO and pretend that everything was fine, and maybe if he faked it enough he'd fool everyone… even himself.
Mor hated the earbuds. They were unwieldy and uncomfortable, and only caught what Mor was saying. She'd told Azriel multiple times that she hated these things, but Rhys demanded it for the meeting so she had one. She pulled down on her dress, these stupid things for the costume were uncomfortable as fuck. She liked dresses and heels, but the Andromache character wore ones that stuck in just the right (just the wrong) places.
Mor fluffed her blonde hair out and pushed her bra up a little more. "Entering from the south side," Cassian said in her ear.
"I'm ready."
She heard the footsteps as Alfred Hybern's people took their places. Hybern walked out from behind the crates in the warehouse. Really, a warehouse. What a melodramatic idiot. No one did traps in warehouses.
"Andy!" It was Hybern's voice. He looked worried, kept throwing glances over his shoulder. "They found out! I don't know how but someone must have ratted-Devlon! It had to be him!"
"Keep him busy, Mor," Cassian said.
"Alfie, what are you talking about? There's no way that Dev ratted us out, he doesn't even know! As far as he knows, everything's good."
"Then how come I woke up to men from Nightmare Court outside my door?"
"No! No way." Mor could hear Cassian's grunts as he disabled the men Hybern had hired for protection in the warehouse.
"Well, if it wasn't Devlon, and it wasn't me, then it had to be you." Hybern pulled out a gun.
A gun. A fucking glock.
Mor laughed putting fear in her voice (it wasn't hard), "you're going to shoot me?"
"You're conning me, Morrigan."
And the penny dropped.
"He's got a gun?" Cassian snarled. "I'm-ugh, stop that. I'm busy. Gimme two minutes."
"Who the hell is Morrigan? You can't shoot me. I'm your friend, it wasn't me! You're right, it had to be Devlon-" Mor cried. "Alfie, it's me!"
"Oh yeah, then why the hell Andy were you meeting with Rhysand Selene?"
Mor changed her posture to her normal one. She let her belly out, straightened her back a little. She shook her blonde hair out of her face. Mor raised a hand to her ear. That was another good thing about the earbud, definitely made her and her crew look more high-tech than they were. Hybern tightened his hand on the gun, but the safety was still on. He probably never did the dirty work himself.
"Rhys," Mor said, "we're blown."
She could practically heard Rhys's smile. Hybern grit his teeth.
"Alright everyone, we're T minus two hours. Let's go frame a CEO."
"So you are conning me."
Mor rolled her eyes. "Of course we are you idiot. You payed for the drugs, then I get thirty grand all for looking pretty. Really, it was going to be so easy." Mor sighed. "So, what tipped you off? Was it the plane bit? I knew I should have insisted on driving down to Itica."
Hybern cocked the gun. "You're not even going to defend yourself?"
Mor scoffed. "Why should I? You caught me, fair and square. Hey, why do they call it when you get caught a fair cop, to me cops are never fair. Doesn't make sense-"
"Shut up! You con me and you have the gall to goof around?"
"Well, why's it matter to you? You're still getting money, right?"
Hybern shifted.
"What? You still have the drugs, don't you? Hey, take the whole bit if you're so sour, but without me the contact won't give you the time of day."
"I… I don't have the drugs. But who the fuck cares?"
"You… you don't have the drugs? No. No, no, no."
"You still need me, Mor?" Cassian asked in her ear. "I can get that gun."
"No, no. You were supposed to have the drugs. If you don't have the drugs then the whole deal falls apart and if the whole deal falls apart then you're out of twenty grand, and I'm out of my score!"
"You're..."
"Who has the drugs?" Mor asked. "I have to call to cancel the deal-"
"Tamlin Rose. And he's halfway to Itica by now so don't even try to talk me into-."
"What? The Spring Consolidated guy? Wait-he's on his way? Does that mean..." Mor's eyes lit up. "Wait a second, I know how we can still get the money."
"Don't you get it? You lied to me!"
"Of course, I did. It's what I do! Keep up, now I'm going to lie to someone else and we're both going to get paid out of it."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, if Tamlin Rose is going to deliver the drugs, all we have to do is make the buyer think he's one of ours and collect the payment somewhere else, bada bing, bada boom, we're rich. Sixty grand to you to pay back that twenty thousand, and thirty grand to me."
"But-" Hybern's hand wavered in the air.
"Oh come now, Hybern, what do you care more about? Your pride, or sixty thousand dollars of pocket change?"
That hand dipped again. "… you mean-?"
"No lies, Hybern. Just pure, hard profits. That's the fun part of the con."
"And Rhysand? What the fuck was that with Rhysand?"
Mor shrugged. "I owe him a bit of cash, I was going to pay it off with the money I got from the job. Still not sure how you knew about him."
"That fixer of mine you hate so much, Amarantha? She caught you meeting."
"Damn," Mor swore shaking her head. "I knew she was trouble. Tried to get you not to trust her, didn't I?"
"Yeah, for all the good that did you."
"Maybe so, but it's all working out now." Mor glanced down at her watch. "Look, you still have your plane, right?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"Then let's go. Tamlin Rose is going to arrive there at the same time you were supposed to, right? Five PM?"
"Last I heard but-"
"Good, then we'll use your plane."
"My plane?"
"Unless you have a better idea?" Mor asked, giving him a condescending face that said that if he refused he'd be an idiot.
"No… but-"
Mor held out her hand, and asked Hybern a question he couldn't say 'no' to. "Do you want your money or not?"
Hybern put down his gun, stuffing it into the back of his pants. "Let's go."
Mor smiled. That was how you hooked a mark.
Vassa Russel looked up to see a man striding up to her. The Interpol agent. He smiled and held out his brown hand, "are you Detective Vassa Russel?" He had dark eyes that looked purple in light. Brown skin, and sweeping brown hair that probably made him look ravishing to some, but Vassa wasn't one to swoon. His suit was a little too rich for a law enforcement agent. So either he was on the take, or he was very, very good at his job.
"Yes. And you are…?" She knew but she wanted to hear him say it.
"I'm sure your Captain told you. You're working on the Rose missing persons' case."
Vassa leaned back in her desk chair. "I am."
"So you're the one I have to talk to. Your Captain told you why I'm here, right?"
"You think that there's something hinky going on with Hybern and Spring's finances, right? Something weird with taxes… unaccounted income, right?" Something was weird about this, Vassa could smell it. She frowned. What were the odds, first she'd gotten the missing persons' case, second she'd been contacted by Lucien and Feyre and they'd warned her about money-laundering between Hybern and Spring.
Now here was Agent Enalius, who had come here just for money related crimes. When you were in financial crimes, there was no such thing as a coincidence.
"We got a tip that at five PM tonight in Itica Tamlin Rose and Alfred Hybern are going to engage in criminal behavior."
"Itica? That's not my jurisdiction."
"It is if you're working on the missing persons' case."
"And why is that?"
Agent Enalius leaned close. He jerked his head, hair flicked out of his face. "I think we both know why."
Vassa narrowed her eyes. "Five PM, that's in less than two hours."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Then how are we getting to Itica in time?"
Agent Enalius smiled and a chill shivered up Vassa's spine. "Oh, I have my ways."
"We'll meet you at the Itica Airport, hanger seventeen, okay? You'll get a call from your men once they get the drugs and you give us the money. That way, no cheating. Okay?" Morrigan asked her contact on speaker-phone so Alfred could hear.
"Deal," Morrigan's contact said. "See you soon." She hung up.
"T minus half an hour," Morrigan muttered under her breath. She smiled at Hybern, and squeezed his hand. "You nervous?"
"Why should I be?" Alfred asked.
"Exactly," Morrigan agreed. She let her hand drop and Alfred glanced down at the Rolex, still there. Morrigan pouted. "Don't trust me, Alfie?" she asked.
Alfred scowled. "Don't call me that."
Morrigan shrugged. "As you wish."
They landed twenty-five minutes later. "We'll meet her in the atrium, okay?" Morrigan explained.
"Fine."
"And listen, I'll be finding my own way after this. I have something else to do in Itica."
"Fine for me," he'd rather spend the shortest amount of time with Morrigan possible. Besides, he would be on a private jet back, police couldn't arrest him on his own property.
The plane taxied into the hanger. They walked down to the glass atrium. The woman who stood there, with a few briefcases (presumably full of money) set down by her feet. She looked like a rich bitch. She wore a long flowy pattern-print dress, with a chic small backpack, and a large floppy sunhat. Her pale skin clearly was that of someone who could afford skincare. She had red painted lips, and sunglasses that probably cost a few hundred dollars.
"I can pick 'em, can't I?" Morrigan asked with a snort as they walked towards her. "Now remember," Morrigan said, "I do the talking. I'm better at it than you."
Alfred tried not to scoff. He hated people telling him what do, and this whole last couple days, that was all it had been. But, Morrigan was right. She was the professional con-woman. She should do the talking.
"Miss Smith, great to see you." Morrigan crowed. She opened her arms and kissed the woman in the hat—Miss Smith—on each cheek. The woman sniffed disdainfully.
"Andromache," so she was still fooled by Morrigan's act, "you're late."
"I'm on time."
"Which is late," the woman sniped. She glanced at her watch. Alfred sent down a short glance at his own watch. A minute until five PM.
"Always a charmer, Ressina," Morrigan said rolling her eyes. She gave Alfred an exasperated look.
He watched as the seconds ticked down. At five PM and two seconds, Ressina Smith's phone began to ring. She picked it up.
"Yes?" She asked in her lilting, pretentious way. "I see. Very well." She hung up and gestured to the money.
Morrigan knelt and checked the cases.
"Sixty thousand," Alfred reminded her.
"Each briefcase is twenty thousand," Ressina Smith said. "Can I go now?"
"Fine with me. The Nightmare Court thanks you for your business."
"Whatever," Miss Smith said. She turned on her heel and strode out.
"And this is where our business ends. Be seeing you," Morrigan sang, saluting Alfred on her way out.
Alfred rolled his eyes. "Doubt it." He grabbed the cases he needed and strode back to the hanger. They'd parked in hanger three, it was only two hallways away from the atrium. He turned right and entered the hanger.
Just as the door to the hanger swung shut behind him, the door to the plane in the hanger opened and out stepped Tamlin Rose.
No… no, no, no, no, no.
Alfred was about to turn around when people began to shout. Police!
"Put down the briefcases!" As the people shouted, Rose's briefcase began to smoke.
"This is a mistake. No-this is some type of mistake!" Alfred tried to tell them. This plane wasn't his plane, where was his plane?
"That's not my plane!"
"Sir, get down on the ground!" Someone from a SWAT team shouted, guns raised. "Get down on the ground!"
"He's all yours, Rhys," Mor said as she climbed into the car that Az had waiting. She grinned as Amren took off her floppy hat. "This is yours, I believe," Mor said, handing the briefcase over.
"Well, it's not really mine," Amren corrected, taking off her sunglasses and then checking her red lipstick in the rear-view mirror.
Rose shouted in surprise, dropping the case. It burst open: contraband spilling across the hanger floor.
No, no, no, no, no! "Get down on the ground!" The police shouted again.
"This is a mistake! I don't know this man!"
From between the SWAT team, out walked two people in suits. A woman, and a man. The woman had a smattering of freckles across her pale face. She had wild red hair. Her lips were pursed into a scowl. One of her hands was resting on her gun. Beside her stood stood Rhysand Selene.
No… No! "This is a set-up!"
"It's your case, which is why I'm giving you the opportunity to come to Itica with me for the bust," Rhysand explained to Detective Russel. "It's only fair."
"On the ground, sir!"
"He's one of them! He's one of them!" Alfred shouted, trying to make them understand. He pointed to Rhysand. "That's Rhysand Selene! He's a thief!"
Rhysand turned to the woman with a fake mystified expression on his face!
"He's a conman! He's trying to steal money from me!"
"On the ground!" Rose was already on his knees, hands above his head. But Alfred Hybern wouldn't be played. First Morrigan, and now Rhysand fucking Selene?
"But-Rose already gave in the-he-he was already here! How-?" How could this be possible? It shouldn't have been possible. "This isn't right! This isn't-" He took a step forward and was tackled into the ground, his head crashed into the ground. Dizzily he tried to rise, tried to attack Rhysand fucking Selene, but was slammed back into the ground.
"No! No!"
"T minus half an hour." It wasn't, in fact, half an hour until five. It was forty minutes until five. But Hybern didn't know that. Mor reached over Hybern's arm. She brushed her fingers against his watch, clicking out and moving the hands up ten minutes. She brought her fingers away and Hybern checked to make sure his watch was still there. Mor wanted to laugh. How adorable.
"No!"
Rhysand Selene strode up to Alfred. He bent down so he was level with Alfred. Selene cocked his head. "That's him, alright." Selene said shaking his head. He turned to the redheaded woman. She must have been one of them! She had to have been!
Alfred tried to throw himself at Selene, but the SWAT guys held him down. "You don't understand! You don't get it! He's a thief! He's not a real cop! His name is Rhysand Selene and he's a thief!"
"Delusional," Selene rolled his eyes. He stood, and brushed invisible dust off of his pants.
"Cocaine." One of the policemen called from beside Rose, checking the bags of drugs that had fallen out of his case.
"And we have money here," someone else said, opening Hybern's own briefcases.
"So where are we getting the money for the bust then?" Feyre asked as Rhys explained the con to her.
Rhys raised an eyebrow at Azriel who chuckled. "See, the thing about someone who does something illegal and never gets in trouble for it, is that they tend to do it again."
"Most companies have a certain amount of petty cash at their disposal," Rhys explained. "That's where Hybern's going to get the first twenty thousand he gives to Mor. Being a holding's company, they'll have a much larger amount of petty cash on hand than one might expect."
"A hundred grand?" Feyre cried.
Lucien laughed. "Fuck no, maybe thirty or forty, but maybe more if Hybern's taking it from petty cash."
"Forty five thousand, to be exact. He'll have to," Azriel explained, tapping Truth-Teller's screen. "And don't worry, a small filing error by the accountant led to more money being taken out of corporate accounts than usual for the next month. They expect big investments that they'll need cash on hand for," he said.
"And we don't need a hundred thousand," Rhys reminded Feyre, tapping his forehead with his pointer finger. "We just need enough money in the cases for him to think there are sixty thousand in there. Remember what the street price is for the coke?"
"Mor said twenty grand, right?"
"And Hybern shows up with just over the going rate, matching the serial numbers from his own company's cash, that Amarantha'll find out just in time isn't in the safe it should be in...?"
"Huh," Feyre said nodding, "okay. I think I'm starting to get it now. But what about the rest of it? You said just over twenty grand, well, what about the other twenty thousand dollars?"
Rhys winked. "Well, we have to make a living somehow, don't we Feyre, darling?"
"You can't open that! That's private property!" Alfred cried.
"Actually," Selene said with a smirk. Ohh… Alfred would sue him and would sue Morrigan! He would set Scarlett on them! He pulled out a piece of paper. "We have probable cause. We can." Selene turned back to the SWAT guys. "Buying drugs with intent to sell?" He tisked. "Mr. Hybern…"
The SWAT guys tried to muscle them up as the redhead began reading Alfred and Rose their rights.
Detective Russel walked over to Agent Enalius. "RICO, huh?"
"What do you want to bet that this money comes from Hybern Holdings' own accounts?" Enalius asked. He pawed through the stacks of cash with his gloved hands. They were, after all, evidence.
Vassa snorted. "Even if I were a betting woman, I wouldn't." Vassa took the stacks from his hands and plopped them into the evidence bags. She handed them off to a uni.
Vassa was driving on the way back. She and Agent Enalius went back to her car. "Crazy, don't you think?" Vassa asked.
"What? I told you that my information was good."
"Well, I've got Goldie-Uh, Detective Goldson working on the payments. With this bust, she'll get a warrant for their companies, and she'll have the paper-trail by the time we get back to Subburg." They climbed into Vassa's car.
One of the tech knocked on Enalius' window. He rolled it down. "Listen, that Hybern guy is calling for his lawyer, a… Scarlett somebody?"
"We can't give him that call 'til we process him," Vassa said. They nodded and jogged back to the paddy-wagon.
Enalius rolled up his window. "No way Scarlett doesn't know. My bet? She set up the buy."
"Maybe, but we'll need testimony for that," Vassa said. She glanced out the back of the car to pull out of her parking spot as she began the drive back. "Don't you think, Rhysand Selene?"