Mission: Undercover

Chapter 38

"Good morning, love birds!"

Cole and Vanessa opened their eyes in shock at the voices.

"Jackson, Rebecca? What the hell are you doing here?" Cole nervously asked his brother and sister, who stood in the living room.

Vanessa pulled the sheet up to cover her naked body.

"Why are you sleeping here?" Rebecca answered the question with a question.

Cole pulled himself up to a sitting position, the veins on his forehead about to burst.

"Better get these first." Jackson bent down, picked up Cole's boxers from the floor, and handed them to him.

"That too," Rebecca added, also bending down to pick up Vanessa's underwear, giggling loudly simultaneously. "Come on. We won't watch."

She and Jackson turned, and Cole pulled on his boxers and stood up.

Vanessa wrapped the sheet around herself and got up too.

"Now explain to me what you are doing in my apartment!" Cole still didn't change his tone.

"We were looking for Nessa," his sister answered.

"And why are you looking for her here?"

"Because obviously, she's here." Rebecca shrugged.

At that moment, the elevator door opened, and Kristen entered the apartment.

"Mother! What are you doing here?"

"Isn't this where the meeting was, dear?"

"Meeting for what?" Cole asked in bewilderment.

"For coffee?" his mother replied uncertainly. "Your sister told me they would be here, and Nessa too."

Rebecca awkwardly turned her head to the side as her brother's gaze tore through her.

Kristen walked over to Vanessa, who stood silently off the side, clutching her underwear. "How are you, dear?"

"Um, I'm fine, Kristen, thanks."

At that moment, Vanessa's phone beeped. She reached over to the table where she had left it and read a message from Karevsky: 'Disc decoded.'

Vanessa swallowed, trying not to show any emotion. "Excuse me. I'm going to get dressed."

She started for the stairs, the sheet trailing behind her.

As soon as she entered the bedroom, she dialed Karevsky. "I don't have much time. Talk fast."

"I decoded the disk. But Willker wasn't the one who encoded it. On the contrary—he also tried to decode it. I detected hundreds of failed attempts."

"What's on the disk, Karevsky?"

"Many things. Information. Extracted files. Evidence against a man named William Danforth. He was making money through a joint venture between him and Ethan Willker. Arms and drug trafficking deals were carried out at the casinos. There are camera recordings as well as many audio recordings."

"Rebecca told me about this man. Cole thinks it was he who killed their father. And since Ethan really had evidence against him, Cole may be right." Vanessa took a breath deeply. "Is this what the agency was actually looking for? McKenna told me they were looking for evidence against Cole. But the disc was the only suspicious thing that I found. There was nothing against Cole."

"Did you forget about the list, Blake?"

"The list has been put there on purpose, so for me to find it. The recording with the killer has been staged. Someone has wanted me to think that Cole has ordered Steve and Grace's murder. And this someone knew that I would find that list. But the only people who knew I was in the house were I, you, and McKenna."