Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 59

Hi!

Sorry, this was supposed to be out yesterday, but it looks like there was a problem with the system. Ok so here it is: Whatever Anna is about to uncover, it might be of even greater significance than she thinks. Any ideas what Chris Hayes knows/hides? 

Let me know!

Lara

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Chapter 59

As promised, Kenneth sent me the e-mail. He did much more than just 'play around a bit.' He had news. Big news. He managed to crack part of the unknown accounts among the lists we found on the device. The mysterious numbers that didn't add up and didn't concur with the rest of Chris Hayes business figures.

Someone transferred round sums of money to unknown recipients, and if Kenneth was right, the money was coming from the Circle.

As suspected the money was coming from a shadow company that, in essence, belonged to the Circle. But there was more. The trails led to a bank account in Washington. To whom, what purpose, and why was not something Kenneth found out or speculated about – at least not in the mail.

Washington. Why Washington? Why did Chris and everyone one else, including Marrok and the shape shifters, go to such great lengths to obtain this information?

Dammit, I had to find out what this was about. Only, how?

I couldn't go back to Chris Hayes. While I seriously doubted that she would spill any secrets after our last encounter, I was more concerned about being shadowed by Alexander's minions – or worse, my movements being watched by the Raven, or the Circle. After all I was persona non grata, if the information about me being a human servant had already leaked through. I wanted to minimize my contact with witches as much as possible. I wasn't ready to go down that road just yet.

While Chris never let on what the files exactly were about, she did, even if involuntarily, give me clues. She hinted at a conspiracy, something that triggered off the cooperation between the Circle and the vamps. No, she even said there was something the Circle got out of it.

So, was this secret about the TF3? But wasn't the TF3, this pet project of New York's leaders, just one measure among many to facilitate an understanding between the races?

I blinked.

Chris hadn't mentioned the shape shifters, no, she specifically referred to witches and vampires – which basically meant she couldn't have been alluding to the TF3. Her words came back to me.

Didn't it strike you as odd that they're now working alongside each other? Just like that?

My eyes widened. Could she have been talking about the cooperation between Brown and Alexander? Was this the monkey business I had been looking for?

Sweat pooled in my palms, a sudden outbreak of heat paired with goose bumps on skin. It was true that the cooperation wouldn't have happened without the special relationship between Brown and Alexander. It was just a guess and I was clutching at straws, but, dammit, it would explain a lot. In a warped, twisted way, it actually made sense.

Would I find answers, if I investigated the beginning of Brown's and Alexander's unholy liaison and found out how it began? Or was it the beginnings of the TF3 that I had to turn my eyes to?

I shook my head. First I had to work through the information Kenneth sent me, then move on, find more sources.

I didn't have access to the Circle's databank anymore, but that didn't mean I was cut off from all sources of information. Stripped of all my titles and what I was a few weeks ago, all I had were my skills and knowledge as a researcher.