Smirk of Fire (The Underground #1)

Chapter 3

I eyed the male, Kace, he gave me a sharp look before stalking off down a hallway. He paused outside a door to check I was behind him before he opened it. Inside the room is mostly bare save for an untouched bed and a large desk setup.

I waited at the doorframe as he takes the computer from the desk. His dark eyes followed me as I leant against the far wall and watched. His dark hair curled over his eyes and his back rippled with movement as he straightened.

"You can stay here." He told me, his voice deep and husky but his eyes were taunting me. The man was so beautiful it's hard to remind myself what was at stake. He looked like a polished business but then the tattoos and the sinister smirk changed everything. The promise of danger in those shadowed eyes called out to me.

I nodded at him and he left the room, collecting the computer and the rest of the supplies on the desk. I stared at the empty walls, nothing distinguishable about them. Just four blank walls and a bed. The sun is setting in the distance and I knew they put me in a room for a reason. To keep me away from their business. I'm an outsider, they didn't trust me.

Sleep didn't find me easily and I tossed and turned for most of the night. The moon offered a small light against the darkness, but my fears clawed at me. It didn't take me long to turn back on the lights and just sit and stare into space for the rest of the night.

At some point in the early morning, Elijah arrived, "Morning, I'll have Kace give you all our intel on the guy and he'll accompany you to make sure the job is completed." He informed me and I tried not to shiver. The thought of being alone with the mysterious man was thrilling and nerving at the same time.

We crossed the foyer into a large open living room connected to a kitchen. I sighed and threw myself onto one of the cushioned seats. Kace arrived shortly after, his laptop in hand and placed it down on the coffee table for both me and Elijah to see.

A male face flashed up on the screen, a thick scar running across his brow and a large tattoo across his left cheek. He had dark eyes and a twisted mouth, even though the photo it felt like he was staring into my eyes.

"This is Ingero, a few months back he killed one of our members and stole some of our shipment." Elijah said with a brisk wave of his hand, "This is the last time a camera caught him, somewhere up north and he hasn't been seen since." I swore Kace tensed up even more at the mention of his whereabouts. I looked back to the picture and stared at the face, trying to find anything to give me something to work with. A word in his tattoo or something in the background to give away where he was last seen.

"Any family members? Connections who you know of?" I asked reaching for my phone to take down any information I can. I've found people with nothing more than their family name but I had a bad feeling the male won't be an easy target.

Elijah shared a look with Kace, "We have his name and a bank account number." Was his only response. I tapped my nails against the wooden coffee table and frown at the picture. There's nothing there, just nothing.

"I'll need to go home, collect some stuff. With nothing to work on, I'll have to pull a few strings." I told them and stood up from the seat. The longer I waited around the further away the girls became. I refused to waste any more time. "One more thing, did Cali ever tell you the gate code to our house?" I asked and both men frowned.

"No, we never heard from her," Elijah told me and I swore under my breath. Whoever Cali told the code to wasn't any of them which meant it could be anyone. That left me with nothing, not a single lead.

I snatched my keys from where I left them and took the gun Elijah held out for me before turning back to Kace, "We leave now, we can stay at mine until we get a proper lead, or you can stay here." I pointed to him and don't give him the time to answer before I headed back to my car.

The drive is long, Kace followed me most of the way. When I stopped to get food and coffee he stopped on the side of the road and watched me, probably to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. I got the feeling he wasn't only coming along to find the guy; I was sure Elijah didn't trust me not to spill secrets about the Underground.

Once I was back home the first thing I did was scan each of the banks to find which one owns the bank account number. Kace did his own thing, neither of us spoke a word as we dove into our computers.

I paused looking over the top of my laptop at the man before pulling out my phone. I got a hit, one of the big banks that do a lot of sketchy deals, the CEO is a money-grabbing asshole. I dialled the number and a nice lady picks up.

"Hi, I'm Mr Ingero Velicia's private secretary, could you put me through to the head of office?" I asked sweetly. Men like Ingero paid the banks to keep quiet about the big funds they bring in. It meant the banks are at their beck and call.

"Yes, of course, one moment please." I bit down on my lip, Kace watched me quietly. It was a shot in the dark, there was a good chance I wouldn't find a thing.

The line buzzed for a moment before it clicks, and a male spoke up. "Mr Conch speaking who is this?" The man asked and my fingers flew across the keyboard as I scanned the bank's database for his name and position. There was a pause for a moment before his face came up on my screen. Edward Conch, one of the big bosses.

"Grace Housten, Mr Ingero's secretary." I cross my fingers, hoping the lie is believable. From what I could find on Ingero he's wanted by the police for many reasons and nobody knows who he's working with. He would never speak to the bank directly and risk his image being corrupted, all his dirty work would be done by somebody close to him. Somebody trusted. There was no way to know who that was, I could only hope Mr Conch didn't know either.

The male paused for a second and took a heavy breath, "Ah yes, I take it Mr Ingero is well?" I could hear a waver of fear in his voice. I tried not to smile too brightly. Fear does strange things to people, it toys with their minds and lowers their judgement, it makes them more susceptible to lies and you can manipulate them easily.

"Sir I'd stop worrying about his wellbeing and do as I ask before he settles it himself," I warned the male who coughed a little before letting me carry on. "It has come to our attention you may be swiping some of his money," I said, tapping my fingers nails as a cruel smile crossed my face. Kace watched but said nothing.

"We have not, I assure you we haven't." The man said hurriedly his words spilling out as he rambled. Fear evident in his shaky tone. I was sure he was nearly pissing himself, being on the wrong side of somebody like Ingero was death for sure. It just so happened to be that Ingero was in bigger trouble.

I clicked my tongue loudly to silence him, "Ah yes so you might say but to be sure we want all of Mr Ingero's records sent to a private email, that's card details and all his bank details. Just to check up." I said sweetly my voice was soft as honey. Kace's eyes flash, he understood what I was doing.

It didn't take long for the fearful man to agree and he jotted down my fake email. I hanged up with a deep breath and waited for the emails to come through. I spent the afternoon searching through files before I found the one I needed. His card details, perfect to use to track down his movements.

In a few hours, I had my computer scanning through databases all across the country searching for any use of the specific cards. One use and we would be alerted.

Now we could only wait.