“Jackson ain't your target. Peter is. Don't become what you hate just to get your... vengeance.”
I stop since we're nearly at the cathedral, and I close my eyes. I'm not praying though. There's no redemption for me, and I seek no forgiveness for what I want to do. I'm just trying to gather my thoughts. “Okay, okay, we'll do it your way. Andrea first, then the other affairs, then the nastier stuff. I'll talk to Domino soon.”
“Good. By the way, check that flash drive, I've got something else for you.”
“Oh?” I ask, patting the little bulge in my pocket. “What?”
“Something that'll keep food in your belly, and maybe put some newer pants on your skinny ass,” Darcy says with a chuckle. “Totally legit, too. I built the system myself, and now the clients want to see if Coup De Grace can crack it.”
I arch an eyebrow. “You built it?”
“I built it. Hardware too, not that I'm telling you what I used. System's up right now with dummy data files. You get in there and leave behind your signature, you get ten grand.”
“And if I don't?” I ask. With Darcy's projects and offers, there's always a catch.
“I get twenty, and you get twenty percent, so I clear sixteen and you clear four. Difference of six grand for you.”
I chuckle and look up at the sky, then at the cathedral. The clouds are getting heavier, so I suspect by the time I get back to the loft, it'll be raining. Good, I need a reason to stay indoors now. “Fine. You know it's not going be that hard though, Darcy. You taught me everything you know.”
“Almost, Kat. Remember, you hack great, but I'm a great hacker.”
“We'll see. You giving me a deadline?”
Darcy nods. “One week. Just enough time for you to get the first bit out to Domino, then prep the next little needle for Peter. One last thing though... have you thought about the collateral damage? Andrea's even more innocent of this than Jackson. You could hurt the girl.”
I nod. “I've thought about it ever since we heard the rumors. But if she doesn't know, then she deserves to know. Besides, judging by everything I've researched on her... she's grown into one tough woman. I remember her as a little girl, she was tough then, too. You know she's the only one of us all that actually went to college? She's working on her MBA right now, and she's still only twenty.”
“Sounds like you admire her.”
I shrug. “I'm driven, not blinded. Not all the DeLaCoeurs are scum.”
“Yeah well, while you're being not blinded, keep your eyes especially open. Jeff heard that the Black Man is looking for you.”
I can't help it, but I shiver. Nathan Black is not someone I want on my tail, but I knew he and I might have to throw down at some point when I started this. “I figured. I know it must burn your ass that he's known as the Black Man.”
Darcy chuckles and shrugs. “Can't help it, it is his last name. Seriously, that's one badass son of a bitch, you keep yourself safe. He might even be able to take you in a fight.”
I nod and adjust my sunglasses. “He might. But bushido is realized in the presence of death.”
“Goddamn samurai.”
Chapter 6
Jackson
A week. I've been holed up in the mansion for a week, and it's driving me up a fucking wall. There's only so many laps I can swim in the pool, so many workouts I can do in the gym in the garage, so many movies I can watch before I go apeshit.
Not that Pops cares. He's instructed the staff, and Nathan in particular, not to let me off the property, regardless of how I want to go about it. I'm not even allowed to walk out of here if I were feeling up to it. Mike won't even talk to me any longer. When I went to Pops to ask him about it, he just reiterated that Mike is no longer to answer to me, and works for only Pops now. Fucking ass.