Read Beneath the Fire (A Guardians Novella) for Free Online

Makes sense to you?”
    “She dresses well, but Lucy rarely wears jewelry.”
    “And the apartment?”
    “She has not mentioned anything about New York, when exactly was the closing date of the property?” Nathan asked.
    “Three weeks ago.”
    “I was with her almost every single day except those past three days. Could it be done by proxy?”
    Tim shrugged. “Possibly. But all the documents bear her signature. Let me dig deeper.”
    Nathan rubbed his palm across his face repeatedly while Tim’s fingers flew across the keyboard.
    “Are you going to confront her?” Tim asked, glancing up briefly from his screen.
    “How? I can’t come clean to her, Maia’s forbidden me to do such a thing until Francisco Cortez is in custody.”
    “If the money is being diverted, do you have any idea what it could be for?”
    Nathan shrugged. “I have a feeling it’s for her brother. She never mentions him. She was at his friend’s house that night. I wonder if he’s in some sort of deep shit with some drug cartel down in Mexico. Doesn’t make sense for him not to be in US with the rest of his family when he’s not tight with his dad.”
    “We’re not certain he’s not involved with the Braga Cartel. Right now, Leo Cortez is a ghost. His last known entry into the US was last September.”  
    “Right before school started,” Nathan surmised. Lucy was close to her brother then. Was she protecting him?  
    He noticed Tim frowning and asked, “What?”
    “The digital trail on these money withdrawals is legit,” Tim said slowly. “Damn. I was pretty sure I could find something. The paperwork checks out on the apartment in Brooklyn and has been filed properly. The only way to fully verify this is to actually have a warm body physically check out the property itself.”
    “Are you saying she really bought a place in Brooklyn?”
    “Either that or she hired an expert to make it look like she did.”
    “This just gets better and better,” Nathan muttered.
    “No fucking shit, man.”
    Nathan paced the length of the datacenter, one hand on his hip, another rubbing his chin in deep contemplation.
    “And nothing on the phone records?”
    “Clean.”
    Damn it. Everything reeked, yet everything was clean. What the fuck was going on?
    “How about her friend... Eva's?”
    “Clean as well, credit card, phone bills and bank accounts. They’re both flying in to California this Monday.”
    “Spring break,” Nathan said. So Eva was going with her. Makes sense. It did bug him that she had not even invited him. Maybe she felt it was too soon for him to meet her mom.
    Fuck, he wouldn’t see her for a week. Maybe he could suggest meeting her there for a few days. He didn’t even have to stay with her, he could book himself into a hotel to give her space.
    Now he was sounding pathetic.  
    How could the great Nathan Stark, who had girls throwing themselves at him since high school, be reduced to begging for crumbs of attention from a girl? He realized Tim was speaking to him.
    “What?”
    “I was saying, should I forward this information to Pierce?”
    “Yes.”
    “You know what happened to that chatroom trace, right?”
    “Yes.” The chatroom fucking disappeared. It’s as if it never existed. Pierce was not too happy about it and had told him she was going to delve deeper into it.  
    “You know it’s not unusual.”
    “What’s not unusual?”
    “Some of the best hackers in the world are college kids.”
    “Are you suggesting Lucy is involved in some kind of online fraud or money laundering?”
    Tim shrugged. “Not that I can tell right now.”
    “We’re going around in circles about this,” Nathan muttered tersely. “Send what you have to Agent Pierce. I’m heading back to campus.”

    ***
    Nathan watched Lucy’s lips curve in a sexy smile as her lids fluttered to half-mast before he shoved into her one last time as he came long and hard. He buried his face in the intoxicating scent of her hair and squeezed