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Joy
“You might have a location?” I asked, not wanting to get my hopes up.
“Lou found a burner phone in Cris’s glovepartment and gave it to Dina for processing,” Cristos
said. “There were several numbers found, but the most recent calls made were from three numbers, all
prepaid and were all bought from one store.”
“And?” Xavier asked impatiently.
“And the store is in Houston, Texas where the headquarters of the Angels of Darkness is located,
Cristos said. “Unfortunately, everything was paid in cash, but the store has a CCTV camera. Dina is
hacking into their system as we speak.
“When was the purchase made?” Xavier asked, leading us back to the rundown building.
“About two days ago,” Cristos said.
“That’s two days unounted for,” Xavier replied. “Flight from Houston to Bismarck is approximately
three hours. He could have flown back here the same day he made that purchase. Plus, we don’t have
any evidence proving it was Pete who made the purchase or even called Cris in the first ce… which
again leaves us with absolutely nothing. Good work, Cristos,” Xavier remarked dryly as he entered the
rundown building and headed
towards the lounge area.
“I’m sorry if I failed you, kind sir, but that gives us a lead. When Dina gets the image of the person who
bought the phones, she will then match the biometrics of that person to the people at the airport, train
stations and bus terminals from the time Pete left New Salem. If she gets a match, she will take note of
the date and time of arrival and search for a name through the manifest.”
“Tell Dina to do away with bus terminals and train stations to narrow down the scope of her search,“
Xavier said, taking a seat on the long L-shaped leather couch of the lounge area. I sat beside him
leaning back against the throw pillows blissfully. “He’s definitely traveling by ne. He doesn’t have the
luxury of spending a day travelling by car, bus or train. Any messages on Cris’ burner phone?” Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.
“Yes, but the messages are in code,” Cristos said. “I’ve got my team trying to break the code and piece
all of this together-”
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Cristos abruptly stopped at the sound of footstepsing down the stairs. It was De Luca.
“IT, The Shadow, it’s been a while since I saw youst,” De Luca greeted me. “I heard you’re engaged.
Congrattions!” I smiled at him and he winked at me.
“What is it, De Luca?” Cristos asked, annoyed by his interruption.
are sti
“I know you guys sour at me for leaving Domenico, but I was trying to save a poor girl chained to a
wall,” De Luca said, feeling quite the hero. “Anyway, I forgot to give this to you. I found this in the trash
in that office at Huff Hills.” He pulled a folded piece. from his pocket. “It’s a flight itinerary for a Luis
Villegas.
of paper
“Let me see that,” Cristos sna tched it from him, took a quick picture of it, then quickly browsed through
the printed document. “I was in Chicago the same day this Luis Villegas
arrived.”
“You were in Chicago?” De Luca asked, surprised.
“Yeah, I went with Dan to pick up the ring Liam sent him to buy. We so happened to bump into Noah
and Nicole just outside of Tiffany’s. Any one of the three could have gone to meet with Luis Villegas
aka Pete McDowell,” Cristos murmured.
“It’s a possibility,” Xavier said. “I doubt it was Nicole though, because they banged her up pretty good.”
“That was the ident at the intersection?” I asked. “We saw that through CCTV.”
“Yep, that was her. Link is with her while I have Max torturing the driver for information. If that doesn’t
work, I’ll ask Chef to get the information out of him,” Xavier said sleepily.
“May I interrupt?” De Luca asked. “Domenico sent me back to California to get in touch with my asset
in the FBI for information on the capo who fled Texas. Little is known about his whereabouts after he
left Texas, but the capo’s name was Luis Villegas. My asset said he was married however, there is no
information if Luis Villegas had a child. My asset said this happened almost twenty-five years ago.
“Did your asset give you a picture of this Luis Villegas?” Cristos asked.
“Yes, but it’s a picture of him when he was in his early twenties,” De Luca said, taking out his phone. He
clicked on it and Cristos’ phone pinged.
“He’s light skinned with light brown hair ording to his file. He can pass as a Caucasian 2/5
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with just a bit of work done,” Cristos said. “He also has a clean rap sheet before murdering one of his
own, a cousin of Ortiz. No wonder he ran.”
“Let me take a look at that,” Xavier said. Cristos clicked on his phone sending the photo to Xavier. “If
this photo was taken when he was twenty-three that makes him forty-eight today.” Xavier squinted his
eyes trying to imagine what Luis Villegas would look like in histte forties. He shook his head. “I don’t
recognize him from any of the townsfolk. If he ran, that means either they betrayed him or he betrayed
them. But the McDowells followed him to North Dakota, meaning there’s a level of trust between them.
There’s something here that. we’re all missing.”
“Well, if Pete’s using the name Luis Villegas, it’s for a reason,” I said. “Maybe Luis Villegas was
betrayed by his own. Because the way Pete’s twisted mind works, everyone against him is
a traitor.”
“Here, Joy, take a look,” Xavier said, handing me his phone. “Maybe you know him. You’ve lived in New
Salem most of your early life.”
I took Xavier’s phone and stared at the photo of the man named Luis Villegas. It was a ck and white
photo of a man who had chubby cheeks, a moustache and long hair. I shook my head. I didn’t
recognize him.
“I’ve never seen that man before,” I told them. “Maybe he didn’t move to New Salem with his wife,
maybe he lives in Bismarck or Mandan.”
“It’s possible,” Cristos said, clicking on his phone. “Maybe the McDowells, who were in Or favor, was
given permission to live among the Cohens.” He tapped on his phone onest time and smiled. “I sent
the information to Dina. I hope she can find something while I help
decode those messages.
The door to the building suddenly opened and in came one of Xavier’s men, panting.”
“There’s movement near the Cohen Mansion at an old barn.”
Xavier quickly stood up. “Send the cleaners to the basement and tell them to bury the body.
where no one will find it,” Xavier instructed him, “Cristos, I’ll leave it up to you to find
whatever you can on this Luis Villegas. There’s something that doesn’t add up.”
“Who died and made you king?” Cristos scoffed, standing up as well. Xavier red at him.
“This isn’t about being “boss”,” Xavier said. “My priority is keeping everyone safe. Cristos, you’re good
withputers, with finding and gathering data… Right now, I need you to find. and gather the intel we
need. You were right thinking a war ising. it is. If my
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assumptions are correct, Pete thinks De Vega is behind everything happening in New Salem. He will
attempt to ambush De Vega and take his territory in exchange for his life. This is why I need you and
Dina to follow the bread crumbs Luis Villegas leaves behind. Right now, what we do know for certain is
that he was in Chicago the same time you, Noah and Dan were. He might have been stalking you
without you even realizing he was there. Joy, youing?” I nodded my head.
I stood up and kissed De Luca on the cheek before following Xavier and Cristos to the warehouse.
The door to the ss-walled room automatically slid open allowing the three of us to enter.
“What do you guys have for us?” Xavier asked, standing behind four men seated in front of the
monitors. I squinted my eyes as I stared into the monitors.
“We only have one camera in the area and the images are obscured by the dark, but that right there is
the Sheriff’s patrol car,” one of them answered.
“At the Ol’ Barn near Prairie Hill? That’s Cohennd,” Xavier pointed out. “What’s he and his deputies
doing there so early in the morning?”
“Looks like he’s opening the ce up,” I said. “My dad said back in the old days they used to hold
parties there the night after the Honey Bee Spring Parade. I don’t know how the Cohens acquired it,
but when they did, that was the end of the Honey Bee Dance. The Cohens prohibited everyone from
going near the Ol’ Barn.”
“We need more cameras in that area. It seems they n to use the barn for something,” Xavier
mumbled more to himself than to us. He was rubbing his chin with his fingers as he stared at the
monitors, deep in thought. Suddenly, he jumped. “Woah, what’s that?” Xavier pointed to a pair of
headlights entering New Salem from the highway. “Zoom in on the license te.
“I don’t know how-”
“Get out of that seat,” Cristos growled, shoving the Blood Disciple out of the chair and taking his ce.
“I’ll have Lou bring a team of my men here.” A few clicks and an image of the license te popped up
on the screen.
“I know this car,” Cristos said. “It’s Lisa’s. It looks like she’s headed towards the Sheriff’s
Station.”
“Is it possible to rewind the footage to see where she went?” I asked.
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“No need,” Xavier said, his eyes narrowing into slits. “She’ssdooking for Cris. Get the footage from Huff
Hills and look for her face in the crowd.Ifsheisst there, she knows more than she’s
letting on.”
Cristos chuckled. “The poor little hacker can’t find her husbond Mill the signals from all the tracking
devices are jammed. Not even Jack can help her. All ofadden his phone rang. He answered it. “Send
me the decoded messages now. And who was st hac one who was able to cr ack the code? Yeah? And
what do you want?” Cristos scratcheck its head and grimaced while handing his phone to Xavier.
Xavier looked at the phone, puzzled. “What?”
It’s K iki. Cristos said. K iki was Xavier’s baby sister. “She wants to talk to you I’m sorry, Kavier. I
promised to give anything to the one who c racks the code. She wentes in.”
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