Sam Alcott played the video again for his boss, each time it stopped on that face. He knew it did because that was how he’d cut it, so that his boss could see exactly who had desecrated his place of business.
As Senator Reilly’s eyes narrowed, Sam knew he was thinking the same thing he was. Nathan Hawk had made his move. It was amateurish, at best. Not his style at all. But Sam was glad of it. Watching that damn small hole-in-the-ground town all the time, watching Nathan’s minions moving through that town like nothing in the world was wrong… it chafed him.
Inside his chest, that dull ache began again. He pressed his hand against his chest.
“Did you get an image of the other guy? You said there were two.”
Sam shook his head, both to push away the ache and to answer his boss. “No, he stayed clear of the cameras. I’ve run the facial recognition program on this one. He doesn’t turn up anywhere in the databases.” But they both knew that face. They’d seen it before. When Sam had worked for Lewis, it had been in the files the turncoat had given them.
He’d taken as many of Lewis’s files with him as he could when those fuckers had attacked the senator’s house, as well as the codes to the surveillance system that team had installed in the main town. They could see the entire town, and so could he. It unfortunately did not give him access to their main systems, which was what he really wanted.
Reilly’s thin lips twitched upward for a short second. “No, he wouldn’t, would he.” His boss leaned in toward the screen. “Do we still have eyes on Jubilee?”
Sam nodded. “Of course.” He never took his eyes off that fucking place. He watched every day, hoping to see Nathan Hawk grace the town with his presence. He saw the entire team walking those streets, but never fucking Hawk.
“The issue I’m more concerned with is how he got into the building without anyone seeing in the first place. Why didn’t the alarms sound when he breached the vault? I paid good money for that security system.”
“I pulled the access records, sir,” he began and paused. He’d never liked having an outsider working for Reilly. Someone who didn’t know what Reilly’s real purpose was had no business on his staff as far as he was concerned. But Reilly kept the girl on for whatever reason. “Your assistant’s codes were used just before the break-in.”
Reilly nodded and leaned back in his chair. “I see.” Sam couldn’t see if the man was upset or if he was just processing the information. Reilly had a hot temper, one that smoldered before it exploded.
“I could bring her in,” Sam offered. He’d like to, if he were honest with himself. He was pissed as fuck over this break-in. It reflected badly on him as head of security, after all. He’d take the price of the break-in out on her as neatly as he had on that fucking security guard. He’d thought having outside security take care of the top floor would keep things above board and clean, but when it came down to it, the guy had nearly screwed the whole thing up and exposed them.
No. From now on, he staffed the upstairs with his guys as well. No more outside help.
“No, I’ll take care of that. No reason to scare her.”
But he wanted to scare the bitch. Because of her, they had a breach of epic proportions and they weren’t even sure what was taken. There was nothing missing, no trace of them being in the computer systems. But they’d been in the network room. He needed to know who the other guy was, so he could figure out how bad this breach was.
“I want the thief, though. Bring him to me. I think we can get a little bit more use out of him.”
“To turn him?” Sam asked, though it was risky asking the senator any questions of plans he made.
“If we can. If not?” Reilly shrugged, which was close to permission to off the guy as it ever got. Sam smiled and rubbed his sternum, like he could soothe the ache inside. He wanted Levi to struggle, to fight him. He wanted the guy to not turn, because then the real fun began.
“Just bring him to me,” Reilly said as he stood. He grabbed a briefcase and headed for the door.
“Yes, sir.” Sam nodded as Reilly left, his best men trailing the senator. He turned the laptop toward him and stared at the man on the camera. He’d come into his house. He’d broken into his vault. Maybe Reilly wanted the guy alive for now, but pretty soon, Sam would get the chance to rid the world of the filth.
His chest ached for blood. The screams of that security guard had been quite satisfying and yet, it hadn’t curbed that sharp craving in his chest, the one that surfaced when he needed to spill blood. If he were honest with himself, he didn’t want to let Reilly handle the girl. He wanted to. He wanted to punish her. It didn’t matter that she probably didn’t know her access codes had been stolen. That only made it worse. Reilly usually suffered no fools and he was sure that would extend to her. Though Reilly wanted to take care of her himself, he knew without a doubt that he would turn her over to Sam when he was done with her.
He always did. Sometimes, he liked to watch Sam work.
His lower lip trembled as the ache in his chest sharpened. He needed that kill. Nothing would satisfy the ache but that kill. Not that girl. Not the two men that broke in. No. Only one kill would satisfy the urge, the craving inside his chest. All the rest did was mute it for a bit.
Which was why he was with Reilly. Being here had gotten him closer to finding Nathan Hawk than ever before. The senator had his own beef with Hawk, which was fine, but that bastard was Sam’s kill. Then and only then, would the ache be alleviated. Only then would it leave him. Only then could he relax.