Page 101 of Unbound

“Because Pierce would lose his shit.” She gives me a sly smile. “You could always move here. I know for a fact Pierce is trying to figure out how to get you to agree to work for us.”

“Doing what?” I tighten my messy bun. “I know I took a couple guys down earlier this week, but I’m pretty sure I’m not fit to be a mercenary.”

Heidi laughed her ass off when I told her about kicking the two warehouse workers in the balls. She laughed even harder when I sent her the security footage and she was able to witness it herself.

Having her in my corner has really helped. On a lot of different levels. She’s so smart and knows everything about hacking. There’s so much I could learn from her, which makes the thought of moving to Alaska kind of appealing.

“You would be the worst mercenary ever. You’d kill someone, get distracted and forget to clean up the body, and it would cause all sorts of issues.” Heidi props her chin on her hands, leaning toward the screen. “Pierce wants you to be a hacker, duh.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not anywhere close to being good enough to be a hacker at Alaskan Security.” Can I get into most places? Yes. Do I know what to do once I’m there? Not usually. “Unless you want someone to just go be chaotically nosy.”

That’s pretty much been my method up to this point. Get an idea of where I might find something useful and go look to see if it’s there. If it’s not, I move on. Should I have maybe possibly developed some sort of structured plan of attack?

That does not sound like something I would do, so it doesn’t really matter.

“You wouldn’t have to figure shit out on your own. Intel works together. We brainstorm and then Harlow and I try to hunt down what we need.” She waves a hand at me. “Like a scavenger hunt. What you’ve been doing is looking for a needle in a haystack.”

That sounds… Intriguing.

There’s one giant problem with the whole thing.

“I can’t leave Wyoming.” I shrug. “My mom’s here, and for the first time, she and I are really starting to bond. I’m afraid if I put that much distance between us, it will never be more than it is.” I chew my lower lip. “And I don’t want to leave Walker.”

“Because he’s your freaking boyfriend.” Heidi rolls her eyes. “I don’t know why you’re being so weird about admitting it.”

“Because we haven’t even talked about it.” I tip my head, reconsidering. “I mean, he did say he wants me to stay here with him, but the timing of it makes me think maybe it was a heat of the moment sort of thing.”

“I don’t think that man says a single thing he doesn’t mean.” Heidi takes a big chug from the giant water bottle always on her desk. “Even balls deep.”

I cackle at her likely accurate assessment. “I think you’re the fucking best, you know that, right?”

My interactions with Mariah, Ruth, Brooke, and Maren have become less frosty since Sunday brunch, but I still feel kinda like the odd man out. That might get better over time, but I’m not sure I will ever vibe with them the way I vibe with Heidi. And that’s okay. I think Walker’s cousins’ ladies are all awesome. Mariah is sweet and such a good cook and an amazing mom. Brooke is so freaking good at her job and gorgeous and kind. Ruth is brilliant for being able to keep Trevor in line and I love how capable she is.

Maren… Well, Maren kinda scares me. In an impressive way. Walker has told me a few things, so I know she’s had a very difficult life, and I admire the way she was able to persevere and how great she is with her sister. Honestly, if I had to pick one of them to be on my team during a zombie apocalypse, it would be Maren.

But there’s still tension between us. Understandable, considering how we began, and I don’t hold it against them. Obviously I do crazy shit when Walker’s in danger, so I can’t say I wouldn’t be the same way if someone lied the way I did and he got shot.

Actually, I’d probably be worse.

“I think you’re the fucking best too. Which is why we have to figure out what the hell is going on. I almost lost my shit when I saw those pictures they found in your townhome.” Heidi’s lips twist into a scowl. “First, we’re going to start figuring out exactly why your dad’s friend was on that list. Then I’ll show you how to systematically go through every camera in an area so we can find who took those pictures.”

It sounds great, and I really hope we’re as successful as Heidi thinks we will be, but I feel like she’s kinda gassing me up. Might even be doing it to herself a little bit. Neither of us want someone out there who’s making it clear they know exactly where I am and who I’m with. Because the reasons for that aren’t going to be great.

But at least we have a plan—something I haven’t really possessed on my own. I’d try, but then would get rerouted and turned around and end up somewhere completely different than I intended. Working with Heidi helps keep that from happening.

I manage to list out all the shit I’ve learned about my dad’s friend. His name, his address, other people I know he associates with. The affairs. The defaulted loans. The bad real estate deals. I give her explanations as we begin digging deeper into his life, helping rule out possibilities while adding others to a list we’ll move to next.

It’s crazy how much more effective the process is when I’m not just sitting in front of a desk bouncing around the Internet like a ping pong ball on meth.

It’s also crazy how much I’m actually capable of. It makes me think maybe this is something I could do in the future.

In less than an hour, Heidi and I have narrowed down our search to a list of ten names I’m going to spend the evening investigating on my own.

The dimple in Heidi’s cheek flashes at me as she grins wide, rubbing her hands together as we move on to figuring out who took those photos. “I love getting to corrupt cool people.”

“I love being corrupted, so that works out.”

I manage to follow along pretty well as Heidi walks me through the process Alaskan Security’s intelligence team uses when searching government-issued camera feeds. There are a couple times I start to zone out a little bit when I already know how to do what she’s explaining, but I manage to rein it in and stay with her. Because I very much want to be a hazard. I want to possess the sort of skill set that keeps bad men awake at night, wondering when I will finally find them. Unfortunately, that probably includes Tom.