The Joy of Revenge

Check 123 Decoded Joy “You might have a location?” | asked, not wanting to get my hopes up.

“Lou found a burner phone in Cris’s glove compartment 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 unaccounted for,” Xavier replied. “Flight from Houston to Bismarck is approximately three hours. He could have flown back here the sday 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 place... 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 | 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 tPete left New Salem. If she gets a match, she will take note of the date and tof arrival and search for a nthrough 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. | sat beside him leaning back against the throw pillows blissfully. “He’s definitely traveling by plane. He doesn’t have the luxury of spending a day travelling by car, bus or train. Any messages on Cris’ burner phone?” “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-" 1/5 Check 123 Decoded Cristos abruptly stopped at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. It was De Luca.

“IT, The Shadow, it's been a while since | saw you last,” De Luca greeted me. “I heard you're engaged.

Congratulations!” | 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 atfor leaving Domenico, but | was trying to save a poor girl chained to a wall,” De Luca said, feeling quite the hero. “Anyway, | forgot to give this to you. | 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 “Letsee 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 sday this Luis Villegas arrived.” “You were in Chicago?” De Luca asked, surprised.

“Yeah, | 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 accident at the intersection?” | asked. “We saw that through CCTV.” “Yep, that was her. Link is with her while | 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 | interrupt?” De Luca asked. “Domenico sentback 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 nwas 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 according to his file. He can pass as a Caucasian 2/5 12:03 Mon, Apr Check 123 Decoded 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.” “Lettake 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 hist late 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 nLuis Villegas, it’s for a reason,” | 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, handinghis phone. “Maybe you know him. You've lived in New Salem most of your early life.” | took Xavier's phone and stared at the photo of the man named Luis Villegas. It was a black and white photo of a man who had chubby cheeks, a moustache and long hair. | shook my head. | didn’t recognize him.

“I've never seen that man before,” | 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 one last tand smiled. “I sent the information to Dina. | hope she can find something while | help decode those messages.

The door to the building suddenly opened and in cone 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 glared at him.

“This isn’t about being “boss”,” Xavier said. “My priority is keeping everyone safe. Cristos, you're good with computers, with finding and gathering data... Right now, | need you to find. and gather the intel we need. You were right thinking a war is coming. it is. If my 3/5 12:03 Mon, Apr 1 Mu Check 123 Decoded 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 | 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 styou, Noah and Dan were. He might have been stalking you without you even realizing he was there.

Joy, you coming?” | nodded my head.

| stood up and kissed De Luca on the cheek before following Xavier and Cristos to the warehouse.

The door to the glass-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. | squinted my eyes as | 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 OI’ Barn near Prairie Hill? That's Cohen land,” Xavier pointed out. “What's he and his deputies doing there so early in the morning?” “Looks like he’s opening the place up,” | said. “My dad said back in the old days they used to hold parties there the night after the Honey Bee Spring Parade. | 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 OI’ Barn.” “We need more cameras in that area. It seems they plan 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 plate.

“I don’t know how-" “Get out of that seat,” Cristos growled, shoving the Blood Disciple out of the chair and taking his place. “I'll have Lou bring a team of my men here.” A few clicks and an image of the license plate 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?” | asked.

4/5 12:03 Mon, Apr 1 MUG Check 123 Decoded “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. “Sendthe 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. | promised to give anything to the one who c racks the code. She wentes in.” Chapter Comments POST COMMENT NOW 5/5