YOU NEED ME

I stood there, staring into thin air, the phone still clutched in my hand after Odon's call. My mind raced, caught in the whirlwind of confusion and anger. Who had started all this mess? It could not have just been Whitney. She was too simple, too careless. Dead, yes, but she had stolen those files, and someone must have instructed her. That someone had to be Armand. I could feel it in my gut.

But what gnawed at me was this: How much power did Armand have? I always saw him as a geek—smart, sure—but a tech guy who wanted to control his corner of Utah, not someone who could orchestrate an operation as big as this. He was not some shadowy mastermind, right? But then again, the facts were staring me in the face. He had people in Comoros. My money was gone, vanished. The accounts are closed. How did he pull that off? It is not just about hacking but also sending people out to do the dirty work and cover their tracks.