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She gives ree my stride, as alk hand in hand down the sidewalk “So, back to nonsexy things, but where exactly does this all leave us now? Fucked?”

With my free hand, I reach for my bow tie and undo it, then open a couple buttons, finally able to breathe “No, we’re not fucked,” I tell her with a frown “Alex will coht ends”

Ha

dley looks straight ahead at the couple approaching us on the street “I still don’t get how you can be so sure of that”

“Because Alex doesn’t fail me”

“Not ever?”

“Never,” I confirm

Obviously Hadley accepts what I’ve told her, since she stays quiet as we pass another couple But as soon as we continue on down the street toward ood silence Even from the side, I note the strain in Hadley’s eyes and the way her face is tight orry, and it gutsI want more than to tell her the video is in er has to worry

She finally breaks the silence “It’s very hard for o away andto become very public tomorrow” Her eyes meet mine, her expression twists “You do realize how little tiht?”

Ithe couple on the sidewalk space to walk by us “All that ot time Five minutes, an hour, whatever, the video isn’t out yet That means we can still stop it” I fir the only coht now “And I won’t stop until time runs out”

She gives a soft nod and a gentle smile

While Hadley doesn’t look convinced, she also doesn’t know Alex the way I know her Alex will get et me even more than what’s required Because that’s what Alex does

At the three-way junction, we cross the street, and I spot my truck off in the distance parked behind a BMW, exactly where I’d left it, as Hadley asks, “All right, so what do we do now? Sit around and hope that Alex calls?”

I frown at the concern tightening the corners of her eyes Even I know the odds are stacked against us I would say yes Because that’s the honest answer Finding the hacker at this point is our best bet to stop the video fro we have no idea who the other man in the video is or who the blackmailer could be I open rab it out of my pocket, look at the screen, and snort “Alex’s ears ”

“It’s her?” Hadley exclaims