Shadows (Black Raven Book 1) by Stella Barcelona Read Free Book Online

Sitting at a goddamn computer with internet access, which the Bureau of Prisons, in their infinite lack of wisdom, had provided in the legal library, for fuck’s sake.
    “I’ll send you one of our best men for your cyber-team,” Sebastian offered. “He can liaise between my people and yours.” And let me know if you guys find anything that I don’t.
    “I’ll take him.”
    Sebastian didn’t like the near-desperation that he heard in Minero’s voice. Desperate men made bad decisions, and desperation was contagious. Hell . Minero’s superiors were probably breathing down his neck, hard. He too had crappy repercussions if he didn’t get the prisoners back where they belonged before their escape became a media circus. “Name’s Zeus. He’ll be knocking on their door in two hours.”
    “What kind of name is that?”
    Sebastian chuckled. “A damn good one.” It wasn’t the man’s name at all, but Minero didn’t need to know that. Zeus was the anglo-style nickname Sebastian and other Black Raven agents had given to Jesus Hernandez. The name Zeus fit the large, quiet man, who had as much brain as his ample brawn. Sebastian regarded him as an intellectual powerhouse, a partner who provided solid, reliable advice. He was also a friend Sebastian trusted without question.
    “How does Zeus know where to go? I haven’t told you where they are,” Minero said.
    Ragno chuckled, but Minero couldn’t hear her. Ragno muted her line when Sebastian had callers, unless the call was intended as a conference call. Unless he disconnected her, she was always there. It saved filling her in later.
    “My people figured out your location around midnight, we’re in your system, and we’re following them,” Sebastian said. “I figured Black Raven might benefit from your research. So far, your cyber-team is stumbling in the Dark Ages.”
    “Son of a bitch,” Minero muttered. “I’ll call you back in a few and let you know logistics on when my team will arrive in Covington.”
    “Before you go, have you made progress on unsealing the Barrows transcripts?” Sebastian asked, sinking further into the comfortable chair. Barrows had been thoroughly debriefed by the FBI in connection with his offense. Usually, sealed court documents weren’t an obstacle for Black Raven. Barrows was a special case, though. None of his records were in the federal court’s public access databases, and Ragno’s team couldn’t break into the sealed electronic records. It seemed that the government never wanted his rants to see the light of day and, four days post prison break, Sebastian was damn tired of asking for them.
    “We should have access this morning. I secured clearance. Now we’re just waiting on the word to travel through the chain of command,” Minero said. “Not sure I understand why the transcripts are such a high priority for you.”
    Sebastian swallowed back his exasperation, as he listened to the same thing Minero had been saying for two days. The marshals had been reactionary throughout the entire manhunt. Reactionary wasn’t how Black Raven operated. “We need to understand the man to know where he might be. To understand the man, we want to see what he had to say. About anything and everything.”
    He almost added that it wasn’t rocket science, then thought better of it. Instead, he bit into the carrot-walnut-cinnamon muffin, softly chewing on carrot shreds and crunchy walnuts. Ragno was used to hearing him eat. He didn’t care whether Minero heard him chewing. The muffin was too good not to eat.
    “Court personnel informed me that there are thousands of pages,” Minero said. “It seems like once Barrows had an audience of FBI agents and IRS investigators, he wouldn’t shut the hell up.”
    “Volume isn’t a problem for us.”
    “Well, good, because I don’t have the manpower to make sense of his rants or to search thousands of pages for clues. The summary in the public record is enough for me. At one time, the