Free ESCANTA: A James Thomas Novel (The James Thomas Series Book 1) by Brooke Sivendra

underground cult with occult practices for hundreds of years. That’s all I know, and if you want to find out more, find the head of Escanta. He will be the only one with a link to the next layer.”
    James clenched his jaw. It was bad news—a mystery of horrors.
    “How many in Escanta?”
    “I don’t know…eleven, twelve maybe. You won’t find them in Russia, though. Go to Hungary.”
    “Why Hungary?”
    Dasha pressed her lips together and James turned the knife, watching the blood leak onto the floor like a flowing tap. She was seconds away from unconsciousness.
    “Their headquarters are there. That’s where the group makes their money, mostly in drug smuggling—heroin.”
    “Give me a name,” James pressed, his grip adjusting on the blade.
    “I don’t know! I don’t know!” Dasha screamed and James knew he’d extracted all he could. And it was time to leave before she attracted any further attention.
    “You’ve been most helpful,” James said, smirking.
    “Fuck you!” Dasha said as he walked away. “How did you do it, Liam? How did you get out of the agency alive?”
    James paused, watching her fight to stay awake, to hear his answer, but it was a battle she was never going to win. Her eyes rolled backward and her head slumped forward.
    “I made a deal. Take care, Dash,” James said as he moved toward the door. Cami emerged from the adjoining sitting room, where she’d been waiting in the shadows, and they exited wordlessly.
    They took the stairs, three at a time until they were in the foyer. Samuel gave them the all clear as they stepped out onto the street but James still did his own surveillance—you could never be too careful.
    Cami unlocked the car and they slid in.
    “Go,” James said, as he set to work removing the second skin that was attached to his fingers—it masked his fingerprints. There would be no police investigation, though, because then Dasha would have to admit what had happened. And that would never happen. Not a single word about tonight would ever leave her lips unless Escanta came for her. That was a risk James’ should’ve eliminated by killing her but he couldn’t do it, not given their past, not after Paris.
    “Samuel, ring it in,” James instructed when they were several blocks south of her apartment.
    “Consider it done,” Samuel said.
    By the time the anonymous call was placed and the medic crews reached Dasha, James and Cami would be long gone—like ghosts in the night.

CHAPTER SEVEN –
MAK ASHWOOD
    Thirteen files sat atop one another, like a leaning tower ready to topple. Mak hoped the tower wasn’t an omen of how the case would proceed. She prepared for her cases like she had done for her university exams—every detail was meticulously noted, every fact memorized, every explanation analyzed. And she prepared early. There was no last-minute cramming, no pushing of the deadline. And now she had sixteen hours until she had to be in court.
    “Kayla,” Mak said as her girlfriend answered her phone.
    “Hiya, gorgeous. Are you ready? Are you nervous?” Kayla asked.
    “All of the above,” Mak said.
    Kayla was a childhood friend who had also become a lawyer. She’d gone in a different route, specializing in medical litigation, but she still understood.
    “You teach those bad boys who’s boss, Mak. So, are we going out for our customary pre-case drink?”
    It was a ritual that before either of them had a big case, they would go out for a drink. Just one, but one was enough to take the edge off the nerves and ensure a decent night’s sleep.
    “I’m ready when you are,” Mak said.
    They confirmed the details and Mak found herself grinning as she hung up the phone. She locked the files away in the cabinet, grabbed her bag and locked her office behind her. Her bodyguard, one much less interesting than Cami, was waiting for her in the hallway.
    “I’m going to The Market, on Essex Street,” Mak said.
    The past week had been interesting. She had