Free 2 The Dante Connection by Estelle Ryan Page A

swollen face. The one I took interest in was emotional pain. “No, it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to worry them. It’s not that bad in any case.”
    “Why did you kill those two men?” The gentleness in my voice surprised me. It made Francine blink away tears.
    She sat a little straighter and immediately grabbed the side of her broken ribs. “Vinnie, could you get my iPad, please?”
    “Sure thing, doll.” Vinnie got up and walked towards the bedrooms. I turned to look at Francine, waiting. She smiled. At least she tried. The cut and swelling on the left side of her mouth made it difficult for the muscles to function properly.
    “I hacked into the security system of the pharmacy across the street. They have a camera aimed at the alley where I was attacked. I had to enhance the video since this was quite far away, but you can see everything. The two men attacking me, me defending myself until I had to take those bastards out.” Her voice cracked on the last words. She tried to sound tough, but was not hugely successful. Vinnie returned and handed the tablet computer to Francine. She swiped the screen a few times and handed it to me. “Just tap on the play button and you can watch the whole thing. Unfortunately, maybe fortunately, there isn’t any sound, only the visual.”
    “It’s all I need,” I said and tapped the screen. A grainy gray movie started playing. I watched Francine coming out of a door into an alley, followed by two couples who looked like they were partygoers.
    “Pause it quickly.” Francine waited until I tapped the screen and looked at her. “This is an invite-only club. They change their location almost weekly to some out-of-use warehouse or building. It’s very elite and underground. This is where the morally and ethically corrupt rich go to close deals that would be way unacceptable anywhere else. Here you can associate with known criminals without anyone ever thinking anything strange. Or talking about it. Everyone there can be investigated for some kind of crime, no matter how petty, violent or white-collar complex. They’re all bastards and arseholes.”
    I frowned. “Then why did you go?”
    “I got the invite from someone I had worked with in the past. Needless to say, he is not as pure as the driven snow. He did help me expose a human trafficking ring, so I never gave him up to any of the government guys I work for.” She lifted one shoulder. “Anyway, I’ve known that these kinds of clubs have recently been on the government guys’ radars. A lot of designer drugs change hands and back-door deals are made there.”
    “And you thought gaining access to this shadow society would win you favour with some law enforcement agency.”
    “How did you…” She stopped and sighed. “Yes, I thought it would get me back in their good books.”
    “You were in their bad books?” I wasn’t sure what this implied.
    “Oh, I might have pissed off a few people when I hacked Interpol’s ever-so-secure system.”
    “You did what?” Colin’s voice startled me. He was sitting next to me on the arm of the sofa. I had not heard him move. He was glaring at Francine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Isn’t it obvious that I would start there to look for you when you disappeared?”
    “Can we stay on topic, please?” I didn’t wait for them to respond and turned my attention back to the tablet resting on my lap. Francine’s admission did not go unnoted though. I placed it in a special compartment in my mind to later analyse. I tapped the screen.
    “No, wait,” Francine stopped me once again. I paused the video for the second time. “I’ll finish quickly. I was stupid to go. But I really wanted to give Interpol something to like me again, so I went. As soon as I got in, I had a bad feeling. It was as if the bouncer had expected me. I’ve learned a few things from you, Genevieve. I noticed his body language shift when he saw me. He glanced to a table at the back. I got in, had a