Hi everyone. Sorry for the long wait between chapters. Thank you all for your nice comments and messages, i'm glad that you're still enjoying Duncan's adventures.
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"What have we got?" I asked as I entered the conference room. I had returned from London a few hours ago. A quick stop by my place for a shower and change of clothes and I was in the office, ready to deal with this.
"Not much." Connor said. "We don't know who's posting the pictures or how they got them."
"Worst is, we have no way of knowing if that's all they have." Marty threw in.
"Gary did your guy get anything?" I asked.
"Absolutely nothing. Whoever is doing this, they're good. No way to trace them." He answered.
"I spoke to the authorities." Kara spoke up. I caught the edge in her voice. "The FBI and The D.A's office want in on this. We called in the clients whose pictures were released. The feds want to talk to them and build their case. I thought they would feel more comfortable here."
"Good idea." I said. "Guys we need to put a lid on this. Marty, work with the lawyers, make sure they keep pressing on news outlets and websites not to show the pictures. Connor, get a statement to the press. Make it clear we are on top of this and will do anything we can to protect our clients." They both nodded and left the room to follow my instructions. "Gary the FBI will do their investigation, but I want you to stay on this."
"You got it, boss." He said. "Any idea where I should get started?"
"None for now. Maybe we can find some kind of pattern when we've talked to all of them."
"I still have some friends in the department. I'll check if there are any high end hackers that have been released lately."
"Great. Keep me posted." I told him as he left. Kara and I were the only two left in the room. "You okay?" I asked as I sat down in the chair next to her. The one Marty had just been sitting in.
"No Duncan. I'm not okay." She said looking directly at me. "I'm angry. This isn't right. This isn't how things should be." She ran her hands over her face. "These women, Duncan. They don't deserve this. No one deserves this." I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close against me. Kara was the strongest person I had ever met. In all the time we had spent together, I had never seen her like this.
"Kara. What's going on?" She pulled away from me and stood. She walked slowly towards the window, trying to regain her composure. I could see her shoulders dip as she took deep breaths.
"When, I was in college, I had a boyfriend. He was older, more experienced. He was on the college football team. Big man on campus. Everyone wanted him, but he choose me." I could hear her voice falter, her hands shake. "One night, we were at this party, and he and one of his football teammates, they wanted to have a threesome. I was young, I thought I was in love. I thought it would be fun. And If I have to be honest with myself, I was worried that if I didn't, he would leave me for one of the other girls who would have done anything he asked."
"Kara.." I began as I stood up.
"That was fine. I even enjoyed it." She said as she turned towards me. "What I didn't know was, that they had filmed the entire thing." I could see her shaking from head to toe. She was filled with anger now. "About a week later, I went into class and everyone was around a computer. When i saw the screen... When I saw what they were seeing... I just didn't know what to do. Everyone laughed and pointed fingers at me. Called me names. In their eyes.. I wasn't even a person anymore. I was just a slut who fucked." I kept my distance and listened to her as she told her tale. Not sure what to say. "I was forced to leave school. I took a year off before transferring."
"Kara, i'm so sorry."
"That's why seeing this makes me so upset. I know what they're going through. But for them it's on such a bigger scale. They're in the public eye. There's absolutely nowhere for them to hide. It's disgusting. Whoever did this, we need to find them Duncan. We need to stop this."
"We will." I told her. She nodded to me as we heard a knock. Kara turned to wipe away the tears from her eyes.
"Mr Bryant. The Feds are here." Kevin said.
"Thanks Kev. I'll be right out." He nodded before returning to his desk. "I can handle this. You can take the rest of the day if you need."
"No.. no i'll be fine." Kara said. "I'm staying, i'm helping. We're gonna find this son of a bitch." She said becoming the strong woman I had grown to admire.
"Alright. Let's get on it. Make sure the clients are on their way." I said as I headed to meet the agents. I exited the conference room and headed towards the entrance. To my surprise, a friendly face was waiting.
"Holcomb!" I said glad to see him. "It's good to see you man!" We shook hands.
"Same here. I wish it were under better circumstances."
"Me too. They put you on the case?"
"Yeah. Since we've worked together before, they thought it would be a good idea. How are you holding up?" He asked me as we headed to my office.
"It's a shit show. We don't really know how to handle this."
"I'm not gonna lie to you. The Bureau is kind of at a loss as well. The D.A is sending someone to make sure the investigation runs smoothly."
"Do you have any leads?" I asked as we sat in the sitting area of my office.
"All we have so far, is that all of the women in question were clients of this agency. We're not sure if that has anything to do with it or if it's just a coincidence." He admitted.
"I mean, we represent most of the heavy hitters in this town. It could just be a coincidence."
"There is no such thing as coincidence." We heard from my door. We looked up and found a tall good looking blond man with piercing green eyes. "Only the illusion of coincidence." He finished as he walked into my office with the confidence of a roman general. "I'm Cole Richards. The D.A's office sent me."
"I'm Duncan." I said as I shook his hand. He was strong, I could feel it in his handshake.
"I know who you are Mr. Bryant. Very impressive what you've been able to do here."
"Thank you very much. This is Josh Holcomb." I said introducing the two.
"Nice to meet you Agent Holcomb. I've read your file. Impressive record."
"Nothing as impressive as yours." Josh said. He saw the confusion on my face. "Mr Richards here was in the military. Iraq, Afghanistan, you name it he's been there."
"What brings you to Hollywood?" I asked.
"I grew up here. I joined the military to pay for school. Once I got out, I got my law degree and here I am!"
"Well we're glad to have you on this case." Holcomb said. The three of us sat down and we talked about the case. I was quickly impressed with Cole. He was smart and seemed incredibly dedicated to helping us.
"We clearly don't have much to go on." He said. "Hopefully we will have more after talking with your clients."
"They should be here any moment." I said just as Kevin knocked on my door.
"Sarah Hyland has just arrived." He said before ushering her through the door.
