“How short is short, Sir Charles? Before I share anything, don’t you all want some background so you fully understand where Abner and I are coming from?”

“I think the highlights, then the guts, then back to highlights will work for all of us,” Maggie said, impatience ringing in her voice. The others mumbled their agreement, even Abner, whose eyes snapped open as he bolted upright.

Snowden cleared his throat. “Almost everyone knows or has at least heard of the dark side of the web, where nefarious things go on. There are layers and layers to go through, and you literally need a map to traverse it or someone who has already traveled there. I personally did not know there was such a place. It’s hell. That’s the bottom line. The dark web is like an onion: You peel back the layers until you reach the underbelly, which is where the Devil and his disciples live. I’d never been there, nor had Abner, but his friend Philonias has. He traveled it with ease and took us along for the ride.”

“It’s not something I ever want to do again,” Abner said quietly.

“Nor I,” Snowden said, just as quietly.

“Everyone seated at this table is a grown-up, Avery. I think we can handle whatever you are about to tell us. Ted, Dennis, Espinosa, and I have seen it all. We’re investigative reporters. You learn to deal with the unreal, the unthinkable, then you move on. It’s what we’re trained to do, so would you please just tell us what you found out. Is all of this gang related?” Maggie said, a definite edge to her tone.

Dennis was only half listening as he concentrated on texting Harry his hard sell of pillows. He stopped what he was doing when he heard Maggie’s comments about the gangs. He made a face, clicked SEND, turned his phone to vibrate, and gave his full attention to what was going on at the table.

“Of course it’s gang related. Only the depraved reside in the underbelly. We came in contact with, or I should say Phil came in contact with, members from Crips, the Bloods, and the Lobos gangs. I can give you a few statistics on the Lobos and leave the others to talk about later. Lobos seems to be front and center in this area. Nevada is rated seventh for most wanted gang members per capita. The FBI crime statistics report states they have about a hundred thousand members. Vegas Metro has the highest reported crime rate.”

Snowden looked down at his notes and said, “There were 7,277 violent crimes, 83 murders, 2,537 robberies, 3,922 aggravated assault cases, and 22,234 property crimes this past year. Not good.”

“I think Chicago is worse than that,” Ted said.