Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
“The way everything burned, I didn’t think we left much at all. You got any trace pointing back to us?”
“Not yet.”
“You won’t.”
“If I do—”
“It’ll vanish.” Blowback pins him with a flat stare. “Yeah?”
“What have you got for me?”
“This.”
Sliding his phone across the table, Blowback shows him a photo. Creek touches the screen and zooms in on the two people seated together. I recognize one—Paladin, the fucker from the Iron Blood who I fought before meeting Cherry. Don’t know the other.
“Goddammit,” Creek mutters, rubbing his face. “That’s Gillam. Dirty fucking asshole.”
“They met up before the Iron Blood went into lockdown,” Blowback says. “I intended to have a conversation with Paladin. Saw this, instead.”
And I’m catching up. Slow. But finally getting there.
Creek is a cop. Or a federal agent. Most likely FBI, if he’s looking at the barns.
“That’ll get you more than trace gone. I’ve lost too many agents because this fucker exposed them.” Jaw clenched, Creek studies the photo another second before shoving the phone back to Blowback. “What do you want?”
“Papa.”
“Papa who?”
“Don’t fuck with me.”
Creek’s eyes sharpen. “Got more than a name?”
“That’s why I’m looking at you.”
A muscle works in the man’s jaw before he sits back. “We barely have shit on the stable bosses. Just names floating around. Papa. The Greek. Caballo. Red Eye. A couple more. Though Red Eye’s vanished—but I don’t need to tell you.”
Red Eye. The slick fucker who got Zoomie. I never asked how Blowback knew where she was, because she’d been taken by the Devil’s Hangmen but he went after Red Eye’s vehicle, instead.
Now I know. Creek tipped him off. Which makes me feel just a little more generous toward the man.
Blowback tilts his head my direction. “He was in the Cage.”
The cop’s attention is suddenly all over me. “Did you meet him? Papa?”
“No.”
“What’d you pick up?”
“Not much.” Sure as fuck not anything I’ll tell Creek. Not if it puts him ahead of me getting to Papa.
Blowback taps the table. “Here’s the deal before I give you that photo. We share information. And if you flush out Papa first, you give us a head start.”
Creek shakes his head. “I can’t—”
“You can have all of the other stable bosses. And if you get one, the rest will unravel. We just want Papa.”
“I can take Gillam down without the picture.”
“Not as fast. How many more agents do you want to lose?”
“You’re a fucking asshole.” Frustration pours off the man. “What do you have?”
“Everything Stone saw. Vehicles they used, the setup at the fights, the men Papa hired as guards and whose bodies were in those barns.”
Creek looks to me with a frown. “They weren’t Iron Blood?”
I shake my head.
“And a girl,” Blowback says.
My heart jacks into my ribs. “Hold up, brother.”
“What girl?”
“Was in there three months. Met Papa, played the nurse and played bait, saw everything,” Blowback tells him and Creek looks like he struck gold.
“And she’s not on the fucking table,” I snarl. “She’s not.”
Creek casts me a disbelieving glance. “That much information could bring down the whole operation.”
“And get her killed.”
“We’d give her protection—”
“While you’ve got a dirty cop on your payroll?” Any protection he provided would be pure bullshit. “That cop can’t be the only one in Papa’s pocket. So not a fucking chance.”
His mouth presses into a tight line, then he nods. “All right. Give me a week. I’ve got a friend in the Marshals who can get her into WitSec fast and deep, without leaving a trace of who she is or why she’s in.”
Witness protection. Where’d she disappear for good. Chest tight, I tell him, “Not gonna happen.”
“Then get what you can out of her and give it to me. For now. Eventually, I’ll need her to come in, get everything on record, get her into protection. What have you gotten so far?”
Fucking hell. “Not much. She’s scared. And lying her ass off.”
Creek huffs a quiet laugh. “Smart girl, then.”
Yeah, she is.
Blowback frowns down at his phone. “Did your teams move in against the Iron Blood?”
“Not mine,” he says. “Why?”
“I’ve got eyes on them.” Blowback sets the phone on the table, presses the speaker. “What did you see?”
Spiral’s voice comes through. “Three black Escalades roll up to the clubhouse. A dozen men in suits went in carrying crates between them. Looked real friendly at first, like the Iron Blood was looking to buy some shiny new guns to defend themselves.”
“License plates?”
“Covered.”
“And they were still on lockdown?”
“Seemed like. No one else had been in or out until these guys. We don’t know who started shooting, just heard the gunfire. Fully automatic. Went on for a while.”
“How many came out?”
“Ten living suits, carrying two dead or injured. And they set off a big explosion and a fire behind them. Clubhouse is toast, along with everyone in it.”
“Did you follow the vehicles?”
“As far as we could—which wasn’t far. The explosion brought in the flashing red lights fast, so we figured that not bringing attention to ourselves and laying low was our best option.”