Insatiable (Steel Brothers Saga #12) - Helen Hardt Page 0,71
“We’ll find Colin ourselves, and we’ll get to the bottom of this.” I ended the call and handed the phone back to Jade. “Man, he’s rotten. I’m glad he’s not your father-in-law.”
“Me too,” Jade agreed. “More than you can ever imagine.”
“Ruby gave me an address. I’m going to get you home and then go see Morse.”
“Bull. We’re already here in Grand Junction. If you take me home, he might move.”
“I can’t have you involved in this,” I said. “You’re pregnant. Talon would never forgive me if—”
“Sorry. I’m going. I actually know this man. Maybe he’ll talk to me.”
I sighed. “I wish Ruby were here.”
“Me too. But I’m all you’ve got.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you meant. Sorry. Your pregnant best friend will have to do.”
“No one I’d rather have at my back.”
True words. Just maybe not today.
Chapter Fifty-One
Bryce
Johnson gulped. “Put the gun down, man. You know I’m armed.”
“I can have a bullet between your eyes before you even think about reaching for your piece,” Joe said, “and Bryce has fifty pounds on your partner. Start talking. And don’t leave out a single dirty detail.”
“Fuck it,” Mills rasped out, choking against my hold on his neck. “Just tell them.”
“Fine. Put the damned gun down.”
“Nice try,” Joe said. “No deal.”
“For Christ’s sake. We’ve been working together for months now. Where’s the trust?”
“It went out the window when you let Booker go,” I said. “You heard your partner. Start talking.”
“Fine. Yeah, we let him go.”
“What’d he pay you?” Joe said.
“Not much. You were right about one thing. No one pays as well as the Steels. But he did have one valuable thing to offer.”
I shook my head, scoffing. “Your life.”
“Give the man a silver dollar,” Johnson said. “You were right about him hiding something up his ass, only it wasn’t a bobby pin. It was a fucking switchblade. Somehow he picked the lock and got out of the room.”
“And somehow, one man with a knife outmaneuvered two men with guns?” Joe said. “I don’t think so.”
“He had moves I’ve never seen before,” Johnson said. “Tell them, Mills.”
“A little hard to talk,” Mills choked out.
“Tough,” I said. “Talk.”
“Some kind of martial arts thing. Nothing we’ve seen,” Mills rasped.
“He was able to hold one knife on both of you?”
“Not exactly,” Johnson said. “He had me in some kind of headlock against the wall and the knife at Mills’s throat. It wasn’t pretty.”
“Do you know where he was going?”
“Do you really think we interrogated him while he was threatening to kill us?” Johnson said.
I couldn’t help a laugh. I finally let go of Mills’s throat, and he crumpled to the ground, clutching his neck. I pulled one of my guns and held it on him.
“So there is something more important to the two of you than money,” Joe said. “Who’d have thought?”
“I’m not sure they ever gave it a thought,” I said. “Did you?”
“Not really. We’ve never been in the situation. We’re usually one step ahead of whoever we’re tailing. Hell, we went underground and turned the tables on Wendy Madigan when she tried to frame us. But this guy is something else.”
“Yeah, well, this guy was trained by the best,” I said.
Trained by the best. Just like I was.
No. Don’t go there. No more self-indulgence.
“I ought to blow your brains out on principle,” Joe said.
“Not worth it,” I said. “We’re not killers. We’re not my father.”
I’m not my father.
I took my gun off Mills. “Any more information you can give us?”
“Sorry. I can only tell you one thing,” Johnson said. “If he got the best of us, he can get the best of just about anyone.”
“Not us,” I said. “Let’s go, Joe.”
“Where do we start?” Joe asked once we were on the road.
“Colin was in Denver, last I heard,” I said. “Booker’s probably headed there.”
I checked my phone. “Shit. I’ve got about a hundred text messages from Marj. She knows something’s up.”
“She’s too smart for her own good sometimes,” Joe said.
“I agree, but it didn’t take a lot of smarts to figure out something big was up for you to miss a visit with Melanie and little Brad.”
“True that.”
My phone dinged with another text. Yup. Marjorie.
Jade and I are headed to
see Ted Morse in Grand Junction.
Apparently Colin is missing again.
He’s not answering his phone.
“Fuck,” I said.
“What is it?”
“Marj is going to see Ted Morse in Grand Junction, and she’s got Jade with her.”
“Oh, hell, no.”
“Oh, hell, yes. Do you think we can stop them? We’re over an hour away. She says Colin’s missing