“We’re goin’ to the holding room. If we capture a skip and for some reason can’t get him to the station, we use the holding room. You’ll see now it has other purposes.”
Yikes.
“Keep your mouth shut, your eyes open and know where your weapons are. Do not use the pepper spray. We’ve got someone in there and we’re lettin’ him go. I don’t know how he’ll react.”
“Letting him go?” I asked. I didn’t know who he was but whoever he was, he was in a holding room and letting him go didn’t sound like a good idea.
“He’s part of a bigger picture. We’ve been workin’ with him for a few days, tryin’ to get him to talk. He hasn’t felt up to it. Now, it serves the higher purpose to let him loose.”
I had questions to ask but I had no time to ask them, Lee was already moving away and I had no choice but follow… or run away.
Chapter Eighteen
Naked Gratitude
For better or worse, I followed Lee down the hall.
He knocked twice on the surveillance room door, used his fob and went in.
“It’s time,” he announced.
Vance got up and walked to a desk. Monty leaned forward and flipped some switches and some monitors came on. On the monitors, I could now see Brody working, the empty hall and a room with a bed, a toilet and a sink, a guy lying on his side on the bed. I couldn’t see much of the guy and then Vance was in my way. He had a gunbelt doubled up in one hand, he put it behind his back, opened it and strapped it on. It had the same stuff mine had, plus a real gun and cuffs.
He lifted his hand, his dark eyes locked on mine and flirty look was gone. He pointed to the door.
I walked out behind Lee, Vance followed me and closed the door.
Lee walked down to the end of the hall to the last door, the only door Lee hadn’t opened to show me what was inside.
“You know where your weapons are?” Lee asked.
I felt around my belt and nodded. I felt like Super Idiot with the belt on, not Super Cool like Vance looked. Lee wore no gunbelt, just the killer dark brown leather one holding up his faded brown cargo pants.
Lee jerked his head at Vance. Vance used a fob and a light went green.
“Follow me in,” Lee said to me, opened the door and walked in.
I did as I was told and, once I was in the room, I saw Terrible Teddy, Coxy’s goon who hit me what seemed like years ago. He turned in the bed and stood.
I sucked in air.
He had a bandage across his nose and a wicked black eye, both nose and eye were grotesquely swollen to almost Rocky-Balboa-post-Apollo-Creed-fight size.
Teddy spared me only a glance, then he turned cautious eyes to Lee.
Vance stood in the door, one hand resting on his taser.
“You’re free to go. Vance’ll escort you from the building,” Lee declared.
Teddy’s glance swung to Vance. Vance had unholstered the taser and was gesturing with it for Teddy to leave the room.
My mind was reeling. I was trying to count the days since I’d had my brief encounter with Teddy, remembering that Lee told his boys to pick him up. Had he been in this little room that long? And furthermore, how did his face get like that?
“Free to go?” Teddy asked.
“Yep,” Lee answered.
“Just like that?” Teddy went on.