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“And we’ll get it for them,” Rowe said.
“But what about the motel? Can’t the cops just pull the credit card information for the rooms? We’ll be wanted for questioning.”
Rowe grinned. “Paid in cash. Slipped the night clerk a little something extra to forget our faces.”
“Any security cameras in the lobby?” Noah asked.
Rowe made a motion like he was grabbing the bill of a baseball cap and straightening it. “Wore a hat into the lobby. They never got a good look at my face or hair. All the cops have is the description of a white male, medium height and build.” He snorted. “Good luck with that.”
Noah chuckled and JB shook his head while sighing. They were right. He could be quite sneaky and devious when he wanted. It was a good thing that he liked to protect and help the little guy.
“We’ve still got to talk about what we think is going on, but JB needs to take care of his face first.” He motioned toward the half bath. “Rowe, can you see if Lucas has a first aid kit in there?”
Rowe nodded and searched the bathroom. Sure enough, there was a kit under the sink. He handed it to JB, who disappeared into the bathroom. When he came out, he’d cleaned up the cuts. The one over his lip looked swollen and painful, but it still didn’t detract from his good looks. He had a sort of western Brad Pitt vibe to him that got on Rowe’s nerves. But it was hard not to like the guy, who kind of reminded him of Noah with his easygoing personality. He also showed real skills in the way he’d handled himself back at the motel.
They took their time picking through the contents of the kitchen for some food. There was a current of dread filling the penthouse. Shadowy ideas were starting to coalesce in Rowe’s brain, and they pointed at some damn ugly truths.
Pain was starting to beat against Rowe’s temples. He wanted to do nothing but curl up with his boyfriend and sleep, but they had to get the ugliness said before any of them could rest for the night. He settled on one of the blue couches and yanked Noah down beside him. JB took one of the two striped chairs. He lifted his beer to his lips and winced.
Rowe cleared his throat. “So, we obviously forced them into upping their hand after our visit to their headquarters today. It’s too much of a coincidence that our fucking motel got hit hard right afterward. I mean, why go straight to fucking grenades and big hit squad?”
Noah scrubbed a hand over his face and dropped it into his lap. “Yeah, it’s like this guy has never heard of a measured response. He jumped like five steps by chucking that frag into JB’s room.”
“The guy behind it could be insane,” JB suggested.
“Or scared shitless. But why? We don’t know anything.”
“We know about Dave,” Rowe said. “And we knew to come here. We could have gone to…where was Paul killed?”
“Casper, Wyoming,” JB answered.
“We have to figure out what they’re hiding, and it has to be about this Dave guy that Chris saw at Clayborne.”
“If it is indeed Dave, then he never went missing in the first place,” JB said. “I don’t even want to contemplate what that would mean.”
Rowe gripped Noah’s thigh. “It means inside knowledge. If he survived the ambush and popped up with a new identity, then it’s likely he knew exactly who hit that base. He was in on it. None of us wants to think one of our own would do such a thing, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Noah shook his head. “It was just dumb luck Chris went to work for the same company this guy works for.”
“Yeah,” Rowe agreed. “And because it’s more than one person after us, that means a lot were involved. We need numbers for what we’re up against.”
They were all quiet, then. The ramifications of this train of thought were hard to swallow.
“We don’t have nearly enough information,” JB said. He crossed an ankle over his knee and ran a hand through his hair. “What do we do now?”
“Lay low until Gidget can get us the pictures. Maybe drive out to the scene of the accident to see if we can find anything. Do you think you can recognize the guy that went missing?”
Noah shook his head. “Probably not. I don’t think I ever met him. Chris would have been the one who could ID the guy easily.”
“Well hopefully, there’s enough security in this building to warn us should anyone show up.” Rowe grimaced. “I didn’t install the security system in this place, so God only knows what we’ve got watching over us.”
“There are other good security systems,” Noah teased.
