Simone staggered back.
It was Jerod De Clerq.
“It’s me, honey baby, but I prefer my chosen name, Dante.” Jerod removed his tinted glasses, walked over to Hirzog, and kissed him on the mouth. “Surprise, lover man!”
Adrenaline-fueled fear spread through Simone like wildfire.
Jerod is Dante… and Dante is The Bomb Maker.
LUCIANO
Luciano was seething.Traffic had come to a standstill. An accident had shut down one of two northbound lanes on Connecticut Ave in DC.
As he inched his way toward Maryland, he thought about everything that had transpired over the past few months. From Simone spying on him to their first erotic meeting at Burke and Morticia’s. How they’d fallen in love while hunting down a madman, then found themselves following a trail of corrupt government workers. Hirzog had blamed him for his ex-wife’s infidelity, then he’d cheated on his current wife with Jerod.
What a snake.
He thought about Jerod’s quick exit from Carole Jean’s minutes after meeting him.
Why did I think I’d met him before?
There was something about Jerod that reminded him of someone, but who?
His voice.
“Jesus,” he bit out as reality rained down on him.
He didn’t look familiar…hesoundedfamiliar.
Jerod De Clerq is Dante The Bomb Maker.
Dread crept in, but he shoved it out.
Luciano texted Simone, got no response, and called her. Her phone rang. “C’mon, answer.”
She didn’t.
He searched for an alternative route, but nothing would get him to Hirzog’s any faster. According to the nav app, the accident was just up ahead. Once he got past that, he’d be there in fifteen minutes, tops.
Despite the situation, he would not let fear take control.
He called Teddy.
“Yo,” Teddy replied. “I can’t talk.”
“Why the hell did you answer?” Luciano snapped.
“Whoa, whoa, you gotta take it down a few.”
“Simone may be in trouble, and I’m stuck in traffic.”
“Sorry, bro. I’m in Virginia Beach.” Teddy hung up.
Luciano started swearing in Italian.
As he drove past the accident that had caused the major delay, cop cars, an ambulance and a fire truck blocked both southbound lanes. A tarp had been laid over one of the vehicles. His stomach dropped, his heart ached. Whoever was in that vehicle had not survived.
“Tragic,” he murmured.
