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Of course, that meant I had to get the damned things out of my pocket. With my hands tied behind my back.
At least, since these were cargo pants, the hip pocket was on the side rather than in front where it’d have been even harder to reach. It took a hell of a lot of contorting to get my hands anywhere near it, though. I knelt on the ground, twisting at the waist and yanking at the fabric as hard as I could to pull the pocket closer, stopping now and then when my breath started to rasp again, hunching and leaning every which way until I found the right angle.
I ended up arching over on my back in some kind of demented yoga pose, tugging the flap on the pocket open, and shaking my legs until gravity pulled the little metal circles out to patter on the floor. With a sigh of relief, I sat back up and scooped them into my restrained hands.
Once I had them in my grasp, it wasn’t hard to peel off the protective plastic on the adhesive side. I gripped them by the non-sticky edges and contemplated the room, debating the best spot to put them.
Nothing in the room right now was likely to go anywhere, so there was no point in tracking the furniture. I’d have stuck one on myself, but Wylder knew exactly where I was already. What might be useful is if I could get them stuck on one of the Storm’s people’s clothes without them noticing… Maybe they’d lead us to a secret supply building or even their home base outside of Paradise Bend.
The bottom of a shoe would be my best chance. I stepped closer to the door and carefully dropped one and then the other tracker on the floor a couple of feet from the entrance, where anyone coming in would be most likely to step. In the dim light, the thin metal circles, barely wider than the tip of my finger, just looked like a couple more stains on the carpet.
I’d only just had time to think that when footsteps thumped on the other side of the door. The lock clicked.
I scrambled backward, my heart lurching. I couldn’t let them realize what I’d been doing. And once the light from the hall spilled into the room, I’d need to do my best to ensure they didn’t look at the floor.
The door burst open to reveal Xavier’s scarred face and broad-shouldered frame. He lumbered into the room with a maniacal glint in his eyes. “I thought it was time to check up on our guest. I hope my boys treated you well.”
I couldn’t hold back my urge for sarcasm. “Excellent. I got the VIP treatment.” My gaze flicked across the floor as surreptitiously as I could manage. Fuck, he’d stepped right past the trackers, missing them both. Maybe if I could get him to move around some more… but it was hard to concentrate on that with the psychotic monster looming over me.
He was carrying a knife which he flipped from one hand to the other. “So…Gideon, is it?”
“You know my name,” I said.
Xavier’s eyes narrowed, and for the first time I got a sense of the bubbling anger in him. The veins bulged in his thick arms. “I do,” he growled. “I know a lot of things. You and your little friends have become very annoying.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I said, not knowing where this sudden burst of confidence was coming from, only that it was either let it loose or end up huddled on the floor in terror.
“You shouldn’t,” Xavier snarled. “I’m not impressed by this stunt your friends pulled out there today. I gave you all too much rope, clearly, but don’t worry. Now I’m going to reel them all in, with you dangling on my line.”
He poked me in the chest, forcing me to stagger backward, and stalked past me to pace the room. Which took him farther from the trackers. So much for that.
All at once, he spun on me again with another jab of his finger. “I don’t like the mess you made of my men,” he snapped. “And that little bitch and her dad stole the fucking world from me. I’m not even close to finished putting her through all the pain she deserves. And you’re going to help me make them pay. The games are over. The Katz and the Noble heirs think they can pull one over me, but I’m going to crush them like the pathetic children they are.”
Mercy and her dad had stolen what from him? Was he so deranged he thought the Bend should have been his to begin with—or he blamed her for fighting back and him for bringing in the Red Sharks?
Or maybe he really did mean the whole world. With the crazed look on his face, I wouldn’t be surprised.
As if on cue, a cockroach scurried out from under the bed. Before it could go very far, Xavier smashed it under his boot. He didn’t bother looking at the floor. “Crush them,” he repeated. “Just like that.”
I didn’t want to fuel his fire by telling him he was wrong, but I had to point out, “This was our territory first. It’s a little bizarre to blame us for defending against your attack.”
Xavier snatched me by the collar and jerked his hand up to my throat. “Is that what you were doing here, little boy?” he said, hot rancid breath spilling over my face. “Defending yourself? What did you think you were going to accomplish poking around on my turf?”
Holy fuck. He didn’t actually know what I’d come for—which meant he hadn’t figured out what I’d done. I blinked, holding in my surprise as well as I could, and managed not to laugh, even though the whole situation suddenly seemed hysterical.
I must have shut down the laptop quickly enough when I’d heard the men coming that it’d looked like I’d never gotten it on in the first place. I’d been heading for the door with Roy when they’d caught us.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell Xavier how much of his operational data was now in Wylder’s and Mercy’s hands. I raised my chin as defiantly as I could with his knuckles nearly crushing my windpipe. If my voice shook, it was only because my heart was hammering so hard against my ribs. “I was supposed to assassinate you.”
Xavier stared at me for a few beats. Then he threw back his head with a laugh so loud it rattled my ear drums. “And they thought you were the right one for the job? They’re even bigger idiots than I thought. How’ve they managed to stay alive this long?”
He shoved me away from him, letting me go so my back banged into the wall. I gritted my teeth. “They picked me exactly because you wouldn’t expect it. Here I am, and you still don’t believe it. I’d say that’s pretty smart.”
“Hmm. Somehow I think there’s more to it.”
“Well, getting rid of a bunch of your men in the meantime wasn’t exactly a loss.”
“It was to me,” Xavier snapped, and spun toward the door again. My pulse stuttered with the fear that he’d notice the trackers if he looked down.
