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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Agent Braddock followed us to the front of the station.My arms were full with files and the financial information Jack and Carver would be sifting through later. Jack and Braddock needed to keep their hands free, so I’d been chosen as pack mule until we got back to the car.
The sun glared brightly as we walked outside, and I realized it was the first time I’d seen it in several days. The weather had been bleary and bleak, with nothing but heavy clouds and rain for more than a week. I was hoping the sun would dry outthe ground some. My workers had a grave to dig for Leanne Mosely and it would be horrible messy work if it stayed as wet as it had been.
I’d left my sunglasses at home and squinted as we made our way down the bricked sidewalk toward the parking lot.
“Don’t,” Jack said, and when I looked up I realized he was talking to Braddock. “Keep moving.”
It was then I noticed the man across the street. He headed toward us, his hands in his pockets and his head down. He wore a light grey jacket and had the hood pulled up over his head. He moved quickly and with purpose, and when he looked up his eyes were trained on Jack. He looked down again just as quickly.
“Jaye, get in the driver’s seat. Braddock, you’re going to need to stay back and not interfere. Just follow behind us like normal. I’ve got this covered.”
Jack pulled out his gun and checked the magazine and got into the back seat of the Jeep. Braddock didn’t look happy, but Jack closed the door in his face and he had no choice but to move to the panel van parked a few cars back from us.
I wanted to ask questions, but I could feel Jack’s urgency. I dumped the files in the back seat and then climbed in and turned over the engine.
“What’s going on?”
“Unlock the doors and keep looking straight ahead. No matter what happens you keep driving, okay?”
Jack sat in the middle of the back seat and leaned forward, the gun held loosely in his hand. He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze and I unlocked the doors. When I pulled to the stoplight the passenger door opened, and I had to hold back a scream when the man in the gray jacketgot in beside me.
Jack pointed the gun at the man’s head before he had the door shut all the way. The light turned green and I kept driving. Just like Jack had asked.
The man lifted his hands slowly and then pushed back the hood so his face showed. Even out of my periphery I got a good look at him. He was big like Jack, maybe a couple of inches shorter, though it was hard to tell. His hair was shaved so close to the scalp I couldn’t tell what color it was and his nose had been broken at some point in his life.
“Commander Lawson,” the man said. “What thefuckis going on?”
“You tell me, Wolfe.” Jack’s voice was as steady as the gun in his hand. “Nine of my men dead in the last few months. Nine of your brothers.”
“And you think I’m the one responsible?” His anger lashed out at Jack and my hands tightened on the wheel. “You’ll pardon me for repeating myself, but what the fuck?”
“You’ve been missing for four days. Completely off the grid. Wallace’s body washed up not far from here. I can count on one finger the number of people I trust right now. If you’re innocent then I’ll apologize later. If you’re not, then it won’t matter one way or the other. Now start explaining.”
“I felt eyes on me,” Wolfe finally said. “For a couple of weeks now. I couldn’t shake the feeling, but no matter how hard I looked or tried to trap them into slipping up I couldn’t see who was watching.I knew I was either going crazy or bad shit was going down.
“I actually called Wallace the day before I went off the grid. He’d felt the eyes on him as well, and we agreed to meet. Wallace was always better at keeping up with everyone than I was, and he told me the others had been taken out. That it looked like we were all being ambushed and eliminated. He didn’t know who or why, but I could tell he was shaken. And you know nothing ever shook Wallace. He said we’d make contact with you and then maybe disappear for a little while until we could get it figured out.”
“How’d you find out about Wallace?”
“He missed the meet. Five A.M. Lexington Street Bridge. He was going to boost a car and we’d do a quick grab and switch when he picked me up. I packed weapons and other essentials in my pack and then set out to meet him. I knew when he didn’t make the drive by that something was wrong. Wallace never flaked on a mission. I didn’t hang around, afraid if they’d somehow gotten Wallace to talk that there would be men waiting for me too. I switched plates and boosted a car of my own, but I had to make sure about Wallace. I set up shop on the roof of a house across the street from his. It was still dark out so I was hidden. I used my scope to look through Wallace’s windows. I could see the place was torn to shit, so I packed up, boosted another car and came looking for you.
“I didn’t know you had federal protection until they tried to corner me today on your drive back from Fairfax.”
“That was you?” I asked incredulously. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“If you don’t mind me pointing out the obvious, you don’t look so calm right now either. And you just ran that stop sign.”
“I’m going to kill your friend, Jack.”
“Oddly enough, you’re not the first woman I’ve heard say that.” Jack’s weapon was still trained on Wolfe. “I’m going to trust you because my gut is telling me I don’t really have a choice. But if you turn out to be responsible for even a tiny sliver of this, I promise there won’t be a hole you can hide in where I won’t find you.”
“Ditto, Commander. I’m just as pissed off as you are.”
“Maybe the two of you should seal it over a beer and by swinging your dicks around.”
“She’s kind of feisty, Jack. I like that in a woman. Are you single, sugar?”
