Page 70 of Wicked Shadows
19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Silas Steele, Noah’s brother, pulled up to the gate and pressed the call button, holding it an extra few seconds longer than necessary.
“Can I help you?” the female voice asked.
“Yeah. You can open the gate and let me in. I need to talk to Jason Hartman immediately—it’s urgent.”
“What is your name? Do you have an appointment for today?” she asked, hesitant to let him in or send him away.
“My name is Silas Steele, and I’m a federal agent. Tell Jason he can either willingly talk to me now, or I can come back with the SWAT team and a warrant for his arrest. Either way, this gate will open for me.” Silas removed his badge and held it in front of the camera. The automatic gate began to swing open, giving him access to drive in. “Good call.”
When Silas reached the secluded house in the woods, Jason Hartman, also known as Jax Hart, stepped out of the house with his private security detail surrounding him. Even though he stood between three men who could double as club bouncers, Jax wore a leery expression. His gaze roamed over the cab of Silas’s truck, trying to see through the blacked-out windows.
With a glance, Silas knew Jax Hart wasn’t involved in the kidnapping scheme, but he definitely knew something about it. He took his time exiting the truck, letting Jax make all the wrong assumptions before Silas even asked the first question.
“Are you alone?” Jax asked as Silas rounded the front of his truck.
“Yes, I’m alone.”
The three security guards chuckled to themselves, confident they’d have the upper hand on him. Silas smirked to himself, stifling a laugh at their expense.It’s not about size, guys. It’s about who’s meaner.
“What do you want?” one of the bodyguards asked.
“I have questions for Jason.” Silas intentionally used his given name and inclined his head toward Jax. “He can refuse to answer them, but then he’d be refusing to cooperate in a federal investigation and he’d be under arrest. Is that what you want? I can haul his ass in right now, then.”
Silas produced a set of handcuffs, held them in position to slap them on Jax’s wrists, and advanced on him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Jax shouted, backing up. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t cooperate. What’s this about?”
“We need to speak inside,” Silas stated, looking past the security detail and directly at Jax. “I believe you know what it’s about.”
Fear and acceptance flashed across his face. He was hiding in a remote location and the press had been fed lies about his true whereabouts, but he had to face the truth sometime. With a gloomy nod, he commanded his security team to stand down. “Come on in. Let’s get it over with as soon as possible.”
Silas followed him into the sprawling log cabin. The family room covered half of the entry level. The entire back wall was made of folding glass patio doors to give an unobstructed view of the mountains and lake surrounding the property. Jax motioned for Silas to have a seat.
“Nice house. Knowing your Hollywood persona, I wouldn’t have pegged you as the outdoorsy type. But then, you were probably banking on the true facts of your background remaining hidden when you chose to hide here.”
Even Hollywood’s leading man couldn’t hide his shock after that statement. “Guess what the conspiracy theorists say is true. We have no secrets from Big Brother.”
“It’s actually worse than they think. Do you want to be called Jason or Jax?”
“Jason is fine. No more pretending, at least while we’re here.”
“Fair enough. Jason, tell me why you’re hiding in Idaho at your aunt and uncle’s vacation home.”
“Getting right to the point, huh? Okay.” He released a harsh breath. “I’m here because I’m scared for my life. Literally. And I get that makes me a complete shit because Elle and Beth are missing, so they’re even more afraid than I am.”
He shook his head and dropped his face into his hands, shame and guilt consuming him. “The night they disappeared, they left the sound stage before me. When I walked out, I rounded the corner and expected my driver to be waiting for me. But he wasn’t. Two rough-looking men dressed in black, with leather motorcycle vests, were putting Elle in the back of a van—the kind of long cargo van they use for deliveries and stuff. No windows on the side panels.”
“Did you get a good look at the insignia on their vests?”
“Yeah, I saw it plain as day. It said Devil’s Dominion.”
“When you saw them put Elle in the van, was she conscious at the time?”
“No. She was completely limp. Honestly, I didn’t even know if she was alive at first. It was only after everything was over when I realized I’d seen her chest rising and falling when they put her down. After they closed the doors, they turned, and that’s when they saw me standing there. One of them used his finger and thumb to make the sign like a gun and ‘shot’ me. Then he laughed, like he thought it was so damn funny, and climbed in the van. They drove off, didn’t even stop at the guard station to the lot, and left me standing there.”
