Page 44 of Crucified By the Dark
“No, but it’s also none of your fucking business.” She lifted a shoulder and let it drop.
Morry pushed away from the Hummer, and the sun had shifted enough that she was casting a long shadow over Stephen. “Now get the fuck up and start jogging again.”
She had to give him some credit when he jumped to his feet and began jogging without another word. Morry strolled to her open door and jumped inside just as the phone in the Hummer rang.
“Call incoming from a secure line, Crosshairs,” Lady Luck said.
“Answer call.” The phone connected with the standard click, letting her know they were indeed on a scrambled line. “Hey, Trev, I have no news on Wolf.”
“Hello, Morry. Although that is good to hear, it is not why I called.” His tone was serious, even for Trev, which couldn’t be good.
“What is one more crap thing on the list of crap things? Lay it on me. What bad news do you have?”
“There are a couple of things we need to discuss, but I’m unsure whether it is safe to talk on the phone.”
That made her raise her eyebrows. Since when was a secure line not good enough?
“Okay, then why call at all? Why not just show up?”
The line went quiet, and she checked the dash to see if she was still connected.
“Fine, I will ask what I can. Did you just receive a new shipment of goods?”
She glared at the dash like he could see her. “How the hell do you know that? I mean, I know your stalking skills are impeccable, but that’s impressive, even for you.”
“It brings me no joy to tell you this, but the customer those were supposed to go to is no longer in business. Technically, they were never in business, at least for what you thought they were in business for.”
“Trev, just tell me what the hell is going on. I hate it when you turn things into convoluted guessing games.”
The snicker on the other end of the line was a dead giveaway that he was amused. Trev was one of the nicest men she’d ever met, with a dry wit and scary smart. He was also so hyper-focused that it could become a bit much.
“Very well. World Deeds is not the company you thought it was. It was a shell corporation for the Golden Dragons. At first, I thought they were just a gang, but they are far more sophisticated than that. They run drugs, guns, and people. They have everything from judges, police officers, doctors, politicians, you name it, involved for different reasons. The point is that the goods you’ve been selling them have been hitting the street and not going where you thought.”
Her mouth fell open, and she had to let go of the gas pedal, or she really was going to run over Stephen.
“I’m sorry, what the fuck?”
“Yes, it was quite a shock as well, but that isn’t even the best part,” Trev said.
Her mind was still reeling from the first lot of information. She couldn’t comprehend more of the same.
“Once we traced the company back to the original roots, we came up with two other overseers. The first is Kes’s company or his father’s old company. The second is a cartel, but more specifically, one in particular. One which we happen to know the leader’s son.”
“Are you fucking with me right now, Trev? If you are, this is not very nice.”
“I’m afraid not,” Trev drawled.
“So you’re telling me that all this time I’ve been selling goods to the bad guys, and then to top it off, the asshole who made our friend’s life a living hell is behind it all? What are the fucking chances?”
“Yes, my sentiments exactly. I do not believe in coincidences, Morry. I never have. I think we are all being played, but I’m just not sure who is pulling the strings. Also, you should know that I’m having Wolf’s Hummer towed to a special compound where I’ll have a team go over the vehicle.”
“That’s smart. I wish I’d thought of that, but I was more concerned about getting away from the scene before we were caught there.”
“Let me ask you something. Did you see anyone else at the site other than Wolf?”
Okay, that was an odd question. “No, why?”
“I’m not comfortable sharing that when we aren’t in person. I’ll be out as soon as I can, and hopefully, I’ll have the results from the Hummer as well.”
