Page 127 of Smoke Screen
“Full disclosure? I’ll argue about that, too. I get that you want to keep me safe. But you’re not seeing me as an asset. I’m the one who’s seen these pieces up close. I’ve also seen the thieves. If this person you’re meeting with is saying he was involved, I’ll recognize him. I can help you figure out if he’s the real deal. Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re not wrong.”
She nodded and shifted the car into gear. “Good. Then let’s go and maybe I’ll get my life back.”
On the drive topick up Rory’s contact, Phin informed Maddy that her tagging along would give him the opportunity to sit in the back with the, as he put it,assholethey’d be meeting with and keep him in line.
Sound reasoning, in Maddy’s opinion. And having a task kept her mind occupied.
Phin drove into an abandoned strip mall twenty minutes outside of Steele Ridge and pulled to the rear where a blue Toyota was backed into one of the empty parking spaces.
Phin came to a stop just as the Toyota’s driver opened the door. “I’ll sit in the back with him,” he told Maddy. “You okay driving?”
“I’m fine. My mom had a Suburban I learned to drive on.”
She reached for the door handle to switch places with him.
“Wait,” Phin said. “Do me a favor and climb over. I need to make sure he’s not carrying. I don’t want you near him until I do that.”
Good point. “Will do,” she said.
Phin hopped out and the Toyota’s driver, a man wearing cargo shorts and a faded black T-shirt, slid from the vehicle. He stood for a second, eyeing the SUV.
Wait one second.Was that him?
Standing in front of her was the guy from the Center, the one she’d met on her walk-through and found cute. The one the FBI, on their first round of questioning, had video of her speaking with.
That slimybastard.
Fiery anger tore up her windpipe and her jaw flopped open. “Son of a bitch.”
Outside, Phin stood a few feet from the guy, gesturing to the Toyota. The guy nodded and turned, placing his hands against the side of the car so Phin could pat him down. Then they repeated the exercise, this time with the slimy bastard patting Phin down.
When the guy pointed at Maddy, Phin shook his head, probably telling him he had a better chance of seeing God than putting a hand on her.
He and his buddies had set her up. Part of her wished she had a gun. Not that she had the nerve to shoot him, but …
I’m better than this.
Yes. She was.
Phin started toward the SUV, nudging his chin at her.
Driver’s seat.
Crap.
She needed to get her head out of her rear, put her anger aside, and stick to the plan. She unhooked the seat belt and climbed over just as the rear doors came open, Phin getting in on the rear driver’s side.
Once the doors shut, Maddy swiveled—couldn’t help it—looking the guy dead in the eye.
For a few seconds, the only sound in the car was the hum of the AC. Everything else seemed to freeze, a sudden tension thickening the air as his eyes grew wider.
“I know you,” he said.
“Youfucker,” she said.Whoa! Go, me.“I’m the one whose life you’re wrecking.”
“Blindfold,” Phin said before the conversation could go on any further.
