Page 34 of Shadow Touched

Thorn waved away the concern.

Suddenly, Brim knew his friend wasn’t okay.“Is it that woman?”

Thorn sighed and ran a hand through hishair. “Fuck. I can’t get her out of my head. Everythingreminds me of her.”

“I’m sorry, man.”

Thorn sighed. “Yeah. Me too. Anyway, thelast bullet point on my list is about Knuckles.”

Brim tensed, but tried very hard to appearcasual. “What about him?”

“He disappeared in the dead of night abouttwo weeks ago.”

“On a run?”

The V.P. shook his head. “Nothing wasscheduled. The only thing he said the day before was that he had apersonal thing to do.”

“And he never returned?”

“No.”

“Do you know what the personal thingwas?”

“No clue,” Thorn replied.

“Have you tried tracking his phone?”

“He carries a burner phone.”

“Mac, Kix’s hacker, said he can download thedata from a burner phone. He owes me a favor.”

Thorn’s eyebrow rose. “What type offavor?”

“I took Leia to meet my mom,” Brimexplained. “While we were there, I helped them defend theirterritory against some assholes invading their town.”

Thorn frowned. “Turf war?”

Brim shrugged. “Not anymore. I wouldn’tworry too much about Knuckles. I’m sure he’s just shacked up withsome chick.”

“I don’t know,” Thorn muttered. “Somethingdoesn’t feel right.”

“I’ll call around, see if he’s gone to visitanother club. I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

Brim gave a reassuring smile to Thorn beforeglancing at Leia. She might have the ear buds in, but he knew shelistened to every word. They both knew that Knuckles would never beseen again.

He and Thorn talked a few more minutes aboutclub business before they wrapped up the meeting. Once they werealone again, he faced Leia.

“He’s gone.”

She slipped out the earbuds and held themup. He grabbed them and tossed them onto his desk. She continuedtapping on his phone for a few more minutes.

“Hold on,” she said.

“What are you doing?”

She didn’t answer but a few minutes later,she finally held it out to him. Brim took it and as he walked backto his desk glanced down at it.

He paused. “What did you do to myphone?”

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