Page 25 of The Debt

Chapter 15

“What the fuck?” Ronald exclaimed as Archer climbed out of his car. “This was your emergency? To get fucked up like shit?”

“Don’t start, Ron.”

“What the fuck’s the matter with my friends? First Gage and now you?”

“Gage Wilder?”

“Yeah, but let’s keep this conversation about you and why you look like this.”

Apparently Ron had arrived at Archer’s residence after the meeting ended without him. A silver rental car was parked in the driveway, which Archer assumed his friend drove. Ron would have been calling him, but his phone had been in the car. He turned and reached into the car, picking up his phone and checking the missed calls. There were several from Ron and a few from a number he didn’t recognize.

It could have been anyone, but since Mira had been on the run and Vasco had confiscated her phone, he wondered if perhaps she had been trying to call him from another phone. That was a possibility as well as it could have been a business associate. At that moment all that mattered was him getting Mira away from that tyrant Vasco.

“Ron, I need your help,” Archer said, ignoring his friend’s question as they both entered the house.

“Are you in trouble?” Ron asked. “Who did this to you?”

“I need you to find out all you can about a girl name Amira Barclay and if you get your people on it today that would be great.”

“Who is she?”

“That’s not important. I need personal details about her father. His name, age medical history and so forth. It shouldn’t take long.”

“What do you mean it’s not important? Look at you!”

“Can you do it or not?”

“Yeah, but aren’t you going to tell me what happened?”

“I’ll explain everything to you later,” Archer replied. “I gotta get cleaned up. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He left Ron downstairs and went to his bedroom. Stripping off his clothes and headed into the shower where he ran the hot water full steam for a few minutes to get off the caked blood and dirt. After he felt clean enough, his face and gut still throbbing with pain, he turned the tap on cold. Stepping out of the shower, he toweled himself off. Archer found some ointment in the medicine cabinet which he used to dress his wounds.

Ron had a drink in his hand when he returned downstairs. His friend moved to the sidebar and brought him a mineral water.

“I want what you’re drinking.”

Ron looked at him bewildered. “This girl got you drinking alcohol? She had better be worth it man.”

“Don’t blame her for this, she’s in trouble and I want to help her.”

Ron poured the scotch and handed it to Archer. “Now tell me what happened so I can back you up.”

Archer told Ron everything leaving out only the intimate details between him and Mira. As he spoke, he realized he’d been an idiot to get played by Vasco Black. The entire encounter with Mira was orchestrated, but she could do nothing but comply with the mad man’s wishes.

“This story is too bizarre,” Ron declared. “Didn’t it occur to you that messing with another man’s girl would get you beaten up?”

“They both denied that there was anything there. According to them, he was just doing her a favor and they were not exclusive.”

Ron gave him an incredulous stare. “And it never occurred to you that they were hiding something?”

“I knew Mira was hiding something, but I knew she’d tell me when the time was right.”

“You knew the girl for all of two minutes and you assumed something like that?” Ron exclaimed. “I should whip your ass to beat some sense into you.”

“You don’t know the connection Mira and I share.”

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