Page 36 of Doubling Down

“I’m fine.” Dom pushed his hands away. “What the hell is happening out there?”

“It’s a long story,” Eric told him as he dug for his phone.

“And this?” Dom flicked the gold badge hanging around his neck.

Shit, Eric had forgotten about that.

“An even longer story.” Eric lifted the phone to his ear as Dane answered.

“Yeah?” Dane sounded annoyed. Not especially different from how he normally sounded.

“Collins went through the back of the coffee shop. There’s a hall that leads out to the dumpsters and the back of the property.”

“I’m heading to the security room now to check the cameras. Jesse lambert is on the floor trying to calm things down. I’ll send Remi to you.”

“One of the employees here is injured,” Eric said.

“I’ll let Remi know.”

“Sounds good.” He disconnected the call to find that Dom was glaring at him.

“I need to go after Collins,” Eric told him. “My boss is headed down here. He’ll take care of you.”

“I don't need anyone to take care of me,” Dom replied angrily. “I want to know what Ezra is mixed up in. Why is Joey looking for him? Does he know you’re a cop?”

“He knows,” Eric said. “He couldn’t tell you. I made him promise.”

Dom shook his head. “I don’t care about that. At least not right now.”

“I have to go,” Eric stressed.

Dom grunted. “Fine. We are going to have a conversation later.”

Eric had no doubt. He nodded once before he took off in the direction that Dom had said Collins had gone. He hit the lever to the door hard. The heavy metal door clanged as it slammed into the wall.

Logic said that Collins would have headed toward the exit. Of course, there were several doors that went into the hall from different shop. It would be stupid to go back into one of the shops since there was no way out other than the casino floor. Collins had to have gone for the main exit.

He rushed down the hall and was almost to the exit when his phone rang. Had to be Dane. Eric stopped before exiting to answer.

“Yeah?”

“I lost him by the dumpsters,” Dane informed him. “Caught him back in the parking garage and he made it to his vehicle. We put out an APB but we lost him once he left the camera view.”

“Fuck!” Eric punched the door. Well, that was stupid. Now his hand hurt.

“I get it, man. We’ll find him again.”

“I need to talk to Dom again.”

“Who?”

“The coffee shop employee that was hurt. He said Collins was asking where Ezra was.”

“Fuck,” Dame spat. “I’ll meet you there. Remi is already talking to the guy.”

“I’m on my way.” Eric leaned his head back as he caught his breath. Everything had happened so fast. It had all gone to hell. Eric had been so sure that he could take Collins that he had gotten too cocky.

He wanted to check on Ezra just to hear his voice but first he needed to get the full story from Dom. Maybe there wassomething that the kid knew that could help Eric figure out where Collins might go. They knew all of Collins’s usual haunts. They’d track him down.

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