Page 50 of Without Fail

The phone buzzed with an incoming call and he grimaced as he answered it.

“Where are you?” the young voice said tightly, filled with anger. Real sighed, glancing around as if caught in the act of something he shouldn’t be doing. He caught sight of a street sign.

Fuck, was this East L.A.?

“Out.” He clipped the word, fighting the churning guilt.

“Hey! You forgot your jacket,” the hook-up from earlier said from behind him.

“Who is that?” Azrael hissed into his ear.

“Nobody,” he growled and took the jacket from the man he couldn’t remember the name of.

“Did you fuck him?” Azrael wasn’t shouting and something churned in Real’s gut.

“See you around, handsome,” the man said and sauntered back up the apartment steps.

“That’s none of your—” he began, but Azrael hung up on him.

“Shit! Fuck!” He punched in Stone’s number instead of hitting the apartment building next to him.

“What’s up?”

“I’m heading to Colorado to help out Cobalt Security. Can you keep a close eye on Azrael for me?”

“Why?”

“I may have…fucked up,” he muttered.

“I don’t care why you and Azrael are fighting. I want to know why you are going to help Cobalt.”

“Marshal called, there’s an attack going on at an estate that he’s guarding.”

“And he couldn’t call the cops or Jaxon or Brick?”

“He did, asshole,” Real growled. “Are you going to do what I asked?”

“Yeah, I got him,” Stone grumbled.

Real hung up. He hoped to God that Stone could keep his promise because Azrael was a fucking handful.

The Uber he ordered rolled up and he slid into the back seat.

Rubbing a tired hand down his face, he grimaced and stared out the window.

He kept his mind blank.

Marshal called Ryker’s phone for the fifth time as he tore through the streets of Denver towards the Langston estate, but he couldn’t get through.

Giving up on reaching Ryker, he punched in Bishop’s phone.

It went straight to voicemail and bile coated his tongue. Next, he tried Alexander, but it rang and rang and then went to voicemail.

He went down the list, calling everyone in the house including the Langstons, then the bodyguards.

Nobody was picking up their phones. Perhaps they had jammed the cell phones or worse. He suspected it was the latter because Ryker had been able to send him a text earlier.

Had the attackers gotten the jump on the team? How was that even possible?

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