Page 109 of Morally Gray Daddies

Chapter Nine

Derrick

“Well, that was quick.”

I made the statement with resignation. I’d been expecting a call like this even as I’d halfway hoped it wouldn’t come. We were four hours into our trip, and the sun was disappearing beyond the edge of the Sierra Nevadas on our left when I’d pulled over at a rest stop so Aubrey could use the restroom. Aside from one other car in the parking lot and a semi idling while the driver probably slept, no one else was around. As I was standing outside the restroom while Aubrey relieved herself, my phone had rung.

Colbie.

“Did you expect anything less? As soon as Ms. Delgado called her father, he was on his plane heading back to the US. After he’d made a few phone calls first, that is.”

I gazed out across the barren landscape that faded into a dull grayish purple to the east. “Let me guess, you were one of them?”

“Well, we are business acquaintances, after all.”

“Does he have any suspicion who’s actually behind it?”

“Please, Ric,” Colbie scoffed. “You know me better than that.”

I couldn’t help but grimace. “He’s not a stupid man. He wouldn’t be where he is today if he was. If he really wants to dig into this, I’m sure he’ll figure out who’s really behind it. If not you, then at the very least the people in his own family who authorized it. And that will eventually lead to you, unless you can keep them quiet.”

Colbie snorted. “You give him far too much credit. He was stupid enough to do what he did that set all of this in motion. And when it comes to having their daughters threatened, all men turn stupid.”

“Point taken,” I conceded.

“And speaking of stupidity…”

I narrowed my eyes. “What?”

“I should advise you your little video had exactly the desired effect and achieved everything that was hoped for.”

“Oookay. I sense a ‘but’ here.”

“Erm, not so much a ‘but’ as a ‘however.’”

Goddamn, he loved being enigmatic. “However, what?”

“You should know your methods might’ve been a little too effective.”

“I don’t understand.”

“So, it appears Mr. Delgado took what you did to Ms. Taryn a little harder than expected. We’d assumed his main focus would be on considering what could’ve happened to his daughter and comforting her rather than any major reaction for what was actually done to Ms. Taryn. We knew he’d express a certain amount of sympathy for her, of course, but that would be the extent of it. He surprised us, however. He seems to have taken quite a shine to her in the short time they were together, and his reaction to your video has been… far more extreme than we anticipated.”

“Bottom line this for me, Colbie.”

“He’s sent someone to kill you.”

Fuck. “To kill me? Well, good luck to him with that. How does he even know who I am?”

“Well, Ms. Delgado did see you clearly, and the house had security cameras which caught you. Plus, you didn’t exactly hide any part of yourself on the video…”

I brushed away the comment dismissively with my free hand. “That’s irrelevant. I do not exist. You made sure of that years ago. That’s part of my effectiveness; I cannot be tracked.”

“Of course, in most circumstances that’s one hundred percent true…”

I closed my eyes briefly. “You gave me up to him, didn’t you?”

“Ric…” Colbie replied patiently, “you know how this game is played. The man was quite passionate, and you can hardly blame me for wanting to cash in on that. So, I said I’d utilize the resources available to me to see if I could find out who you were and get back to him.”

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