Page 65 of Edge of Danger

Tessa lifted her chin. “Jakob Hawkins?”

“Yeah, this is him. Don’t tell me. Tessa?”

“You know my voice?” Her lips pursed.

“I do. Although I never thought you would be the one reaching out to me. What’s this about?”

Her tongue darted out over her lips. “I know where Robert is, and I figured I should pass the information on to you.”

Right, right, stick to the script. Brax nodded, hoping to encourage her.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really. I told you before that I didn’t know, and that was the truth. But he’s in town again, and I know where he’s going to be exactly one hour from now. I thought you’d want to know.”

“I got to admit, you’ve piqued my interest.”

“Not so fast. I want a little something for my trouble. You’ve put me through the wringer, and I deserve at least a little something.”

“What did you have in mind?”

Brax prayed this would work.

“A thousand dollars,” Tessa announced, closing her eyes briefly when she said it. Brax had settled on this amount, thinking it was enough to make her sound serious but not so much that Hawkins would balk at the number.

“Sounds good to me. As long as I can get my hands on that loser.” He paused. “Where’s he going to be?”

“There’s a warehouse outside of town. He’s meeting somebody there.” She rattled off the directions as Brax had written them down.

“So he’ll be in the middle of nowhere is what you’re telling me.”

“I’m only telling you what I know.”

“Who’s he meeting?”

Tessa glanced at Brax. “Like I said, that’s all I know. That he’ll be there in an hour.”

“You expect me to walk into a situation without knowing who I’m going to find there? No way, baby. I’m going to need a little more than that.”

Brax shook his head, making sure Tessa saw him when he did it. No way was he going to let this scum set the terms.

“Like what?” she asked. Brax shook his head harder, waving his hands back and forth in a “no way” motion.

“Like you meeting me there.”

Chance held Brax’s arm, signaling him to stay quiet. It was easy for him, wasn’t it? If Luke had been there, he might get it, but he and Claire were at the safe house with Walker.

To his horror, Tessa asked, “And what would happen once you see Robert there, just like I promised?”

“You’d be free to go. I don’t need anything from you but a little bit of insurance. I’m not walking into some empty warehouse without knowing I’m covered.”

Brax vibrated with rage. Was he supposed to stand back and let this happen? How could he live with himself if Tessa got hurt? Or worse. Why would she want to breathe the same air as this scum?

“Okay,” she agreed, and Brax gritted his teeth against the torrent that threatened to pour out. Every filthy word he’d ever learned wanted to make itself heard, plus a few that might not have existed.

“Meet you there,” Hawkins promised before ending the call.

Brax managed to wait until a series of beeps signaled the line had gone dead before exploding. “Why would you do that? Why would you agree to anything he asked?”

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