Page 69 of Protected

The man had postponed meetings twice in a matter of weeks, but Wolf’s patience had paid off. Not only was the guy coming to Southern California to meet, he was also sending a small shipment of guns. Wolf would be able to look them over before deciding to buy.

So, the day hadn’t been all bad. This could be the beginning of another good connection.

Mando was rumored to have the best variety of weapons at the most affordable prices. Whether that was true or not was yet to be seen, but he'd heard the man was in the process of moving his operations to Southern California. This could end up being a win-win situation for all involved.

Wolf had just sat at his desk when his cell phone rang again, and he groaned. Maybe he should turn the damn thing off. Instead, a quick glance at the screen showed it was Elder.

“What do you want?” Wolf snapped. “And if you’re about to give me some bad news, save it. I’ve had enough for one day.”

Elder chuckled. “So, I guess you’re getting a taste of what I have to deal with when you’re chilling out doing nothing in your penthouse.Good. Now you know how valuable I am.”

Wolf heard rustling over the phoneline and then what sounded like wind blowing. “Where are you?”

“I’m climbing out of the car and getting ready to go into the house I rented here in Atlanta. We had to pick up some groceries. Looks like we’ll be here a while longer.”

He and two members of their crew had flown to Atlanta a couple of days ago. The plan was to meet Parker Wilcox and ask a few questions. Personal questions to determine if him and Wolf were related somehow.

“What did you find out?”

“Not much yet. My nephew, James, said the place is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Getting to this guy Parker isn’t going to be easy,” Elder explained. “I just want to see him face to face. Get a read on him. But the plan we’d had in place fell apart.”

Elder told him how James and some woman made a visit to Supreme, acting like one of them needed protection.

“Supposedly, there’s a mandatory interview process potential clients have to go through before the firm will agree to take them on as clients.”

Wolf frowned and shrugged as if Elder could see him. “Well, have them go through the damn interview. How hard can it be? They answer a few questions, pay the folks, and then get Parker as their bodyguard.”

“It’s harder than you’d think. They don’t take on justanyoneas clients, and once they asked for ID, Jame’s friend got nervous.”

Wolf sighed. They didn’t have time for this nonsense. He didn’t have any kids out there, and letting Elder talk him into going to Atlanta was probably a fool’s errand. But his friendcould be convincing when he wanted to be, and if Wolf was honest, his own curiosity was still getting the best of him.

“You know, if this guy really is Junior, and I’m not saying that he is,” Wolf hurried to say, “Butifhe is, that means we have some traitors in our crew. When we left Junior in that warehouse bleeding out…”

Wolf shook his head. There was no way. He had killed Junior with his own hands. He saw him take his last breath. It wasn’t possible that…

Wait.

“Who were the cleaners that night?” he asked, his mind spinning at the route his thoughts were going. When they beat someone to death, certain crew members were responsible for making the body disappear, and then cleaning the facility where the murder took place. By the time they were done, the body should be disposed of and the place spotless.

“Man, that was like a hundred years ago. I can’t remember.”

Yeah, it was a long time ago, and they’d been in the middle of a gang war. They also hadn’t had that many cleaners.

“It might’ve been Shred and Luis, but—”

“I think you’re right,” Wolf said.

Unease simmered just below the surface as he thought about what this all could mean. Had he failed to kill Junior? And if he did, who helped keep him alive?

“Okay, stay in Atlanta and see what you can find out,” Wolf conceded. “Get Thomas or whoever to go back to Supreme and hire—”

“I have a better idea. Something I should’ve done in the first place. Something that will be easier to get us the answers we want. Did Junior have any identifying marks on his body? Like scars or birthmarks?”

Wolf thought back. “He had a two-inch scar on the right side of his neck shortly before he died.” Some kid had cut himwith a broken beer bottle, but Wolf didn’t know if it had left a permanent scar. “He also had a birthmark, a half-moon, on his side. Wait, it was more on his upper hip. I think the left one.”

He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was ridiculous. There was no way Junior was alive. His son was dead.

“Elder, on second thought, we don’t have time for this shit. You and the others get back here so we can—”

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