Page 60 of Deadly Designs

Kayne glanced in the rear-view mirror and whistled.“Sweet ride. That had to set him back, what, three hundredthousand?”

“At least,” Presley agreed. “His gig is verylucrative.”

“That’s a given for a pseudo-preacher slash cultleader,” Christian remarked. “That’s all you got?”

For the third time in less than ten minutes, a womanrolled her eyes at him. He decided he didn’t like it one bit.

“No, Chrisitan, that’s not all. I was leading up tothe big reveal.”

“And?” he prompted.

“Guess what I found in the garage.”

Kayne glanced at her and barked, “For God’s sake,tell us. We’ve spent the last hour listening to a minion from hellspout nonsense garbage about an uprising that had me wanting totake out my Sig Sauer and kneecap him.”

“Might I remind you we heard the same thing?” sheretorted.

“Presley!”

She tossed up her hands. “Fine. So much for drama.I’ll spit it out. The Church of the Enlightened owns a white-panelvan.”

Chapter Seventeen

Aja Blue didn’t know howChristian, Presley, and Kayne did this kind of work for a living.She was a giant ball of stressed-out nerves, and all she was doingwas sitting in the SUV while they did the leg work.HarryHoudini green-colored zucchini.

“What was that?” Christian asked.

Oops. She’d forgotten about the comm device.“Nothing.”

His chuckle told her that he’d heard just fine. She’dbeen trying to quit using the silly phrases she’d come up with whenshe was younger, but sometimes they slipped out.

Aja Blue searched outside for Presley, but she’ddisappeared. When she announced she was doing recon, as she’dcalled it, Aja Blue had almost begged her not to leave, which wassilly. She’d been on her own for a long time. It was hard for herto rely on anyone else. Sure, she’d latched onto Christian as soonas he’d come to her aid, but that didn’t mean she was weak.

Watching him in action, she saw why he was successfulin his career. He was easily the most competent person she’d evermet. Presley was good, as was Kayne, but something about Christianmade everyone bow to his expertise. She’d noticed the way theothers looked to him for guidance. Maybe it was because this washis case, but she didn’t think so. Cream rose to the top.

Aja Blue sighed as she listened to Pastor Chetpontificate about the evils of anyone who wasn’t a straight whitemale. He wasn’t only against the LGBTQ community but also women andany person of color or ethnicity.

The people who agreed with him, cheering andchanting, made her physically sick. These men were evilpersonified.

People like him scared the crap out of her. Theybrought out the worst in others and gave them permission to loathewho he did. That people would listen to what he said and blindlyfollow made no sense to her. The harm they could do to the onesthey were against was frightening.

Aja Blue yelped and jumped a mile when the doorbeside her opened.

“I’m back,” Presley announced as she slid inside.

Since Aja Blue didn’t hear the comment come throughthe comms, she assumed Presley still had her mic off.

“I’ll tell you about it when the men return.”

They listened as the meeting wrapped up and thepolice crashed the party.

“Damn it,” Presley cursed. “I totally missed theirarrival.”

Aja Blue pointed to her comm, and Presley reachedover to turn off the microphone for her.

“Thanks. You couldn’t have seen them. They aren’tvisible from our vantage point.”

“Doesn’t matter. Christian won’t agree.”

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