Page 78 of Lockout

I turned and looked at Lock. “I’m going,” I told him. “Let me know when church is over and I’ll come back.”

“No,” he said. “Stay.”

Now my mouth was hanging open. He wanted me to stay for church? Should I be flattered or…

“I’m hoping your time with the taskforce can help us,” he explained.

Right. That made sense actually. Going over to his side, I sat on the edge of the bed, while the other men circled around.

Is this what it feels like to be a queen?

Lockout scowled. “Stop towering over me,” he grumbled. They all took a step back. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Thanks. Ideas? Rip?”

“Sorry,” Riptide said with a shake of his head. “I can’t get back in. Maybe with enough time I can, but I’m not sure I’ll have it. Hangman’s not going to sit around waiting. Not now. And there’s no way for me to tell what he’s up to.”

“Licking his wounds. Him and his crew,” Butcher muttered.

“Planning a counter attack,” Lock argued. “And I don’t want to lose the momentum we gained. All he fucking has to do is call in reinforcements and we’re fucked.”

“I could try calling one of the agents I know on the task force,” I offered. Every eye landed on me and I gave Lock a tentative smile. “He was always nice to me. But notthatkind of nice. Just a ‘lets arrest the bad guys nice’.”

His eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “It’s a long shot that he’ll give you anything useful, but worth a try.”

Everyone was quiet and I looked around. “Oh. Now?”

“Yeah,” Lock said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I hit a number in my contacts and listened.

“Speaker,” Lock said.

Glaring at him, I put the call on speaker.

“Hey, Keels! Long time, no see.”

“Hey, Cory,” I said, ignoring the unhappy look Lock was giving me when Cory used my nickname. “How’s it going?”

“Oh you know. Same old, same old. Bunch of us were sorry you had to drop off the task force.”

“Thanks,” I said. “It was really last minute.”

“Probably better that way since Hill was being such a dick to you, anyway.”

“Yeah, hey, listen. I was just wondering…” I gave a little laugh. “It’s none of my business but since I worked on that case for so many months… Are you guys close to a bust?”

There was a heavy sigh on the line. “We’re farther along, but no. We can’t seem to get our shit together enough to make any arrests. Hangman just keeps slipping through our fingers.”

My heart sank in my chest hearing that. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, the task force was extended so we can keep working it. But…”

“But what?” I asked.

There was a sound, as though he was shifting. “Something’s going down.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.

“Bunch of the chapters are on the move according to our sources,” Cory said.

---