Page 95 of Love Undercover
Kesterson’s door swung wide, and one side of his mouth turned up in a satisfied smirk like he’d known Chase would return.
“Son of Lundgren. Welcome back.”
He had to get far enough away, into a bigger city so that he could throw off any attempts at triangulating his location, and by extension, where he and Sadie were staying.
Part of the reason he’d picked the hotel he had was because of its proximity to several other large towns with multiple optionsfor motels and hotels. Hopefully, that would keep Zim’s guys busy enough that they wouldn’t immediately locate them.
Once secure in the distance, he pulled into the parking lot of a large shopping center, settling in toward the back where there was less activity. He got out, casting his eyes toward another brewing summer thunderstorm in the distance, feeling some kind of kinship with the turbulence that roiled within those dark clouds.
He pulled out the phone he’d gotten from Kesterson, steeling his nerves before dialing.
“Gibson,” the voice barked.
“I’ve gotten a hold of some interesting information,” Chase said, taking satisfaction in the measured tone in his own voice.
There was a pause, and then: “Lundgren,” spoken like a curse. “I knew this kidnapping situation would come back to bite me in the ass,” Gibson muttered.
The man’s agitation gave him an inkling of hope that this whole thing would play out the way he needed it to.
His lips formed a grim smile. “If you want the evidence to disappear, it’s on my terms.”
“I’m not an idiot, Chase. I won’t negotiate with you. And if you do what I think you’re implying, that puts you on the wrong side of the law.”
Chase snorted. “That’s rich coming from you. If you don’t want to play by my rules, I can see if Stackhouse is so eager to dismiss me. Are you willing to chance it?”
“Lundgren, I swear if you—“
“None of this is going to look good if I go straight to the top,” Chase interrupted.
Gibson laughed, but the edge in the sound let on that he was nervous. “You think you have this whole thing figured out? Let me guess: you want to walk free with your new little girlfriend.”
Chase refused to rise to that bait. “We take down Zimmerman, make sure she’s on nobody’s radar, I’m willing to work out whatever you need. I won’t go to Stackhouse, and you can keep your job.”
“No dice, Lundgren. This has been a lucrative business for me. I’m not looking to cash out.”
“Got it.” Chase hung up on him. It was just to make him sweat and lure him out. As if Chase wouldn’t going to go to Stackhouse and the top brass, anyway. He needed to get to the end of this list if it cost him his job, his reputation. . . even his life, if it came to it. He couldn’t abide the lies and the corruption. And he couldn’t have Sadie stuck in the middle for the rest of her life.
The phone rang.
He hit answer but said nothing.
Gibson’s ragged breathing was the only sound for a few seconds.
“What do you want from me?” he asked.
Chase almost smiled, but the thought of using these tactics on someone he’d once trusted made his stomach twist. “Tomorrow at ten a.m.” He rattled off an address. “I will have the evidence. You call off the dogs, we take down Zimmerman, and I want Sadie to walk free. No one touches her.”
“You better not be fucking with me, Lundgren.” Gibson’s voice was a low growl.
Chase hung up instead of offering any sort of reply. He had more phone calls to make.
Pulling Zimmerman in was his next move. If he could get Zimmerman and the others to take each other out, he and Sadie might get off scot-free.
It gutted him to do exactly what Kesterson had suggested, but Sadie was his bargaining chip. Santiago had already laid the groundwork for that, touting Sadie as the key to Greg, so Chase just had to lean heavily into that.
And even though he was so good at shoving his feelings down deep, the disconnected and cold tone of his voice as he laid it out for Zim’s guy chilled him on a level he’d never experienced before.
Then all that was left was to trust that Kesterson would do his part.
