Page 18 of Reclaim (Deadly Hearts 3)

ChapterEight

David

Sitting in the back of a black SUV, which is the vehicle of choice for the mob and other shady characters, I tap my iPad and frown.

“This thing isn’t coming on,” I mutter to the guy in the driver’s seat.

He ignores me.

So does Layton, squashed in next to me.

There are only the three of us in this car. I’m surprised they split us up, but maybe that is tactical so we can’t plan a gang-up or something. Declan went with Vinnie. Cillian and Ramsey are in yet another SUV. So, there’s a caravan of SUVs trailing down the M62 towards Liverpool.

“Hello?” I snap. “This tracker is not working.”

“What do you mean?” Layton asks, finally being forced into saying something. He is a frustratingly quiet man unless he’s talking dirty to Ruby.

“I mean the tracker isn’t working. How much clearer can I be?”

Those clear blue eyes hood with annoyance, but tough shit.

“Not working because it’s not online or what?” he asks.

“Dead,” I say. “It’s either been found, or it’s malfunctioned. More likely option A, but in either case, we have no idea where she is.”

“Humph,” Layton mutters and sinks further into the expensive black leather seats.

“This is bad,” I mutter and glare out of the window.

“She can take care of herself,” Layton says, but I don’t think he really wants to say it.

“I know that. She has always done things on her own. She has never needed anyone to back her up. But since this whole Boomer thing, I just can’t help but worry about her, you know. Like, is her head on straight? Is she in the game? Is she taking risks to prove she’s fine or is she being too cautious which will get her arse in trouble? Too many questions. Too many variables. I don’t like it.”

“I know,” Layton says. “But we have to trust her.”

“Don’t be that guy right now,” I growl.

He snickers, but says, “Yeah, I know how you feel. I’m feeling all the same things, but we do have to trust her. We have no choice.”

“Yeah,” I murmur and then grab my phone when it beeps. “Ramsey,” I mouth to Layton.

I glance at the screen and the message informs me that Ruby has left Ace’s High with this Adam and gone fuck knows where. Mick’s guys can’t find her.

Groaning softly, I put the phone away and lean my head back against the car seat. “What’s the plan?” I ask after a few minutes.

Layton sighs. “I guess we have to keep going where we’re going with Vinnie and once we reconvene with the other men, we figure this out.”

I nod slowly. I’m starting to think that Vinnie isn’t being entirely honest about this trip, nor Ruby’s involvement.

That is almost assuredly confirmed when Layton sits up suddenly and turns around to look out of the back window.

I do the same.

“What the fuck?” I ask and then wish I had adhered to the rules of the road and put my seatbelt on, because our driver suddenly accelerates and moves us into the outside lane of the motorway, while the car that was behind us with Declan in it, has veered off at Junction 7 towards Rainhill Stoops.

I wonder how Layton knew this was happening, but he is trained to spot things no one else can, so he must’ve seen our driver do something suspicious. Either way, we are now split up, with us careening towards Liverpool, and I’m fairly sure, Cillian and Ramsey will be disappearing from view soon.

I’m not wrong.

---