Page 87 of Marked for Obsession

“It was Noah’s team, actually. He and Wade led a hush-hush investigation into the guy. Last few days, they’ve been digging around in his case notes from the ones he worked involving De Luca and Mons Leones. Turns out, there were all sorts of discrepancies in several of his personal reports on De Luca. Since he’s a seasoned cop and had a solid rep, no one thought to question anything he said or wrote.”

A dark anger filled Jax’s veins. To him, there wasn’t much worse than a fucking dirty cop.

“Oh and get this,” Declan continued. “When they checked out Moore’s financials, they discovered a bank account belonging to a shell company that had been set up in Moore’s name. Guy covered his tracks pretty well but not enough to keep it hidden from a federal forensic accountant.”

Jax shook his head in disgust. “Asshole probably never thought he’d get caught.”

“Exactly. Anyway, according to Noah, Moore broke within the first hour in the hot seat. Started shouting at him and Wade about how he wanted to make a deal and join WITSEC. Claims he has enough dirt on De Luca to finally put him away for good. Which, if he’s been in bed with the guy for a while, he probably does.”

"You believe him?"

"Noah and Wade do. They’re talking it over with the D.A. now, but it looks like Moore might get his wish to go into Witness Protection in exchange for his testimony. Should have a warrant signed, sealed, and delivered by supper time.”

Son of a bitch should fry right along with De Luca.

“I found something, too,” Jax told his brother.

“What’s that?”

He quickly relayed the information about the file. When Declan started in with crap about illegal search and seizure, he pulled the phone from his ear and waited for Mr. Goody Two Shoes to finish his rant.

No longer hearing that annoying fatherly tone his brother had a tendency to use around him, Jax put the phone back to his ear. “You done?”

“Does it matter?”

“Not really.”

Declan sighed. “I guess I could report it as an anonymous tip.”

“See? We really are in sync,” Jax quipped. “Must be the whole brotherly love and all that.”

“I’m sure that’s it,” the other man droned on sarcastically. “So those pictures in that file you found…you think that’s how De Luca’s men knew where you were headed when they ambushed you and Poppy the other day?”

“Possibly. Except I was careful to make sure we weren’t followed. Likereallyfucking careful. And when Pop and I left town that day, there wasn’t a single SUV, black or otherwise, anywhere in sight.”

There was a long beat of silence before Declan came back with, “What about a tracker? Is it possible someone got close enough to you or her to slip one on you or your things?”

“No.” Of that, he was certain. “And they couldn’t have used our phones because mine’s always on me and is encrypted up the ass, and they already had Poppy’s. I got her a new one, but she didn’t even turn it on until the day after we got here.”

“They had to have figured it out somehow.”

“Well thank you, Captain Obvious,” Jax bit back.

“Just trying to talk it out, dickmunch,” Dec gave as good as he got. “Okay, so let’s think about this. Somehow De Luca figures out you’re headed for the cabin. The only way they could’ve gotten ahead of you is if he already had a crew placed up north. He or one of his men calls them, tells them you’re headed their way, and in the meantime—”

“The other two guys race to catch up with us from behind,” Jax finished for his brother. “Yeah, but that’s not really anything we didn’t already know. What about Moore? He happen to mention anything about an ordered hit from that day?”

“He claims to know nothing about that. Not sure if he’s being truthful, but Noah said no matter how many times he grilled him, the guy never changed his story.” Declan paused. “What about your car?”

“What about it?”

“Think there’s one on there?”

On reflex, Jax opened his mouth to give a resounding ‘no’, but then he snapped his jaw shut and thought about it some more.

When he and Poppy made it to the cabin that day, they’d immediately assessed the damage. She’d started to get upset, so he’d ushered her inside. She bandaged him up, they had sex, and then…

“I never looked.” And didn’t admitting that just chap his ass? “Fucking hell, Dec. I never fucking looked!”

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