Page 90 of Poisoned Pawn

“I was using the GPS tracker to find where you lived after I ran from Gambino’s, but it led me to a set of garages. Before I could leave a car arrived and a guy got out then made a call. He was pissed about whoever he was meant to be meeting not being there and gave him an ultimatum to be there in an hour or the deal was off. Then while he was waiting, he got call but from someone else.” She pauses for a moment obviously trying to remember. “He mentioned a club, not by name though, and then said something about someone being the best there is and if your guy had killed whoever they were talking about, they wouldn’t be in this mess. I couldn’t catch all his conversation and only caught snippets.”

“Did you see who he met?” Roxanne asks.

She shakes her head. “No. While he was on the phone the second time, someone else arrived and knocked him out. As he was dragging the guy to the back of the car, I caught a glimpse of his trainers. I remember the tick because they were immaculate otherwise.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before? He was right fucking there. If he’d have found you—”

“Okay, let’s not think about that,” Roxanne says trying to temper my anger, or given the look on Star’s face, prevent an all-out row. I’m not mad at Star—maybe a little that she didn’t tell me earlier—more at the thought of what could have happened had they found her there.

“We can assume that the guy on the phone was Kir, right? But who was he talking to?” Roxanne continues.

“Lennox, Lev or even Rook. Take your fucking pick.” I check the time. “I’m going to meet Lennox in thirty, and I need you to do what we discussed.” I close the laptop, leaving it on the table then turn to Star. “Say hi to my sister for me, yeah?” I kiss her, cutting off any reply or giving her the chance to deny me because I know she’s mad. Breaking the kiss a second later, I give a pointed look to Roxanne. “Keep her fucking safe, both of them!”

I’m just loading the bag I prepared earlier, which I grabbed on my way out, into the boot when footsteps crunching on gravel alerts me to someone coming. My money was on Star or Zak, so imagine my fucking surprise when I turn around and find Maddox there.

“I’m coming with you.” There’s no question in there merely a statement of fact.

“I don’t need a damn babysitter,” I say, slamming the boot closed.

“Good fucking job I’m not one then.” He walks to the passenger side and climbs in.

I sigh and get in the car knowing there’s no point in arguing about it. At least I’m not meeting Lennox at headquarters, or we would have a problem once we got there.

“Roxanne mentioned something about your sister,” Maddox says as we hit the main road toward the city.

“Course she did.” I focus on the road, checking the rear-view mirror for any sign of a tail. Seeing no point in holding off, I tell him about Erica without giving more details than necessary.

Talking about her is doing nothing for my mood. I’ve spent the last sixteen years protecting her from my world, making sure nobody knew about her and that she had the best care I could afford. Lennox used her as leverage in those first few years, that and the fact I took out one of his precious fucking Shadows. A Shadow that had gone off the fucking rails. He deserved to be put in the ground, but it didn’t matter because I’d cost Lennox one of his assets. In return for my loyalty to the Shadow Guard, Lennox paid for Erica’s treatment, her place at a top care facility with the best burns and rehabilitation unit.

Now though my loyalty has shifted, and I don’t need Lennox to survive or take care of Erica. What I do fucking need is to find out how much Lennox is involved in this shit with Rook.

Maddox doesn’t ask me anything more about Erica, but he does ask me about Lennox.

“He gave me an ultimatum. Told me that if I didn’t join the Shadow Guard, Erica would be left with no family, that’s if she even survived. I was pissed at him for a long time.”

“I can understand that,” he says gruffly.

I glance across at him. “Sounds like there’s a story somewhere in that statement?”

“Oh there’s a fucking story alright. Let’s just say that Zak and I know all about being held to ransom and leave it at that for now.”

“Very well.” I turn down a side street lined by large office blocks and check the rear-view mirror again. A second later a black BMW rounds the bend. The same fucking BMW that’s been following us for the last ten minutes.

Maddox looks in the wing mirror his side. “We got a tail?”

“Maybe?” I take the next left. “Let’s circle round and see.”

I take the next left, and there he is. But at the next left, which happens to be a crossroads, he takes a right.

“Either it wasn’t a tail, or he figured out we were on to him.”

“Whatever the fuck it was, let’s get to this meeting and not wait around to find out.”

Five minutes later, and with no sign of the black BMW, we pull into an underground car park. I take the ramp to the lower level and park.

“You got a weapon on you?” I ask Maddox.

“Not sure you need an answer to that, Carter.”

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