Page 51 of Poisoned Pawn

“Don’t need any thanks, Roxanne. Just need to find Star and bring her home safe.” I give him a nod as I move to Jay.

“Good to see you, Jay.” I give Jay a hug, then whisper, “Don’t let this fucker out of your sight.”

“I’ve got this,” he tells me, walking to the other seat behind Koda’s desk and making himself at home.

I head upstairs with Rick, Zak and Maddox following behind. Once we are out of earshot, I turn to Zak.

“What you got?”

“Okay, so his real name is Jack Carter, died aged sixteen in a house fire along with his mother and sister.”

“Only he’s not dead, so that makes him a ghost? Ex-military?” I ask.

Zak looks at me then between Rick and Maddox. “Not exactly.”

“What does ‘not exactly’ mean, Zak?” Maddox asks.

Zak turns his attention to Rick. “You ever heard of the Shadow Guard?”

“Fuck!” Rick says, scrubbing a hand over his face. “You’re sure?” he asks, and I don’t like the edge to his voice.

“Someone want to explain,” I demand, agitation flaring up inside me. “Rick? Zak? Someone fucking talk to me?”

“The Shadow Guard are the UK’s largest secret society of assassins run by a man named Lennox Fortune.” Rick’s face tells me everything I need to know, and that my concerns about the man who has my sister are valid and then some.

Aidan is going to go ape shit.

“And Carter is one of them?” Zak nods. “Do you know where to find this guy Lennox?” I ask, even though I’m still reeling from the fact there is a secret society of assassins. Not really sure why I’m so surprised after everything I’ve seen as a cop and having spent the last five years running the streets of London with Maddox and Zak.

Both Zak and Rick shake their head.

“I bet the techy shithead downstairs knows though!” Maddox says, directing a thumb over his shoulder to the basement we just came from.

“Good call. You said you know where they might be?” I ask Zak.

“Jack’s mum had a brother who owned a farm in the Brecon Beacons. About five hours from here and in the middle of fucking nowhere. If I was looking to stay off grid, that’s where I’d be.”

I turn to Rick, but he beats me to it.

“I’ll get on it and see if I can dig up some blueprints for the place.” I nod, and he walks off, pulling his phone free from his pocket.

“I need to call Aidan. You two should go and find out what Koda knows about Lennox and where we can find him. If I go back down there, I might end up murdering the fucker.”

Rick is on his phone in the small living room as I pass on my way to the front door. Once outside, I call Aidan.

“Anything?” he snaps when he answers on the second ring.

“Maybe. What do you know about the Shadow Guard?”

“Nothing fucking good. Why’d you ask?”

I’m quiet for a moment thinking that calling him might not have been such a good idea and that maybe I should have called Mickey first.

“Roxanne,” Aidan presses.

“Just tell me what you know about them.”

“Da used them a couple of times when they got some heat from the Mancinis years ago. All I needed to know is that you pay them, and they make sure whoever you want dead is dead. If a Shadow Guard was hired to kill Star, then we have a huge fucking problem, Roxanne.”

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