Page 143 of Heresy

I will take him out. I just have to figure out how.

The first call I make is to a tow truck. The less time I spend on the side of this road, the better. The second call I make is to Tanner.

He answers on the third ring as Brinley and I stand next to my car on the side of the interstate.

“You in Georgia yet, or did you take Brinley for a makeover, manicure and massage to go along with her new thirty-thousand-dollar wardrobe?”

I fucking hate how fast news travels in this group. Thankfully, I’m too pissed to give a shit about it.

“Scott is a dead man,” I answer him, ignoring the attempted insult.

The humor in Tanner’s voice disappears. “What happened?”

I explain the tire issue with the car and the very real possibility that the governor isn’t just in this to damage property but is setting up situations that are deadly.

If they wanted to fuck up my car, they would have done so. But to loosen the lug nuts? That takes time to take effect, and only when someone is driving.

You see, the problem with losing a front tire at high speeds is you also lose the ability to steer. It inevitably leaves you careening in whatever direction the car wants to take regardless of what obstacle happens to be there.

In a matter of seconds you can find yourself sucking face with a tree with the engine sitting in your damn lap, or beneath a semi, ready and waiting to be crushed beneath the tires.

“Jesus,” Tanner breathes out. “Why you, though? They’re escalating this for sure, but especially when it comes to you.”

That thought already crossed my mind when I saw the extent of damage to my house.

“The only idea I have is that I’m the direct threat to Brinley. Scott picked her up from the auto shop, so they know for a fact that I’m in contact with her.”

“But if you’re the direct threat, and they think she’s missing, they would assume she’s with you. Which means if you had wrecked-”

“She would have died too,” I finish for him.

I’d already considered that as well. And it’s why my blood is boiling.

An attempt on my life is one thing, but to hurt or kill Brinley? That’s not just pushing a boundary, it’s crossing a line, one so deep into enemy territory that they’ve woken up a beast inside me that is enraged, bloodthirsty and has shed its skin of civility until only the chaos of my mind exists.

Tanner must intuit my thoughts. He’s known me long enough to know exactly where I’m standing right now and precisely where my mind is going.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he warns. “First, we need to find out why they’d want her dead. It’s her friends who are decrypting the flash drive. Without her, they’re just as stuck as us.”

“Unless they get ahold of Ames,” I remind him. “Brinley said friends, but she just now admitted those friends are Ames’s older brother and his friend.”

“So if they get Ames…”

“Exactly.”

In the distance, orange lights flash at the back of traffic. Only a few minutes left before I need to end this call and deal with getting Beauty up on a flatbed.

It’s my hope we can get to Georgia quickly after getting the car fixed. And then maybe we’ll luck out and find Jerry.

Once that’s accomplished, I’ll hold the bastard down with my boot on his throat, ready and willing to crush his trachea if he won’t give up every detail he knows about Governor Callahan and his rabid dog, Scott.

Oh, and also the servers. But they’re not my first concern.

Brin probably won’t approve, and she’ll hate me again for it. But if it protects her life, I’ll kill whoever’s necessary.

It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve done that exact thing. Sadly, I’ve taken a life for less… one I regret, and another whose grave I’ll piss on every time I get the chance.

“Grab Ames,” I tell Tanner. “Send Damon. She knows him and will believe him since she knows he’s associated with Brinley. Once we have her under thumb, the governor will have to attack us directly again to get to either one of them.”

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