We were ten minutes out of town with two credible locations for the biggest crime lord in Washington D.C. One of the sources even coughed up the gate code for the property. Lucian Rollins was a scary motherfucker.
His phone rang again.
“This is Lucian.” He listened for a few seconds then handed me the phone. “For you.”
It was probably my brother bitching me out for taking the law into my own hands. “What?” I said.
“Knox. Grim here.”
Grim was the high-stakes poker-playing, mostly almost-legal motorcycle club president.
“This is not a good time to plan another poker game, man.”
“Not poker-related. Club business. Got some info I thought you might be interested in.”
“Unless it’s the whereabouts of Anthony or Duncan Hugo, I’m not interested.”
“Then you’re about to be real interested. That pretty little waitress of yours just marched her fine ass right on into Duncan Hugo’s new chop shop.”
My heart was hammering away against my rib cage. “What did you just say?”
“My guys have been sitting on the building for reasons.”
“I’m not the cops,” I reminded him.
“Let’s just say some local businesses aren’t real happy about the competition.”
Translation: Grim’s club was planning to hit the chop shop.
“Been keeping tabs on all the comings and goings. Just got photo confirmation. She’s a twin, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I remember her talking about her twin sister at the last game. Looks like she wasn’t bullshitting about the twin. Bitch had Naomi handcuffed to the dashboard.”
I dropped my foot on the accelerator. “Address,” I demanded.
FORTY-EIGHT
THE OL’ SWITCHEROO
Naomi
“Five…four…three…two…”
“Wait! What makes you think Waylay knows where whatever the hell you’re looking for is?” I asked, desperate to keep Duncan distracted from his deadly countdown. “She’s just a child.”
“Mmmph mmm,” Waylay grumbled, clearly offended.
Tina didn’t say anything. Her eyes were glued to Duncan, and I was surprised he hadn’t caught fire from the flames shooting out of them. The man had no idea the fuse he’d just lit. I only hoped my sister’s impending explosion wouldn’t get us all killed.
“Simple addition. Tina took the flash drive, and it disappeared. Only one other person in that house. The little brat who likes technology and stealin’ stuff.”
“Tina told you it disappeared?”
“No, Santy Claus did,” Duncan said, rolling his eyes.
“Did it ever occur to you that Tina is hiding the flash drive? Maybe she took it to cut you out of the deal.”
Both Tina and Duncan were now looking at me. I didn’t know if I’d made things better or worse, but at least the gun was pointing at the floor. I dropped to my knees and attacked the knot on Waylay’s wrist.
“Don’t listen to her,” Tina said seeming to come back to life. “She’s just doing what she used to do with our parents. Trying to manipulate you.”
“I hate that shit,” he said, raising the gun once again. “Now where was I? Five?”
“Nine?” I suggested weakly.
“You have to go to the bathroom,” Tina announced to me.
“What?”
She gave me a hard look. “You have to go to the bathroom,” she said again before turning back to Duncan. “She got her period. You don’t want to shoot her and get period all over the place, do you, Dunc?”
“Gross. Don’t tell me that woman shit,” he complained, looking like he was about to vomit.
“I’ll take her to the bathroom, and we’ll get the kid to talk about where she stashed the drive,” she said with a pointed look in Waylay’s direction. “Then I’ll run out and get you some of that fried chicken that you like.”
Tina was definitely up to something. She had that crafty look on her face. And I definitely hadn’t gotten my period. The Honky Tonk Code Red was two weeks out.
“That’s more like it,” Duncan said, satisfied that his woman was back in line. “Wasn’t really gonna shoot you, T.”
“I know you’re under a lot of stress, baby,” Tina said as she dragged me across the room toward a door marked RES OOM. “Take a break. Drink a beer. We’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder.