Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“About when all this started down here,” I said. “My men went down there for their usual inspection at the docks. The shipments were there, from what I was told by my men before they went missing. When they were supposed to check in next, they didn’t.”
“Three men going missing isn’t abnormal, though,” Campbell pointed out.
“No,” I agreed. “But when this is my ninth man in seven months that has had the same experience. All of which happened when I sent them to the docks…”
“Sounds like you need to go to the docks,” Romeo pointed out.
“Only if he wants to get killed himself,” Santiago pointed out.
“Not sure how else you’re supposed to be fixing this.” Santiago continued. “We’ve had men go missing, but not to the point where we don’t know where they’re going. The Armenians have been hounding us relentlessly over the last six months.”
“Same for me with the Haitians,” Milo grumbled.
“It’s been calm here,” Broderick admitted.
“Shouldn’t have said that,” Romeo pointed out. “You’re next.”
“Whatever,” Broderick said.
Man of few words.
“I’m headed down there tomorrow. The next shipment is in a week,” I said. “I plan to stay down there long enough to find out exactly what’s going on with them.”
“Do you want us there as backup?” Milo asked, sounding bored.
“No,” I said. “I’m just letting you know where I’m at if I happen to go missing.”
“Noted,” Broderick said. “Let us know your findings. If I hear anything about Cayden, I’ll update y’all via the chat.”
The “chat” was actually a secure messaging server that we used to communicate. When messaging wasn’t enough, then came the secure server we used to talk face to face via the internet.
An insistent knock was coming from my door, and I looked up and found Artur pushing his way in. “Boss.”
I held up my finger to him outside of the camera’s range and said, “Bye.”
I hung up without waiting for their goodbyes, then turned to Artur.
“Your little rabbit is on the move,” he said. “She’s currently wading in the water in the back.”
I smiled.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”
I was halfway down the length of the backyard’s walkway that led down to the lake when I got the text from Romeo saying exactly what I suspected.
Romeo:
Everyone knows he’s gone. No one knows where he’s gone.
Frustrated beyond belief, I shoved my phone in my pocket and hurried my steps.
I found her at the base of my yard, steps away from being on my dock.
“You’re trespassing,” I pointed out.
She jerked her head up, then suppressed a smile. “I’m not trespassing. In Texas, you can be in the water, just not on the land.”
“Those are semantics, and you know it,” I retorted. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
Maybe if I warned her enough, she’d get the hint and stay away.
Because, it seemed, I couldn’t make her leave on her own. And my warnings so far had gone unheeded.
“I’m interested in finding out some answers.” She shrugged. “I figure if I annoy you enough, or maybe if I show you that I’m trustworthy, you’ll tell me.”
“Those two things are semi-contradictory,” I pointed out. “You want me to trust you, yet you’ve been casing my house for days. You won’t leave me alone. And you trespassed today.”
“I didn’t trespass,” she disagreed. “I’m telling you. I googled it. I can be here.”
“If you say so,” I said, jerking my chin toward the dock. “Come up here, then we can go for a walk through the neighborhood.”
“Okay.” She smiled.
She hopped up to the dock without my help, even though I was about to offer her my hand.
She practically skipped toward the end of my dock, then hopped onto the concrete that led up to my back door.
Instead of taking her inside, though, I led her around the house, using the keypad at the back to unlock the reinforced gate that would keep people out as well as in.
She followed behind me dutifully, then walked with me along the fence line.
“I have dogs, you know,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that I would be able to get to you before they would, but I don’t want to find out that I’m wrong about that.”
She jerked her head. “You have dogs?”
“Three of them,” I said, then decided to lay it all out for her. “I’m a dangerous man, Brecken, and you’re playing with fire. I don’t have a normal day-to-day job that keeps me on the straight and narrow. My whole life has been lived in the darkness. You can’t keep insinuating yourself into my life with your quest for answers.”
“Then tell me what I want to know,” she grumbled, stopping to pick up her socks that were near the road.
I waited for her to put her feet into her socks, then her shoes, before saying, “What do you want to know, Brecken?”