Page 140 of The Darkest Chase

That’s definitely Arrendell style.

The front plates are also covered.

Damn.

Fucking please, I think. Please let him be in that car.

The car parks at the entrance to the clearing.

The headlights flash briefly, then cut out. I can’t quite see who’s behind the wheel, but the back passenger side door swings open.

My heart stops, expecting Xavier Arrendell to step out.

No luck.

It’s Eustace Jacobin and—Chief Bowden?

“Holy shit,” Talia curses softly at my side. “I still can’t believe it.” Her whisper sounds tiny.

Too bad I can.

I reach over to grip her wrist lightly, reassuringly, but say nothing.

Focused, I unfold my compact binoculars from my pocket and press them to my eyes, trying to peek inside the car before the back door closes.

There’s no one else in there.

Fuck.

I scan over their crew.

Looks like business as usual—hefty barrels of liquid chemicals, large pallets, and metal cisterns are rolled into another shed under halogen lights strung along cords and hooked to freestanding car batteries.

Everything unmarked, of course.

Nothing incriminating from a distance.

Even if I took photos of the bushels of coca plants, any small-time lawyer could pass it off as moonshine materials.

Eustace Jacobin and Chief Bowden have their heads together, talking while they watch the setup, but I can’t read their lips enough to work out what they’re saying.

Crap.

Looks like this is going to be another useless stakeout.

Nothing incriminating, not without revealing myself.

More than once, I’ve been tempted to steal a brick of their product, but that won’t do anything useful.

I wouldn’t be able to prove where the coke came from.

Too bad doing everything aboveboard with proper chains of evidence makes it damnably hard to catch the fucking rats.

Sighing, I lower the binoculars. “No Xavier. I—”

“Hang on a sec.” Talia grabs the binoculars.

Blinking, I watch as she strains forward, staring at something.

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