Page 106 of Back in the Saddle

Andman.

Seriously.

The dude could saunter.

Considering my reserves were depleted, I was unable to process how good he looked walking my way, so I just stood there waiting for him and tipped my head back to look at him when he arrived and came in close.

It was only then I noted he seemed mildly peeved.

He explained his peevishness. “I take it you being here means you’re not gonna let us find your brother.”

“No. I’m totally gonna let you find my brother. Though, that doesn’t mean me and the Angels aren’t gonna nose around ourselves.”

I wasn’t sure that appeased him, however, the big breath he let out would communicate it didn’t.

“Did it take all of you to come get Mary?” I asked.

“No. It took all of us to come get a lay of the land, be seen and understood we’re no threat, so maybe in future, if they need anything, or we need anything, we can return.”

“So you’re multi-tasking to create informants?”

“In our business, you need to be known on the streets. Trusted by the people who need to trust us, and acknowledged as the threats we are by the people who don’t. I mentioned before this takes years to accomplish. We’re doing what we can to fast track that. But the multi-tasking part is getting Mary out of here, making inroads with the General so when the time comes to relocate him, he’s on board, and if we can find out anything about Mountain and his soldiers, that’s a bonus. Men who do his kind of work leave traces.”

Fascinating.

“What kind of traces?” I asked.

“Tags to claim territory or notify other members of their team that someone’s been here recently and checked things out. Or tech, so they can keep an eye and roll in if there’s trouble.”

“Tech? Like…cameras?”

“Like cameras.”

Fascinating.

“Have you found any?” I queried.

“We were only here five minutes before you got here so…no. Not yet.”

“Maybe I should let you carry on.”

That set the peevishness on its hike, I knew, because his fabulous lips quirked.

“Maybe,” he murmured.

“Just so you know, we talked with our informants and came up empty, except for the fact it seems all of them would give Mountain a freebie if he wanted. Though, if you find him, don’t tell him that. It’s theirs to offer. Not ours.”

Now he was full-on smiling. “I’ll keep it confidential.”

“They also shared that the cops aren’t the Shadows’ biggest fans.”

“We’ve heard that too.”

Hmm.

Since there was nothing else to talk to him about, sadly, I had to let him go.

“Well, I should let you get to it.”

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