Page 136 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

Unfortunately, too many questions would be asked, and he wasn’t ready to answer any of them.

His best bet would be to stake out the motel on his own to confirm who he saw and document what the former prospect was up to. If he was legitimately no longer a member of the Demons, T-Bone would no longer be part of the task force’s focus.

But… a few of his brothers had a bone to pick with T-Bone. Nox being one. So even if the man wasn’t a target for the task force, he would be one for some of the Blue Avengers like Finn, Decker and Rez.

However, if the task force turned out to be compromised, then that was a whole different ball game.

“Is something wrong?”

Her question yanked Nox’s attention from T-Bone’s motel room back to Liyah, wearing a concerned expression. “No.” He placed a hand at the small of her back, urging, “Let’s go.”

“But you look like you’ve seen a ghost. And you’re all tense.”

“Let’s go,” he repeated, steering her toward the driver’s side of her Benz.

He really didn’t want T-Bone getting a good look at Liyah. The fuck if he was bringing her back to this motel again.

What were the fucking odds he’d run into that asshole in the middle of nowhere? Slim to none, but here they were.

He needed to figure out what to do with all of this and how to handle this new snag.

For now, he’d go back to Rockvale, borrow one of the task force’s pool cars and sit surveillance. If T-Bag was running his money-making operation out of this motel on a regular basis, he’d document it in case he still had ties to the Demons.

If he didn’t, he’d use that info personally and share it with a select few.

The motherfucker was not getting off scot-free. Not if Nox had anything to do with it and he was damn sure some of his brothers would agree.

* * *

It turnedout he couldn’t take a pool car without either answering, or ignoring, a barrage of questions when he went up to grab the keys. Instead, he was forced to take his old Chevy truck on his unofficial stakeout. It actually fit in perfectly with the rest of the vehicles owned by the motel’s occupants. Not that he parked in the motel’s lot.

He’d wait until the majority of the task force members were gone for the day and no Blue Avengers were hanging around outside, then he’d head out for the night to go sit along the long, dark farm lane that ran next to Valley View Motel.

Close enough to keep an eye out for T-Bone. Far enough that he hoped he didn’t draw any attention.

In his truck he kept bottles of cold water, a Thermos of hot coffee and an empty container to piss into.

He also brought along a pair of high-powered binoculars to get a better look at the actors involved, capture their vehicle registration info and take note of any questionable activity.

He returned the same night that he and Liyah were there and wrote down T-Bones’ current vehicle’s make, model and license plate info, so he could do a little “research” the next day when he was officially working.

When he showed up the next night, he saw T-Bone had also returned.

And the next night.

And the next.

If he was there when the asshole arrived or left, Nox took note of the times and whether he had a woman with him. If he did, Nox recorded the description of the female the former prospect brought to the motel room on the end. He also documented as many details as possible on the “johns” showing up to use T-Bone’s “services.”

However, there was a pattern.

A criminal with any smarts would know not to create such an obvious one. Once again proving T-Bone was a dumb motherfucker.

The pattern was not only staying in the same room in the same motel, it was also the behavior surrounding the little “business.”

The motel room door would open, what looked like cash would be exchanged, T-Bone would step outside and close the door behind him, then go sit in his piece of shit car for fifteen minutes. Some men stayed for less than the quarter hour. Some stayed—and most likely paid—for more time.

After seeing Sadie’s body in the condition it was in, it made Nox’s stomach churn to watch men go in and out of that room most of the night.

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