Page 73 of Every Which Way

Elyan winced. “It’s just business.”

“I’ll say.” Kenna stared at him. “I’m sure your mother is so proud of the two of you, being part of the organ trafficking world.”

Elyan flinched.

Cliff fought against the tape around his hands and feet, moaning behind the tape. Bruce took a half step toward him, which Cliff assessed as the threat it was, and Cliff stilled, breathing hard.

“Organ trafficking?” Elyan sputtered. “That’s crazy. It’s just about ripping off tourists. Catching people with their pants down and blackmailing them.”

“I’m not sure you know exactly what they’re doing. Maybe you asked, and they gave you some half-baked ideas. I think you should’ve dug a little deeper. Actually found out what they are doing.”

Elyan said, “We do what we’ve gotta do.”

“I can see that.” Bruce had his attention on his phone. “Got yourselves into some gambling debt, probably owe the wrong person. These guys swoop in when you’re desperate, and you think it’s the answer to your problems.”

“How much did they pay you?” Kenna asked.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Elyan said. “Just kill us and be done with it.”

Cliff didn’t seem to like that idea.

“We aren’t going to kill you,” Stairns said. “It would ruin the resale value of this rig.”

Elyan’s attention shifted to him, over by the door. “You’re gonna let us go?”

Kenna said, “Sure. After you tell us where to find these people. How you get paid. All communication back and forth. Everything.”

Elyan pressed his lips together and looked away.

Kenna went over and tore the tape off Cliff’s mouth. “Your brother thinks we should just kill you.”

“I saved a picture of them from our cameras, just in case.”

“In case you needed insurance.” Kenna stepped back into the aisle between the sink and the slender pantry cupboard. “Right? Let me guess, a man and a woman. But not the woman I was talking to earlier at the roadhouse. Someone else.”

“Give me my phone. I’ll send the file.”

Bruce handed two phones to her. She handed them to Stairns, who ducked out the door. Elyan and Cliff both looked confused when the screen door snapped shut. Cool air from outside came through the open doorway, and in the opening, she spotted a car easing down the lane from the end of the row where the campsite main drag was.

Langford.

“You’re in the middle of something, and you have no idea who these people are.” Kenna glanced between the brothers. “You think organ trafficking is the worst of it? I’ll tell you now it’s the surface of what this is. Beneath that is so much more.”

Her phone buzzed with a text from Maizie.

Got them.

She stowed her phone. Langford approached the door, followed by two uniformed officers whose car she hadn’t even seen. Apparently, the detective wasn’t taking any chances with this.

“Are they involved with the poisoning?”

Kenna said, “I thought it was attempted mass murder?”

Langford rolled her eyes. “Sounds like federal jargon to me. Who’s your friend?” She motioned to Bruce.

“My associate, Bruce.”

“You the one who brought in the infamous Cartland twins?”

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