Page 124 of Ricochet

His eyes narrowed but he pushed to catch up again. “What the hell is going on?”

The ex-agent’s laugh boomed. “Now we’re partners?”

Another round of cop cars raced down the block.Mayhem had to use a grenade launcher, didn’t they? He grimaced as they turned the corner, hoping he seemed more annoyed than in pain. Maybe hisglue, not stitches, needed a little TLC, or maybe he was in a bad mood because a grenade just hit the safe house. When Jared got word about that… Colin didn’t want to be in the room. Boss Man was going to lose his shit over a house exploding on a job thatwasn’t a job that involved a guy everyone hatedwho was dead!“You know everything there is to know?”

Deacon harrumphed. “More than you.”

“You don’t know shit.” Sweat tickled Colin’s back. He wanted in his car. The need to sit down and catch his breath was kicking his ass almost as much as it was blinding him with pain. How long did recovery take?

“You didn’t know I was alive.” Deacon scoffed.“Let’s assume I’m two steps ahead of you.”

Let’s assume you’re a first-class dick.But Colin bit his tongue—literally—hoping to pull the pain from his side to anywhere else in his body.

A sign of relief graced them. “There’s my car.”

“Good.” Deacon grumbled. “For a minute, I thought I’d have to carry your lame ass.”

“Don’t shoot me next time, and we won’t have this problem.” Colin grittedhis teeth.

“You’ve got to work on your interrogation methods if you hope to get anything out of me.”

“Screw off.” He approached the driver’s door as Deacon rounded the passenger door. “What? Am I giving you a ride somewhere?”

Deacon laid his elbows on the top of the car. “Why’s Delta running you around, alone?”

“They aren’t. I took leave.” He unlocked the doors, leaving off the fact that TitanGroup had hooked him up with gadgets, guns, a medical team, and a safe house which was now on fire.

Deacon’s deep laugh boomed. “Let me get this straight.”

Colin didn’t care about his ability to regurgitate facts, but his eyebrows lifted when Deacon got in the passenger seat. “Sure, get in. We’re all friends here.”

He gave Colin a middle finger before shutting himself inside.

If Colin hada thousand opportunities to list the day’s events, he never would have strung together the sentence ‘Deacon Lanes flipped me off after a grenade failed to kill us.’ Not even if he had a million opportunities. Colin got into the driver’s seat, shaking his head.

“Not a bad ride,” Deacon said. “All right. You’re rogue, and Adelia is hiding from Mayhem.”

“Good summary.” He turned the car over.

“Yet, you’re not sure what I’m up to?” Deacon snorted.

“Other than annoying the crap out of me…”

“Man, it should not have taken me so long to come back to work in the US.” Deacon slapped his leg and another police car drove by. “Where we going? Let’s go.”

“I’ve been trying to figure out whether or not I’m going to shoot you.” Colin cocked his head. “Why am I going to give you a lift?”

“BecauseI don’t work for Mayhem, and there’s a damn good chance I’m the reason they want her dead.”

It was like the most-hated dead spy from the CIA knew how to up his hateful quotient.

“I thought you’d have something to say about that,” Deacon pushed.

“Don’t speak. Not another damn word.”

Deacon’s lips curled with the pleasure of a sadist. “I work for Richard Delano.”

Colin almost told him to shutit, but the name rang a bell. “Astor’s head of security?”

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