Page 131 of Ricochet

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

There were very few times in life had Parker lost the ability to process information. Today topped the list. He had nothing to say that logic could support. Hell, he had nothing at all.

Jared, however, had a million things to mutter, but none of them were distinguishable from the curses. Between his silence and Jared’s non-sensicals, they had a solid fifteen seconds ofunproductive dumbfounded-ness—until a ping chimed at his station, and a message from Javier appeared.

“Get him on the phone. Now,” Jared snapped, and Parker brought him on speaker with a quick button punch.

Javier answered on the first ring. “Hey—”

“Where’s Adelia?” Jared snapped.

“Javier,” Parker said in a way that might get him to share. Boss Man wasn’t a calming voice when he looked readyto hunt and kill Deacon Lanes. “Have you checked in with Adelia lately?”

“What do you consider lately?” Javier asked.

“How the hell do you think I want you to define it?” Jared boomed. “When did you talk to her last?”

“Is she okay? Did she get back to Colin?”

Parker dropped his head back and then pulled up what they knew about Deacon. Their intel didn’t show any interaction in Mayhem withAdelia. Seven, yes. Victoria, yes, but not in person. Could Adelia have known who Deacon had been? Would she have run from Colin because of him?

“Why did she leave him?” Jared asked.

“Eh,” Javier’s voice softened protectively. “She’s tired and growing paranoid.”

Jared’s brow furrowed. “That’s what she told you?”

Parker didn’t know much about Adelia but that didn’t sound like the woman he’dmet.

“She thinks there is someone in addition to Mayhem tailing her,” Javier admitted.

Jared leaned toward the phone console. “Who?”

Javier’s pause couldn’t have been more than a fraction of a breath, but Jared boomed the question again, slamming his fist onto a table.

The only answer that Parker could assume Jared had was Deacon.

“Sorry,” Javier said. “I don’t know. It’s crazy talk. Thisstress is getting to her.”

Parker rubbed his temples.

“Tell me what she said,” Jared whispered.

This was one of the times that Boss Man’s emotions could be mapped by the reverse of her volume. The quieter he became, the more concerned or angry he might be. Whatever he felt, Parker thought a whispering Jared was far scarier than when he pounded the table.

“Adelia thinks that someoneweworkwith is after her.” Javier’s sadness was palpable. “She couldn’t explain if that meant a client or a contractor, or hell, a government. If there was truth behind it… I told her to get off the phone, that they could find her. She needed to get back to Colin.” He cleared his throat. “But if there wasn’t, Colin could help her find… help.”

Jared rubbed his temples. “We’ll find her.”

“Are we talkingabout Adelia as a job?” Javier asked with a slice of soft hope. “I know this isn’t a democracy, and a lot of good has come out of Mayhem, but I’m about done with Titan’sarrangementwith them. With all due respect.”

Parker could see what Javier couldn’t. Boss Man was blaming himself for wherever Adelia was, why ever Colin had been shot, and everything they didn’t know.

“Thanks, Javier.” Jaredsignaled to end the call and then sat back, calling Thelma over. The sweet old dog moved to his boots and stayed where he could pet her head until he gave her two quick pets, sending her back to bed. “Give me an update on Lenora.”

“Let me see what’s new.” Maybe where she’d been or cases she’d represented. Tracking her by cell phone could be problematic. The woman kept new burner phones piledin her office. Parker was equally impressed by and suspicious of her. “Don’t expect too much. She covers her ass like a pro.”

Still, he ran her name in every way he knew how—and came up empty of anything they didn’t already know. Lenora had been everywhere a lawyer should go. Courthouses. Federal and state. Parker scrolled and stopped. Twice, she’d gone to federal lock-up. Honing his attentionthere, he cross-referenced gang members affiliated with Mayhem.

---