Page 82 of After All The Wreckage
One of Dad’s guys looked at me, shaking his head. “Mr. Bishop is not going to be happy about this, Rory.”
I shrugged. “Nothing I do makes dear old Dad happy these days. Maybe you can give him a message. Tell him if he knew anything about what Dunn did to Monte Palmer—what ishappening to Demi Palmer—I won’t go easy on him just because I have his DNA running through me.”
The man’s jaw tightened, but he whirled around and headed into the restaurant.
The wind was cold as it blew over us, and yet the air felt heavy. The street was oddly silent, making the steady drip from the awning all the more prevalent.
“Stay here. I’ll run and get the car,” Gage said.
“It’s just water,” I told him. But then, through the restaurant’s windows, I caught sight of West, on the phone, weaving through the tables toward the patio on the side of the restaurant that was shut down due to the winter weather. “Fine. I’ll wait here.”
Gage’s eyes narrowed as if he knew I was up to something, but he took off at a jog, lifting the collar of his jacket, boots splashing in the puddles. I watched to make sure he didn’t turn around and then headed around the side of the building. The rain instantly drenched me, leaking down the back of my leather jacket.
I slipped over the waist-high wrought iron railing and quietly pushed aside the clear plastic cordoning off the patio for the season. After a quick glance to make sure I wasn’t being watched, I made my way over to the corner where several closed sun umbrellas were stacked. I pulled my phone from my pocket, hit Record, and hoped the rain pattering on the copper roof wouldn’t make West’s conversation incomprehensible later.
“First, he made that ridiculous decision on Monday, and now he can’t see how she’s become a liability. He won’t free himself from this addiction because he believes the bullshit she spouts about the senate seat. We need to cut the cord for him,” West ranted. He paused to listen briefly before saying, “I don’t care how it’s done.” Another beat. “Fine. I’ll have Shawn make the drop when you have a location.”
He punched the phone off and then dialed another number.
“We have another meeting for you.” Silence as he listened. “It’s too late. You’re tangled up in this even more than we are. Just remember, it was my calls that got the FAA off your back and the judge ruling in your favor for that ridiculous lawsuit. You owe me.”
His eyes narrowed at the response I couldn’t hear. “No. You haven’t even come close to paying your debts. Just take the goddamn call when it comes in and do your part.”
He hung up and stared out into the rain beyond the plastic, deep in thought.
My pulse raced. God. Was he talking about Demi being the problem? And was Shawn the Shawn Walden who’d inherited Argento Skies after his brother died? Were they talking about his brother’s plane crash the FAA had determined was an accident? And was the lawsuit the one filed by the Colorado town against the company?
West ran a hand over his goatee, shoved his phone inside his suit pocket, and turned to go back inside, glancing my way. I held my breath, hoping the darkened corner of the patio and the umbrellas were enough to hide me.
“Who’s there?” he demanded, taking several steps in my direction. There was no way I could slip out of the plastic now without him seeing me, so I did the opposite.
I moved out into the open and asked, “Problems, West?”
“I don’t know what you think you heard, but?—”
“Shawn Walden isn’t a fixer. He’s a nerdy little scientist and a semisolid businessman.” I wasn’t sure if he was more pissed at me for cutting him off or the fact that I had a good idea who he’d been talking to.
“Your father isn’t going to like it when we cancel his contract because his little girl is playing spy games and messingaround where she doesn’t belong,” West said, his voice oily and threatening.
But all it did was make me chuckle. “If you knew me at all, you’d realize just how little of a threat that is.”
He’d expected me to be upset, so my laughter only fueled his anger. He darted a look toward the restaurant where the blinds were pulled so no one could see us, and then he closed the distance until there was only a table left between us. My hand slipped into my pocket where my fingers curled around my stun gun. I hadn’t brought my Glock, which was stupid in hindsight, but I’d been worried about Monte’s vision. About actually pulling the trigger and killing someone.
“Daddy issues? How trite. Do you have mommy issues, too?” His face turned snide. “Oh wait, she’s practically dead, isn’t she? I bet she was nosing around in other people’s business too.”
My heart stopped for so long I thought it wouldn’t start again. Knowing he expected me to run with my tail between my legs, I forced myself to inhale and surprised him by lunging forward and placing my stun gun to his neck. “What. Did. You. Say?”
His look shifted to my weapon and back, but he didn’t look afraid. Maybe it was because it looked like a flashlight instead of a hundred-thousand-volt stun gun.
“What do you think happens if you push that button, little girl? I can have your pitiful little contracts with the DoD stopped just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “I think those background checks are the only things keeping you afloat these days, aren’t they? How ever will you pay for dear Mommy’s care facility if you lose them?”
I hated that he knew so much about me. Hated even more that it might have been my father who’d given him the information. My finger lingered on the button, wanting to seethis arrogant asshole’s eyes roll back in his head as electricity ran through his body.
“Rory?” Gage’s voice called out beyond the darkened patio, worry bleeding through it.
“Run along, now,” West said. “We wouldn’t want Mr. Palmer to lose yet another person tied to him. The police might find that just a little too coincidental, don’t you think? First his brother, then his mother, and finally his girlfriend?”
I didn’t bother wasting time saying we weren’t dating, mostly because my throat was clogged with fury and disgust. I pushed West away from me, stepping back toward the translucent plastic and the rail I’d entered the patio by.
