Page 75 of Last One Standing
Matt playfully shoved Nick. “I know, I was just wondering how you all were going to do this so you don’t bumble your words and interrupt each other.”
“Valid concern,” Kona agreed.
“Angel should take the lead, introduce himself and Nick however you want, then Angel can explain things. If there’s a technical thing or something Angel can’t answer, Nick takes over. You both have strengths in this; use them.” Four stared at me pointedly.
“Good plan.” JJ smiled at Four. “Such a smarty.”
“We can’t sit on this. It has to be done today.” Noel had his tablet in hand and clicked something. A view of the clubhouse appeared. “They’re likely having a meeting. No clue how this will turn out, so we need to plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
“Get it set up, and we’ll do it.” I squeezed Kona’s hand. “It’s just a phone call.”
He nodded shakily. “Right.”
Nick set up some program on his computer I’d never understand. Supposedly it acted like a burner phone. A fake number would show up, and Nick would enter the name of who Colette would see on her end. He said something about her possibly having certain technology that could potentially push notifications that would reveal the origin of the call and whatever, but Noel would be dealing with that should she try.
I moved closer to where Nick was sitting with his laptop in his lap. Our names were displayed, aliases of course, and the number was there. He just had to hit the key.
“Do it.”
Nick pressed the button, and it rang through the speakers. Everyone stood around us, waiting.
“Who is this?” a female with a French accent answered; I was fairly certain it was Colette.
“Good afternoon, I am calling to speak with Ms. Barbier.”
“And again, I will ask, who is this?” While the accent was thick, we were able to understand her easily.
“My name is Jerome Fawkes, and my associate Cameron Ness is on the call as well.”
“I’ve never heard of either of you, and this is a very private number.”
I chuckled. “Makes you wonder how we got it, doesn’t it?”
“Oui.”
“We have many talents; it’s unimportant the how. You’ll be more interested in the reason we’ve hunted you down to talk to you.”
“Hmm…will I?”
“We have a mutual acquaintance. We were working with him for a time until he betrayed us.”
“I am sorry to hear this, Mr. Fawkes, but it has nothing to do with me, and you’d be wise to think twice about calling me again.”
“If you hang up, you’ll find yourself in a jail cell wondering why you didn’t listen to me.”
There was a brief silence. “Explain.”
“A few months ago we discovered that the Dead Kings were working with the FBI. Brick apparently made a deal with them to turn us over in exchange for his freedom. We barely got away. Once we were settled we began digging, wanting to find out everything we could, and we stumbled on something.”
“What?” Her tone was full of anger—whether it was toward us or the MC, I wasn’t sure.
“You.”
“Moi?” She laughed. “And what did you uncover?”
“That Brick and the rest of the Kings are about to do the same thing to one of your contacts.”
She sighed loudly. “Tell me everything and when you are finished, Mr. Fawkes, I will decide how valuable this information is.”
