Page 16 of Deception
“And what shop are you talking about?” Brock asks. “There were no pictures of anyone in that warehouse we caught you in.”
“You still don’t get it. Phillip likes the game. A challenge. He gets a kick out of knowing that I can only give you bits and pieces. I can promise you that he’s watching. It’s the last thing my contact told me before he was killed. Anaccident.”
“Or maybe it’s you who gets a kick out of this,” Colt says.
He snorts. “I’ve killed, but I’ve never tortured. Those women were tormented over the course of days. If they had curly hair, they’d last over a week. Maybe two. But the last victim—thedead one, not the one you saved—lasted two weeks. He said she helped him figure out the perfect execution for Lex.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Look, man, if you don’t love your wife enough to keep her safe, that’s on you. I’m trying to help.”
Don’t love my wife enough?“Fuck you. I’m done.”
“Are you sure, Colt?” Tony asks.
“He doesn’t know Lex’s real name. He can’t give us any more to go on than what we had weeks ago. It seems like it’s his game we’re playing into, and I’m not interested in being a game piece.”
“I don’t think the protection detail is necessary anymore,” Brock says, leading the way out of the room.
Gerard screams, “You just killed your wife!”
They step outside, and uncertainty fills Colt. “That was the right decision, wasn’t it?”
“He’s playing with us. If there was anyone named Phillip tied to a member of the club, Grayson and I would have found him. And no one in that room looked guilty of anything when we asked about that name.”
“I know he’s playing us, but there’s this gut feeling that tells me Lex is in trouble. Whether it’s a guy named Phillip or someone else, I don’t know.”
“We can have Tony put the protection detail back on him. I mean, keeping him alive isn’t going to hurt us. I think it’s a waste, personally, but it’s your call. Your club and your wife.”
Shaking his head, he stares at the building he would have never voluntarily stepped inside for any other reason before. “I just wish there was more than his first name. Something should have come up. But I got another problem to deal with, too, so this one will have to be considered done and over.”
Brock stops Colt as they walk to their bikes by grabbing his arm. “What problem?”
“Not yet. Gotta figure out a few things before I bring it to the others. Some looking into I gotta do. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.”
“It has to do with the raids, doesn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“Got it. Let me know what you need.”
Chapter Six
Griffin’s Beach
Lex
Lex sits in the clubhouse with the other old ladies while the men get together for a meeting before leaving on their run later.
“God, it’s weird being here when the sun is still up without there being an event of sorts. Or waking up here,” Lex says with a smirk as she looks around.
Most of the old ladies are in the room, which isn’t uncommon before a run. Things have felt very off lately, and they all seem to want to be around to say their goodbyes before the guys take off.
“Is something going on?” Felicity asks.
Looking around, Lex notices Autumn sitting off in the corner by herself. Things have been more than a little tense since shewas finally told to stop talking about how she was tortured. The Slashers kidnapped her, along with Lex, Melanie, and Heidi, years before and locked them away in the basement in Black Valley. Of everyone, she had it easiest but bitched the most.
“What do you mean?” Lex asks, turning her attention back to the brunette.
