Page 103 of Jace 4Ever
“No one told you? I know you were out of touch, but I thought that one of the Gaggle would have mentioned that someone went allSe7enon him.”
A low growl emanated from the other end of the phone. “No. No one mentioned that there was a head left in a box in one of my best friend’s apartments.”
“Bedroom.” I corrected him. “It was in his bedroom, and it was a former coworker of his—how has no one told you what’s going on with this?”
“Fill me in now.” His words were tight.
It took me less than five minutes to tell him the whole story, and when I was finished the line was quiet. I waited. This was how Smoke thought. Quietly.
“Why didn’t Jace tell me?”
“You know how he is. He doesn’t want to bother or burden anyone. I had to basically go behind his back to even get him to let me cover his cell early on. He just feels like he’s a problem to everyone.”
Another silence followed that, and I waited again. After a moment, there was a long, low breath. “All right. We’re not going to rush into this. I’m going to do some digging and if I find anything bad or suspicious, I’ll let you know and I’ll get someone to cover him. I know you can take care of yourself if you have to.”
My eyebrows lifted a bit. “You think it might come to that?”
“We’re talking about the mob. I am pretty damn sure that it’s going to come to that, one way or another. But I’m hoping this is just a quirk, and your guy is being a jackass. I’ll let you know. When are you heading back?”
“We should be done filming tomorrow. I think I should be home Saturday night—the listening party is Friday.”
“Excellent.” I could almost see him nod. “I was planning on going to the party, so I’ll see you there and let you know what I foundifI don’t find anything pressing. Good deal?”
“Good deal. Thanks, Smoke. I don’t know what we would do without you. You keep saving our asses.”
“This isn’t saving your ass. Yet.”
“Well, in any case, thank you. I have to work or else I’d do it.”
“Not half as well as I can.” He smirked.
“This is true.”
We said out goodbyes and hung up. I had to get back and there was nothing I could do where I was.
I had just fallenasleep when the phone jerked me back awake.
Feeling around for it, the vibration finally gave it away, and I was able to pull it out of my sleeping bag.
Smoke.
“What?”
“Major, where are you?”
“About fifty klicks from Johannesburg.”
“Fuck,” Smoke growled. “I’m in Azerbaijan. This is bad, really bad. I found a hit out on Jace, and there’s a bid acceptance.”
“Ahit.”
“A hit, yes. They want him dead. The head was supposed to warn him to get out of town, but they want him dead since he won’t leave.”
“How the hell was he supposed to know that it meant to leave?” My heart dropped into my stomach. “He’s not mobbed up. I don’t think he knows any criminals aside from his old boss and his brother... Smoke—”
“I have some people from my new firm racing up from D.C. They’re going to get to your place as fast as they can. Do you have keys? Door code? Can they break in?”
“There’s a code for the inside door in the main hall. I’ll text it to you for them,” I answered, “but if they need to break in, they have permission. I’ll call the NYPD and let them know what's going on.”
