Page 54 of In Her Sights
To his credit, he didn’t waste any time asking her to elaborate. Instead, he answered the phone immediately. “Yeah?” he said gruffly. After a pause, he said, “It’s me. Sonny.” As Molly rushed to pull up the recording app on her own phone, she hoped that, unlike her, he actually knew what Sonny sounded like. Once she had it going, she held it up to show John, who immediately switched to speaker mode.
“…sound strange,” a male voice was saying.
John cleared his throat but kept his rough intonation when he spoke again. “Just woke up.”
Holding her breath, Molly glanced at Warrant, hoping he wouldn’t choose this of all times for a rare bark.
“It’s almost noon. Glad one of us is able to sleep.” The sarcastic voice on the other end of the call sounded familiar to Molly, but she couldn’t place the person. Filing it away in the back of her mind to think about later, she concentrated on what he was saying. “Are you taking tonight’s deal seriously? This could make us or break us, so if you’re just blowing it off…”
“I’m taking it seriously,” John said. “I’ve been sick, that’s all.”
“Sick or using again?”
“Sick.” John flashed a look at Molly, who was still trying to keep her breathing as quiet as possible. Norah was frozen in the kitchen entrance, looking as if she was just as petrified to make a noise. “I’m clean. You know that, so quit bitching at me and tell me what I need to know for tonight.”
Molly could feel her eyes widening at John’s bossy tone. What if the guy on the other end of the call was Sonny’s boss? She didn’t want him to get angry and hang up before they got any details.
“Watch your mouth.” He sounded more resigned than furious, and Molly relaxed slightly. “It’s nothing we haven’t gone over before. The exchange is at eleven, the usual place. They’ll have your new ID papers. Don’t bring that squirrelly kid along this time. I’m serious, Sonny. Nothing can go wrong tonight.”
“Fine,” John growled. Although most of her attention was riveted on the conversation, a part of her was impressed with John’s acting skills. He generally seemed so up front and open that it was always strange seeing him play a part. “What d’you need me to do?”
There was a pause, and Molly’s heart rate took off like a greyhound after a bunny. “What do you think I need you to do, Sonny? You need to be there on time with the merchandise. That’s it. Think you can manage without screwing that up?”
“Yeah, I’ll have it there.” John looked at Molly, and she mouthed where? at him. “You don’t think the usual place is too risky?”
“Why would it be?” the man asked with a snap in his voice. “Have you been running your mouth?”
“I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean word hasn’t gotten out,” John said, inserting a slight, nasally whine that suited Sonny to a T… At least, she imagined it did. She knew a lot more about Sonny’s reputation and the destruction he left in his wake than she did about the guy himself.
“Word better not have gotten out,” the other man snarled. “If something happens to wreck this deal, I swear to God, Sonny—”
A loud knock on the front door interrupted whatever threat the guy was going to throw out. Molly jumped a foot before rushing as quietly as possible over to open the door.
“What was that?” the man on the call demanded.
The good-looking Latino man outside had to be Desmond, John’s security system friend. He opened his mouth to speak but went still when Molly dramatically thumped a finger against her lips in the international sign for be quiet. Before he could do more than frown at her in confusion, she grabbed the front of his button-down shirt and hauled him inside.
“Just my landlady,” John lied easily, giving Desmond a wave. “Ignore her.”
A loud, exasperated sigh rattled through the cheap phone speaker. “Fine. Just…be there on time. Don’t screw this up.”
“I’ll be there.” John’s gaze met Molly’s, his words a vow, and she felt a spark of excitement race through her. The two of them would be there, and they’d finally bring this chase to an end. Sonny Zarver was in their sights. Together, she and John would finish this, even if they had to drag Sonny by his hair all the way back to the county jail.
They just had to figure out where this exchange was happening, and then they could finally bring down the elusive—and dangerous—Sonny Zarver.
Chapter 17
Even after John ended the call, the rest of them were silent until he tossed the phone to Norah. “It’s all yours now, genius.”
Molly eyed him sharply, but there was no sarcasm in the term, just affectionate admiration. Norah, who was not the queen of activities requiring hand-eye coordination, fumbled the catch, and Molly cringed, too far away to make the save this time. By some miracle, Norah managed to hold on to the phone before it hit the floor. Holding it up in a sort of I’ve got this gesture, she rushed upstairs.
“Slippery skip?” Desmond asked.
“You could say that,” John said, greeting his friend with a handshake-hug combination as Molly ended the recording and tucked her phone into her pocket. Already, her thoughts were spinning as she tried to figure out where the “usual place” could be. Dutch’s was too busy, and she couldn’t imagine that Sonny would do anything at Mother Tick’s place, not when he lived there…or at least he had before that morning’s events. Unfortunately, those were the only two places she knew that were connected to Sonny. The “usual place” could be anywhere in Langston or Denver or…well, anywhere within an eleven-hour radius.
“Pax?” John’s voice pulled her from her thoughts to find both men looking at her.
