Page 30 of Wolf
“I won’t,” she answers with a soft smile playing on herface.
Heading to the door, I glance back at her one final time and pull the door closed behind me, hoping it’s a promise I cankeep.
* * *
What I know about wolves is they have a keen sense of when to go solo, and when to run with the pack. I’d like to believe that I have the same instinct. As much as I enjoy working alone, there are some battles that I won’t dare fight on my own. Freeing Rose from her past is one of those battles. It may require the intervening hand of someone powerful and influential, or the brute force of an army. Orboth.
I start with the only influential person I know. An army buddy turned state senator with a lot of connections. After one conversation, I realize that, his connections are not the right ones to fix thisproblem.
So, brute force it is. More like a smart sit-down with Murphy, while bracing for the possibility of that meeting going sideways. Murphy is under lock and key. His team of lawyers convinced the court that due to his complex medical condition, he was not a flight risk. He was granted bail to the tune of a million dollars, put on house arrest, and now wears an ankle monitor. There was public outrage at the court’s leniency, but what the public doesn’t know is Murphy has stage three pancreatic cancer. A five percent, five-year survival rate, if so much. Murphy is living out his last days at an outrageously expensive mansion, with access to the best food, entertainment, and pussy-for-hire around. If the public knew the truth, that he’ll die before his case is heard, they’d probably demand that he be denied bail and received an expeditedtrial.
That’s the justice system foryou.
And even with his fate so imminent, he continues to put contracts out on anyone who can take him down. The man is amonster.
In any case, if I want to meet with him, I’ll need access. I have an idea forming, but I need to act fast. I have to be ready to walk away fromeverything.
For Rose, I might do justthat.
Fifteen fucking minutes after leaving Rose alone at the cabin, it all goes to shit. The bottom falls out of my plan before I’m out the gate. First, Bridges gets a message to me through one of my encrypted burner phones. He all but confirms that Dawn was working for some entity that protected Murphy. Murphy is still alive, and she’s dead. She must’ve seen something she shouldn’t have, or spoken up to the wrong person. If I can get close to him, I’d put this fucker in the ground just forthat.
Next, my employer makes contact with me. They order me to confirm Rose’s and my locations. I don’t provide any information, but while we’re in contact, I request to negotiate safe passage forRose.
It’s a negative. My request isdenied.
Instead, they issue me a neworder.
Neutralize mytarget.
Well, Rose is mine now. That’s nothappening.
Someone with a lot of influence must have something to gain from anot guiltyverdict for Murphy. That man is in bed with so many fucking political bigwigs, it can beanyone.
My refusal to follow the kill order is met with an immediate consequence. I’m burned before I even reach Murphy’s location. Excommunicated by my employer and cast aside for disobeying orders. I’m on my own now, and on someone’s kill list now. Dawn must’ve found herself in the very same predicament, and that’s why she’s deadnow.
Both my options are off the table, and the situation’s worse than I thought. With no influence and no army behind me, I need an option three, andfast.
I smile when I remember one detail about thewolf.
Sometimes, to get what it wants, the wolf walks right in through the front door, dressed as Red Riding Hood’sgrandmother.
18
Thorne
I lean back in the ritzy white leather button-back sofa in Murphy’s smoking room. The sun is setting already. I spent the last few hours on the road, and a few more before that sneaking back into my old stakeout spot in the abandoned house near Rose’s place. I have everything I need in the pocket of my businessslacks.
Sitting here feels a lot like déjà vu. Which is a good thing. It means some of what I’ll do in the next little while will be secondnature.
Pure musclememory.
I cross my arms to stretch out my back muscles. My eyes are on the tree line on the horizon as I look out through the wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling windows. This room looks more like an office or ballroom than a smoking room, I think, keeping my mind occupied and my face emotionless. I have no doubt there are cameras in here. Not that it matters. Making it into this room, I’ve accomplished ninety percent of my objective. There’s five percent more sitting on my bike in the front driveway. The final five percent requires a few lies, a double-cross, and the pen in mypocket.
Déjà vu forsure.
Two guards walk in ahead of a moderately ailing Murphy. He walks with a cane, but he seems healthy, his gray hair thick and shiny, his skin smooth for a middle-aged man, and his body looks like he still follows a workoutroutine.
“Don’t get up, Mr. Pierce,” Murphy greets me coolly. “I hear you have something I’ve been trying to find for awhile.”
