Chapter 26

Chapter

Twenty-Six

REMY

S hadowing Stone from Juniper north and east to San Antonio then onward to Austin took little in the way of skill. When Locke announced he was on the move, I'd pulled myself away from the absolute beauty of a sensually wrecked Fallon to check the camera angles.

None of us were her, but she'd shown us enough to be dangerous. The man was in a car and moving out of town at speed. Even if we got the rig started and on the road immediately, it was wildly conspicuous and definitely not made for a high speed pursuit.

Tactically, I was the best to go. I had the best chance of keeping him in sight from a distance. I could also get mics and other cameras in place. McQuade and Fallon were in the shower.

"I'm going," I told Locke. "I'll keep comms on standby. But I'd rather not be transmitting if he's got a jammer or interceptor on board."

"You should probably wait for them," he advised, but I shook my head.

"This is the right plan. It might take them a moment to see it, but they will. Catch up when you can, the car's tracker will help with that too."

Not waiting for his response, I dropped my go bag in the backseat, and started the engine even as I lowered the ramp. I pulled directly out and the ramp was already closing before I accelerated away from the rig.

We'd moved the truck from a rest area to a shady spot on a dirt road about five miles north of Juniper itself. A full scout of the area had shown little to no traffic, no residents, and a small chance of someone tripping over the vehicle.

The longer we stayed in a public area like the rest stop, the more likely we were to arouse suspicion. Considering the reaction of the sheriff's deputy? I was right.

McQuade's actions, as frustrating as they'd been for Patch, had kicked the hornet's nest and revealed a particularly nasty stinger. As I accelerated toward the highway we'd tracked him to, I kept one eye on the moving dot on my screen.

Not even ten minutes on the road and there was a beep in my ear. I tapped it once. "I will apologize later if this proves to not be the right call. However, you needed a moment to regather yourself…"

Watching her fall apart had been a kind of heady eroticism and I looked forward to seeing it again as much as I did making it happen.

"And," I continued when she didn't take advantage of my momentary pause to interject anything. "I wanted to give you that time. Right now, we want to track Stone to wherever he is going. Could it be a distraction to pull us away from Juniper?"

By "us," I meant McQuade, yes it could be. Another reason for me to take point and let them stay where they were.

"I agree, it absolutely could be. Stone was recognized. That said, Stone also recognized McQuade. He doesn't know me—not yet. I make my living by not being seen. I can do this for you, for us, and you can work on deep diving everything. Let me gather the information my way, while you gather what we need, your way."

That was as close to asking permission as I was going to get. If it came down to choosing between putting her in harm's way or removing the obstacles before they could identify her again? It was not a choice.

Her soft sigh told me the battle was won without a single shot being fired. "I hate that you are being very logical about this."

The huskiness in her voice was a pure delight. I'd always found a kind of epicurean charm in her voice. The pleasure and tranquility I found with her in my ear compared to nothing else I'd experienced.

Now, I could add hedonistically stimulating. My dick had been hard from her very first gasp as McQuade took her apart on that bed, and that was just listening to them. The erection, however, was not going to prevent me from doing my job.

I'd gotten to savor her desire and her release. That taste promised that she was more than worth waiting for.

"I'd apologize, luv, but I did think about this as I was leaving. Juniper is too small and too remote to be a ‘coincidence' and based on what Reynolds was saying, there's definitely more going on there than is visible."

I accelerated onto the highway and flicked a glance to the dot on the map on my phone. It took some talent to hit a moving target accelerating away. Fortunately, Locke noticed him on the move soon enough for me to get into place. It meant letting him pass me, but I tagged his car. After, it was just a matter of closing the distance on Stone kept me in range of the signal. All I needed was to see his car, then I could fall into highway driving.

Americans were very fond of their road trips. More, they were very similar in how they drove. Those who clung to the speed limit would be passed. Those who sped, tended to move in packs.

It offered a kind of coverage with the idea being whoever was in the lead car was more likely to earn the ire of the local or state patrols, while those following could take advantage of the distraction.

While I found it amusing, it wasn't important beyond it would be a distraction for Stone.

"You're not wrong," she said and all at once, she was in analytical mode.

On the one hand, I hated that she had to lose some of the relaxation she'd found with McQuade. On the other, Patch was the best at her job I'd ever seen. There was no one else I wanted covering all the angles for me.

"You told Locke you were worried about a jammer. Were you really or was that just to shut him up?"

I grinned. "Now, luv, don't go stirring up trouble. I can rile the thief on my own."

She laughed. "Fine, but you are getting closer." Her tone went sober. "He's not trying to throw off detection. The route he's taking will get him to I-35 in no time, once he's there, he can head directly north through San Antonio to Austin, and on up to Dallas and Fort Worth."

Translation: we didn't have a way of identifying his destination.

"Agreed," I said. "That's why I think there's a more than fifty percent chance that this is a feint. He wants to pull our attention away. Use the time while I play his game, to dig in deeper there. What does he not want us to find?"

"I'd say it's a who, not a what. The who is whoever is working with him," McQuade joined the call. "Stone's got some crazy fucking ideas, but he's not an administrator. Hell, he's not a planner, not the way my father was. Stone is the guy you send in to wreck things. You give him orders. He likes to spout some crazy damn rhetoric, but he will get the job done."

"If someone else gives him a map," Fallon said slowly, her voice thoughtful.

"Yes," McQuade answered and I could practically hear all of them thinking in the silence that followed.

"So," Locke asked. "Who would he listen to?"

"We need to do some research. Keep your comm open for pinging so I can still track and lock in if you need me?" It was a request. One she didn't usually have to make when we were on a job. After her reaction to McQuade cutting her out earlier, I understood why.

"I'll keep it open." I didn't think it was a real problem. "I will cut it if I think they are using the signal to triangulate where you are." Compromise offered, and it was as much as I was willing to concede.

"I can probably mask the transmission. Give me an hour and I'll check in." Compromise accepted.

"Be careful, luv."

"You do the same," she responded, the tart note punctuating the sentence made me smile. I was closing on the red dot. When I had him in visual range, I pegged my speed to his and settled in to follow.

Right on cue, my comm chimed. I tapped it to answer. "I'm here."

"How is it going?"

"He's going straight north. No stops. No pauses, no slowing down or speeding up. You?"

"I did a sweep of his car, and it's definitely him. Apparently, whoever he works for keeps him under surveillance twenty-four seven."

"Hmm. Sounds like someone doesn't trust him." I turned that nugget of information over in my head.

"It does, doesn't it?" There was a hint of a smile in her voice. "Whoever they are, they might be a little smarter than me."

"I find that difficult to believe," I countered.

"Oh? I should warn you, Remy, flattery will not work on me."

I grinned. "Then it doesn't hurt either of us for me to offer it, does it?"

"Hmmph." The little snort made me smile.

"What else did you find?"

Because despite her comment about them being a little smarter than her, she sounded quite pleased about something. To be fair, I would never begrudge her enjoying herself.

"Where he started his day. You see, keeping someone under surveillance with this tight of a leash means the log also keeps track of where it started and stopped each day."

"GPS coordinates."

Oh, that was priceless.

"Exactly. McQuade and Locke are on their way to do an inspection and sweep right now."

I frowned. "One of them should have stayed with you. At least until we cover that this isn't a blatant swap to pull us away."

"Hmm-hmm, he who decides to run off on his own doesn't get to call us on tactical choices." The scold was playful, but I didn't miss the firmer note in it. "I have them on another line. I can link all of you if you want or we can just work with me on the switchboard."

It was how we'd always done it. Yet—how we'd always done it had begun to shift and change. Her being taken had illustrated just how vital she was to me.

To all of us.

"You can handle it," I told her, giving way on the fact that she was very well aware of her own abilities and information. "Read me in on the new plan?"

"Cooperation looks good on you, Remy," she murmured and the ease my cock had gotten from the distance vanished as it hardened all over again.

"Thank you, don't change the subject." It was my turn to point her back to where we needed to be. Flirting would have to wait.

"New plan. You stick with Stone for the moment. I'm working on some code to layer into the one running on his devices, so I can track him like whoever has his leash without alerting the leash holder to my presence. Might take me a couple of hours."

"You can do it." No doubt existed within me. "Soon as you have him tagged, I can come back or bag him for you. Whatever you need."

"I like having options." The playfulness bubbled up for a moment before she sobered. "While we do this, McQuade and Locke are going to find the current ‘base' or residence. Whatever it is. We want to know who he is working for and what they have set up out here. I've been keeping an eye on town and it's been—illuminating."

The wariness in that last word gave me significant pause. "How so?"

"It's a virtual ghost town now. Even the diner is closed. No cars. No sign of population. No movement. They were there for a couple of hours after you left and now—nothing."

"Reynolds?" The journalist's very real fear had been something visceral.

"No sign of him. I'm sorry, I have been skimming footage from earlier. I don't see anything suspicious, necessarily. Just one by one, folks leaving. The cars pull out and go. No one comes back."

I frowned.

"They were evacuating slowly." That was the only conclusion.

"Agreed. They did it without fanfare or a lot of chaos. Now, Reynolds may still be in his apartment and lying low. But I have no movement discernible through the camera on his windows. His blinds are shut and the curtains closed."

"I should have left a mic."

"I don't disagree," she said, the forgiving note in her voice wrapping around me like an embrace. "But I also didn't disagree with why you didn't leave one. We had other issues to deal with."

At the time, McQuade had been missing and Fallon panicked, even as Patch had fought to keep her cool. I understand the divisive nature of the competing desires.

Even more so now, because I had tasted my own fear when she'd vanished. Not an experience I was eager to repeat.

"Keep an eye out for him?" I didn't owe the man anything, but if I read him right, he'd been genuinely trying to warn me off.

"I will. You still good?"

"Haven't been good a day in my life, luv. Not planning to start now."

The surprise snort of laughter followed by her chuckles made me grin. Exactly what I wanted to hear.

"Talk to you soon," she said amidst the amusement.

"You definitely will." It was a promise. The soft beep told me the call muted. We were still online, so she could track me, but we didn't need an open line to do it.

It was entirely possible Stone had done this to lure McQuade out and lull him into a trap. That had occurred to me. I didn't doubt it hadn't occurred to all of them as well.

Patch hadn't mentioned it, but we were all adults here. It would be a solid play to get McQuade off the scent by following Stone. Based on what McQuade had said, Stone wasn't the one likely running the show.

Involved? Yes.

In charge? No.

He sounded like a bit of a prick as it was, and McQuade more than confirmed Stone should be on the kill list. So if this was a trap, I was more than happy to spring it. Stone's involvement was enough for me to agree to scratch him off the board.