Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112244 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112244 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
According to HOG user data, Vince had been accessing the game from right here in Licking Thicket as recently as an hour ago.
My stomach twisted unpleasantly. All of our intel suggested that Vince had headed for a private airstrip and fled town after obtaining the decoy Horn… which made sense because Vince had to know that if Champ caught him, he’d tear him limb from limb for threatening Quinn.
If he was back—or if he’d never left town in the first place—we needed to find out why.
I waited impatiently for Champ to finish small-talking the bigwigs, and as soon as we got in his truck, I told him we needed to assemble the team ASAP.
Champ’s eyes had met mine, and whatever he read there made him sigh gustily as he sent out a group text.
Champ: Team meeting. Twenty minutes, at the safe house.
I frowned down at my phone as he drove us across town. The safe house? Was that what we were calling Kev’s mansion these days? Pretty ironic since every time I entered the place, I felt off-balance and out of control.
When we got back, Champ called Quinn to check in, and I stopped to make sure Rodrigo was okay—I pretended I didn’t notice the fresh dill leaves mixed in with his usual hay or that he was freshly groomed—then made my way into the den. I plugged my laptop into the enormous wall-mounted TV and prepared to take my usual seat on the leather sofa, but I stopped short.
Kev was curled up in my spot, fast asleep like freakin’ Goldilocks, those black glasses askew and his plump pink lips parted like a nerdy little cherub. His Horn was clutched in his hands like he’d dozed off while playing—or maybe right after texting Smitty about dick rockets—and my fingers twitched with the need to smooth back the clump of messy hair that had fallen across this forehead.
I’d never felt an urge like that before in my life, and I didn’t like it.
Out in the hall, Elvo signaled his arrival by yelling, “Heya, boss! How’d the meeting go?” at the top of his freaking lungs, and Kev’s eyelids fluttered open.
“Hux!” he whispered happily, and then he blinked in sleepy confusion, and his expression turned more wary. “Uh. Hey. D’you get my message?”
It was my turn to blink confusedly. Wait, fuck. Was he talking about his message to Smitty? Did he know Smitty and I were the same person?
While I stood and stared, waiting for him to lose his mind, Riggs and the others came into the room and took action.
“Kev, dude, we’re gonna have a meeting in here,” he said in a low voice, placing a hand on Kev’s shoulder from behind.
Kev, who must’ve still been half-asleep, startled. Confusion filled his eyes for a split second before he realized he was at home and among friends.
“Oh. Yeah, no, of course.” He rubbed his eyes with his fingers. “Sorry. I was waiting for Hux—I mean, for all of you. I texted Hux a few minutes ago, asking if we could meet because I have some information for him—I mean, for all of you.”
Ohh, he’d been asking if I’d gotten his text message. Nothing to do with Smitty at all. My guilty heart resumed beating.
I dug my silenced phone out of my pocket and saw the notification at the same time Kev said, “You guys need to know… Agent Vincent Parler’s business in the Thicket isn’t finished just yet.”
My gaze flew up to his face, and I blinked. “You knew? How’d you figure it out?”
“Hold up. Huxley, since when did you know that?” Champ demanded, narrowing his eyes at me as he took his seat.
“Since a few minutes ago,” I said. “That’s why I asked you to call this meeting. While we were at HOG Corporate, I tracked Vince’s Horn. His IP address shows that he’s here. In fact, he might have never left.”
Kev cleared his throat and shot me a look that was almost apologetic. “Actually, he did leave. I dug a little deeper, and CCTV in St. Louis shows Vince entering his hotel there about…” He checked the time on his phone. “Forty-five minutes ago.”
I took a seat on the far end of the sofa and twisted toward Kev while the rest of the guys took seats around us.
“Not possible,” I scoffed. “That Horn was active here in the Thicket all morning.”
And what the heck had Kev been doing, anyway, scanning CCTV cameras for a suspect in my investigation?
Kev’s forehead crinkled in concern, as if he was worried something was wrong with me. “You do know both things are actually possible, right?”
Fuck, he was annoying. “Well, yes, of course I do. Theoretically. But if that’s true…”
I broke off, not wanting to accept the ramifications of what this meant.
Kev finished my sentence. “It means Vince has a partner,” he agreed softly. “Yeah. Or a team. Someone else who was… using his Horn.”