Page 33 of Broken Wheels
He led them to the rental counter, where Michael—against Dix’s better judgment—had arranged for a Chevy Tahoe to be available to them. Dix wished they could have brought one of the larger CrossBow vehicles with the hybrid engine. They couldn’t even rent one, because it seemed Milwaukee wasn’t yet in the market for them. The Tahoe would have to do. Once the paperwork had been dealt with, it wasn’t long before they were pulling out of the parking lot and onto the freeway toward the city.
“You got the directions?” he asked Doc, who was seated beside him. In the back seats, Brant Parnell, Lance Darr, Carl Winters, and Jasmine Toulette sat with their gazes constantly darting around, vigilant for any threats. That was one of the great things about working at CrossBow—Dix got to work with professionals like these guys. Most were way better than the assholes he’d served with in the military—although, truth be told, there’d been some stellar people there too.
“Yes.” Doc stared at the map on his tablet. “The problem is, there are lots of little turns on the way there. It would probably be easier to put the address into the GPS and let it navigate.”
Dix didn’t want a mechanical voice droning in his ear. He preferred Doc’s gentle baritone. Not for the first time, he wondered if Doc would narrate some good porn stories for him if Dix offered to pay him. That voice was a goddamn aphrodisiac. Except once his mind had taken that route, it went a little further. Who needed porn when he could imagine the breathy pleas of “harder, Dixon,” “slow down, Dixon,” “Dixon, slow down.”
“Dixon! Slow down.”
He jerked his head up. The speedometer said they were nearing eighty, definitely a tad over the speed limit. He took his foot off the gas and let the car slow instead of slamming the brakes.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Didn’t sleep much, and my mind was wandering.”
Not a good thing for a bodyguard to admit.
Doc glanced at the map. “There’s a McDonald’s a mile up, if you want to get some coffee.”
“Coffee! We need coffee!” came a chorus of voices from the back. Dixon couldn’t blame them. He’d called and told them to be ready to go first thing the following morning. They hadn’t disappointed him.
Then again, they never did.
Dix chuckled. They were right, though. Coffee did sound good.
“One pit stop, coming right up.”
He’d looked at their destination on Google maps before they’d left Roswell, and he understood Doc’s fears. The dilapidated building looked as though it should have been condemned years ago. There wasn’t much surrounding it apart from other dilapidated buildings. No signs of life.
Why did you buy it, Tanner?
Dix hoped they’d find the answer, for Doc’s sake.
Why were you here, Tanner? I don’t understand.
The place was awful. The windows were all smashed out and foliage grew wild, clinging to the side of the long building, creeping out and strangling what had once been a narrow pathway with its dark tendrils. There were gaping holes in the roof where birds fluttered in and out, and open archways that had once contained doors, long since gone. Gang tags covered what was left of the internal red brick walls. The area surrounding it wasn’t much better. Deserted and spooky as hell.
You could easily use this place as a location for a horror movie.
It gave Josh the creeps.
“Anything?” Dixon called out to the others.
Shouts of “No, sir” floated in from different points on the property. Josh had gone with Dixon to check the inside of the ramshackle place. As messy as it was, it would be impossible to tell if anything was missing or out of place, and the more Josh saw, the more his heart sank.
This is an exercise in futility. Josh wondered if Dixon would trust him again. I doubt I would if I were in his shoes.
Dixon shifted closer. “Let it go, Doc. Just because we haven’t found anything yet, it doesn’t mean there isn’t something here. We just need to figure out what it is.” A hand fell on Josh’s shoulder. “I trust your instincts.”
That compliment made Josh feel ten feet tall. “Thanks.”
“Now, I know you said Tanner was smart, but I doubt he was as brilliant as you, so maybe you’re overthinking things. Take a few breaths and calm down.”
Sound advice.
Josh closed his eyes. You needed my help, Tanner. He could almost feel the weight of Tanner’s hopes on him. That didn’t detract from the bone-deep feeling that Tanner was dead. No one drops off the grid that completely without a massive effort to scrub away their existence. If Josh hadn’t been able to find an online trace of Tanner, it was because he wasn’t going to be found.
Not alive, at any rate.
Dixon patted his shoulder. “Stay here for a bit. I’m going to go check in with the others, okay?”