Page 115 of Poisoned Pawn
I already know how well bringing her to the church is going to go down with Aidan and the Lawlers, but I don’t have time to think or care.
Rook plans for me to be at the same fucking place I shot him three years ago, but I plan to set my own trap.
The ride back to the church is silent yet deafening. The tension is off the fucking charts, and I’m certain had I not interrupted them that Frankie and Sloane would be fucking over the hood of my car.
He’s got a lot of explaining to do, but so does she. After I get Star back, it’ll be Question Time with Frankie and Sloane.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Roxanne hollers at me as soon as I walk through the door, then proceeds to stomp after me as I enter the main room, which is occupied by three extremely pissed off men.
I don’t waste time with pointless platitudes and dive right in.
“This”—I spin round, waving an arm in the direction of Sloane—“is Sloane Thatcher, a.k.a Sloane Matthews, and Rook’s mother. Apparently, Frankie and Sloane here are married. Who fucking knew? Not me.”
“What the fuck!” comes from Maddox as he gets to his feet about ready to lay Frankie out.
Feeling is mutual on this occasion.
Roxanne is behind Sloane as I reveal who she is and walks round her, weighing her up. If looks could kill.
I hold up a hand. “That’s a save it for later conversation. Right now, I need to know numbers. How many bodies can you get and how soon?”
“Explain, Carter,” Aidan demands, and the tension that was in the car on the way has increased tenfold.
So I do. I give them a shortened version of what happened with Lennox, but I don’t spare them the details of me ready to slit his throat or how I finished off Shane. It wasn’t lavish by my normal standards but got the job done.
“I want you to take some men and tear up the 51’s territory including their shitty little fucking clubhouse. But the timing has to be spot fucking on.”
“And what will you be doing during all this?” Zak asks accusingly.
“Me? I’m going to play Rook at his own game and get my fucking woman back.” I don’t expand on that because I’m not sure what that looks like yet.
Having had time to think about Star giving herself up, I realise that she played Rook.
As though he can read my mind, Maddox pipes up, “Star’s the poisoned pawn. She gave herself up to give us an advantage, so I say we use it.”
I give him a nod. “Yeah, our poisoned pawn, not Rook’s like he planned. I need thirty minutes while you organise your men, then I’ll explain what I have planned.”
Upstairs, I splash water on my face, washing away the blood splatters from Shane. When I look up, I stare at my reflection, blowing out a breath as I lean my hands on the sink.
I grab the hand towel and dry my face, tossing it over the sink, then walk into the bedroom and pull out my phone.
“Koda, I need you to run a trace on this number,” I say when he answers. I give him the number from the messages between Shane and Rook.
He’s quiet as his fingers tap away at his computer. My heart pounds inside my chest that this works, and scenarios run through my mind.
“Got it. Current location is the old rectory over in Irlam.” There’s a moment of silence as I think, but Koda breaks it before me. “You want me to hack it?”
His question catches me off guard. “You can do that remotely?”
“I can. If it works, I’ll have access to calls, messages, contacts, the lot.”
“Do it,” I tell him without hesitation. If I know where he is, I can intercept him or steer him right where I fucking want him.
“Okay, give me ten minutes. I’ll call you when it’s done.” The line goes dead, and I spend the time thinking about the best place to corner him. I need somewhere relatively isolated, or at least away from the public. I can’t afford for innocent people to get hurt. I might be a killer, but Star would never forgive me if I took a life unnecessarily.
“Carter,” Roxanne calls, knocking on the door before pushing it open.
“What is it?” I ask, concern lacing my words.