Page 117 of Poisoned Pawn
He waits a beat, then barks, “Answer your fucking phone, Fraser!” He taps the back of the driver’s seat. “Drive!”
“Where to—”
“Just fucking drive!” His knee jumps up and down as he taps the heel of his foot, but his focus is on the fire now raging just off in the distance.
We pull out of the small wasteland we stopped in and back onto the main road, turning towards the smoke and fire.
Rook puts his phone to his ear again but gets the same result. This time he thumps the driver’s seat jolting the driver forward and causing him to swerve across the road into oncoming traffic. He quickly swings back into our lane, white knuckling the steering wheel and blowing out a relieved breath.
A fire engine roars past us followed by another and two police cars. When they turn off at the next road, Rook tells the driver to follow them.
He taps away at his phone, looking up every now and then and cursing under his breath.
“Boss, we can’t go any further. There’s a roadblock.”
“Then go fucking round it,” he snaps as his phone rings. The pulse at his temple throbs almost violently thanks to the deep dent there, and he stares at the phone still ringing in his hand.
Having made the decision to answer it, he swipes the screen then lifts it to his ear. He doesn’t get one word out before an angry voice bellows down the line.
“You fucking blew my warehouse up! That wasn’t the deal, Gage. What the fuck happened? Where is Fraser?”
“You think I did this? You fucking idiot. Fraser isn’t answering his phone, so I reckon he’s fucking dead, don’t you?” His tone is sarcastic fury, but I can see he’s not as relaxed as he’s making out. The pulse at his temple throbs faster in time with his jittery knee.
“Did you at least get my fucking shipment before you fucked this up?”
“You’ll get your god damn fucking guns after I’ve taken care of my business.” He looks over at me as he says it and winks.
I don’t hear the next question, but Rook’s answer clears that up.
“She’ll be taken care just like we agreed.” He ends the call, then instructs the driver where he wants to go.
A couple of minutes later, his phone chimes with a message. I struggle to read his reaction from this angle, but then he turns to me and smiles. It’s sinister and wide with menace. But it’s triumphant.
“We have a full house. Now it’s checkmate.” He goes back to tapping away on his phone only this time it’s with fever.
Whatever the message was, it leaves me cold with dread.
Rook has the driver turn around and gives him another address. It takes me a couple of minutes to figure out why it seems so familiar.
The smallest gasp escapes my lips drawing Rook’s attention my way.
“Something wrong?” he asks faking concern. He laughs. “You know I was quite surprised when Carter moved Erica. I couldn’t quite figure out why because I was very careful to ensure she never mentioned me to him.”
I stay quiet and listen as he theorises over the why and how.
“I was most upset that I might not get to really twist the proverbial knife in Carter’s gut. But it seems Erica will have a staring roll in her brother’s end after all.” He claps his hands, making me jump. “Although there is something a little odd about this new place. The lack of protection. So unlike Carter too,” he muses, and there is an edge of suspicion to his words.
I keep my outward behaviour to one of concern for Erica, keeping up the facade, but inside I’m worried because although I know Erica is safe, I have no idea how he found out about this address or who might be there.
The rational part of me believes this is either intel delivered too late or a trap set for Rook. I’m praying it’s the latter. Giving myself up so easily was for this reason. Because if there’s one thing I know for certain, Carter would have sacrificed everyone else for me in that moment. The scariest part is that they would have let him too.
I don’t know how I feel about that, but I don’t get time to dwell on it as Rook tells the driver to stop a mile from the house we brought Erica to earlier.
I look up the road to where I know the house is then behind us when I hear the purr of an engine. There are no other houses on this stretch of road, so it’s quiet. Car doors slam, and a second later a man appears outside Rook’s side of the car.
He winds the window down, and I see it’s the guy from the restaurant. His eyes scan my face and down my body like he’s picturing me naked, making my skin crawl.
“Well?” Rook demands.