Chapter Seventeen
C olton turned over, stretching his hand out hoping to grab a palmful of lush brown skin.
His fingers grasped soft, satin sheets, but when he’d extended his arm as far as he could without encountering the woman he’d fallen asleep tangled with, he lifted his head from the pillow, cracking open his eyes to try to get a glimpse of her.
The room was still dark but a glance to the left and he could make out the bold, red one o’clock in the morning glowing in the darkness. Slightly annoyed to wake up in her bed alone, he pulled himself up against the headboard, reaching out to turn the bedside lamp.
Guess you know how she felt when you did it to her.
He got up to use the bathroom, grabbing his boxer briefs from the bedroom floor on his way to the door. He called out to her as he ambled down the hall, padding into the open living room and kitchen area.
“Seneca?” When he didn’t find her in the front of the cabin, an uneasy chill spread through him. His focus sharpened and suddenly he was cataloging the scene like an investigator instead of a sleepy lover looking for his partner.
There was nothing out of place that he could see in the living room or kitchen. Nothing that showed any signs of distress. And even though he’d passed out after making love to her, Colton never slept that deep any sort of disturbance in the house wouldn’t have woken him up.
He retraced his steps back to the bedroom.
A minute later he was fully dressed, grabbing his phone.
He was about to press her icon on the screen when a call came through.
Swirling ribbons of fear and anticipation wound themselves tightly around his chest as he recognized the number Hastings had given him at the pool table.
“This is Colton.”
“If you’re interested in finding some of that unconventional work I mentioned, you might want to drop by the diner parking lot. I’ll be passing by there for a cup of coffee in about fifteen minutes.”
“I’m on my way.”
The sheriff ended the call and instantly Colton’s mind switched back to Seneca. He dialed her number, letting it ring as he made it back to the kitchen counter to snatch up his keys. When it clicked over to her voicemail, he ended the call and tried Storm instead.
“This better be important this time of night.” Storm’s voice was a mix of sleep and yawing and if shit wasn’t happening at the moment, he’d probably feel bad about waking him up out of his what sounded like a deep slumber. But right now, he didn’t have time to give a fuck.
“Hastings just contacted me for a job, and I can’t find Seneca.”
A moment passed before another yawn filled the line. “I’m getting dressed now. I’ll meet you at the front gates in a minute.”
He walked out to his truck, sliding in the driver’s seat and opening the glove compartment to reach for his weapon.
In the handful of days he’d been on the ranch, he hadn’t needed to carry it.
But walking into this situation without some form of protection wasn’t a consideration.
Not when he didn’t trust that son of a bitch Hastings farther than he could throw him.
He headed toward the gates, spotting Storm pulling up the rear in his own truck.
As he pulled out onto the public road, the skin on the back of his neck tingled with apprehension.
Something just wasn’t right. He didn’t know if it was the meeting he was about to have with Hastings or the fact that Seneca still wasn’t answering her phone.
But whatever it was, tonight all his senses were on alert screaming at him to prepare for the worst.
*
Seneca spotted the blue unmarked sedan in the back of the gas station as soon as her headlights touched it.
It was the only car in this back lot, partly because it was after midnight, but mostly because everyone in town knew the light back here was busted.
In country dark, even if the gas mart had cameras running, there was no way anyone could make out more than shadows back here.
As soon as she threw her car into park, Holden was reaching for her door handle.
He slipped inside with a pompous smile on his face, as if they were just two friends visiting.
“Evenin’, Seneca. Glad you could make it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Not like I had a choice with you threatening to ruin Colton.”
“True.” A casual shrug was all he offered for an explanation. Not that there needed to be one. She was very clear why she was here, even if the man extorting her wanted to pretend this was just a pleasant meet-up in the middle of the night.
“Why am I here, Holden?”
“Hastings just headed out of the station. This is the one week out of the month that he’s working nights.
He says he does it to keep tabs on the night shift, but I think it’s something to do with whatever his scheming ass is up to.
From previous surveillance, I know whenever he does work nights, he always brings in his tablet that he’s fashioned into a laptop with a folio case. He spends most of the night on it.”
She raised her eyebrows, waiting for the rest of his great reveal. “So, in a town where nothing happens, he’s probably bored as shit and plays video games on his device for the whole shift.”
“Could be,” he replied. “But something tells me he’s up to no good. Besides, like clockwork, he works on it for hours and then between one and three in the morning he locks it in his top drawer and leaves on this extended break.”
He reached in his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a small tablet and held it out to her.
“Why are you handing me that?”
“Because I want you to see what you can find on it.”
She shook her head. “There’s no way in hell I’m touching that tablet. My fingerprints can’t be anywhere near anything that belongs to that crooked sheriff.”
“Seneca,” he warned. “We’ve already been over this. You don’t have a choice.”
“I may not have a choice in getting the information for you, but I don’t have to do it your way.”
“Can you access it remotely?”
“No.” She blew out a breath. “There’s always a chance they could trace it back to me if I create a remote link. Not to mention, whatever I accessed would be visible in the operation history.”
“Then what, are you gonna mind-meld with the damn thing and get the information through osmosis?”
“Cute,” she retorted. “But no. I have something at home. It just needs to be placed within a few inches of the device and it will clone it. Follow me back to the ranch and I can take care of it.”
“How long will it take? This has to be back in Hastings’s desk drawer before he returns.”
She scratched her head. “A few minutes. Once I’m done, you can take it back to the station and I’ll start combing through whatever info is there. It’s a tiny tablet, so I’m sure it doesn’t hold all that much memory. There can’t be that much information on it.”
He pursed his lips and passed a few sideway glances her way. “All right. I’ll follow you to Restoration Ranch.”
“Aren’t you worried about the guards reporting an unmarked sheriff’s cruiser?”
“Nah.” He shoved the device back into his pocket. “This is an out-of-state rental acquired by the bureau. It can only be traced to some little old granny in North Dakota or something.”
With nothing more than a wink, he slid out of her car and returned to his, nodding to signal he was ready to leave.
In less than ten minutes, they were entering the gates of Restoration Ranch and headed toward her cabin.
She pulled into her parking spot on the side of the house and headed inside, closing the door behind her to keep the federal agent out.
Hopefully he respected that boundary, but since he hadn’t respected any others, she kept looking over her shoulder as she looked for her device.
She found it in the guest bedroom closet she used for storage and closed it within her palm.
It was small, but the weight of it in her hand felt impossibly heavy, dragging her back into a past she didn’t want to remember.
She’d put hacking behind her. Had promised herself she would never use her skills for anything that could land her in prison again.
But as she gave her closed fist a gentle squeeze, she reminded herself this was for Colton and Aja.
Both of whom had given her a second chance at life.
It was time for Seneca to pay that kindness forward.
*
Colton tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he pulled into the diner parking lot.
Storm’s truck was parked inconspicuously in a nearby alley that gave him a hidden but unobstructed view of the diner’s parking lot.
They hadn’t the time to get Colton fitted with any kind of surveillance equipment.
Therefore, proximity was important for Storm to have his back.
He saw the sheriff’s cruiser but didn’t see the man anywhere as he parked his car.
By the time he got out of his truck, he saw the sheriff ambling down the stairs and walking toward him. He tipped his hat, as if he was saying hello to any random person in town as he was going about his shift.
“Evening, thanks for coming out. I don’t trust phones all that much.” He smiled. “Sometimes you need to look a man in his eye to tell what’s going on in his head.”
“Know what you mean,” Colton agreed, even though he knew what Hastings was saying was pure bullshit. People lied with a straight face all the time. In fact, every moment he stood in the sheriff’s presence without slugging him was proof that Hastings didn’t know shit about reading people.
“There’s a warehouse on the other end of town I need you to go to.
” He slid his hand in his pocket casually, then extended his hand for Colton to shake.
When he did, Colton felt the press of a set of keys into his palm.
“There will be an eighteen-wheeler there waiting for you. Don’t open it; don’t look around it.
Just get in the cab and drive it to Port of Corpus Christi. ”
Colton closed his fist around the keys and shoved them into his front pocket. “Won’t I need transport papers or something to get into the port?”
“No. Getting through won’t be a problem. You’re gonna drive to the port. Park it at Dock Fourteen, and then you’ll leave it there. There will be an envelope in the glove compartment with enough money to get you a one-way car rental. When you return to Fresh Springs, you’ll get paid.”
Colton folded his arms over his chest and gave Hastings a cautious smile. “Would I be overstepping if I asked you how much?”
Hastings chuckled and the noise echoed in the empty parking lot.
“You’re a smart man. I like that. If you follow directions and all goes well, you’ll get twenty-five thousand.
If there are no issues, I’ll call you once a month for a similar run and the same pay.
I’m sure whatever that gal is paying you, she can’t meet what I’m offering you. Any other questions?”
“When do I leave?”
“You’re on the road by three thirty. You need to be at the port between eight and nine in the morning to make certain you get through all right.”
Colton nodded. “Thanks, Sheriff, I really appreciate you looking out.”
Hastings tipped his hat again. “Told you, men like us gotta look out for one another. Just don’t fuck this up.
Do as I instructed, and you stand to make a hell of a lot of money with very little effort.
But know this—if you do fuck up, it’ll cost you a whole hell of a lot more than the loss of twenty-five grand. ”
Colton pointed a finger at the sheriff. “Got it,” he answered. “I’ll make sure to get everything handled just right, then.”
“See you when you get back.” Hastings stepped away and headed toward his car. When the man pulled out of the parking lot, Colton looked down at his watch and realized he had just about three hours before he was expected to do something he didn’t doubt was illegal.
When he made it back to his truck, his phone rang, Storm’s number flashing across the screen.
“You two looked to be having a friendly chat. What did he want?”
“I’ll brief you when we get back to the ranch. We need to get Jackson and Hargrove in on this before any of this shit goes down.”