Chapter Eighteen
Damascus
Same Time
Noon
They’d been hustling as they did research on the numbers that Gene had given them. The whole time, Corbin was impressed with his man, and how he thought. When they said he was good with numbers, they weren’t kidding.
He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t tested him randomly. At one point, he slipped him a sheet of paper asking the square root of fifty six.
The man quickly scribbled the answer down and slid it back—without using a calculator.
The funniest part was that Corbin had to actually use a calculator to check his answer.
Oh, and he’d been right.
Later, he did it again, making his man laugh as he put the answer on the little slip of paper, and sent it back to him.
And he’d drawn a heart on it.
That made Corbin’s go pitter patter in his chest. Yeah, he was smitten with a math nut.
Where was his sexy man when he needed him to pass statistics?
As they were working, Alex’s laptop began chiming, and that had their attention.
“Did you get a hit?”
Checking out the information, he grinned.
“BINGO. I found something,” he admitted, turning his laptop so his significant other could see what he’d found.
Corbin’s eyes went huge.
“That won’t be a coincidence.”
Oh, Alex was well aware.
They found a thread, and all it needed was a tug.
“We should tell Gene.”
Corbin pulled out his phone and sent the man a text. He wasn’t sure if he was busy, or not.
‘Yo, bear. We found what those numbers are. You’re going to want to hear it. Do you want me to just send the information?’
He hit send and waited.
In the meantime, he grinned at Alex and couldn’t help himself. He brushed some of his hair from his face.
“After we talk to them, want to have a date?” he asked, out of the blue.
Alex grinned.
“Where are we going? Club Living Room, Hotel Bedroom, or the Back Lanai Beach?” he joked.
Corbin was amused.
“I thought we could head to Café Kitchen, make some lunch, dine at Club Living Room, and then maybe end up in Hotel Bedroom for a rousing game of ‘this is how I like to spend my vacations, balls deep in my man’.”
Alex laughed.
God.
This man entertained him and made him feel all kinds of things he’d never felt before.
“Well, I’m available,” he said.
As Corbin leaned in, about to kiss him, his phone rang. Well, that was bad timing.
“He has this uncanny ability of doing that,” Corbin said, knowing who it would be.
When he looked down at his phone, it was, indeed, Gene. He must have wanted that information orally.
Yeah, Corbin had been thinking about oral things too.
Picking it up, he answered.
“Hey,” he said.
Gene was to the point.
“Speed run it for me,” he said, sitting in the vehicle, as they were on their way to handle the second mercenary who helped kill Vivian.
The only reason he’d been alerted was MATE was handling his calls also.
“I’m eyeball deep in BS, Crotch Goblin.”
He cringed.
Why?
Now, Alex was staring at him with that questioning look, and he knew he was going to have to explain that to the man.
Gene was a pain in his ass with that.
“Hit it, Alex,” he said, putting the phone in front of him so he could do the deed.
And he did.
“I found that it’s a license plate number,” he stated. “It took longer than I expected because it’s not like the plates here. We have letters, and this one has only numbers.”
Gene let him talk.
Everyone in the vehicle was listening as Maura drove them to the next location outside of Salt Lake City.
“Okay, what do we have?” he asked.
“It’s a car from a rental place outside of New Hampshire, and it was driven here to be turned in. I’m in their system, and it was turned in by a nice older couple at the airport here.”
Gene was confused.
“What are you saying?”
He explained.
“You know how when you rent a truck to move, you don’t necessarily get one from the same state?
People drop off at different locations after transporting their shit.
Well, that car came from East, and dropped here.
Then, I looked into it, and someone rented it three nights ago here in Damascus.
I’m betting that the chief of reservation police scribbled it down after seeing it on her reservation.
That’s why it was on the paper. Maybe she was going to run it, and didn’t get to?
Coincidentally, it’s the same make and model that we tagged at the office from the flower delivery. ”
Gene glanced over at Elizabeth, and that fit. She nodded, and it looked like that wouldn’t be a coincidence.
They found how Devon was getting around.
They knew he wouldn’t use one of the vehicles he owned that he had access to, so rental it was.
Elizabeth spoke up.
“That’s good work, Alex. Thank you for that. Do we have anything else on the rental pickup?” she asked.
Alex did have more.
“Yeah, Boss. Like I said, it was checked out three nights ago by a man named Samuel Trudeaux. The company sent over the driver’s license with a photo. It matches the name.”
Yeah, but it wouldn’t match the face. That name hit home, and she knew why he’d picked it.
In case they ever caught onto it.
“That’s the man from my Dad’s second marriage.
Sam raised me, and now we know how he got to Rayna.
He likely played ‘lost’ or broken down. He took her, and then likely hiked it back to his car after killing her.
He was using that vehicle to do all his dirty deeds. He did the flower delivery in it, too.”
The walls were closing in, because there was no way he’d expect her to pick that clue up this fast. Rayna had fucked up his plans by scribbling that number on the back of her report.
Devon must not have flipped through the pages or looked at the report close enough.
She just helped her out right before her death.
“Find him for me,” she stated.
Corbin was honest.
“It’ll be a bogus addy, Boss. He likely has a way to make fake IDs because the rental place didn’t suspect jack shit. He had to have this planned in order to get that in advance.”
Oh, there was no doubt.
“He’s been planning to use that for a while, likely for another abduction, but I derailed him and he had to pull that trick out of his hat. I still want that information on the license followed up on digitally. DO NOT GO THERE.”
Corbin got it.
“We’ll stay in and research it, Boss.”
Gene was curious.
“But did the car get turned back in?” he asked. “Or does he still have it? If he does, I want a BOLO put out,” he stated. “But make sure the cops know he’s dangerous.”
Corbin knew they didn’t need it.
He was seeing the information on Alex’s screen.
“It was turned in this morning. Alex contacted them just when they opened, and they haven’t processed the payment yet.”
Oh, hot damn.
They had a way to backtrace him now. Once that payment went through, he was all theirs.
“So, they have a payment option on file?” she asked.
Alex could see it.
“Yeah, it’s a credit card for a business.”
That was their way to get him.
Oh, there was no doubt that the money went into a shell company account, but they had closed all of his other ones down.
There was no doubt that he’d had backup ones to utilize when they did that.
Elizabeth was to the point.
“Call Gabby and get her to track that money. He’s going to be trackable for a short period of time until he gets it erased. He hits and covers his tracks. We don’t have a big window here.”
Corbin could hear the urgency in her voice.
“On it. I’ll call Gabby and get her working on the trace of the account number, or who it is tied to.”
That was their best chance of locking him down, and she knew it.
“Thank you, Guys. Pizza on me. Get yourselves some lunch,” she stated.
Then, she hung up.
“Wow,” Alex said. “She’s not happy,” he stated. “I’ve known her a long time, and that was her ‘I’m gonna punch a bitch in the face’ voice.”
Corbin lifted a brow.
“Really? She’s a sweetheart.”
Alex started laughing.
And laughing.
And laughing.
“Clearly, Corby, you’ve never pissed her off before. Let’s just say don’t get into a drunken brawl at a bar at two in the morning, and have her come spring you from jail.”
He lifted a brow.
“Wait. You called our boss at two in the morning after a brawl and had to be remanded into her custody?”
He snorted.
“When you say it that way, it sounds so much worse,” Alex joked.
Ah, but it was true.
“Maybe?” he asked, not sure if he’d said too much, and he probably shouldn’t have.
He held his breath and asked.
“That doesn’t make you want to run screaming from your place, does it?” Alex asked.
Corbin found that amusing, especially since it distracted him from the whole ‘Crotch Goblin’ thing.
“My dude, that makes me want to ask a million questions, and get naked here on the table. I got me a bad boy,” he said, rubbing his hands together.
Immediately, Alex relaxed.
That was until Corbin grabbed his phone and then grabbed Alex to toss him over his shoulder.
The man sputtered.
“What are you doing?” he asked, laughing as he hung upside down over his shoulder.
Corbin was to the point.
“I’m calling Gabby, and then, I’m getting naked with my very bold bad boy,” he stated. “In that order. Then, we’re going to order pizza and eat it naked in bed.”
Well, that was a damn good plan.
“Carry on,” he stated, as he slapped his man on the ass since he was right there beside it.
And Corbin did.
Because if you were going to be locked down, playing research monkey, you had to have some fun.
Right?
* * * The Blackhawks * * *
Dallas, Texas
Downtown
The Job
Jinx would be lying if she said she wasn’t incredibly giddy to be back to work. As of late, life had gotten in the way and so had hunting down Von Donore.
They were all-hands-on-deck with trying to find the people behind The BlackStone Group. So being able to take a job and handle the trash…
It felt good.
You didn’t have to get ready if you stayed ready. That was always a good motto to have. She was a tad bit rusty at missions like this, since most of her time was spent playing Hunter and mommy.
Not that she didn’t love both of those things, but when you were a Snake for a while, it became your whole identity—until it didn’t.