Jason ran back to his bike and started the engine. Sweet deal, it turned over easily. He grinned as he accelerated out of the parking lot, craned his neck to turn and see the two men run around the side of the motel and head for their bikes.
Seemed like Big Mike shook a meaty fist at him in the rearview mirror.
“Won’t they follow us?” Kara pushed back her hair.
“It’ll be a few hours until they can get those fixed. We’ll be long gone,” he assured Kara.
“How did they find us?”
“I don’t know. But I sure as hell am going to find out.”
He stopped at a 24-hour convenience store and escorted Kara inside toward the restroom. Keeping an eye on the women’s room door, Jace bought a couple of colas and paid cash. The clerk, a kid in his teens, looked more interested in his phone than Jace.
Waiting for Kara, he paced the aisle and called his boss.
Rafe answered on the first ring. Finally.
“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded.
A huge yawn. “Sorry, man. Phone died... It’s been...a day.”
“They found us. How, I have no clue. I took precautions. Lots of them,” Jason warned.
“Damn. You know the local LEOs are looking for you. And Dylan.”
“I know. Got my messages.”
“You still headed to Georgia?”
“On our way.”
“You need to come in,” Rafe said suddenly.
Jace’s heart sank. “No way, man. I’ve put too much into this case and so have you. I’m close, Rafe. Dylan contacted Kara and if I can get to him, I can get him to turn state’s evidence. He witnessed the murders and he can ID Marcus. I’m the best chance you have at exposing this son of a bitch.”
Silence for a moment, and then Rafe sighed. “Knew you’d say that. I’m no longer in south Florida. This is my op and I intend to see it through. Took the team to a small Georgia field office. Where you at?”
Jace told him. “I think they’ve got eyes on me, somehow. I hate getting rid of my bike, but I need new wheels.”
“No problem. I’ll handle it. Remember the abandoned warehouses where we did that raid two years ago and busted up the drug ring?” Rafe named a town in north Florida.
A small smile touched his face. “How could I forget it? It was my first op. Our first op together. A real meet cute, where we began our bromance.”
But Rafe failed to laugh at the joke. “Good. Meet me there around, say, eight o’clock. We’ll swap vehicles. Can you make it there by then?”
“I can, if I push it. Rafe, what’s wrong?”
Rafe heaved a deep breath. “This op is going south, fast. Now, my best guy undercover is a wanted man and Darkling says the chatter has increased that Marcus has his target sighted and his plan is in motion.”
Jace swore in a low voice as the women’s restroom door opened. “What’s the target?”
“Something public and wealthy. The rich will pay. That’s all we got. Keep your head down and stay alert, Jace. I don’t want to lose you.”
Rafe hung up.
Jace palmed his cell as Kara joined him and took one of the cold colas from him.
The game had suddenly gotten a whole lot deadlier. He needed to get to Dylan and get Kara away where she wouldn’t be endangered.
Before both of them ended up dead.
Chapter 12
By 8:00 a.m., Jace and Kara arrived at the location Rafe had given him.
He guided the bike down the pothole-strewn street and pulled into a parking lot, accelerating until reaching the back of the warehouses.
Jace’s gaze assessed the ruins of the decaying, abandoned warehouses with boarded-up windows and peeling paint. Once they’d housed businesses and storage, but Hurricane Igor a few years ago had ripped off roofs and smashed glass. The owner never restored the buildings, as he was waiting for an insurance dispute to resolve legally. After the hurricane, they served as hangouts where drug dealers met at night to exchange cash for cocaine. The FBI had conducted more than one raid here, cleaning up the area with the help of local law enforcement. Few people ventured there now, scared off by the Feds. Place was as silent as a ghost town, flanked by abandoned railroad tracks.
It made for a perfect location to swap vehicles.
The big bike roared down the cracked pavement, sound bouncing off the buildings. Jace halted by the railroad tracks, engine still running. If someone had followed him here, he needed to make a quick exit.
“Can I get off now? My butt is sore,” Kara told him.
“No.” He spat out the word with more worried urgency than he cared to show. “Wait.”
“Wait for what?”
