I rubbed my jaw. “But what is Crosshairs doing for Donny Phelan? I assume he’s up to something shady. Is his media empire a front?”
“I’m working on finding out. I’ve tapped into the surveillance feed around the Phelan property. Aside from selling shoddy vitamin supplements and peddling backward ideas, I haven’t seen evidence yet that he’s doing anything illegal. Or that Crosshairs is helping him do it.”
“But why does he need that level of security?” Keira mused. “A couple of bodyguards is one thing for a famous person. This is something else. They were talking about shipments.”
He swiveled in his chair. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“What about someone named Ryan?” she asked. “Is there a Ryan working for Crosshairs? Could be a first or last name. Supposedly he was angry about a late shipment, so he could be important.”
“I haven’t come across any Ryans affiliated with Crosshairs, but they don’t publicize their employee lists.” River tapped his keyboard again. “I did findhim, though. Do you recognize this man?”
Another image. This one was a mugshot. I noted the man’s features. Thick neck, sharp nose, nasty scowl. A tat peeked out from the collar of his T-shirt.
Keira inhaled. “That’s the guy I saw at the Phelan property wearing the Crosshairs ring. He’s the one who confronted me in the hallway.”
“His name is Nox Woodson. Went to prison for running a meth lab. Got parole a couple years back.”
“Harris Medina hired a drug dealer as a bodyguard?” I asked incredulously.
“Yep. Not great for the shiny image Crosshairs tries tomaintain. But by all accounts, Woodson is just the right kind of ruthless to make him an ideal enforcer. He was also suspected of gunning down four people who were edging in on his meth lab territory. There wasn’t enough evidence to connect him to that shooting.”
This time, when I reached for Keira’s hand, she didn’t let go.
River went on.
“Here’s the kicker, though. There was one survivor of the massacre at the competing meth lab. The survivor described the shooter as wearing a demon mask.”
Keira’s eyes went hard as she stared at the face of Nox Woodson on the screen. “How do we get to him?” she asked.
River leaned back in his desk chair. “Woodson’s been spending a lot of time at the Phelan property. I can give you access to the security cameras there. You’ll be able to find him yourself. After that, however you want to deal with him… I’ll leave the decision up to you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Dean
Nox Woodson hadto be one of the shooters who’d attacked Keira. He could lead us to the second.
We needed to know all we could about him. Had to know where he went, who he spent time with, what he was hiding. But it was too risky to show up on Phelan’s doorstep again. Even if it would’ve been funny to see the look on that asshole’s face.
The access to the security cameras at Phelan’s place, provided by River, was a good first step. From watching the feed, we noticed Woodson now had a limp. Keira swore he hadn’t been limping the day she saw him in person. Which suggested Woodson had been the driver of the car that followed us and tried to force us off the road.
No matter what, I wouldnotput Keira in danger again. Not until she was actually healed and ready to fight back.
So stealth would be our friend. Like a sniper roosting in a nest.
One Friday night, I parked us on a dark, deserted stretch of road, concealed by some trees. Keira and I were both dressed in dark, nondescript clothing.
“I’ve got him.” She tapped at her screen. “Woodson’stalking with his buddies in the hall. Should be leaving soon for the night.”
“Good. We’re ready.”
Woodson would have to drive this way as he was leaving Phelan’s property. From there, we were going to follow him.
Our plan was to stick a GPS tracker on Woodson’s vehicle to find out where else he liked to spend his time.
It had taken over a week to get ourselves set up and ready for this op. River had arranged for me to pick up some gear from Last Refuge, no questions asked. The rest of the Protectors weren’t aware of the specifics of our investigation. Simply because we wanted to involve as few people as possible.
My truck was too recognizable, so I’d borrowed a vehicle from River with the guarantee that I wouldn’t leave a scratch on it. I’d already switched out the real license plates for some decoys. As usual, the Last Refuge Protectors had a lot of different toys to play with.
