“Do you have business with me or Teo?”
He waves over to where he’s piled at least six bodies. It’s hard to tell how many there are from the way they lie on top of each other. “A little present. For you.”
That sure makes me hesitate, but I know better than to let anything show on my face. “Oh? And what have I done to deserve such a present?”
“Everything,” he says, smile oddly eerie when I can see so little of his face.
“How much is this ‘present’ going to cost me?”
“That wouldn’t be a very good present if I made you pay for it, now would it? Let’s just say that I… appreciate your work. I’m your biggest fan.”
No part of this is going well, and the fact that he’s fascinated by me makes me even more leery of what is about to happen.
“How flattering, but I don’t do this work for praise or presents. Such a pleasure to meet you. I will be taking my men and going.”
The man walks over to a table, stepping out from where he was protected between Everly and Tavish, and sits on it. He crosses his legs, folds one arm over his torso so he can lean his elbow on the other, and with head in hand, he watches me.
“I really do adore you, Sandman. I’m so thrilled you’re back in the game,” he says.
I jerk my chin at Everly and Tavish to indicate they should leave the room, and they do so without hesitation. This is a man I have no interest in turning my back on. I even think about killing him, but he didn’t kill anyone innocent, did he? While the Barlow family controls people who are innocent, none of them would be at this level in the family. They wouldn’t be free to make their own decisions or be in charge of keeping anyone important alive.
Teo takes the moment of distraction to twist away from Sophia. The woman looks like she’s debating grabbing him again, but probably realizes that dragging him around is only going to slow us down. So she steps through the door, disappearing after Tavish and Everly.
“Sandman… before you go, you might want to wait a second. I’m afraid there was an issue.”
I really don’t want to play this man’s games, but at least he allowed the others to leave. “An issue bigger than this?”
“You see… one of Teo’s men got away from me, the slippery little shit. And right before I ended up here, I saw him chasing that husband of yours.”
I refuse to let any trace of emotion cross my face as I watch him, calculating what to believe and how much he’s trying to drag me along with this fucked-up show he’s created.
“I know it’s hard to gain trust in this world. So let’s just say I want to offer my first tiny grain of trust.”
He reaches out and grabs a rifle that was sitting on the table then holds it out to me, gripping only the barrel like he wants to prove to me that he’s not going to shoot me.
I still have Cassel on the line to double-check whatever this man might claim, so before I make a single move, I murmur, “Where is Jackson?”
“I’m looking,” Cassel says in my ear.
“Look faster.”
“I’m sorry. I’m trying. I was focused on you because Jackson and Henry seemed safe the last time I looked in on them.”
The man is still holding the rifle out. The door is so close to me that I could slip through it in a second. I could run off and find Jackson myself… but I left my rifle in the van, knowing I’d be inside the building where a rifle would be of little use.
I know this man is toying with me. He’s offering something, and I’m well aware that whatever he’s offering won’t be free. To add to it, he was in here with us. How does he know what’s going on outside of these walls unless he’s been watching it on some device or he set this situation up himself?
“Jackson is outside… but someone has him. Leland, go, now!” Cassel shouts in my ear.
I lunge forward and grab the rifle, making the manlaugh.
He’s loving it.
Who knows if he’s fucked with the rifle. Who knows if it’s going to blow up in my face. All I know is that the tone in Cassel’s voice tells me that I need to go.
“Take a left,” Cassel says, and I shove through the door. “Window there. Can you see them?”
I throw the locks up on the window as I see Jackson kneeling on the ground, illuminated by one of the many floodlights around the estate. I see the way his fingers are digging into the grass, like he’s reached his limit of knowing what to do. And while I lift the rifle, the man in front of him raises his gun, bringing it up toward Jackson’s head.
