Game of Fear (Montgomery Justice #3)(51)

The man disappeared down the hall. Niko didn’t move for a few moments, then his jaw tightened. “Son of a bitch.”

He dragged her to another door marked Infirmary. He made her turn around so he could key a series of numbers into the panel. Once inside, he unlocked a large medicine cabinet full of grouped meds. He pulled out a small bottle of ibuprofen from among several similar-sized containers, opened it, and shook two tablets into Ashley’s hand.

“If you need more, ask.” He pocketed the bottle.

“Why can’t I just take the bottle? It’s small. With the headaches I get, I need more than two tablets, especially when I work on the computer.”

Niko shook his head as he signed out the med. “We’ve had a couple of overdoses through the years. That’s why the containers are so small. No one walks around carrying enough medicine to hurt themselves. If you need more ibuprofen, you come to me.”

He thrust a water bottle into her hand. “Now swallow the meds and get back to work. The Warden wants you into that database by tomorrow.”

“But . . . it could take weeks.”

“You don’t have weeks, Ashley. You have one, maybe two days. Time is nearly up. No more talk.”

Niko led her back through the main room, past Justin, who tensed but kept his attention on the game.

Ashley longed to stop, but didn’t dare after her last interruption.

Once she was seated, Niko bent close. “Don’t think if you fall down on the job you’ll be the only one to suffer. Justin. Your family. Everyone here will bear the consequences. I know how ruthless the Warden can be. Shannon was once a competitor and a close friend of mine. I don’t take many risks anymore. No one does. I’m trusting you to do your part.”





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CHAPTER TWELVE




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THE BELL ON the bar’s door jangled. Gabe sank onto a stool. “Give me a soda, Hawk. Lots of ice.”

The place was deserted. Finally.

Zach wiped his forehead. “Your job sucks, Gabe. I’m going to check on my wife.”

With a careless wave, Zach headed outside. Gabe grabbed his cell phone. He still had messages to retrieve.

He deleted the many repeats from his mother and finally started on his voice mail.

Mylo’s voice filtered through the phone.

“Been trying to reach you all morning, man. Britney texted me. Thought you and Deb should know. Brit’s just pissed at her parents. She hates the place they moved. She wants to stay here. I’m meeting her, but it’s all top secret.”

Mylo sighed.

“Um . . . anyway, I’m just telling you where I’m going. As a precaution, you know. Things have been a little too weird lately.”

“Damn it.” Gabe had a very bad feeling about this. He dialed Mylo. Straight to voice mail.

Cursing under his breath, he did a quick search and called Mylo’s mother. The kid had told her he was going to meet a friend. He’d left a few hours ago and she didn’t expect him back until later. Other than that, she didn’t have any specifics.

He was a kid. That’s probably exactly what happened.

Except Ashley’s note had seemed perfectly legit, too. Had Britney’s message to the boys been a lure? Or was she in trouble, too?

His phone rang. Wexler.

God, Gabe hoped he had some good news. “Montgomery.”

“I’m on my way to see a dead body found in the hills outside Denver. Female. Small. Right size for a teenager.”

Gabe’s cut clenched. “Ashley?”

“No identification and it’s going to be tough. The body has been decapitated. Hands are missing, too.”

Gabe’s gut heaved. This couldn’t be happening. “I’ll have to tell Deb.”

“I hate to ask, but if it’s Ashley, Deb can probably identify her. Can you bring her to the crime scene?”

“You don’t ask for much, Wexler.” Gabe kneaded the back of his neck. Once he told Deb, he wouldn’t be able to keep her away. “We’ll be there, I just have to call her.”

Wexler gave Gabe the location. “You can probably catch Deb at the station. It was all over the radio. She was attacked in her apartment and she beat the crap out of the guy. Don’t know all the details, but I heard it was one of Tower’s three musketeers.”

Gabe hung up without saying good-bye and raced across the street.




Ashley had a plan. Niko had warned her not to do anything stupid, but she wouldn’t get an opportunity like this again. The moment she sat down at her computer and fired it up, she knew what she had to do.

If she was caught, the Warden would kill her for sure, but after what she’d seen so far, she didn’t think many in this Godforsaken place would leave here alive anyway.

Pretending to bend closer to the screen to concentrate on the program before her, Ashley opened a new window in the bottom corner of her screen. Sweat trickled down her back, even with the air-conditioning in the room to keep the computers cool. If her keystrokes were still being recorded on this new machine . . . She’d just have to be smart about it. She had to take the risk.

They kept moving her around. Computer to computer. Sometimes they brought her to different rooms. Her tasks were always different, but Ashley could see how the program update was coming together.