Fast Burn (Body Armor #4)(86)

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

Brand glanced up as he scooted closer to Sahara’s brother. “I’ll live. Let’s just concentrate on getting to her.”

“We will, you know,” Miles vowed. “Get her, I mean.”

Brand nodded at Miles. “Call the old guys. See if they’ve found out anything from Grant.”

“Douglas Grant?” Scott asked.

Again they ignored him. “And see if they’ve found a way to contact Ross Moran.”

“I know how to contact him,” Scott offered quickly.

Everyone went still.

Scott cleared his throat. “I paid him, you know. Left the money in his apartment, then texted him and told him so. I figured that’s why they were after Sahara, trying to get what I owed. I wouldn’t have asked her to meet me if I didn’t think that shit was already settled.”

“How?” Justice demanded. “How did you find him?”

“I spent a hell of a lot of time tracking him down, that’s how. He’s key to exposing the bastards who tried to murder me.”

“Tried being the operative word,” Miles murmured.

Scott nodded. “Ross had done a job for me, but then I was attacked on my yacht and never got a chance to pay him.”

Everyone went silent while Enoch gave more directions.

When he finished, Leese ordered, “Start explaining, and make it fast.”

They now had something to go on. Brand couldn’t think about anything else or he’d lose the fragile grip on his control. “I’ll bandage while you talk.” Examining Scott’s arm gave him something to focus on besides his worry.

Miles held the flashlight. Neither of them reacted to the raw, ravaged wound in Scott’s arm. Inch and a half wide, about three inches long, already blackened around the edges, it looked painful.

Knowing it would burn like hell, Brand swabbed at the blood, cleaning enough off around the damaged area so that the wrapping would hold.

Scott hissed in his breath, but held perfectly still.

“You need to go to the hospital—”

“Not until I have my sister back.”

“—but no one is taking you there yet,” Brand finished. It required everything he had not to blame the brother.

Still on an open line, Enoch asked, “You found her brother?”

“Yeah. And a whole shit-ton of trouble.”

Enoch surprised everyone by gritting out, “Son of a bitch. I don’t believe this.”

Scott looked momentarily guilty, then rallied. “I have Ross’s number. The bastard moved around a few times, but I found his new apartment. I left the money there that I owed him, then texted him to let him know. He should have found it already.”

“You paid him everything?” Justice asked.

“Twice what I owed him, actually. I thought that would be the end of it.”

“You thought your ass was finally safe,” Miles accused.

“If that’s all they wanted,” Leese asked, “then who took Sahara today?”

“I recognized voices.” Scott’s face showed the pain he felt, physically and emotionally. “Not Ross’s, but I definitely heard Olsen Winger. Maybe Terrance. There was so much chaos—”

“And that damned flashing light,” Justice muttered.

Scott nodded. “They work with Ross Moran.” Levering carefully to one hip, he dug the phone from his pocket, thumbed the screen and pulled up Ross’s number.

Miles took it from him.

Scott started to object, but the dark stare from Miles convinced him to stay quiet.

“Let’s not call him yet,” Leese decided. “We need to get closer first. We don’t want to push them into doing anything...rash.”

Brand squeezed his eyes shut. No, they didn’t want the bastards doing anything rash—like kidnapping her a second time, or shooting her brother. In comparison, rash could only mean one thing, but he couldn’t contemplate that.

She had to be okay.

Trusting his friends to think clearly, to accurately gauge the situation, Brand busied himself by layering gauze pads on Scott’s gunshot wound, then he wrapped and taped it down. “I have aspirin.”

“I’ll take three.”

Brand handed them over. Inside, he felt like a bomb slowly ticking, the explosion getting closer and closer.

Enoch interrupted with more directions. “They’re off the highway and driving through Darville.”

“Never heard of it,” Leese said.

“Just looked it up,” Enoch said. “It’s a dead little town, most of the businesses gone.”

A perfect place to hide a victim.

Enoch went through directions for the exit to take, and then the roads to follow. Justice put everything in his phone to use GPS.

“Tell us if they stop,” Leese said, speeding fast now that he was on wide highway. Luckily the traffic was low, which allowed them to make up some time.

In the distance, lightning shattered across the black sky. A few seconds later, thunder rumbled.

The storm matched Brand’s turbulent mood. Sitting back against the wall of the SUV, he narrowed his gaze on Sahara’s brother. “Now,” he said, his voice evenly modulated to hide his rage. “Finish explaining.”