Rock Chick (Rock Chick #1)(91)

Lee watched me closely and waited for me to respond.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“We’re goin’ to the holding room. If we capture a skip and for some reason can’t get him to the station, we use the holding room. You’ll see now it has other purposes.”

Yikes.

“Keep your mouth shut, your eyes open and know where your weapons are. Do not use the pepper spray. We’ve got someone in there and we’re lettin’ him go. I don’t know how he’ll react.”

“Letting him go?” I asked. I didn’t know who he was but whoever he was, he was in a holding room and letting him go didn’t sound like a good idea.

“He’s part of a bigger picture. We’ve been workin’ with him for a few days, tryin’ to get him to talk. He hasn’t felt up to it. Now, it serves the higher purpose to let him loose.”

I had questions to ask but I had no time to ask them, Lee was already moving away and I had no choice but follow… or run away.

Chapter Eighteen

Naked Gratitude

For better or worse, I followed Lee down the hall.

He knocked twice on the surveillance room door, used his fob and went in.

“It’s time,” he announced.

Vance got up and walked to a desk. Monty leaned forward and flipped some switches and some monitors came on. On the monitors, I could now see Brody working, the empty hall and a room with a bed, a toilet and a sink, a guy lying on his side on the bed. I couldn’t see much of the guy and then Vance was in my way. He had a gunbelt doubled up in one hand, he put it behind his back, opened it and strapped it on. It had the same stuff mine had, plus a real gun and cuffs.

He lifted his hand, his dark eyes locked on mine and flirty look was gone. He pointed to the door.

I walked out behind Lee, Vance followed me and closed the door.

Lee walked down to the end of the hall to the last door, the only door Lee hadn’t opened to show me what was inside.

“You know where your weapons are?” Lee asked.

I felt around my belt and nodded. I felt like Super Idiot with the belt on, not Super Cool like Vance looked. Lee wore no gunbelt, just the killer dark brown leather one holding up his faded brown cargo pants.

Lee jerked his head at Vance. Vance used a fob and a light went green.

“Follow me in,” Lee said to me, opened the door and walked in.

I did as I was told and, once I was in the room, I saw Terrible Teddy, Coxy’s goon who hit me what seemed like years ago. He turned in the bed and stood.

I sucked in air.

He had a bandage across his nose and a wicked black eye, both nose and eye were grotesquely swollen to almost Rocky-Balboa-post-Apollo-Creed-fight size.

Teddy spared me only a glance, then he turned cautious eyes to Lee.

Vance stood in the door, one hand resting on his taser.

“You’re free to go. Vance’ll escort you from the building,” Lee declared.

Teddy’s glance swung to Vance. Vance had unholstered the taser and was gesturing with it for Teddy to leave the room.

My mind was reeling. I was trying to count the days since I’d had my brief encounter with Teddy, remembering that Lee told his boys to pick him up. Had he been in this little room that long? And furthermore, how did his face get like that?

“Free to go?” Teddy asked.

“Yep,” Lee answered.

“Just like that?” Teddy went on.

No one said anything. Teddy looked at me. I didn’t say anything either. Lee told me to keep my mouth shut but even if he hadn’t, I was too shocked to speak.

“I don’t get it,” Teddy said.

“Rumor’s spreading that you talked,” Lee told him. “I don’t know how that happened.”

Lee looked at Vance, Vance shrugged.

They were playing with him.

Lee kept talking. “Coxy’s at war with me and he’s tryin’ to impress Indy. You remember Rick?” Teddy nodded slowly. “Coxy put a bullet in Rick’s brain. He f**ked with Indy and hurt her. Yesterday, Coxy gave Indy Rick’s body as a present, half his head blown off. You hit her and marked her. Now you’re out. Good luck.”

“Fuck,” Teddy cursed, looking at me like I could help him out. He hit me and I was pretty sure he was a bad guy, but I had to say I felt sorry for him.

“Let’s go,” Vance put in.

Teddy turned to Lee.

“I talk, he kills me, I don’t talk, he kills me,” he said as if trying to explain.

“Life’s a bitch,” Lee replied, turned his back on Teddy, jerked his head to me and I walked out of the room, followed by Lee. Vance went into the room after we left it. I kept walking until I got to Lee’s office and he stopped me, opened the door, pushed me in and lifted his fingers, stared me in the eyes giving me a three, two, two. I nodded and he closed the door.

I locked it.

Holy shit, shit, shit.

Not five minute later, the knock came. Three, two, two.

I opened it and Lee walked in “He’s gone, time for lunch. Let’s roll.”

* * * * *

I waited until we were rounding the Brown Palace when I asked, “How did Terrible Teddy’s face get like that?”

“Me.”

“You hit him?”

“He touched you, you said it hurt. I found him and beat the shit out of him.”