Chapter Five

WLK’s trainee went to town on the punching bag. Walker held it in place until the kid wore himself out.

“Time,” Tank hollered at the new recruits. The boy nearly fell into a heap of exhaustion. “Hit the showers.” Twelve newbies peeled out of the gym and headed into the locker room. “This group is hella lightweight, boss. Who brought them in?”

“Who do you think?” Walker told him.

“Maybe they shouldn’t get to pick any more.” Tank pretty much hated their partners, Dan Langley and Chad Wolfram.

While the big man held the punching bag, Walker took his turn on it. “I need a favor.”

“Shoot,” Tank said.

Pounding away at the weighted mass helped him release his pent-up frustration. It felt good to let off some steam. Long-held memories he’d believed he’d buried collided with the present. Walker realized he needed to face his demons.

“Remember the women who went missing?” He put all of the anger and pain into his fist.

“Who? The lawyers?”

“Yeah. I need you to check out the firm and the case they were working on.”

“Do the Chads know?”

“No,” he told him, landing one last blow to the bag.

“Cool.” Tank had named the other partners the two Chads. He didn’t feel he needed to learn both of their names. The idiots were basically using the same brain. Walker couldn’t argue with that logic. The Chads pretty much wanted all of the accolades with none of the hard work.

At the time, it had seemed like a good idea to have partners. However, with each passing year, the cracks in the business became more apparent.

“I have a meeting then I’m taking off to the Cape for a couple of days.”

“Did you tell the Chads about that?” Tank asked before stripping the tape from his knuckles.

Yanking off his gloves, Walker grabbed the water bottle he’d placed at the edge of the ring. “No.” He took a swig of water.

“Even better. This place is finally getting interesting.”

“Depends on what you find out about the lawyers, then we’ll have a real wing-ding of a good time.”

Tank’s wide smile showed off every tooth in his mouth. To avoid the impending sing-along, Walker took off for his meeting.

When he’d accepted the partnership, he’d brought Tank into the firm. Dan and Chad didn’t like the muscle man, but Walker didn’t care. He needed him.

Tank had worked intelligence in his military days, and the fact that he could bash heads came as a bonus, not to mention the two Chads had no idea that the big man had bought into the company a few years back. Along with acquiring majority shares, Tank also held a Mensa membership. Walker kept that little grenade of knowledge to himself, ready to lob it at their heads at a moment’s notice.

 

* * * *

 

It took Ashe two weeks to collect everything she needed to pull this off. Gloria—two doors down—had pointed her to a good wig place and Olivia—one block over—had told her a great spot for makeup. Lastly, Janice had given her the best store for sweatsuits. After buying one three sizes too big, she’d stuffed the velour fabric to the breaking point. For some odd reason, purple-haired ladies loved the stretchy material.

Two hours away from the safe space of the Cape, Ashe walked into the closest Brawny’s Gym. With her blonde wig and old-lady glasses firmly in place, she anticipated another hour of life circling the drain.

“Do you have any questions?” the gym representative asked after their walk-through. “We can get you signed up right over here.”

“You know, I’m not sure yet.” She’d perfected a high-pitched voice mixed with an odd Brooklyn-cross-Boston accent. “Could you give me a sec to compare prices?” she said, hurting her own ears.

“No problem, ma’am. Just get me when you’re done.”

She hurried over to the guest computers and searched for information on any Jane Does in New York. Several results popped up but none that came close to C.T.’s description.

Ashe cleared the history and searched for news stories on her law firm. After weeks off the radar, there were no mentions of their missing status. Someone had killed the story. However, the law firm had handed off their key presentation to their worst lawyers.

“Have you made up your mind?”

Ashe hit the incognito window and hurried to erase the history before the gym rat could see her screen.

“No,” she said. “I’m going to check out one more place, and I’ll be all set.”

“Oh.” The kid frowned. “I thought you were a sure thing. I can—”

“Give me your card and I’ll call you.”

“Okay. I have one of those.” The representative patted his pocket. “Hold on real quick. Let me get it from—” He ran to his desk and shuffled around in the drawers.

“Trust me, Cricket. I’ll remember your name.” Ashe waved goodbye on her way out of the door.

“But we have hot naked yoga Mondays. It’s all the rage!” he called after her.