JACK PARKED HIS CAR AND WALKED DOWN TO THE BEGINNING of the trail looking for a man in an Orioles hat. In less than forty-eight hours, they’d lost their shot at Crosse and had been partly responsible for what the Church had spent centuries trying to avoid—putting more of the silver pieces into the hands of a madman.
He checked the time on his phone. The guy should be here by now. A few minutes later, a text came in from an unknown number. On my way, stuck in traffic. Almost an hour passed and he went to text again but saw that his phone battery had died. Shit. He’d forgotten to charge it last night. As he turned to go to his car and plug it in, he caught a glimpse of a man wearing an Orioles cap coming toward him.
“Logan?” the man asked.
“Yeah. I believe you have some information for me?”
“I need to see the passport first.”
Jack pulled it from his jacket pocket and held it in front of him.
The man pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Jack. “I knew it,” he blurted out when he saw the name scrawled on the paper. Crosby Wheeler. “I’m going to need proof.”
“Turn it over.”
Jack did and saw several long sequences of numbers.
“Bank account numbers. Follow the money and you’ll connect them.”
There was no way he could confirm it now, but what he really wanted to know was that this wasn’t a trick. Satisfied that Dakota had kept up her end of the bargain, he held out the passport and handed it to the man.
“I have one more thing for you.” Before Jack’s brain registered what was happening, he felt a shock and then his knees buckled. The guy had tased him! He reached into his pocket for his gun, but the man hit him again.
Then the man pulled out a needle and, before Jack could react, plunged it into Jack’s arm. “Dakota said to thank you for helping her square things with Crosse. And to tell you that you’re still a chump.” He threw a photo toward a dazed Jack and it landed next to his head. It was a picture of Taylor at home in their hallway—from the angle it was clearly taken from a distance.
“She also wants you to know she’s been keeping tabs on you. Said she’ll see you soon.” As he walked away he added, “Oh, and if I were you, I’d get somewhere safe because shit’s about to get real bad.” With that, he took off running.