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“Yep.”
“Fuck.” Corey scowled. “Guess I should have expected that.”
“Yep,” Bobby drawled, his tone laced with something that Corey did not like.
Corey turned on him with his coldest look. “What crawled up your ass?”
“I’m frustrated. All three of your brothers have sabotaged our plans without even knowing it. They couldn’t have fucked us over better if they’d tried.”
“I know. But we can’t change that part. We move forward and for that we need Cardozo’s movements. We’ll grab him and ask our questions. If he knows where Bella’s hiding, he will tell us with the proper incentive.”
“His life or his kid’s,” Bobby said.
Corey smiled. “Exactly.”
“What about Allyson? She might know Bella’s new location.”
“Depends on when she last worked. Ed’s been tracking her car ever since we tagged her as a possible way into Bella’s inner circle.” Corey opened the door to the outside. “Ed? Can you come in, please?
Ed immediately joined them in the cabin. “What do you need?”
“Allyson blabbed,” Bobby said baldly. “She told Noni Feldman to warn Bella Butler. Now Bella’s gone under and we don’t know where she’s hiding.”
Ed paled. “Fuck.”
“Don’t say we need to cut and run,” Corey cautioned. “I swear to God I will fuck you up if you do.”
Ed drew a breath. “Okay, but know that I’m thinking it. What do you propose we do?”
“We’re going to make either Cardozo or Allyson tell us where Bella is,” Corey said firmly. “First, I need you to track Allyson’s car. Has she been anywhere other than Bella’s home in the past day?”
Ed sat at the table and opened the laptop. “Checking now. This’ll go a lot faster now that the satellite is up.” He clicked some keys and tensely waited for his screen to fill. “Allyson’s car is sitting in front of her house right now. It’s been there since Tuesday night, probably when she returned from the old camp.”
Corey felt the spear of disappointment. “She hasn’t been to where Bella’s hiding, then. She hasn’t even been to work since we saw her.”
“She told us that she had the next two days off when we were taking her back to her car,” Ed reminded them. “She wasn’t supposed to report back until tomorrow”
“So she probably doesn’t know,” Bobby muttered. “Dammit. Cardozo it is, then.”
“We need someone in the pack of cops that’s watching his neighborhood,” Corey said. “Ed, your cop friend who ID’d the lawyer—what’s his name? The cop, not the lawyer.”
“The cop that I’ve been paying for information is Alex Cullen.”
“Whatever. Get him within sight of Cardozo’s house, however he needs to do it. I want to know when the man leaves, where he goes, and who he’s with.”
“Where are you going?” Ed asked when Corey started filling his backpack with guns and ammunition.
“For supplies. And Allyson. Even if she doesn’t know anything, we need to take her out. Nobody betrays us and lives.” It was not only a matter of principle, it was also a matter of survival. Word spread among people looking to have dirty jobs done. If an operator appeared weak, he wouldn’t get the plum assignments that brought in the big bucks.
Corey’s brothers had already weakened him enough. Allyson wasn’t going to make it worse. He would survive this and he’d be even stronger.
When he’d finished packing his guns and ammo, he met Ed’s worried gaze. “While we’re gone, I need you to take care of Dianne. Put something in her drink. I want her comatose until we’re ready to move on. We’ll drop her somewhere that she can be found when we leave town, but I don’t want her overhearing anything in the meantime. Especially if we end up bringing home guests.”
“Will do.” Ed opened one of the boxes he’d brought from the old camp and pulled out a small medicine bottle. “I’ll add a few of these to the whiskey she’s been sipping all day. She’ll fall asleep and won’t be a problem.”
“Don’t kill her,” Corey instructed. “Just knock her out.”
“I got it, Corey. Now go. Bring us back some decent coffee, okay? And some beignets. I’m gonna miss beignets when we leave town.”
