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“Hell no! I have no desire to see my friend waste away in prison.”
Silence.
“Derek?”
“I’ll handle it, Angel. Don’t tell anyone else.”
* * *
Derek sat backin his chair in his office. He was staring out the window at the New Park City skyline, rubbing his phone under his chin and figuring out how to handle the information Sophie had told him. He had no doubt in his mind that Maia was not complicit with what Sophie had witnessed. Which would mean Braden Connelly had made his move. That made Derek want to string the guy up by his balls and do everyone a favor. Nevertheless, he was getting to the bottom of this. He punched Maia’s number.
“Hey, Derek.”
“Something you want to tell me?”
“Damn.”
“What happened?”
“Who saw us?”
“Sophie.”
Maia sighed and told Derek what had transpired. Maia was a bit in a panic when she ended her story with Connelly’s declaration of not giving up. Derek knew her panic was in no way related to her capability in deflecting Connelly’s advances but was more related to what Jack would do if he found out. Derek himself was ready to have an aneurysm.
“That rat bastard! You know Jack is going to blow a gasket if he finds out about this, right?”
“Why will I blow a gasket?” a voice spoke behind Derek. “Who are you talking to?”
“I’ll call you back, Dan, I’ll explain it to him,” Derek said quickly, hearing Maia groan at the end of the other line.Think quick, Lockwood. Swiveling on his chair, he faced Jack who was staring at him quizzically. “Dan said there was a backorder on some of the parts for the MD-Bandit drone.”
“Huh,” Jack said, his hands resting on his hips as he looked down at his feet, his head slightly bent. After a few beats, Jack lifted his head and cracked his neck from side to side before saying, “Funny, that I just got off the phone with Dan, and he said everything was on track.”
Fuck!
“Who was on the phone, Derek?” Jack asked softly, his eyes glittering with mounting anger.
Derek exhaled deeply and stood up slowly, holding out a placating hand while eyeing Jack warily. “She has everything under control. No need to get involved. She is handling it.”
“That was Maia, wasn’t it? That asshole Connelly did something, didn’t he?” Jack demanded. When Derek didn’t answer, his friend spun around and stalked to the door. Derek leaped quickly to block the exit.
“Move.” Jack’s voice was calm.
“Jack, Maia slugged him in the face—OK? Her message was clear.”
“What did he do?”
Derek hesitated.
“What did he do?” Jack thundered.
“He kissed her.”
Derek watched the fury vanish from his friend’s face only to be replaced by a stoic mask. This was worse. This was the mask of someone premeditating a kill—like assassins or snipers.
“He’s a dead man,” Jack said quietly and tried to sidestep his friend, but Derek wouldn’t let him leave. “Get out of the way.” His voice, monotone and eerily calm.
“You have to think this through rationally. You want to kill the guy, but do you think Maia wants to visit you in state penitentiary for the next twenty years?”
