The Lies That Shatter by A.V. Asher
Chapter Forty-Seven
Jason sat typing at the little table, sweating his fucking balls off. Now that he had access to some of Cooper’s money, he’d wanted to find a different place to stay. But Mariah had nixed the idea. This place was one of the few that took cash, and she didn’t want any chance that Adam or Cooper himself would figure out she was using Jason to find their targets.
The acrid scent of smoke filtered through the dirty screens. This fucking state was an inferno. The skies were brown with a thick haze that never seemed to go away. And since they didn’t have a functioning air conditioner in this shithole, Jason was forced to breathe in the toxic air from the distant wildfires.
Mariah was lounging naked on the bed, fanning herself with a camping guide. Since she’d appeared in his room and made her offer, she’d been staying in this dump with him.
Jason let her suck him off most mornings, but he wouldn’t fuck her. God only knew what kind of nasty shit she had going on down there. Besides, Mercedes was the last woman who had taken his cock, and there was no competing with that.
He tried to focus on the task at hand. Adam had suddenly fallen off the radar, and arrangements had been made to pull him out of the dark. Mariah was certain Adam knew where Mara Donovan was. She hadn’t shared her thoughts with Cooper quite yet, but even Jason wondered what Adam was up to.
Not only that, but Cooper’s idiot kid, Tyler, had taken up some of the reins. This plot to draw out Adam had been the little turd’s plan. It would be effective, but dangerous as hell. Adam wasn’t one to fuck with.
“Are you trying to get through Cressida’s firewalls?” Mariah said.
“I told you,” Jason snapped. “Cressida has skill, so it’s a waste of time. We’re better off figuring out where Adam is and working on the others later.”
Adam was a smart man, and he certainly knew how to stay in the shadows, but he didn’t know current trends in technology.
“I found him,” Jason said.
“Really?” She swung her legs off the bed and joined him.
“Yeah, If I go back through Cooper’s secure lines, I can find a bunch of numbers for all of Cooper’s shitty associates that call in. But only one of those numbers has ever gotten a call from Shannon Barlow. Her last call was a few days before he went quiet.”
“His wife called him? On a phone he uses to talk to Cooper?”
Mariah’s tits were right at his eyeline. He grunted in annoyance at them and looked at the computer. “It’s sloppy as hell, but only we know about this line. Adam wouldn’t have thought he was going to be our target. I’m still not sure I understand why he is a target.”
“I told you, Tyler Cooper’s got a small dick complex when it comes to Adam. He wants all of daddy’s love and thinks he needs to prove Adam’s dirty to get it.” Mariah shrugged. “What does this all mean?” She gestured at the computer.
“It means I can start tracing that number. The next time it’s used, I can track where it is and who he’s talking to. Now we just have to wait for the bad news to come in.”
“Damn, that could take a while.” Mariah went back to fanning herself. “I can’t do another few days in this place. Let’s call around for rooms.”
“Thank fuck. This heat is killing me.” He looked back at her. “How much longer do they think it’ll be?”
She shrugged. “It could be any day now.”
“Let’s make the next place closer to that valley. We’re going to need to be nearby if shit goes down.” Jason wiped the sweat from his brow. “And let’s make it a place with air conditioning.”