“What the hell are you two doing? You stopped at Kroger for two minutes and now you’re down in Covington.”
“You didn’t trust us to be out of your sight for an hour?” Noah said, slowing to a stop as the traffic light turned red.
“You know it’s not about trust, Keegan. Don’t give me that bullshit!”
“We spotted one of Jagger’s goons leaving the store,” Ian said, but his stomach plunged when he saw Noah flinch.
The line went quiet for several seconds, making Ian look to make sure that the call hadn’t been dropped.
“Breathe, Ward. We got this,” Noah said calmly.
“You do not fucking got this!” Rowe roared. “We left Cincinnati so we wouldn’t be targets and now you’re driving straight into the dragon’s lair with what? Are you even armed?”
“I’ve got my sidearm,” Noah said. He pressed the accelerator as the cars in front of him started moving again.
Rowe swore again, but this time Ian could hear Hollis’s voice in the background. He dropped his head against the window and closed his eyes. This had certainly turned into a shit storm without him meaning it to.
“Turn around right this second,” Hollis bellowed through the phone. Ian could only guess that he’d stolen it from Rowe while he was in the middle of his temper tantrum.
“You know what? You both can just fuck off!” Ian shouted back. He held the phone so tightly in his hand that his fingers were turning white and trembling. “If Lucas or Snow or Rowe were sitting in the truck instead of me, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But because it’s me and because I’m supposedly helpless, we can’t do this. Well, I can be brave too, and I can back up Noah.”
Hollis muttered something too low for Ian to catch, but he certainly didn’t sound happy. Anxiety crept through Ian, but he refused to back down. He didn’t mind the overprotectiveness and the caring that he received from both Hollis and his friends, but he wasn’t going to be treated like glass or as if he couldn’t handle a dangerous situation like the rest of them.
“Okay…tell us what your plan is,” Hollis said a little more evenly. “How can we back you up?”
Ian felt the blood wash from his face as he flashed a panicked gaze over at Noah, who was grinning at him. Yeah, they hadn’t quite gotten to the part of hashing out a plan. Ian was happy to just have Noah following Mick. He hadn’t thought about what would happen when Mick reached his destination.
“We’re only tailing the scumbag,” Noah said easily, winking at Ian. “We’ll get an address when he stops and pass it along. Banner, you got any trustworthy contacts who can follow up on that?”
“I got a person or two in mind.”
“Easy peasy. We follow, get an address, and then get back out before anyone notices us. If we’re lucky, we’ll have the groceries and be home in less than two hours.”
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Keegan,” Rowe growled as he apparently snagged the phone back from Hollis. “Stay out of trouble and both of you get back here fast.”
“No worries, boss.”
Rowe cursed one last time before he hung up, but Ian had no doubt that Rowe was still tracking their location with either the GPS in their phones or some hidden tracking device in the truck. Ian set the cell phone on the console between him and Noah, turning his attention back to the Toyota that was now only one car away. They’d turned off the main street cutting through Covington toward the Ohio River and were now weaving their way through a series of side roads until Mick suddenly pulled over and parked in front a rundown two-story house with a sagging wooden front porch and heavy curtains covering all the windows.
Heart racing, Ian sank down in his seat so he was practically on the floor of the truck when Noah drove directly past Mick’s car and down another block before making a right and turning down the next street. He jerked the truck into an open spot and slammed the gear into park.
“What are you doing? Did you not catch the address?” Ian said as he slid back up into his seat and looked around. The street was empty except for some old cars parked against the curb. Everyone was inside, huddled against the cold or at work.
Unbuckling his seat belt, Noah twisted around and leaned over the seat to snag a small black bag that Ian had noticed on the floor when he’d ridden back there a few nights ago. Setting it on the console, Noah quickly dug around until he found a small black device.
“What’s that?”
“One of Rowe’s spare tracking devices,” Noah said with a smirk.
“Are those legal?”
Noah’s smirk turned into a wicked grin and Ian was instantly reminded of why Noah and Rowe worked so well together. “If you LoJack your own car, sure.”