n Colli
of my leather jacket, pulled a faded black hoodie ove
cond-floor fire escape, easing the rusty iron frame down until my boots hit the damp gravel in the alley. T
y head down and my hands shoved deep into my pockets, until I re
side garage. The rusty rollers screeched, startlin
ulb, Rachel Price, the accountant who kept the Iron Vault books, sat behiimmed glasses up the bridge
against a binder. "And you look like you're re
folding chair, sat down, and
l damage on the S
inning it around so the columns faced me.
e has siphoned nearly two hundred thousand dollars out of your mother's trust. Most of it got laundered thro
ink. My stomach didn't dro
ercial parts discount tied to my business tax ID. From this second on, t
board, executing the authorization codes. S
rs freeze their deliveries," Rachel warned. "That old witch
ightly drumming the steel table. "I need
atisfying click. "Done. Their cre
secure frequency, and dialed the dedicated l
d ring. Declan's gravelly voi
orm warnings
he cracked window that looke
arctic front hits th
nts along Highway 101 and the state line. Commercial haulers are pulling their rigs
oice dead level. "Buy out every gallon of winterized grade-two diesel and industrial a
se on the other end, follow
eze the entire coast
t pay attention," I said
n
ng the phone bac
vy, dust-caked canvas tarp, sat the low, muscular
and yanked t
side a matte-black chassis, completely stripped of chrome. It was the only machine my mo
pulling her out
r voice echoed f
ease-stained palms on a shop rag. Her gray hair was pulled into a tight bandana, her weathered fa
" I said, taking the thermos and taki
leaning against the fender of an old pickup. "You want me to round u
"You don't bring a sledgehammer to squas
hop twenty m
color of bruised iron. I took the back alleys towar
s lot, a strong, heavy scent of unburned high-octa
b cuts hanging off the sissy bar. Just high-end performance parts, dual front
ainst the brick wall
ing a heavy black leather jacket with the collar turned up again
t, the shadow s
eneath the brim of a dark watch cap. The air around him
up and walked straight past him, ref
ly sound slipped from his throat-a dry, amused chuck
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