Colby Core

Now she understood his unease. “Sounds too good to be true.”

Jim nodded. “You know the adage. Whenever something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”

Victoria hoped that the idea that Tessa Woods was still alive wasn’t too good to be true as well.

Chapter Five

New Orleans, 8:25 a.m.

This was going to hurt.

Wrists bound above his head and feet swinging several inches above the concrete floor, Riley braced for the coming pain.

Brooks shoved the paddle against Riley’s abdomen. Electricity roared through his body. His muscles convulsed. His teeth clenched.

“You still sticking to your story?” Brooks demanded. “Don’t have anything else to share?”

Riley struggled to catch his breath. “I’ve told you all there is to tell.” His muscles burned. His shoulders throbbed with the effort of supporting his full body weight. His jaws ached from clenching his teeth. “I just want to keep my job and stay out of prison.”

Brooks thrust the paddle at him again.

Riley’s body shuddered. Fire seemed to ignite across his skin. His stomach clenched.

“Just kill him and get it over with,” Howard suggested. “This is a waste of time.”

Brooks laughed. “I’m not done yet.” He reached toward Riley once more.

“Wait!” Riley heaved a halting breath. “Wait,” he muttered.

The smile on Brooks’s face spread into a spiteful grin. “I thought you might change your mind.”

Riley had held up through more than an hour of physical torture. He could have tolerated more, but the end result would have been the same. Death. These guys had no intention of allowing him to stay alive.

He had nothing to lose by going with Tessa’s suggestion. If it was a setup, made no difference. At this point he was dead anyway.

“Renwick was behind the ambush in Alabama,” Riley muttered. The aftereffects of the shock treatments were making his body tremble. “He tipped off the feds. One of the feds passed along the tip to a friend in Chicago.”

“What friend in Chicago?” Howard demanded, skeptical.

Riley lolled his head back long enough to draw in a deep breath, then met the man’s gaze. “I don’t know. Some P.I. Doesn’t matter. It’s the feds that’s on your back now. Renwick thought they would take down your organization. He was ticked off when the operation failed. He wants to be number one.”

Brooks made a slow circle around Riley. “What do you know about Renwick?”

Riley didn’t have a lot to go on. He’d just have to wing it. “I know he wants you and your boss to go down. That’s what I know.”

Howard and Brooks blasted the air with expletives, then Howard said, “You think telling us this is going to save your butt?”

Well, so much for that plan. “Do what you gotta do, man,” Riley said, feigning defeat. “I’m telling you that the feds are the least of your problems. Renwick is hell-bent on coming out on top, which means you have to go down.”

“If that bastard knows what’s good for him,” Brooks snarled, “he’d better stay in his own territory.”

Riley licked his cracked lips, tasted the blood. His jaw wasn’t broken but it had taken another beating. “I think he’s planning a takeover of your territory.” That was a shot in the dark. Judging by the fury that claimed both men’s faces, he’d hit the target.

“The SOB has a death wish,” Howard growled. He eyed Riley a long moment. “What exactly were Renwick’s orders? I can’t see him trusting an operation this big to one guy. Especially one like you.”

“My job was to get in,” Riley said. “Get the layout of your headquarters and find out what you had on the schedule for the next couple of weeks.”

“Too bad—” Howard moved in close to Riley “—you failed.”

Riley breathed a chuckle. “Two out of three ain’t bad.”

The muzzle of a weapon bored into the soft underside of his chin. “How,” Brooks asked, his voice riddled with anger and scorn, “are you supposed to pass along information? Is there a tracking device?” He sneered. “I know you don’t want us to start searching the only logical places.”

Riley definitely wasn’t game for a cavity search. “He knows what you lost in the ambush and that I’m in New Orleans to make contact. That’s it.”

Howard shook his head at his pal. “He’s lying. No way Renwick sent him to us without a tracking device.” He shifted his attention to Riley. “All we have to do is find it.”

“I swear,” Riley urged, “the only tracking device I had was in the heels of my boots. You dumped those last night, with the rest of my clothes, in the parking lot at that bar.”

“Get the Master.”

Howard glared at Brooks. “We can handle this.”

Brooks shook his head. “Get him. Now.”

Howard glared a bit longer at the man who was obviously his superior before following the order. Riley relaxed as best he could considering he hung like a side of beef from the hook in the ceiling.

Tessa had given him an out. What did that mean? Was she truly a captive? Even after all these years? Had she intended to help him? Maybe this whole thing was a sham of some kind. A game she had initiated. Who knew how warped her mind might be after spending nearly half a dozen years with these sickos.

Brooks crossed his arms and stared at Riley. Riley ignored him. Instead, he focused on what he needed to accomplish his mission. The Master’s identity. If no one called or knew his name, then a DNA sample would be necessary—assuming he was in the system. Prints might serve the purpose. Riley needed as much information about the organization’s operation as possible. Tessa may or may not have some knowledge of how things worked.

And he needed to get her and any other captives away from here.

Away from the lunatic who called himself the Master.

Footfalls on the stairs drew Riley’s attention there.

“Now we’ll see how much longer you’ll keep breathing,” Brooks warned.

The Master, wearing his high-class designer suit, descended the final step. He studied Riley for a time before moving toward him.

He stopped a few feet away. “Renwick sent you, did he?”

Riley’s tension ratcheted a little higher. “Yes.” He infused all the humility and desperation he could summon into the single word.

“How is my old friend Renwick?”

Trick question. “I wouldn’t know,” Riley said, suppressing a grimace. His hands and arms had gone completely numb. “My only contact was with Phipps.” He looked the Master straight in the eyes. “You know, tall, thin guy with red hair. He provided my orders.”