His to Take (Wicked Lovers #9)(7)
Author: Shayla Black

“With your permission.”

Permission? Did all these guys swing just left of normal? Whatever. If they could help him solve these murders and give him justice for Nate, nothing else mattered.

“Of course.”

The speaker rumbled a bit, then a woman’s voice took over. “Logan?”

“Hi, Callie. Sorry if we woke you.”

“We’re just being lazy. Sean’s half-asleep, but you’ve got me. Tara good?”

“Absolutely. I called for your help.”

“Anything. Name it.”

“I might bring Kata’s brother to Dallas to talk to you. How soon is the wedding?”

“Next Saturday.”

“Can you squeeze a meeting in before then? I’m sure it’s a crazy time, but it’s about Aslanov. I don’t think this shit is over. We’re onto a new angle here.”

“What do you mean?” The second male voice resounded over the phone again, sounding sharp.

“Half-asleep, Mackenzie?”

“Wide awake now,” Sean grumbled. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Time is of the essence, and I don’t want to get into too much over the phone.” Logan winced.

Joaquin nodded. Never know who might be listening . . .

“We’ll make time for a meeting,” Callie assured Logan.

“Thanks, hon. We’ll be in touch when we’re headed in that direction.”

“Excellent,” Thorpe assured him. “We’ll be waiting.”

Logan hung up and looked Joaquin’s way. “They’ll have information no one else will. You can interview them, see if anything helps your case along.”

“Thanks, man.”

Logan nodded. “No sweat. I hope we’re able to stop anyone else from losing their life.”

“I got it,” Stone said into their discussion.

Since the guy barely talked, Joaquin had kind of forgotten he was there. Well, except for the constant tap, tap, tapping of his keyboard.

“You’ve got a list?” Jack asked, clarifying.

“Yeah.” Stone nodded sharply. “I narrowed it down to women who fit the profile and are still alive. I went further and searched for women with blue eyes, since the only picture of Tatiana Aslanov I found shows she had them. She was only two at the time, but I’m rolling with it. That leaves us with four possibilities: Caitlyn Wells of Mobile, Alabama. Emily Boyle of Norman, Oklahoma. Bailey Benson of Houston, Texas. Alicia Allen of Casa Grande, Arizona. I pulled together brief bios of them all.”

As Stone printed everything out and handed it to him, Joaquin stared in awe. “Where did you come from?”

The man never broke expression. “Prison. Jack just pays me to put my skills to good use now, instead of hacking into Uncle Sam’s panties or department stores’ customer payment records.”

Joaquin didn’t think Stone was kidding. On top of being good with a computer, between the ink covering his arms and the slabs of muscles lurking under his T-shirt, he just looked like a bad motherfucker. Nice to have the ex-con on his side.

“Thanks.”

Stone inclined his head, his severely short hair like a dark paint over his scalp, matching his expressionless dark eyes. “By the way, Logan said you were wondering if you still had a job. You haven’t been fired yet. I looked into it. There’s a meeting on the subject this coming Tuesday.”

Fabulous. “I appreciate it.”

Jack slapped Stone on the back. “Good job.”

Joaquin stared down at the list. The obvious would be to head to Mobile first, but what if these violent bastards changed their M.O. or skipped around the country for some reason? “Any chance I can convince y’all to split up this list with me?”

“I’ll hop on a plane to Mobile,” Jack volunteered with a grin. “There’s a place there I know with fabulous biscuits and gravy, so when I’m done, I know I’ll have a great meal.”

“I’ll take Norman,” Logan said. “I’ve been before and I know my way around. Shouldn’t take me long.”

“I used to live in Houston,” Joaquin pointed out. “I’ll be able to get in and out of there fast.”

“I guess that leaves me with catching the next flight to Arizona,” Hunter quipped. “Where is this place?”

“Halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. I passed through there once.” Joaquin shrugged. “Look on the bright side. It’s not a big town. It’ll take longer to get there than to search it.”

“Whoever finds her, I think we should take her somewhere with a lot of security, where we can watch her twenty-four seven. Like Dominion.” Logan turned to Joaquin. “It’s Thorpe’s club in Dallas. Callie and Sean will be there, too. We can ask them questions at the same time.”