And there goes the hope I could skate around the truth. There was real ire in his voice now.
“Not with me! You only beat around the bush like this when you KNOW exactly what you need to say, but, for whatever reason, you’re unwilling to say it. Now spit it out.”
Resigned that I tread upon a field of land mines, I took the time to prepare myself for the ordeal. With a long pull of air, I wove through some of the more obvious placements of potential pitfalls. “From what I have seen through my surveillance equipment and the rumors swirling about the tournament, my guess is that Dempsey is the puppeteer.”
The lie here allowed for the possibility I was wrong about the puppeteer’s identity. Hopefully, I’d rooted it in enough truth for it to slip past his notice. After a few moments of tense silence, I scratched behind an ear. When had Matt mellowed out like this? While it would mark a substantial improvement in his personality, there was no way he was this calm. With a twinkle in my eye, I pulled my phone away from my ear. Though my flittering smile soured when I saw the numbers continue to increase. For a second, I’d thought the call had dropped. Had I sent him into cardiac arrest or something? Why was he so silent? As I brought the phone back to my ear, Matt finally broke his silence.
“What in the name of all that’s good and holy would convince you that walking into that tournament is a good idea?”
I yanked the phone away from my head as fast as I could, but it barely helped. I hadn’t realized the speakers on this phone were so powerful or that Matt had that type of lung capacity. With my eardrum ringing, I latched upon the only positive aspect from his tirade. Matt had accepted the embellished truth. It wasn’t much, but under the circumstances, I would take whatever he offered.
While his temper was a potential issue, he never remained irate for long. If I let him vent, I might have a decent conversation with him afterward. As the stream of words tumbled out of the phone, I was pretty sure he failed to notice the sound of it crashing into the carpet. As the harsh syllables reached my ears, I grabbed the camera and sighed when I saw a slightly different, unmoving image. Of course, during this conversation, something happened. Why was that a universal truth?
I had been watching the feed for almost three days and had seen nothing. It was entirely possible Dempsey’s minions had completed all the prep work, if any, prior to my arrival. However, I’d hoped to see something, anything, that could provide me with an edge against my opponents. As I silently cursed over missing something, I realized Matt’s voice no longer teased my ears. With a groan, I eased the camera down and plucked the phone off the floor. When had he stopped talking?
“Marcus, answer me!”
I was so frustrated with Matt’s demand that a growl emanated from my throat. Given the phone’s potential volume, I kept it a good six inches from my ear. “You realize folks in the surrounding rooms, and maybe the next hotel, could hear you, right?”
“Answer me!”
Another growl filled the room as my fingers whitened around the phone. “There is no reason to shout like that. And on top of the damage you’re inflicting on my eardrum, I think you made me miss something on the video feed.”
“No! You don’t get to change the topic that easily, Marcus! I know you. You’re planning to run some kind of game on Dempsey.”
“No, I’m not.”
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11
Description | Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3