“They have a Ring doorbell, so he can overhear us,” he cautioned her as they stepped onto the small porch.
After pressing the button of the doorbell, Rory’s hand went to her arm. Jewell couldn’t decide if he was doing it for Incog’s benefit or to be able to quickly maneuver her away from the door if he needed to.
He pressed the button again when the door remained unanswered. She hadn’t considered Incog not answering, and from the glance that Rory gave her, he hadn’t, either.
“What should we do?” she asked sulkily for the benefit of anyone listening from inside.
“I’ll text him.”
As he took out his cell phone, Jewell stepped out of the camera’s view to stare at the windows of the house to see if anyone was looking out. A second later, Rory joined her.
“Incog sent me a text that we’ll have to reschedule. He had a family emergency.”
They returned to the car, and Jewell took out her cell phone to text Viper.
His response wasn’t long in coming.
Go ahead and drive back to Treepoint. We’ll catch up.
“Viper told us to drive back to the club.”
Rory stared at her solemnly. “That’s it?”
Jewell showed him the text message. “Yeah.”
“Dammit, I wanted the son of a bitch.”
She wanted to vent every swear word imaginable at the failure to help Elizabeth, but his calm tone cooled her temper.
“Me, too.”
As Rory drove out of the side street, they both looked toward where Silas had parked his truck with Shade and Viper inside with his brother. Her eyes then went to the side mirror. Silas was making a turn into the street they had just left.
Rory had noticed their direction also.
“They are going to check the house out.”
Jewell bit her lip in concern. “Probably why Viper didn’t want us hanging around,” she agreed.
Keeping her phone where it could be seen at a glance, she waited anxiously for another text to come through.
“A watched pot never boiled.”
“I wonder what happened?” she mused out loud.
“Why Incog wasn’t there?” he ascertained.
“Yes.”
“No clue. I wish I did.”
“Could he have seen us at the hotel or the restaurant with The Last Riders?” She took a wild guess.
“No. Cash told me at lunch that Moon went ahead and had been watching Incog’s house before we even hit town.”
“Then he didn’t plan on the spur of the moment not to be there?”
Rory nodded, not taking his eyes off the road.
“He had no intention of being there, which means he wanted us here in Fort Mills. When we find out that reason—”
Rory suddenly stopped what he was saying to abruptly put on his blinker.
Jewell looked at him in surprise as he pulled over to the side of the road. “What are you doing?”
Jerking his cell phone out of his pocket, he pulled up an app on his phone.
Dismayed, she saw the app that he had pulled up. “You think there’s an air tag in here?”
Both of them stared at each other, aghast at what was showing. It took them ten minutes vainly searching the SUV interior for them to admit the tag must be outside.
“Stay inside.”
She almost argued then realized it made better sense for her to keep a watchful eye on their surroundings.
He walked around the outside of the SUV before going to his knees on the passenger side.
Jewell rolled the window down. “You see anything?”
“No.” Shaking his head in frustration, Rory moved to the back of the vehicle then to the driver’s side.
Jewell saw him bend down by the back wheel. He didn’t rise as quickly as the other times he had looked.
Trying to look over the headrest, Jewell tried to see what was taking so long when he stood and got back inside.
“You find—”
He held out his hand. The air tag sat on his palm.
“Fucking hell!” She wrathfully started to take it from him to toss it out the window, but Rory closed it in his grasp before she could.
“Should we ask Viper what to do?”
As much as she hated to admit it, Rory was right. She texted Viper about what they had found and whether to throw it away. They had to wait several minutes for his reply. Showing Rory Viper’s answering text, he started the car with a laugh.
“You know, I’m starting to like Viper more and more every day.”
Unwittingly, Rory had just given the true reason why she had become a Last Rider. Grinning down at the text, she settled back in her seat to buckle her seat belt.
I have a better idea. Let’s fuck with him.
Chapter Eighteen
Rory stared out the front window of the truck stop, surveying the large trucks refueling. A satisfied smile played on his lips when he saw one extremely large trucker climb out of his rig to approach the store.
The beefy truck driver looked like a linebacker for an NFL team. Taking a sip of his coffee, Rory went to the racks of snacks closest to the door. Grabbing several, he waited until he saw the trucker move to the coffee pot. He made his move when he casually strolled across the store to the hot food section next to the coffee pots. Taking out two hot dog buns from a heated drawer, he made the hot dogs as the trucker filled a huge plastic jug.