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“What do you mean?” Zane asked.

“I did a deep dive into his life. I searched for anything which would establish a pattern of behavior to help strengthen Bridget’s case against him. I checked to see if he might be the one who planted the camera in her home. Both were dead ends, but the deep dive into his financials wasn’t. As you can guess, he does pretty well for himself, but he received a sizeable deposit to his account from a law firm located in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. We’re talking fifty thousand dollars. The kicker is his account received the same amount in a transfer made this morning. Basically this law firm has paid the good doctor one hundred thousand dollars within the span of a few weeks. The first one came two days after Oran and Ivy Williams issued a payment to put Tarrant Security on retainer.”

Zane’s jaw dropped. “You connected Seth Masters to Tarrant Security? You think he forced himself on Bridget so they could get video evidence to support the Williams’ case against Bridget? Holy. Shit.”

“Not me. I didn’t think Tarrant would go so far to make a case. Jay’s the one who had me check for a possible connection.”

“I even called the arresting deputy and had him ask Masters a couple of questions,” Jay spoke up. “He’s hiding behind his lawyer. I thought if he knew we were in on the set-up, he would throw Tarrant under the bus, but he’s not talking. I’ve never known Tarrant to go to such extremes for a case. It has me worried about what else they have planned.”

“But this could be what we need to shut them down for good.”

Jay shrugged. “Not without more evidence. Everything we have is circumstantial.”

Zane opened his mouth to protest when BB breezed into the room with his laptop in hand.

“Sorry, I’m late, but I’ve got everything cued up whenever you want to get started.”

With his mind still reeling with the information on Bridget’s case, Zane stared at BB.

“Good,” Jay said, addressing everyone in the room as he continued. “We have Bridget and the kids covered for now. The reason I called everyone here though is because of the De la Peñas.”

Zane started to rise. “Guess that’s my cue to get lost, right?”

Tristin shot him a withering glare. “Not this time. Sit.”

“You’re looping me in? Why now when you’ve had me benched this whole time?”

“Because Cane Black received a phone call and voicemail on his burner cell.”

Zane fell back into his chair. “From who?”

Jay nodded at BB. He pulled up his laptop, used his finger to move the cursor on the touch pad, and hit the return key. Zane stared at a random spot on the table as he listened to the voice coming over the laptop’s speakers.

“Black. Look, man, I know I’m the last one you expect to call, but we need to meet. Believe me, you want to hear what I have to say. Call me, man.”

“Thumper.” Zane knew his voice anywhere. The rotund enforcer had a hesitant quality to his voice which disappeared when he was conducting business for the boss. Some might mistake it for fear or insecurity. Zane knew it to be a front, causing Thumper’s targets to let their guard down and give him an advantage.

“I’ve got a trace on the phone. You should call him back and see what he wants.”

BB passed the phone to him. He stared at it for several seconds, and then he pressed the redial button. The persistent ringing grated on his nerves, and he started drumming his fingers against the table. He was ready to end the call when Thumper finally answered, sounding out of breath and panicked.

“Black. Where are you? You just disappeared.”

“You left me for dead.”

“That was Singer, not me. He figured you probably died, but I knew you were still out there somewhere. You’re a tough son of a bitch.”

Black’s persona slipped over him, and he scowled. “What do you want?”

“Not on the phone, man. It’s not safe.”

“There’s a scar on my abs that says it’s not safe to meet you face-to-face either.”

“I told you, man. That was Singer, not me.”

Zane stayed silent, aware his teammates’ eyes were trained on him. Black was a man of few words, and Zane knew the longer he waited, the more Thumper would babble, giving BB time to run the trace.

“Meet me. Tomorrow night. The usual place.”