Page 33 of Play Dirty

Madi snorted. “That’s all?”

“Look at it this way,motek. If one of us dies, you’ll never get to hear me explain myself.”

“What makes you think I care about anything you have to say?”

“For the same reason I let you into my hotel room the other night. Now,” Az took a deep breath. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

14

Madigan

Madigan had dealt with his fair share of disasters, but usually he was the instigator. It was far easier to dive into hell when you were the one leading than to follow someone in, which was essentially what Az was asking him to do.

Madigan didn’t like it one bit, but what choice did he have? Nevermind his anger at the traitorous fucker. It would have to be set aside until later.

For now, Az had something Madigan needed: knowledge of the shipyard, as scant as it might be. And a phone.

“Gimme your cell,” Madigan demanded, then pulled down the visor on his mask.

For once, Az didn’t argue, just handed Madigan his phone as they stepped over Ryan’s body and into the hallway. Madigan tucked it into his pocket and froze when Az lifted a hand to halt him.

They waited as a man passed down an adjacent hallway, then Az tapped his wrist and held up two fingers.

Once the two minutes had passed, they crept down the hall.

Az guided them through the warehouse, and they exited through a side door in the building with no problem. In fact, the easy passage made Madigan nervous, and he could tell by the tight furrow in Az’s brows that he felt similarly.

Just outside the door, they crouched between the wall and two shipping containers and yanked off the gas masks.

The shipyard was a hive of activity, beeps and buzzes piercing the air along with clanks of heavy machinery moving and workers yelling. The noise level was a boon, but the more immediate problem was how they’d make their escape. Madigan couldn’t see an easy way out. As far as he could tell, they were surrounded by cyclone fencing capped with barbed wire. He caught sight of a couple of guys in plain clothes strolling the length of the fence, who could’ve been workers but also could’ve been undercover armed guards.

“How long before that stuff wears off?” he asked.

“An hour. We don’t have that, though.”

“No shit.”

Az arched a brow at him, but instead of responding, Madigan lifted the phone Az had handed him and punched in a number he’d memorized months ago.

“Who’re you calling?”

Madigan caught his knee jerk response before he spat it out and corrected himself. “The Red Queen.”

He didn’t want to make this call. He figured it would put him and Jonah at even favor-wise, and he’d always enjoyed having the upper hand in that regard. But shit, once again, his options were limited.

“Red,” Caspian answered.

“I need eyes on a location right now. Is that even possible?”

“Madigan? Where the fuck are you? Why’d you call this number and not my cell?”

“I needed to be sure you’d answer.” It would’ve been easier for Cas to ignore him on his regular cell, but calling the Red Queen’s number guaranteed a response. “I don’t have time for a bunch of questions, though. All that Google Earth shit…could you hack into it and see something live? Or take over a drone or something?”

Az stared at him and shook his head at Madigan like he was crazy. “Your technological optimism is touching, Madigan,” he muttered under his breath.

Madigan glared at him.