Page 19 of Ride Forever

“I had to work a deal,” he said, closing the door. “That’s why it took me so long.”

“What deal?”

“Fortitude has a new live-in cook.” He sighed and sat at the table.

I rolled my eyes and put down the plastic bag of snacks. “I could do with one of those right about now.”

“The guy… The informant was almost no good. His importance to the Hollow Men was almost over, but he was able to give me a few leads to follow.”

“So in exchange for getting him out of Las Vegas and setting him up with a cushy job with burly bodyguards, you got us a couple of maybes?” I curled my lip and opened a bag of potato chips. “Seems like a bad deal to me.”

“It’s better than nothing.”

“We’ll see about that,” I muttered. Licking the salt off my fingers, I looked at Chaser.

“What?”

“I was careful, you know. You have to stop getting so worked up about my whereabouts. I just went across the street.”

“It’s not about that,” he replied, taking the bag of chips out of my hand.

“There’s that cotton wool again.” I snatched the packet back. “I may not be as smart or as trained or as bulletproof as you, but I’m your equal in this, Chaser. Don’t forget that.” I shoved a chip into my mouth and crunched. “Oh, and that goes for life, sex, and everything in between.”

Chaser grunted and began picking through my haul. “Instant noodles?”

“And chocolate.”

He took out the gossip magazine and raised an eyebrow. “I see Jennifer Aniston is still keeping busy.”

I made a face. “There are so many things wrong with those words coming out of your mouth I don’t even know where to start.”

I watched as he flipped through the magazine before tossing it aside and taking out the instant noodles and setting them on the table.

“So, what now?” I asked. “What are we going to do with your maybe leads?”

“Tomorrow,” Chaser said, filling the electric kettle with water. “We leave and see if my informant is full of shit or not.”

“Leave?”

“It’s time to head to Las Vegas.”

“For real?” My stomach churned in a different kind of way.

“For real.”