out of here after the deal goes down.” Trip gave him a hard stare and spoke with brutal determination. “I finally have Draven in my crosshairs. I’m not backing down.”
“I can’t do all that from here! The deed is locked in my office.”
Trip flipped open the cell phone. “Make a call. Have your secretary fax the necessary papers. Don’t even think about dropping a clue that anything is out of order.”
“Then what?” Anger mixed with fear hung on his voice.
“You’ll sign the farm back over to Shye and give us the time and location of the next big drop. The longer it takes me to track Draven, the longer you’ll be our guest.”
“Do you realize what you’re asking me to do? Those men are stone-cold-killers. If they get wind that I’ve rolled over on them, I’ll be next on their list.”
“Like my brother?” Trip felt his muscles twitch and his finger tighten on the trigger.
“Look, I’m sorry about Ty, but I had nothing to do with that. Pike does what he wants without asking permission. I had no idea he killed your brother until Carter hired him to go after Shye.”
“Why don’t I believe you? You’ve been part of this circle all along.”
“The drug part, yeah. I didn’t know there would be killing. I didn’t even know who you were until Shye returned home. She refused to back down so Carter called Pike in to catch her.”
“What the hell did you expect when you hooked up with this group?”
“Easy money.” Gage shrugged then sighed. “But then you rolled into town and somehow managed to hook up with Shye. That’s when I heard the talk about Pike giving your brother an overdose. By then it was too late for me to get out.” He looked up with narrowed eyes and tight lips. “You don’t simply walk away from these guys.”
“You’ll have to overlook my lack of sympathy.” Trip shoved the phone close to his face. “Make the call.”
“Hard to dial with my hands tied,” came Gage’s snide remark.
Remle poked his back with the double barrel shotgun. “Don’t be an ass. Give us the number then be smart and tell your secretary what to do. Remember, no tricks or you’ll soon take lessons behind different kinds of bars .”
He stammered out the number to his office and watched as Trip keyed them into the unit then placed the phone on speaker.
“Gage Korben, Attorney at Law,” a woman answered.
“La, I need you to fax me some documents,” Gage told her.
“Gage, where are you? Pike was in here acting strangely. He’s looking for you and he didn’t bring Carter back.”
Trip saw Gage flinch as if he wanted to tell La to shut up, so he gave him a sharp warning nod.
Sweat trickled down Gage’s temples as he continued. “Did something go wrong?”
“He said Carter is dead but he seemed really out of it. I think he was high. He muttered rain riders or something.”
Gage’s face paled yet he kept his cool. “He’s just edgy over a recent discovery on the farm. Don’t worry about it. Go into the vault and fax me a copy of the title insurance for the farm and a sale contract.”
“Don’t tell me this thing is changing hands again.” La openly sighed into the receiver.
“Afraid so. Now that Carter is out of jail he wants it back and I really don’t have time to keep up with his insanity.”
“I just told you that Carter is dead. Weren’t you listening?”
Gage took a deep breath. “Who are you going to believe? Me or Pike? The man is crazier than Carter. Just do what I said okay? I want to take care of business so I can finish up for the day.”
“Ohhh…so that’s why you went out of town on business and sent Pike on a wild goose chase,” she chirped. “You didn’t want Pike to know about the switchback.”
Gage faked a laugh. “You catch on quickly, La. Would you be a doll and fax the proper paperwork so I can be done with this thing once and for all?”
“Of course. Give me a fax number.”
Trip held a piece of paper up to his face with