Read Online The Warrior Code by Ty Patterson - Free Book Online Page B

sped by, lost on Zeb, who was thinking about those who moved in shadows and killed from those shadows.
    A thought struck him and he called Broker again.
    ‘Zeb, at this rate, you’ll finish your speaking quota for the year pretty early.’ He chuckled when he heard silence from Zeb’s end.
    ‘Where are the others?’ Zeb asked him. The others were Bwana, Roger, Chloe and Bear. The four of them along with Zeb and Broker were the Warriors. All of them were former Special Forces, except Broker, who had been a Ranger, and Chloe, who had served in the 82 nd Airborne.
    ‘Everyone is between missions. Clare hasn’t found us anything yet. Chloe and Bear are in Canada, in Toronto. Chloe is taking part in some kind of marathon.’ Chloe loved running and ran 10Ks on the days she took it easy. Bear, her partner, ex- Special Forces, was hard as granite, but drew the line at running. ‘There’s a reason the good Lord made man invent wheels,’ he always said. They were the best close-protection pair Zeb had come across. They also had other skills.
    Bwana and Roger had served together and found camaraderie in each other that ran deep and silent, it continued when they had left the Army. ‘Bwana’s in Tennessee. His dad’s ill – lung cancer and – he’s spending some time at home. Roger’s in Texas. Probably chasing some skirt. You need them?’
    Zeb shook his head, then realized Broker couldn’t see. ‘Nope. Just wanted to know where they were. Let me know how it goes with Bwana’s dad.’
    He passed a slew of cop cars heading the other way, their lights flashing. Kelly, acting on his call.
     
    ‘Can you get prints off this?’ He handed Perez’s phone to Kelly.
    They were in a small room in the Town Hall, just the four of them, Kelly, the twins, and Zeb. Kelly had promised him the room wasn’t recorded. Kelly had updated them on what the cops had found at the RV. Which wasn’t much. His forensic guys were still at the site, but they hadn’t come across any convenient note which stated why they were interested in the Petersen twins.
    His bushy eyebrows came together as he studied the phone lying on the table between them. He frowned. ‘This is evidence that you’ve picked up from the crime scene. Don’t make life difficult for me.’
    The I can make it difficult for you was loud and unspoken.
    Zeb shrugged. He had been threatened by many, and as threats went, this didn’t even rank on his scale. ‘You got an anonymous tip about the body. You got another tip about the phone.’
    The frown disappeared as Kelly considered it, accepted it, and leaned forward to pick up the phone.
    ‘Don’t touch it.’
     
    The call came an hour later. By then Kelly had grown increasingly grumpy at Zeb’s refusal to explain what they were waiting for.
    Zeb lifted a hand to silence him, and with a glove-clad finger, accepted the call after it rang four times. He pressed another button, the speaker.
    There was dead air for some time, and then a voice came on.
    ‘Is this the bodyguard?’
    The voice had no accent, the diction clear.
    Zeb didn’t answer. The voice waited a beat and carried on. ‘We just wanted to talk to the women. Ask them some questions. You could have minded your own business and things would’ve been just fine. But you had to play the hero, didn’t you?’
    Zeb still didn’t answer. He leaned back in his chair, knowing how this call would take shape. He looked at the wall behind Kelly and the women. The wall was bare, painted, not wallpapered, and he occupied himself by working out how many layers of paint had gone on it.
    Two at the most. These are town offices; they need to be functional, not luxurious.
    He switched his attention to the phone when the voice called out. ‘Hello? Are you there, Mr. Bodyguard?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘That’s it? That’s all you have to say? No threats? No I’ll-hunt-you-down messages to me?’ The voice chuckled.
    ‘Nope. You made the call. Say your piece.’
    ‘Give us