“Yeah, they all do want to be my friend, but only because I have money. How can I tell if someone wants to be around me just for the real me?”
“Well, you might want to answer another question first.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you even know who the real you is?” asked Nash.
Temple started to say something, stopped, and looked off again. “I don’t think the guy’s coming back here. Why don’t we go to the facility we searched before? We can take my jet.” He added excitedly, “I got the latest Gulfstream, the G800. It’s like the Taj Mahal at forty-one thousand feet. Set me back sixty million after my trade-in, but hey, it’s just money. Can’t take it with you, right?”
Nash shook his head. “No, let’s do a road trip instead.”
Temple looked startled. “A road trip? It’s a long drive.”
“Well, maybe along the way we can rekindle thefriendshipwe never had.”
“You are one strange dude, Dillon.”
“Well, maybe I have every right to be,” said Nash.
He put the car in gear and drove them off.
* * *
It was well past midnight. In two days’ time Nash and Temple would be heading to Shock’s training facility in a neighboring state. But Nash needed to meet with someone first.
He drove into the alleyway, blinked his lights, then killed the engine.
He had told Thura that he was going to snoop around Nash’s old home to see if he could find out anything.
Shock got out of the SUV parked in the alleyway and walked toward Nash, who had also climbed out of his vehicle. The two men met midway between the two cars and shared an impromptu hug.
“Damn good to see you, Walter. Didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance again.”
“It’s great to see you too, Shock. How’s Byron doing?”
“No problems there. But, man, the shit you’ve been doing and in the places you been to that you told me about when you called? Damn miracle you still standing.”
“You built me to survive, Shock. And I have, so far.”
“So the lady is hot to trot to find you again?”
“She’s made it my and Rhett Temple’s sole mission on earth.”
“So how you gonna play it?”
“I’ll go along to get along, stall for time, and continue to discover all I can about her operations. I’ve already passed a lot along to the FBI. She had an all-hands meeting with her cartel partners. Now she’s going to meet with the guy who put her mother in prison and probably tried to kill her.”
“So the lady is playin’ both sides. Risky, but show’s she got some balls.”
“She has the biggest pair I’ve seen on anyone, Shock. But her risks are always calculated. Only this one I can’t figure out. Yet.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“We’re driving to your training facility in two days’ time. Is there any way you can get the tattoo binders out of there? Keeping in mind that they might have eyes on the place?”
“Consider it done, Walter. Got a cleanin’ crew goes in weekly, so if they got eyes on it, that won’t raise no flags. I’ll put Byron in as part of the team tomorrow. Old Black dude takin’ out the trash ain’t gonna get nobody suspicious. He’ll bag the binders and get ’em out that way.”
“Thanks, Shock. I. . .I know I could have put this all in a text or told you when I phoned, but—”