Impossible Odds: Rescue Team Nine

Chapter 22

Dice

I'm afraid my friends are right. My dice-rolling days with the women are over. She's ruined it for me. Gunner is once again humming The Wedding March when I enter the room.

"Go ahead, man. This time you can't spook me."

My comrade's lying back on the sheets, his hands behind his head. Twirling a toothpick between his lips, he grins. "Oh, I wasn't trying to. I have a feeling that woman does enough of that on her own without my help. You're a lucky man. She's a looker, that one."

It's true. Cloey is gorgeous, but it's not her looks that attracted me. It's her no-care attitude that drew me in. She's more comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt with her hair thrown up on the top of her head than she is in a dress, but even casual I can't help but feel the need to take her somewhere in private. I've never thought of myself as the lay-claim kind of guy, but I can't help but want to secure my hold on the pretty blonde.

"I must say, your family sure knows how to entertain."

I shake myself from my thoughts and bring myself back to the present. Sitting on the bed, I face my partner. "You going to spill the real reason you're in my room?"

"Bear found something he thought you might find interesting."

He hands me a sheet of paper. Reading over the information, I whistle. "My brother's been busy. Funny enough, I'm impressed."

The spreadsheet documents each transaction. I'm not shocked about my brother's illegal dealings with Benjamin Easton. Although, coming from a man who prefers golf clubs, I'm surprised to see weapons as his product of choice. Dalton has never been happy thriving under our father's success. He's money hungry and power is something he craves. According to the carefully transcribed notes, the weapons are being bought by a third party and I suspect who that third party is.

"It's not the first time politics would be funded by illegal methods," Gunner comments.

"Except that he's not running for office." I look up from the paper. "Don't get me wrong. I'm sure he will at some point. He's been waiting for his time in the limelight for a long time and Father wants nothing more than Dalton to follow in his footsteps. But it looks like my brother is tired of his allowance and decided to get his own."

"Using Benjamin Easton to do his dirty work?"

Gunner asks the question, but we both know the answer. "More like them using each other to climb the financial ladder."

"So where does that put Les Andrews?"

I glance out the window and watch the moon move behind the clouds. "Dalton was always using Les in school to do his bidding. The two had a strange friendship."

Standing, I pull my shirt off. I'm tired. Just thinking about it all makes my head hurt, and the only thing I want to do right now is rest and dream about a certain blonde.

"It makes sense. He's using Les, and Benajmin's using both of them to take the fall for him if something goes wrong, but they are doing the same thing to him so it's a catch twenty-two."

"Sucks being the small man," Gunner grumbles. He rolls off the bed and heads toward the door. "I'm going to go get some shut-eye."

I don't pay attention to the sound of the door closing behind my comrade. Pulling my pants off, I climb into bed. Turning the switch on the lamp next to me, I allow the darkness to pull me under.