Before the Storm (Silence Jones Action Thrillers Series Book 4) by Erik Carter

Author:Erik Carter [Carter, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Josh locked eyes with Chase, way up there on the podium, in the midst of his boisterous presentation, his golden mask sparkling in the bright lights. Massive speakers flanked him on either side. Violent digital images pulsed on the towering screen behind him.

Even through all these people, across the massive crowd, the sheer distance between them, they’d met each other’s gazes.

Supposedly, there was a special bond between friends, something like telepathy. The ability to express complex thoughts through a simple nod or a raise of an eyebrow. Or that tired but enviable notion of a friendship so true that people can pick up where they left off, even years down the line.

There had been plenty of “friends” in the past, most of them originating in Josh’s playboy days. But it had been during the last few years, during his renaissance, his self-imposed reconstruction, that he’d gained what he considered a true friend in Chase.

Maybe it was Josh’s luck that the one friend he’d earned would betray him in the most dramatic fashion possible.

Or, more likely, it was karma, Josh’s just desserts for the rotten things he’d done in the past.

And his present…

Chase continued with his presentation—the obnoxious digital slaughter pulsing on the screen behind him—but every few seconds, his eyes flashed back to Josh.

Good. Josh wanted Chase to look his way so he could use some more of that telepathic friend-to-friend nonverbal communication to let him know what he was about to do.

Earlier, in the service corridor, Chase had proffered a series of loosely veiled threats and introduced his head of security, Derek Kershaw, who had said he would be monitoring Josh.

I’ll be watching you, Kershaw had said.

Kershaw had been true to his word. A few minutes after Josh had returned to the Grand Hall, shortly before Chase’s presentation began, he’d spotted Kershaw, fifty feet away in the crowd, near a bar.

Staring at him.

Josh had tried to put the old man out of his mind. He’d tried to forget the awful threats that Chase had given him, the unfathomable notion that someone he’d deeply trusted was now trying to blackmail him into signing his father’s beloved nonprofit over to Vizeria Group.

But he’d continue to sense Kershaw’s eyes upon him, an unrelenting sense of dread. Every time Josh succumbed to this notion, every time he scratched the metaphoric itch and turned to look, he found the creep still watching him.

But moments earlier—after the commotion when the tall man had bolted for the back of the room and the black guy in the silver suit had chased after him—Josh had watched as Chase and Kershaw had exchanged a glance. Kershaw had then gone toward the disturbance, following the other two men to the service door.

Which meant that Kershaw was no longer watching Josh.

Josh broke his stare with Chase and again looked over his shoulder. The tall guy had nearly made it to the door. The guy in the silver suit was closing in on him, but there was still a large distance between the two men.

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