Rocket City Blues by J Morgan Woodall

Author:J Morgan Woodall [Woodall, J Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Special Inspector Matt Burlington was lost. In Stella’s apartment, sitting on her bed, he realized, for the first time in a long time, he didn’t know what to do. And it scared him.

On an average night, in these early morning hours, the Special Inspector and his Executive Officer would be finishing up another round of lovemaking followed by a satisfying cigarette, before falling into a blissful, deep sleep. Sometimes, if it had been a particularly eventful day, they might talk a bit of shop, but the night would always end with them spooning, his nose buried in her red hair, his arm around her waist, pulling her possessively into him.

The evening’s search had turned up nothing. She was nowhere to be found. An audit of the apartment complex surveillance system indicated it had been remotely jammed. This tampering had occurred suspiciously around the time she usually arrived home from work. Foul play was all but certain.

Of course, the list of suspects was long. Special Inspector Matt Burlington had made a lot of enemies during his ambitious and illustrious career of crime-fighting in the Rocket City. Several people came to mind immediately who would want to get back at him: 0rganized crime figures, smugglers, rapists, murderers. It could’ve even been the relatives of someone he’d killed in the line of duty or sent off to Penal One.

Hell, the list was endless.

Cutter Hawkins? Possibly, but it didn’t seem his style. He didn’t build a criminal enterprise the size of his by making stupid decisions like kidnapping a ZiP. Especially Burlington’s right-hand woman and lover. He knew Matt well enough to know the hell he would rain down on his illegal ventures. Cutter knew such an idiotic move would be bad for business.

The Tuttles? They were bullies and cutthroats, but there weren’t enough brains between the three of them to pull off something this coordinated. Especially since most of Rayford’s had been blown off, and he now lay in a medically-induced coma. Ol’ Man Gideon’s forte was peddling Moonbeam to ULA recipients and pimping out young girls. Junior did whatever his demented daddy told him. Electronic countermeasures would be a stretch for them.

In his mind, he kept coming back to the bounty hunter, Frost. Of all people, he had the means, the technology and the manpower to abduct Stella. But why? Simply because Matt had dressed him down at the Spaceport? He doubted Frost was the type to waste resources just to settle a slight, not unless he could gain something by it. But what other bird would he want to kill with one stone?

He would have to find the man to get that answer, and he too had disappeared. ZiP troopers had found his team rather quickly, holed up at a motel. But there was no sign of their leader. According to them, he had returned to Atlanta, but Matt wasn’t buying it. His gut told him that if he found Frost, he would find Stella.

He pulled a cig out of the pack and lit one.

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