“He wouldn’t shut up. One of those assholes who likes to listen to himself talk.”
“All right. I’ll have Torque look at the prints and video, see what he can dig up. You gonna hang around Chicago for a while?”
He nodded. The data search was in good hands with Torque, Syre’s son. No one dug up intel better or faster. The rest would be up to Raze. “I’ll wait to hear back from Torque and spend some time on the streets. Maybe they’ll come to me.”
“Watch your back.” Crossing her long legs on the couch, she leaned toward the screen. “And don’t trust Adrian. He’ll throw you under the bus, too.”
Touching a finger to his brow in salute, he acknowledged the warning and signed off.
CHAPTER 3
When he was asked later what drew him to the small jazz club in an upscale part of Chicago, Raze didn’t have an answer. The place wasn’t his style with its small round tables, live singer, and elegant patrons. But he’d been drawn to it and the sultry voice of the female entertainer that floated into the street on the night breeze. Maybe because it was so different from the hard-edged clubs Torque helmed that gave fledglings a safe place to find blood and sex, and-most importantly-register their name and sire for the records. Raze thought maybe what he needed was a palate cleanser. Something different.
Damn it. He was restless and unsettled. He could barely stand to be in his hotel room. Even with the television on and the internet at his fingertips, he felt isolated and stifled. He was beginning to wonder if Baron’s bullet had been tainted in some way. It wasn’t like him to… brood. As endless as his life was, he still didn’t have time to waste being a pain in his own ass.
He paid the club’s cover charge and went inside, discovering a small open space with rust colored walls adorned with massive impressionist canvases. Pendant lights offered intimate illumination, except for at the bar, where the blue glass shelves were lit with bright white light. The floor was covered in multicolored mosaic tiles and patrons danced freely wherever they found an open space, giving the whole establishment a comfortable bohemian feel.