Beck: Hollywood Hitman Read Online Free Page A

colleagues.
    Fallon leaned back into the leather couch. “I get it.” She smiled. “Tough to talk about things at first. Think we all went through that. Especially the first gig. But we’re here. We’re meant to be here for each other. Estrella prefers it that way.”
    “There’s about twelve in-house?”
    “Thirteen right now.” Dex slid his gaze toward the back wall. “Take that for what it’s worth.”
    Beck glanced toward the guy standing solo. Leather jacket. Black boots. A tattoo on his . . . neck? Not military, not at all.
    “Jax. Got here three months ago. He’s new too.”
    “He wasn’t on my list of operatives.”
    “What would they write for his resume?” Dex upended his beer. “Felon? Knows all the drug runners in L.A.? Well-connected in the criminal underworld?”
    “There are worse qualities,” Fallon said. “Just because he didn’t come up the same way doesn’t mean there isn’t value.”
    Dex shook his head as though he wasn’t convinced. “Former cops are bad enough—like we need a guy who actually went to jail.”
    “Only thing between any of us and jail at this point is the military. Most of us should be locked up for all we’ve done.”
    “Different when you’re doing it for a bigger cause,” Dex said.
    “You keep telling yourself that, Mr. Navy.” Jax pushed off the back wall and dropped his beer bottle in the recycling.
    Dex’s jaw tightened and his knuckles whitened around the neck of his beer bottle. “You got good hearing for a guy can’t seem to remember what he heard or saw.”
    “Just because I’m not a snitch doesn’t mean I don’t remember. You got me confused with one of you boys who gets to shoot for free.”
    Dex whipped around and his eyes flashed fire, but his mouth stayed closed in a thin line.
    “That’s right, Dex, you just keep on being the welcome squad. See how many friends you still have, once the new guy knows what you’re about.” Jax’s gaze landed on Beck. “Good luck, buddy. Guess you know from your old job that the bad guys don’t always look bad.” He flashed a look at Dex and smiled, then sauntered out the rec room door.
    “Why the fuck would Estrella hire someone like that?” Dex asked through gritted teeth. “What could he possibly bring to the team?”
    “Not clear to me yet,” Fallon said. “But Estrella knows her stuff, and I trust her.”
    “Yeah, I trust her,” Dex said. “But not him. Definitely not him.”
     

Chapter Five
     
    “The first letters?” Beck stood in the main operations room with Remi. He opened the file. He’d read and reread the letters and the file over the last two days. Each letter had a different picture of Natalie Warner cut from a magazine with a giant red X through the photo. Beneath the photo of Natalie, in an angry red scrawl, were the words Kill The Whore .
    “They came back clean without prints. Mailed from varying locations in Los Angeles, so nothing there. They’ve escalated to following her. They tailed her all the way home last week.”
    Beck looked up from the papers.
    Remi shook his head. “No plates. You have everything you need?”
    “Sounds like she’s a tough one.”
    “Doesn’t trust anyone. Family isn’t supportive. Major daddy issues, so her choices in regards to men haven’t been wise. Leaves lots of possibilities for potential stalkers. Could be someone who knows her, a stranger, or some random she took home.”
    “Police?”
    “Studio doesn’t want them, she doesn’t want them. She doesn’t want us either but the studio is bringing us in. They prefer discretion, especially with the Shemax premiere coming up.”
    Beck looked back at the tablet. In her picture, Natalie Warner didn’t look too tough or too wild. A sadness in her eyes made Beck doubt there were as many random hookups in her life as Remi thought.
    “We need to put you in place today. You ready?”
    Beck looked around the room and out the giant windows and toward the L.A. cityscape in the