Page 138 of Balls to the Walls

He huffed out a breath, the anxiety rippling off him along with the fear. “Her husband knows the location of the gold.”

“And who is her husband?”

He paused for just a moment, then dropped the mother of all bombshells. “Dean Helmer.”

52

FNG

Everything came slowly into focus,screwing with my perception of reality. I wasn’t sure what happened or how I got here, but something was definitely very wrong. My hands were going numb above my head, but when I tried to move them, nothing happened.

I peered up, finding them bound by zip ties to a pipe. “What the fuck happened?”

“Ah, a very good question,” Mallock said, coming out of the shadows.

I shook my head, sure I was seeing things. This was Mallock, my friend who saved my life countless times on that ship. Yes, I caught him, but I was going to find out what he was after. I had no intention of ever handing him over to the authorities.

“You see, you have always been a problem for me.”

“I have?” I said in confusion.

“I tried to put my personal feelings aside for a long time. I do like you, FNG, but I’ve come to realize that I have let that interfere for way too long. There’s only one way out of this for you, and that’s to give up the gold.”

“The gold? I don’t have the gold,” I said, laughing at the thought of me carrying around all the gold like a prize.

“You know where it is. I found her.”

“Found who?”

“Your wife!”

Fear rippled through me. How could he have Honey? It wasn’t possible. She was safe at OPS. I made sure of it. “You’re lying.”

“Who do you think I was talking to in that building?”

“I have no fucking clue, but it wasn’t my wife!”

He chuckled darkly. “Blonde hair, blue eyes…a pixie of a woman. She really is the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever beheld.”

“My wife has brown hair and brown eyes,” I clarified.

“What?”

“Brown hair. Brown eyes,” I said slower. “You’ve got the wrong woman.”

“No, I found the marriage certificate.” He pulled something out of his back pocket, then shoved it in my face. I stared at the paper, and sure enough, that was my signature next to…

“Holy shit,” I murmured.

“Yes, Cody Moran. Do you still not recognize your wife?”

My mouth gaped open the longer I stared at the paper. There was just no way, no possible way…Then again… “I married her?” I shouted, my voice taking on a weird pitch. “Are you sure?”

“The paper doesn’t lie.”

“But…all I did was dance around a fire pit. That can’t seriously be a real thing!”

“Whether you did or not, you are in fact married to her.”

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