Page 104 of Mike

“Is it them?” he asked Joe.

She drew up her app and examined her camera feed. “Sure looks like it.” She turned the device to him.

“They’re circling.” Mike nodded. “Probably making sure we’re long gone up the trail.”

It took a few minutes for them to park, and when they finally did, the pair leaped from their car, going directly to his truck.

“I don’t see any tools,” Mike grumbled.

“No. Look,” Joe pointed to the screen and enlarged the picture. “Cameron has a couple of small screwdrivers or nut-drivers, and Melanie has…a slim-jim?”

Mike growled. “Where the hell would she have learned how to use one of them?”

“YouTube,” Joe answered without hesitation. “It’ll show you how to do anything from creating a bomb, to baking a souffle.”

Sure enough, Mellie got up on his running board, then jumped to his hood while Cameron kept watch. From her new position, his ex-wife leaned over and threaded the slim-jim between the frame and the glass.

Seriously, Mike was going to have to get a new truck. Not only was there no alarm to set on his old-ass vehicle, the locks were way too easy to jack.

It took all of four minutes for Mellie to pop it open.

“Huh. Somebody’s been practicing.” Joe’s tone almost praised.

Mike huffed. But…yeah. If Mel’s perfidy hadn’t been aimed at him, Mike might have been impressed.

Once the door was open, Mellie jumped down, and Cameron got in the truck. He quickly went to work with his screwdriver, carefully prying around the edges of the horn pad in the middle of the steering wheel.

It became apparent what damage he was looking to inflict.

“They’re going to loosen the nut that holds my steering wheel,” Mike growled, watching as Cameron did just that.

Joe nodded. “With these mountain roads, they’re hoping it’ll come off while you’re driving and we’ll be sent over the edge of some cliff.”

“That’s a pretty big ‘if,” Mike responded with a huff. “It’s a good thing YouTube doesn’t teach smarts.”

Mike had taken more than one defensive driving course; learning what to do in case of any kind of emergency. If his wheel came off in his hands while driving, he’d immediately downshift and gently pump the brakes so as not to send the truck into any kind of spin. Not foolproof, but the odds would be in his favor.

Mellie and Cameron were idiots.

“Well, what do you say?” Mike asked Joe. “Is it time to confront them?”

“Sure,” Joe said, but before she closed her app, he thought he saw her tap out a quick, one-word text. What the hell was that about?

He’d ask later. Right now, he had a duplicitous pair to scare.

Coming around the boulder with Joe at his back, Mike stopped abruptly.

Dammit. Another car was pulling into the lot. The last thing he wanted for the confrontation was an audience.

“Hold on.” He put an arm out to stop Joe, and they both paused, watching.

The car didn’t just park in a designated spot as Mike assumed it would. It pulled up right behind Mellie and Cameron’s car, blocking it in.

The duo hadn’t noticed yet, still intent on their task, but Mike sure was interested to know who was joining their op. Because it sure looked like it was backup. Was that who Joe had contacted? Had she been worried Mike would go off the rails, so she’d called in one of his team to intervene?

Mike watched, narrowing his eyes.

The car door opened.

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