Page 30 of Securing the Odds

“You may live for bad ideas, but I like well-thought-out plans with backup.”

Jake shrugged. “We don’t have time for that. Tammy’s been in that house too fucking long as it is.”

“Fine. But I want it on record if things get FUBAR, I tried to be the voice of reason.”

Jake threw him a look. “The only thing that’s getting fucked up are a few faces.”

Decker pushed off the car. “What’s the plan?”

“We’ll go around back. See if we can get eyes on Tammy before going in.” He held out a fist, and Deck bumped it. “Let’s go.”

Even though it was nearing time for people to get home from work, the street was quiet, and under cover of darkness, he and Decker were able to slip around back with no one the wiser.

At the corner of the house, Jake held up a fist, signaling Decker to halt. He strained his ears, hearing the faint sounds of a TV—some sitcom laugh track—but he didn’t hear anything else.

Inching forward, he peeked into the first window he came to. It looked in on a kitchen. The taller of the two guys he’d met up with for the drop-off stood in front of the open fridge, inspecting its contents. The other guy and Tammy’s asshole ex sat at a table, a beer in front of each of them. The asshole was laughing.

Son of a bitch, the prick was in on it.

Jake signaled to Deck by pointing to his eyes with veed fingers, then the window, then held up three fingers. After, crouching low, he bypassed the window moving farther along the house, Deck at his back.

He came to a sliding glass door that opened into a living room and was surprised to see Tammy alone, sitting on the couch. A cloth covered her mouth and from the way she was sitting, it appeared her hands and feet were tied, but otherwise, she seemed okay. He knew they weren’t in the clear yet, but just seeing her unharmed went a long way to tame the burning in his gut.

He tried the door. Locked. But he knew if he pulled up and gave it a little jiggle… The door opened soundlessly.

He turned to Deck and rolled his eyes—too fucking easy. They were dealing with a bunch of idiots.

Decker answered with a grin and a shake of his head.

As he stepped in, Tammy’s head turned, her eyes widening when she spied him, and Jake quickly moved a finger to cover his lips, warning her not to make a sound.

In his periphery, he saw Decker pull his gun and station himself at the side of the room, covering him as he made his way to Tammy. She tried to stand but lost her balance and ended up plopping back down on the couch. Reaching behind her head, he untied the gag then cradled her face. He stared at her a moment, taking her in before he kissed the side of her cheek and whispered in her ear, “I’ve got you.”

Pulling his knife from his back pocket, he knelt at her feet and sliced through the plastic zip tie that bound her ankles.

But before he could slice through the tie at her wrists, he heard a shouted, “What the fuck?”

Jake’s head swiveled. The taller of the two shitheads had entered the room, beer in one hand, sandwich in the other. Deck was quick, and with a hard hit to the back of the guy’s head with his gun, he had him crumbling to the floor.

His cry had alerted the other two and they came rushing into the room.

Jake pushed Tammy down to the ground using the couch as her shield. “Don’t move.”

He didn’t wait to see if she listened, before jumping over the back of the couch to help his friend. Tammy’s dipshit ex, Jake’s main target.

But before he could get to him, the asshole pulled a gun. Jake halted in his tracks, not because the gun was pointed at him, but because it was pointed at Tammy.

The prick had sidestepped the room until he had a clear shot of her behind the couch.

“You don’t want to do that, Kevin.” The name left a bad taste in Jake’s mouth, but he wanted the guy’s attention. And he got it when Jake took a few steps to position himself in the line of fire.

“Don’t fuckin’ move!” The gun swept from Tammy to Jake.

Perfect.

Jake tagged Deck making his way around the room, and in his periphery, he saw Tammy struggling to sit up. The movement caught Kevin’s eye as well.

“Hey, dickhead.” He got Kevin’s eyes back. Jake just needed to keep him talking a few seconds longer. Deck was almost on him. “You such a pussy, you’ve got to threaten a woman?”

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