Page 43 of Burn

An update came through just as I pulled into the garage. Bones and Voodoo were on my shit list. Lunchbox’s too based on his reaction. We’d dropped the borrowed cars with a guy to clean them up before we went to the airport. The flight back was uneventful, particularly because we hadn’t had Gracie with us.

No, Bones pulled rank and sent her with Voodoo. The fucker didn’t even bother to tell us. He just left with her before dawn with only a two-line note for explanation.

Transporting the client. See you at house.

See us at the house. That was going to take him a day or two to drive her there. Longer if they ran into trouble. Bones only said they would be fine and we needed to head home.

“We should have tagged her,” Lunchbox said as he opened the back door of my car. Goblin hopped down and circled around to wait for me.

“Not sure if you noticed,” I said as I levered myself out of the car. “We were a little busy.”

“I noticed.” Lunchbox snagged my gear along with his before he headed inside. I’d bitch, but my back was hurting and my leghadn’t shut the fuck up in two days. Pain sizzled along my quad and up to my hip where it joined the flash fire in my back.

Rather than leave me to limp alone, Goblin moved along with me. “I’m good, buddy,” I assured him, not that the Staffy seemed to be buying what I was selling. Not getting underfoot, he twisted to check on me regularly as we made our way to the door that Lunchbox left open.

Unsurprisingly, our duffels were left in the mudroom. He was likely sweeping the house. I paused at the control panel. I checked base regularly when we were on the road. Multiple cameras, motion sensors, and alarms kept us in the loop. We brought no one here and did the majority of the work on the place ourselves.

Goblin stayed with me while I entered my code, then pulled up the log. Nothing had changed since my last check-in, but it was always better to be certain. Just because we were paranoid didn’t mean everyone wasn’t out to get us.

Work like we did earned enemies. We tried not to leave any behind us that weren’t already six feet under, but we couldn’t claim a perfect record. Hope for the best and plan for the worst.

The scanner showed movement on the second floor. Lunchbox was finishing his sweep. I waited for his all clear on my phone before I entered the code which would send the messages to Bones and Voodoo that we were tucked in securely.

“Come on, Gobs,” I said to the dog watching me so closely. He rose to follow me inside as I headed for the kitchen. I wanted coffee. I kind of wanted food but with Lunchbox in the house, I’d leave the meal planning to him.

It was generally safer for all involved. I got the coffee loaded and the water refilled. Pausing at the fridge, I scanned the contents. We needed a restock run.

That was Voodoo’s job.

Goblin settled in the middle of the kitchen while I moved around. As much as I wanted to sit, I needed to stretch. So, I’d take the light exercise while the coffee brewed. I pulled out one of the bigger dental treats for my buddy.

He watched me, not leaping up from his resting position until I clicked my tongue. Then he was up and in front of me, waiting patiently.

“Good boy,” I told him before I handed it to him. He carried the treat over to eat it under the table while I flipped open the cupboard. Protein bars were still in stock, I grabbed a couple to shove in my pocket.

I’d take them to my office with me.

“I’m grabbing a shower,” Lunchbox said over the intercom. It was easier to just broadcast if we needed to pass a message and we didn’t know where the others were. “I’ll take care of dinner after. See if you can figure out how far away they are?”

“They won’t be here tonight,” I informed him without touching any of the buttons. It wouldn’t be a surprise to him either. When the coffee was ready, I poured half of the carafe into a tumbler, then carried it and the protein bars to my office with Goblin trailing behind me.

I shoved the barn door wide. Roughly ten by fifteen feet, my office was a comfortable rectangle. There was an emergency exit located in the middle. The room could also be shut down with one push, dropping shields over the windows and the door.

Once engaged, safe room mode could only be lifted from the inside. The same with the emergency exit. It couldn’t be opened from outside. Right now the windows overlooked a huge meadow with three board fencing visible in the distance.

A barn was set up on the property. It hadn’t been renovated when we did the house. Instead, we kept it as it was. The plan was to remodel it later. For now, it worked to store some equipment and for target practice. Outside of Goblin, we didn’twant animals here. We didn’t keep a staff and we could be gone for weeks at a time.

“Take a break,” I said to Goblin and he headed right over to the giant dog bed in the corner. It was big enough I could sprawl in it, and had before. Gobs and I had taken more than one nap right there.

Coffee on the desk, I brought my systems up from shutdown then let them run through their cleanup programs as they came up one at a time. I plugged my phone into a charger, then eased down into the chair. I could make myself more comfortable and just use my crutches, but I wasn’t in the mood right now.

Once I was in my seat, I lifted my left leg and rested it on the bench meant for the purpose. The relief was almost immediate and I blew out a breath before I downed a swallow of coffee.

It could clean the pipes, it was so damn strong. Just what the doctor ordered. Another message popped on my phone as I began logging into my machines. Bones had detoured.

I frowned, then pulled it to me to read more firmly.

He detoured to backup Voodoo with Grace. I scrolled to check the other messages that had come in. They were circumspect, mostly delivered in code on the off chance someone hacked our system.

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