Page 92 of Burn

All at once, what good mood she’d found fled. The sadness in her slashed at me.

“She doesn’t mind?” I asked even as we shifted our angle to head back to the house. We’d circled the barn and come back up the far side. No movement or changes to the landscape. The guys would have done their own scout while they were here, but since it was just me and Goblin on watch, I liked to see it for myself.

Part of the reason we’d set this as our staging area. We were a solid ninety minutes from anywhere. Even if they back traced us, by the time they would head here, we would all be long gone.

That was the plan.

Her long sigh almost made me regret asking the question. “No,” she said after a long moment. “At first, she wasn’t afan. She doesn’t want me to do it gratuitously.” A new smirk appeared. “I promised her, I never do it for free.” The last was said very tongue in cheek, and I felt more than saw the look she gave me.

“Waiting for me to ask, ‘how much’?” I teased and her laughter was a real reward for the choice.

“Maybe.” Then she sobered. “But the thing is, when it’s for an ad campaign or the story they are trying to tell with the product, I get it… I’m the canvas. Sometimes, you want a blank canvas so what the customer sees is the product.”

“Not sure I follow that,” I said as we followed the house around to the porch. Goblin was roaming, but the day was already promising to be a very warm one. “No offense to the products, but not sure a car or cologne is going to make me look at your body any differently than asyourbody.”

“Thank you,” she said with a kind of gracious ease. “But… think about it this way. Is it the cologne or the car that got me naked?”

The minute she proffered that idea, my dick was suddenly a little too tightly tucked. Fuck.

“Your expression right now is all the evidence we need that,” she said as she climbed the steps, “sex sells.”

“I really can’t argue with that.” Didn’t want to either. My phone was vibrating as we re-entered the air conditioned space. It felt a lot cooler and better on my overheated skin. The walk had also gotten the knots out of my back.

“Still can’t tell me what we’re doing here?” She had gone to get fresh water bottles and emptied one into Goblin’s bowl before setting a fresh one on my desk.

“No,” I answered. “We’ll be done soon and I can put some more hours into looking for your sister.”

“Sure,” she said, saluting me with the water bottle. “At least until whatever comes up next.”

That doubting note drew blood from my conscience as she headed down the hall.

“I’m going to repack my stuff. Should I add any of their stuff to their bags?”

I sighed. “They did it before they left.”

“Right, so just you and me. I’ll be back to help you then.”

Then she disappeared down the hallway and Goblin walked over to flop at my feet on the wooden floor, panting. He stared up at me until I met his gaze, then he cut loose with a ripper of a fart.

“Everyone is a critic,” I informed him, but he just wagged his tail. Then I looked back down the hall. Bones wanted to keep her clean. It made sense. She couldn’t betray what she didn’t know.

But we’d taken her home and we planned to keep her there. We didn’t take just anyone there either. Granted, she didn’t know where it was exactlyright now, that could change the more trips we took.

Then what excuse did we use to keep from letting her go? Because we absolutelyshouldlet her go.

I just didn’t want to.

Somehow, I was also pretty damn sure that Lunchbox and Voodoo were on my side in that argument.

Goblin farted again and I grimaced. “Goddamn, what are we feeding you?” I waved a hand in front of me and settled back at the table. The walk had definitely helped to ease the soreness and the stiffness.

That would have to do for now.

Right on schedule, I pulled my headset on and logged in. “Online,” I answered the call with one flick of the key. “We ready to go?”

“Standby,” Bones said. “We have more activity at El Mal Lugar.” The name of the factory was a dead giveaway or maybeit was just an inside joke. “What did our intel say about their movements?”

“Not as much as we would have liked,” I reminded him. “You wanted us in position sooner rather than later. As far as I can tell, they rotate between these three factories, but in a random-non-random pattern. El Mal Lugar was the prior alpha spot for distribution. Current spot should be El Lugar Agrietado.”

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