Page 135 of For the Birds

“What about you and Scooter?”

“If you get out, I can take care of the two of us. Cut yourself loose and run out to my car and take off. Keep the gun and defend yourself.” Then he leaned back and looked into my eyes. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. If I could go back and do it all again—”

“Don’t you dare tell me you’d do it different,” I said with tears in myeyes.

“I wouldn’t have fought with you weeks ago.” His words were heavy with regret. “Too much wasted time.” Then he kissed me, one of his hands holding the back of my head while the other grabbed my left hand. His kiss was hard and demanding and reeked of goodbye.

He didn’t plan to get out ofthis.

But as he pulled back and gave me a tight smile, I realized he’d placed something in myhand.

An open pocket knife.

“Let’s get this over with,” James barked at Merv. “How do you want me to doit?”

“Hands behind her back, taped to the chair back. Just like you taughtme.”

I moved my hands behind me, and James gently gathered them together, hiding the knife in my hand and angling it so that I could use it and then wrapping my wrists with tape. After several loops, he tore it off, then ripped off another strip to tape my bound wrists to the center scrolls of the wooden chair. When he finished, he leaned into my left ear and whispered, “I made it thinner on the rightside.”

“Get up,” Merv barked. “What did you tellher?”

“You know how I feel about her. What do you think I toldher?”

“Go stand back where youwere.”

As James walked back over, I realized Scooter was in another chair being tied up by Merv’s brother, Paul. James gave him a long look, and Scooter nodded slightly. What had they just silently communicated?

I heard another car engine, and I immediately tensed. Could it be Jed? Had he figured out where we really were? Had my text gone through? Or was it Tim Dermot? I didn’t know why it bothered me so much that Dermot was a turncoat. He’d betrayed Buck Reynolds, not James, but he’d shown me kindness. As stupid as I knew it was, it felt like he was betraying metoo.

The engine turned off, and the men all turned their attention to the open warehouse doors behind me. Paul grinned, but Merv looked pissed.

“Where the hell is Reynolds?” Merv snapped. “You were supposed to bringhim.”

“Cool your shit. He’s on his way,” I heard a man say, but it wasn’t Tim Dermot’s voice. “Did you take care of thegirl?”

I thought he was talking about me, but Paul nodded. “We caught her outside of town, headed toward El Dorado.”

I gasped in horror. “Jeanne?”

Paul shot me an evil look. “I told her not to talk toyou.”

I couldn’t stop the sob that rose in my chest. I knew in my gut that he’d killed her. And Merv had egged him on. I’d seen it in my vision.

Scooter began to thrash in his chair. “I told you to leave her alone. I told you she’d keep quiet.”

“We left her alone, until she talked to Skeeter’s girlfriend. We couldn’t riskit.”

“But it didn’t matter anyway,” I said through my tears. “You’re gettin’ away with whatever you want. Why couldn’t you just leave her alone?”

“Did Lady know her?” the guy behind me asked, moving around to face me. I was relieved to see Gary, the guy who’d gotten hurt in the shoot-out, although he seemed to be using his arm just fine now. He gave me an inquisitive look. “Why would you care if she’sdead?”

Because I’d convinced her to talk to me. Because she’d wanted to keep quiet, and I’d pressed her for information anyway. Because she’d counted on me, and I’d gotten her killed. My heart shattered into pieces.

But I needed to pull myself together. I didn’t deserve to get out of this alive, but I could try to save James and Scooter before Idied.

“I thought you said she was badass,” said Paul, still standing next to Scooter.

“She is. Or she was,” Gary said. “Maybe she’s not so tough tied up, but she stared down Reynolds and kept walkin’ as he shot at her. No fear whatsoever.”

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