Page 138 of For the Birds

“I’ll stay. You handle thisone.”

He took off running for the back door, and a wary silence descended on the warehouse.

Where had Scootergone?

I glanced around the bumper and saw Paul and Gary lying on the floor in pools of blood, but there were no signs of Merv or Scooter.

What if Merv had taken him hostage?

I heard a sliding sound—metal against metal—followed by a bang. It took me a moment to process it, but I realized someone had slammed the warehouse doors shut and locked them with abar.

Had James closed mein?

But then I heard footsteps walking toward me, and I knew Merv was still in the warehouse. He’d just locked me inside withhim.

And James had mygun.

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