Page 40 of S.O.S. Perk

Perk tapped his comm once for an affirmative, not wanting to risk speaking anymore and losing the element of surprise.

What he saw next didn’t surprise him. The boy, who Perk assumed was Jeremy, had a frazzled looking girl in his grasp, leading her up and out of the bulkhead. Her hands were tied in front of her body, but she wasn’t blindfolded or gagged, which didn’t bode well for the short future Jeremy had planned for the girl. Her eyes—in the moonlit night, however—were wide with…anger?

Jeremy hissed at Kaelyn as they cleared the concrete stairs. “Remember. I have your dog stashed away, and if you make a single sound, I promise I’ll kill it.”

The girl nodded, but her eyes glittered furiously.

Damn.That’s how he’d kept Kaelyn quiet this whole time; making sure she didn’t shout the house down around her. And she couldn’t possibly know Jeremy was bluffing; that her dog was safe with her parents. But kudos to the asshole for figuring out how to keep his captive in line.

Perk took a huge breath and stood poised as Jeremy closed the bulkhead behind him.

Showtime.

Waiting until Jeremy had his back turned, Perk sidled up behind him. “Hey. Buddy.”

Jeremy practically jumped out of his skin.

“What the fuck?” The kid fumbled for the rear waistband of his jeans, but Perk had already seen the weapon, and easily grabbed it first.

“That’s not nice. Were you going to shoot me and wake up your parents and the neighbors?” Perk asked quietly. “That would have been messy; trying to explain to everyone who you’d shot, and why you had Kaelyn here.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Jeremy growled, backing up a few steps as Perk pretended to fumble with the gun as he ridded it of its clip.

“A new kid at school, and someone who’s just recently found out how much cash you’ve been making off a certain gaming app you’ve been sharing,” Perk returned smugly.

Jeremy regained some of his aplomb. “You don’t know fuck-all about me. What makes you think I have anything like that going on?”

Perk canted his head toward Kaelyn. “Are you telling me you kidnapped this chick for shits and giggles?” he taunted.

“Nope. She just got too mouthy about…other things,” Jeremy relayed bitingly. “Just like you’re doing right now.”

“Yeah. But the difference is, I can take care of myself, and I won’t be so easy to shut up. Unless…”

“Unless?” Jeremy returned.

“Unless you cut me in on your take of the profits.”

“I don’t have that kind of—”

“Cut the shit. I know exactly how much money you’ve stolen, and what your share is. You’re not the only one who’s good with a computer, asshole.”

Perk hoped that bluff didn’t come back to bite him in the ass. He could play old version video games with the best of them, but other than the occasional word processing project or a competent connection to various social media, his laptop generally languished.

Perk could see Jeremy thinking hard, and he decided to give the kid time to come to the only possible conclusion. In that regard, he changed the subject.

“What are you going to do with her?” He lifted his chin at the silent Kaelyn.

“I was, uh, just going to take her out for a ride. She’s been bitching about being stuck in the basement for too long.”

Right.And Perk was Santa Claus.

He narrowed his eyes at Jeremy, and gave a slight nod of understanding, which Jeremy acknowledged with a quick blink.

They both knew why Kaelyn was really being herded off.

“What ifItake her for that ride instead, letting you off the hook,” Perk suggested. “Then when I see you next time, we can talk about my percentage of your profits.”

“You’d do that?” Jeremy replied, still suspicious, but also clearly relieved.

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