Page 45 of Shine On Oklahoma

Ace and Phil passed out before the end of thesecond football game. Phil was on the sofa, all cocked over to oneside with his face on the arm and his mouth open. Ace had got up,staggered three steps, and then hit the floor like a sack offeed.

Jack searched them, found his phone in one ofAce’s pockets—thank God. Ace wasn’t bright enough to have removedthe battery and tossed it someplace far away to prevent anyonetracking it, should they try. And Vester Caine hadn’t thought totell him to, because nobody can tell an idiot everything he needsto know. Some things were supposed to be obvious, likealwayskeep the barrel end of your gun pointed away from you, anddon’t stick Tic-Tacs up your nose.

He pocketed his phone and Ace’s pocket knife,then tossed Ace’s and Phil’s phones onto the coffee table. Just ashe did, one of them vibrated. Curious, Jack glanced at it.

It was a text from Kendra, showing on thelock screen. When he’d called her the first time, it had been fromthat phone. And Caine had used it to text her as well. He was toosmart to use his own. Records could be subpoenaed, after all. Hecould see the full content of the message on the lock screen.

It’s done. Watchtomorrow’sAurora Free Timesfor proof.

Jack smiled from ear to ear, shaking hishead. “Well, what do you know? She pulled it off.” And here he’dbeen worrying she’d gone soft on the mark.

Too bad he was already this deep into hisescape plan. There was an SUV in the driveway, the one they’ddriven here in. He took the keys, and all the cash in both theirwallets, which turned out to be over six-fifty. On the way to thefront door, he snagged the whiskey and a handful of Vester’s Cubancigars. Then he put the cigars back and took the entire humidor. Hecould’ve looted the place for a lot more, but he figured he shouldgit while the gittin’sgood, as his mother used to say.

She’d been a master, his mother. Reminded hima lot of Kendra.

He opened the front door, cringed at the loudcreak it made when he did, and glanced back at the men sprawled inthe living room.

“Goin’ somewhere Jack?”

Jack’s head snapped right just as VesterCaine got up from the porch swing, rising slow to his full heightof about 6’4”, big enough that he probably didn’t even need the gunin his hand. He walked casually closer, flipped a light switch, andthe porch was suddenly flooded and blinding. Looking down at thebottle Jack held by its neck, he shook his head, reached out with afree hand and took it while Jack was still trying to decide whetherhe could hit him upside the head with it and run.

Probably not worth the risk, what with thegun and all.

Caine twisted off the cap, took a long drinkthat made Jack’s throat feel dry. Then he nodded at the fancy assbox cradled in Jack’s other arm. “My cigars, too? Jackie, Jackie,Jackie.”

Jack held the cigars out to the guy. “Hereyou go. All good. No need for the gun.”

“Back inside.” He waved with the barrel andJack obeyed, reaching behind him to open the creaking screen door,and backing into the little farmhouse. He set the cigars on thetable.

“Where are my boys, Jackie?”

Jack inclined his head. Caine looked throughinto the living room where the two were sacked out, one on a rattysofa, and the other on the floor.

“Youkilled’em?”

“No!” Jack all but shouted it. “No,no, they’re just sleeping. I slipped ‘em some Benadryl. They’ll befine. Might wake up with a little headache, but I bet Ace’ll stopsniffling for a day or two.”

“You’re a little too clever for your owngood, aren’t you Jack?”

“That, I am,” he said. “All that planning,all that cooking. And it turned out I didn’t even need to escape.You’d have let me go in the morning anyway.”

“Here it comes.” Caine rolled his eyes. “Whatfairy tale you gonna spin for me now?”

“Check Phil’s phone. Kendra texted it just asI was leaving.”

The phone was on the coffee table, right inthe open where Jack had left it, so Caine marched him in, thenpicked it up, keeping his gun on Jack. He tapped the phone so itcame to life, and the notification appeared on the lock screen whenhe did. His eyebrows rose.

Jack thanked his stars for his girl and herskills. “Her timing stinks, but she got it done. I knew she would.Shit, if your guys hadn’t already passed out I’d have called thewhole thing off. I was just eager to get out of this—”

“Shup up, Jack.” Caine tossed the phone onthe table again. “She says watch theAurora Free Timestomorrow morning for proof. That’s how long you’ve got to live ifthis is bullshit. Now get your ass in the basement.”

“Hell, not the basement. Look this thing’sover. You won.”

“I always win. And you’d better believe I’llbe verifying every freaking story you or your damn kid tell me. YouKelloggs are a pack of manipulators and liars. Can’t be trusted. Soyou want me to put a bullet in your head right now for all thetrouble you’ve given me? Or are you gonna get your skinny ass intothe basement?”

“Basement it is.”

Caine followed him to the basement door. Jackopened it, flicked the light switch to the left, and felt a footslam into the middle of his back. He pitched forward and tumbleddown those rickety stairs like a boulder in an avalanche, breakinga couple risers on the way down. When he landed, he just lay there,not moving as pain screamed through every part of him.

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