Page 63 of The Hard Way

“Are we talking about intestines like ropes again?” I said.

“That and more,” Zeus growled. “He’s talking about kidnapping Hank and making him give us evidence. Guys like that, there’s sometimes a chance that they fucked up somehow, maybe threw something away wrong, left some physical evidence, but they know they can’t go back. Or there’s a money trail. Or maybe we get a confession on a tape. Better yet, written. Right? And then what? We’d need to keep him quiet. How would that happen, Odin? How would we get the evidence and confession and keep him quiet?”

A chill went over me. He was actually serious about this. “We don’t torture and then execute people in cold blood. That’s not who we are.”

“It’s who I am,” Odin said softly. “Hank could kill himself. He could leave a confession in writing that could be verified. Add that to the circumstantial evidence…” I could feel my heart breaking. “Nancy would plead out. This is how we save your sisters, Ice. It’s the only way.”

Zeus jerked him again, and a cupid fell off the built-in shelves and broke. “We don’t do that. Especially when we haven’t exhausted all of our options.”

“Wedon’t—” Odin clarified.

Zeus slammed him against the wall. “Youdon’t either, goddamnit. Because we are together in this, and like hell if I’m letting you give up some fucking piece of your soul after how far we’ve come. Like fucking hell. There are still other options open to us.”

Odin and Zeus were like two wolves, staring into each other’s eyes, challenge thick in the air. Odin was allowing himself to be pinned for the moment—but this thing could end in a flash of fists. In a battle between Zeus and Odin, I couldn’t say who’d win, but I knew who’d lose—all of us.

Thor drew near, intending, maybe, to separate them if they went at it. A risky and probably futile plan.

Coolly, Odin said, “So her sister just goes to jail? We let Hank take the farm?”

Zeus’s nostrils flared. “We don’t do either. Option C—try to do it the right way.”

“You go ahead and enjoy your fantasyland with your detective games, then. I say Ice deserves better.”

I hated that Odin was so bereft of hope that he just wanted to go for the dark option. Or was he the only reasonable one?

Either way, the sight of my guys at each other’s throats freaked me out. “Let him down, Zeus,” I said.

No reaction. My guys got very hard of hearing during fights—especially if you were speaking in the vocal range of calm reason.

“We haven’t even broken into the man’s home yet, Odin,” Thor said. “Let’s case the place. Let’s get in there and go fishing.”

Zeus kept his hard, sinewy arm across Odin’s chest; not on his throat, but pretty near. The testosterone in the room was spiraling off the charts. I looked helplessly over at Thor. He was worried. Had he ever had to break up a fight between them, or was this new?

“Come on, you guys,” I pleaded.

“New rule,” Thor tried, “nobody get brutally tortured and murdered.” Again. Deaf ears.

I moved near and grabbed Zeus’s arm and Odin’s shoulder. I wouldn’t stop them like this, but they’d hurt me if they fought. “This is not cool.”

They weren’t hearing.

“Please.”

Nothing.

My heart pounded. I didn’t know what happened with Odin in that prison, but I knew that the whole thing was really alive in his mind right now, and I knew for sure that a man pinning him to a wall was the opposite of what he needed. My heart was breaking for these guys I loved so much, fighting each other. Fighting for the soul of the group.

Finally, Odin spoke. “Fine. We’ll case the place.” And then, in a deeper tone, in ano-fucking-around-yo-I-mean-businesstone, he said, “You’ll wanna let me down, now, brother. Right. About. Now.”

Zeus let him down, but they kept glaring at each other.

I stared at the broken cupid on the floor, feeling scared for us all.

We’d never been in this place. Fighting. I didn’t know what to do, so I went over and picked up the pieces—two large pieces. “We should glue this,” I said.

Chapter 10

Iturnedonto the county trunk road, and the old ski jump came into view. “There it is!” I said to Odin. Not that I needed to.

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