Page 40 of Astrid
“Yes,” they both said, but Joyce held up her hand. “We drive ourselves. They don’t come here to pick us up.”
“That’s what I told Tom,” Astrid said. She pulled her phone, then looked at the others again. “Are Justin and Alex going to be okay with this?”
“They’ll have to be,” Ava said. “After I fought with Tanner, Justin told me that he would never interfere with my job.” She paused, then looked through her lashes at Astrid. “Unlike John did with you a few days ago.”
“Yeah, before I headed out this morning he asked me if we could sit down and talk tonight. I’m still unsure about the relationship, it’s so new and all, but I won’t jeopardize these missions.”
“I trust you.” Morgan nodded. She settled back and picked up her coffee cup. “Go ahead and make the call. I’ve found it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
The others grinned and watched as Astrid pulled a piece of paper from the drawer in her desk, then picked up her phone and dialed. She grinned at the others when she put it on speaker and put her finger over her lips. While the phone was ringing, the women moved closer.
“Hello?” Came a gruff voice over the phone.
“Is this Griff?”
“Yeah, who’s asking?” The tone of voice made Astrid think she was talking to the man she’d met holding the rifle.
“Ah, this is Jane. You gave me your phone number when we saw each other at the diner.”
“Oh, right, sorry about that. Not a lot of people have this number. What can I do for you?” His entire tone of voice changed, and became more pleasant.
“I’ve been thinking about what you asked, and I talked to my two friends. If you’re available tomorrow night at seven, the three of us will be at the Turkey Gulch Saloon.”
“What are your friends’ names?”
“Joy and Eve.” Astrid didn’t look at Joyce and Ava as she said their fake names.
“Turkey Gulch Saloon?”
“Yes, at seven.”
“You realize my friends Paul and Harry will be with me, right?”
“Yes, that’s why I’m calling you now, so you can set it up with them.”
The line went silent for so long, Astrid thought she’d either lost the connection or he’d hung up on her. As she reached for the phone to see, until she heard Griff laugh. “Seven it is.”
“Okay, see you there.”
“Wait, you don’t want us to pick you up?”
“Not at this time, you know, a girl’s gotta have some security. We’ll be arriving together, then we can play it by ear.”
“Sounds like a plan, we’ll see you then.” This time the line did go dead, and Astrid looked at the others with a grin. Before anyone could say anything, she held up her finger again, and dialed a different number.
“Tom, this is Astrid,” she said as soon as the other line was picked up. “Seven tomorrow night at Turkey Gulch Saloon.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I just got off the phone two minutes ago, so you have twenty-six hours to get your shit together. The girls and I will be arriving in one of our vehicles.”
“The white pick-up,” Ava called out. When everyone frowned at her, she shrugged. “What, it’s big enough for the three of us, and we haven’t used it on any missions yet.”
“That makes sense,” Tom said. “Be careful and I’ll talk to you tomorrow closer to the time of your meeting.”
“Thanks, Tom,” Astrid said and hung up. She looked at the others and nodded. “That was easy, now comes the hard part.”
“What’s that?”
