Page 45 of Steers and Stowaways
“Oh, don’t Mal me,” she snapped. “He’s been helping whoever’s trying to kill you, and I just put a stop to it. You should be thanking me.”
“Thank you, darling.” Despite the gravity of the situation, he winked at her.
She caught her breath. “If you’re trying to make me fall in love with you, it’s working.”
Their circumstances were far from ideal, but there was no way he could ignore such an impassioned declaration. “You should warn a guy,” he wheezed, “before dropping that kind of bomb on him while he’s driving.”
“The only proper response to what I just told you,” she admonished with mock severity, “is telling me you love me back.”
“I do.” His heart pounded crazily. “I love you, Mal.” Saying it aloud made it feel a thousand times more real.
“I love you more, Tuck.”
He gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “I highly doubt it.”
“Uh…” There was a weepy quality to Chip’s voice from the backseat. “Can we get back to the part about me being deader than dead?”
“We’re not gonna let you die, Chip.” Mallory’s voice was as warm as a drizzle of icing on a fresh-baked cinnamon roll. “I like you too much.”
He made a gulping sound. “What for?”
“I don’t know. I just do.” To Tucker’s immense relief, she rested her gun on her knee. “You’re smart and nerdy. Plus, I’ve always wanted a sibling, and you’re in that age range.”
“Smart?” His voice was derisive. “I’m a high school dropout, remember?”
“Not by choice.” She sobered. “Just as soon as we bring the rustlers to justice, you’re gonna go back to school and graduate.”
Tucker still didn’t understand why she was going to bat for the kid, but he was learning to trust her instincts.
“As nice as that sounds,” Chip muttered, “it’s never gonna happen.”
“Not as long as you keep beating around the bush.” She glared at him. “So, how about you tell us about your parents? About whoever’s stealing my cattle. About who’s got a hit out on Tucker. Until I understand what we’re up against, you’re right. We can’t protect you. But we can,” she held up a finger, “if you let us.”
He grew teary-eyed again. “I don’t know who has a hit out on Tucker. I just know it exists.” He stared out the window. “They don’t tell me much. I did overhear my mom tell my stepdad that cooperating with the hit could be our ticket to the next level.”
“Next level of what?” Mallory pressed.
“In the cartel.” He all but whispered the words, as if saying them aloud might be enough to seal his doom. “Ever since Mom married Dex, and he got her a job with them, she’s been obsessed with making more money.” He went on to give a somewhat convoluted explanation of how his mom’s current role within the cartel involved moving around the country toclean things up, as he put it. “We never stay anywhere for long,” he concluded. “The only reason we’re in Heart Lake is to…” He coughed and fell silent.
Take me out.Tucker finished the sentence inside his head.
Chip started talking again. “The turf war sorta came out of nowhere. I don’t think my mom was expecting it, but she’s the cleaner,” he bragged. “She’ll put the challenger out of business in no time with the bad product she’s feeding them.”
Wait a sec!At the risk of making Chip clam up again, Tucker jumped back into the conversation. “Are you telling us that the drugs that poisoned Mallory’s steers were tainted somehow?” Not that all illicit drugs weren’t their own brand of poison, but if the Silvas were peddling stuff designed to be lethal…?Man!It was a whole new brand of evil.
Chip nodded sheepishly at him through the rear-view mirror. “Nobody’s come right out and said it to me, but I saw some stuff in a file on Mom’s computer that I wasn’t supposed to see.” He started speaking more rapidly. “I know it was stupid of me to get involved, but I copied the formula and sent it in an encrypted file to the FBI. It only seemed right to give them a heads up that a bunch of people are about to die.”
You did what?If the kid was telling it straight, then Mallory may have been right about him after all. He wasn’t cut from the same cloth as his parents. All signs were pointing to his wanting out of the mess he was in.
That was something Tucker and his higher-ups could work with.
Mallory let out a long, gusty sigh. “I really liked your mom before I found out her real occupation.”
“Yeah, I could tell.” Chip sounded wry. “She’s good at making friends.”
“I liked Dex, too,” Mallory continued mournfully.
“Most people do.” Chip sounded like he was trying to comfort her, which Tucker found oddly endearing.
