Page 16 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

He shook his head quickly. “He moves like a ghost. You’ll never see him coming.”

I grinned at that. He sounded like a worthy opponent, someone I really wanted to meet. I whistled one of my favorite songs, internally laughing at the confusion on his face. I turned and started to head for the door.

“What the fuck was that?” Scottie Dog asked, rushing forward. “Did you even get anything out of him?”

“Nah,” I said, “It was a dead end.”

“What about the guy hanging from the hook? Aren’t you going to at least get rid of him?”

I slowly turned to Scottie Dog, a grin on my face as I started whistling the “Jet Song” fromWest Side Story.He rolled his eyes, shaking his head at me.

“Fuck, you’re crazy, you know that?”

“When you’re a Jet…” I slid my knife out of my sheath as I kept whistling the tune. I grinned at Scottie Dog right before I threw the knife right past his head, lodging it in the base of the man’s neck that was hanging behind him. With wide eyes, the death rattle left his lips, along with what breath was left in his body.

Scottie stared at me angrily. “I swear to God, Fox. You’re a fucking psychopath.”

I tipped my head at him. “You’re never alone,” I sang, continuing the showtune as I walked out the door and headed upstairs with a smile on my face.

7

CASH

I walkedout of Sinner’s room, grateful he was alive. He looked like shit, but that was to be expected after what he went through. Driving to the hospital reminded me of waiting for a medevac while in the field. The whole time I was hoping I could get to the hospital in time, that he wouldn’t die in the back of the SUV. But he was in bad condition, and none of us thought that he would pull through. I didn’t even bother to argue with Sebastian when he demanded his team go in to see Sinner before me. I’d already been put in place by his girlfriend.

“How’s he doing?” Sebastian asked as he walked up to me holding a cup of coffee.

“Didn’t get any for me?” I asked.

“Oh, this is for you,” he said as he continued to lift it to his mouth and drink it.

I smirked at him, knowing that was his way of telling me he was pissed off that Sinner was taken. “He’s hanging in there, but he’s in a lot of pain.”

Sebastian nodded. “That’s to be expected. Now that things have calmed down, do you want to tell me how the fuck this happened?”

“We caught it on the camera feed outside the building. He was talking on the phone. He didn’t even see them coming.”

“Sloppy,” he said, taking another sip. But I knew he wasn’t actually blaming Sinner. Not everyone could be on guard twenty-four seven, no matter how much we tried. “Did you get anything out of him?”

He was referring to the man we captured in the warehouse. He was trying to escape when Scottie’s team intervened and captured him. They took him back to the office and tortured him until he gave in. “He’s a nobody, just someone hired to do the job.”

“Does he work for Adams?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. It appears he works for someone else.”

Sebastian cocked his head to the side. “So, Adams hired someone and then it was outsourced?”

“That’s my best guess. I’m getting the feeling that whoever was hired by Adams is pretty dangerous. These guys…they were good, but just hired mercenaries. The real threat is still out there, and I’m guessing he’s biding his time to make the perfect maneuver.”

Sebastian sighed, running his hand across the scruff of his jaw. “Fuck, I need to find out what the hell is going on.”

“Is Vanessa safe?”

“That’s about the only thing that’s going right at the moment,” he grumbled. “What are we going to do about Sinner?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, clearly he needs to come back to Reed Security.”

---