Page 103 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

His lips tightened and he shoved off the ground. “Are we doing this or not?”

I laughed as I pushed off the ground and followed him back to the truck. Once inside, I pulled back onto the road and continued on to the house over the hill. The laughter from just moments before was gone as we approached the house. There was a car out front, but that didn’t mean the old couple still lived there. If the drug operation had expanded to this area, we were basically fucked. We’d have to find a way to slip in at night.

“You ready for this?” I asked Jones as I parked the truck.

He shoved open his door and got out. “Why not? One last mission for old times sake.”

I smirked and followed him to the house. The curtain shifted slightly in the window, but I kept heading forward. As long as there wasn’t an army of men inside, Jones and I could easily take out anyone that stood in our way.

I didn’t even get to the door before it swung open and an old man stood before me. “Can I help you folks?”

“Yeah, I’m here looking for something a friend left behind when she visited a few years ago.”

“Friend? We don’t get any visitors.”

My eyes scanned what I could see of the interior of the house, checking for any signs that this man wasn’t alone. His wife was hiding around the corner, clearly trying to stay out of sight. This must not have been the first time they had unwanted guests.

Whatever I said next could either help us or get us killed. As I glanced around one last time, I knew I had to take a chance. They didn’t appear to be under surveillance, and from what I could tell, he didn’t like strangers. More than likely, if the cartels moved in, he would have left the area.

“Sir, a few years back, a woman showed up at your door. She probably looked like she was running from someone. You took her in and fed her, let her lay low for a few days. Then she left, and you never heard from her again. While she was here, she hid something that could save her life. I’m protecting her, and I need what she left behind. It’s the only way to end this.”

“You mean the drug ranch,” he said, his eyes narrowing in on me.

“You know about it.”

He gave a tight nod. “Not many of us around here still have our land. They haven’t come after me yet, but it won’t be too much longer. They’re expanding every day.”

“We’d like to stop them, but I need that evidence.”

He looked at both of us, then opened the door wider. “You’d better hurry up and get it then. If anyone sees you here, they’ll get suspicious. You look like you belong in an action movie.”

He turned and headed back to the living room, walking at a slow pace. His wife finally came out from behind the wall, but she didn’t come close. “You know, she just disappeared on us one day. We figured she got herself into trouble with them and we assumed they would be coming to find her. They never did.” He shook his head and looked at me. “Do you know where she hid it?”

“She buried it in your back yard.”

He nodded and headed to the back of the house. Eva remembered very clearly where she hid the evidence, but when we got to the back door, it was clear they had done some work to the yard.

“You used to have a decorative well out here. Can you show me where it was?”

The woman’s eyes lit up at the mention of it, and the man motioned for me to follow. We walked to the back of the property to where an old tree shaded the back half of the yard.

“It was here. We had to take it out because it was rotting.”

“Do you have a shovel?”

“Yep.”

Twenty minutes later, I had dug up the area Eva spoke of, and laying in the ground was a ziplock bag, and inside was the ledger.

33

EVA

After what feltlike weeks on the road, we finally arrived at the new safe house. To say it was chaotic was an understatement. Everyone was squashed in like sardines in a can. I recognized most of the people there, but there were a few that I had only met in passing and couldn’t remember their names.

Everyone was smiling at me, as they passed. A few people made some jokes that I didn’t quite understand—all referring to Cash in some way. It was clear they were this tight-knit team, and they were trying to make me feel welcome. Cash was across the room talking with someone while I stood in the living room, glancing around at the bare bones structure. Aside from the furniture, there was nothing personal about this place.

As I looked around, I wondered where everyone stayed. We were in an old two story farmhouse, but I couldn’t imagine there were enough rooms for everyone here. I didn’t know where I’d be staying, but I knew Cash wouldn’t let me out of his sight. He’d made that abundantly clear.

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