Page 87 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

“If he rabbits, we’ve lost our lead,” Jones pointed out.

“Yeah, but a guy like him—”

“Eva,” Cash said placatingly. “I know you want to help, but the best thing you can do right now is hang back and let us deal with this.” Then he picked up grenades from the trunk and started slipping them into his pockets. Rae was grabbing knives, and Jones…I wasn’t sure what he had, but it looked horrifying.

I tried to stop them again, but before I knew it, they were slipping off into the night, leaving me alone with a very cranky Fox. He leaned against the car with a heavy sigh.

“This was not the way this was supposed to go down.”

“And how did you see it happening?”

“Well, I’d walk in there, probably to the beat of ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’fromFunny Girl.”

“Really?Funny Girl?”

“Hey, it’s a great show. And that Barbara, she has a great voice.”

I stared at him like a bug that needed to be put under a microscope. I didn’t get him at all. I would love to pick his brain and find out where this shit came from, but I got the distinct feeling that wouldn’t get me very far. In fact, it might snap the tenuous thread our friendship was hanging on by.

I heard a window breaking in the distance and shouting. I flinched, wishing there was another way to handle this. There was some definite arguing, the sounds of things being thrown, and a few shots were fired. I couldn’t stand here anymore and wait to see what happened.

“It’s mostly over now, don’t you think?”

He shrugged. “Boss’s orders were to stay here.”

“Yeah, but don’t you think he meant until the…” I quickly tried to come up with the word to describe the man, “…the threat was secured? Surely, you don’t think he expected you to miss out on all of it.”

He frowned slightly, eyeing me suspiciously. “Maybe.”

“Besides, you got me to talk when no one else could. I think they’re underestimating your skills.”

“You could be right on that, but still, these were the boss’s orders.”

“Right,” I muttered under my breath. “And Cash is never wrong. I’m just sayin…” I trailed off.

But after a minute, it was clear he wasn’t going to budge on this point, and I was going to have to make my own move. I groaned and bent over, holding my arm.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. My arm…I don’t feel so good.” I swayed on my feet, possibly putting on the worst performance of my life, but it got him to come over and check on me. And just when he was close enough, his eyes trained on my arm, I shoved my knee up and caught him right in the goods.

“I’m so sorry,” I said sincerely as he bent over in pain, grabbing his crotch.

I didn’t wait another minute before taking off through the field toward the shack. I could hear Fox in the distance, stumbling after me, but I had a good enough head start. Huffing and puffing, I finally made it to the house just as I glanced over my shoulder and saw him picking up speed. Through the window, I saw Cash stringing the man up by his arms with a rope tied over a beam.

I crashed through the door just as he pulled a knife. “Stop!” I shouted, drawing everyone’s attention.

“What are you doing here?”

“You can’t do this!”

The man that was strung up looked at me suspiciously, but almost gratefully. He didn’t deserve this. If he helped my aunt and Noah, he didn’t deserve to have the answers torn from him through torture.

Fox rushed in behind me, holding his junk. “Boss—”

“How the fuck did she get the drop on you?” Cash demanded.

“She kneed me in the balls.”

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