Page 94 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

I shoved the door open, following everyone else outside. “Hopefully that’ll be the end of the line. If Mole is right and Noah’s around here, we should be able to get the evidence and end this.”

“We still have to retrieve the notebook,” she sighed. “Is it just me or does it feel like this is never going to be over?”

“We’re getting close.” I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into my side. “I know this is taking longer than you want, but look at how far we’ve come.”

She rested her head on my shoulder as we walked. I knew she wasn’t physically tired—just mentally exhausted from everything she’d had to deal with lately. She went from not having a hope that this would end to finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. If this lead with Noah didn’t pan out, the hope in her eyes would slowly dim to nothing.

We were walking back the way we came when we saw a truck headed in our direction, kicking up dust as it sped toward us. “Fox!” I shouted, getting a nod in return.

“Yeah, I see it.”

“Rae?”

She turned to me incredulously. “I hope you don’t think I have any information to give you. My laptop was blown up along with Jones’s cabin.”

Quickly looking around, it was clear we had no chance of escaping. We were in the middle of nowhere, without even a fucking boulder to hide behind. The tumbleweeds would provide little protection for us.

“What do we do?” Eva asked, her voice hinting at her panic.

I shoved her behind me, for all the good it would do, and pulled out my gun. As the vehicle approached, the rest of us formed a circle around Eva and Mole. The truck quickly circled us, but made no move of force. After coming to a halt, a heavy coat of dust lingered in the air, making it nearly impossible to see who was in the truck or if they had any weapons.

When the dust finally started to clear, I felt Eva pushing at me from behind. I held her back, not needing her to place herself in the line of fire. There was no telling what would happen from here.

“Aunt Gayle?” she said in shock.

I glanced back at her, the way her eyes teared up as she stared at the woman I could now see in the passenger seat. Before I could stop her, she shot through our barricade and ran around the truck just as her aunt jumped out. They collided hard, crushing each other with how tight they were squeezing each other. The man stepped out, slamming the door as he faced us with his thumbs hooked in his belt loops.

“You must be the man protecting Eva.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, instantly disliking him for his tone, but also happy that Gayle wasn’t with a man that thrust her into a dangerous situation without some of the facts.

“Cash Owens. You must be Noah.”

He scratched the back of his neck, discreetly checking out all of us. “I see you’ve done your homework. How the hell are you, Mole?”

The man grinned and stepped forward, holding out his hand. “Not bad. Picked up some strays. It wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience, but they seem okay.”

“How did you find us?” I cut in.

“How else? As soon as Mole checked me out, I knew to look for him. Your house is fucked,” he said to Mole. “You’ve got the whole goddamn government going through your shit.”

“They won’t find anything,” Mole grinned. “I gotcha covered.”

Noah looked around, clearly not liking being out in the open any more than the rest of us.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d appreciate it if we could take this somewhere out of sight.”

He jerked his head at the pickup. “Hop in.”

Once again being placed in a situation I wasn’t entirely comfortable with, I looked to the others for objections, but they seemed to be of the same mind as me. We had no other choice. With no vehicle and Rafe on our asses, we had to get the hell out of the open and find cover as soon as possible.

“I appreciate it,” I said, but then stepped closer and lowered my voice. “I don’t know who the fuck you are other than what Eva told me. If you even attempt to fuck me or my friends over, I will make your death very painful.”

He stared at me for a moment before huffing out a laugh. “Yeah, you think you’re the first person to threaten me?”

“No, but I won’t be the one you’ll have to deal with.”

“That’d be me,” Fox stepped forward with a maniacal grin on his face. “I’m thinking maybe some ABBA.” He shrugged and stepped back. “We’ll see when I have you strung up.”

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