Page 14 of Montana Mystery

Climbing the stairs, I got out my keys, only to see light pouring out of my doorway. My very open doorway. “Oh my God.”

I raced forward, and everything in me sank. The apartment was in ruins. Things were shattered on the floor and pillows were torn apart. I thought scenes like this only happened in movies. Right now, this was very real.

Not only was it real, but I wasn’t alone. Crashing came from the back of our apartment where the bedrooms were. They were still here. My heart kicked into high gear and I ducked into the small closet right beside the front door. The folding door on it was stuck, falling off its rails after whatever they’d done. Hopefully that meant that they’d already looked here and wouldn’t look again as long as I was quiet.

I covered my mouth and nose with my hands, trying to slow my breathing and not give myself away. Were these the Riders? They had to be, right? What could they be looking for here?

Horror sank through me. They knew where we lived. That was obvious, but the knowledge hitting me was a completely different thing. These people were here to retrieve something, and given what they’d already done, I doubted they were going to leave without it.

“Nothing,” a voice called. “I don’t see why we’re looking for cash here, man. Place is already a dump. There are plenty of nicer apartments we can hit if you want cash.”

“Do me a favor.” The second, more authoritative voice spoke. “Shut the fuck up when you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“How about you just tell me why the hell we’re in a shithole apartment looking for nothing instead of busting my ass?”

“Brandon owes twenty grand. He told us he had it, and he didn’t. So we made a deal for two grand a week before we made it clear that there would be no other offers.”

The first man laughed. I wasn’t laughing.

“Would have thought an army vet fresh off the plane could hold his own better, but he’ll live. This week is going fast, and every week he doesn’t pay, I’ll put him back in with the dogs and raise the interest. I don’t care if I have to pull him out of the hospital to do it.”

“Still don’t know why we’re here though. If he doesn’t have it at all, it’s not going to be here.”

“Just making sure,” the second man said. Something shattered, and I made sure I was excruciatingly still. These were the kind of men who wouldn’t think twice about hurting me if they knew I was here. “Maybe he has some. Even if he doesn’t, I want him to know that we mean fucking business. Now check the rest.”

“Fine.”

There was more crashing and breaking. I closed my eyes. They were in my office. The small room was barely bigger than a closet, and it was where I’d stashed money in case of an emergency.

After Brandon’s troubles before deployment, I’d learned the hard way that it was good to have money on hand just in case. Right now I wasn’t sure if I hoped they found it, or hoped they didn’t.

“Hey, here we go.”

My stomach sank.

“Looks like you were right after all.” I heard the quiet sounds of bills being flipped between fingers. “Hell, there’s almost three grand here.”

“Perfect.”

“That going to lower his debt by three grand?”

The sinister laugh crawled across my skin. “Of course not. It’s just interest on this week’s payment. Looks like the little asshole gets a break. He’s going to need it.”

Footsteps were approaching the front door, and I shrank back into the shadows, sending up a prayer to whatever powers existed that they didn’t look. Didn’t see me.

“What are you going to do next week?”

“Don’t know. Hopefully this will get his head on straight and I won’t have to do anything. Otherwise... you know we keep the dogs hungry.”

They passed out the door. “Glad I’m not on your bad side.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

Their voices faded as they walked away from the apartment. I sank down, my knees no longer able to hold me up. Holy shit. Holy shit. If they’d known I was here, who knows what they would have done?

They had dogs. And they’d been here for Brandon. That seemed like enough to make the connection between the gang that Noah had mentioned and what had happened to my brother. He was in deeper shit than he realized.

Or maybe he realized exactly and was just refusing to tell me.

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