Page 104 of The Evening Wolves

After what felt like a long moment, John turned off the Mustang and said, “Fuck me.”

“Precisely,” Emery said. And then, “Let’s not ever make him mad.”

“Uh huh.”

They got out of the car as Auggie, Theo, Jem, and Tean emerged from the Audi.

“Did you see that?” Auggie asked.

“Everyone saw it,” Emery snapped and then jogged over to the U-Haul.

North had rolled the guard onto his stomach and was patting him down as he delivered a furiously whispered tirade. “Because, dumbass, I was going to take care of him. It was my idea with the bottle—”

“I know, and it was so cute that you found a way to turn your passion for watersports into—”

“My passion? My passion? Listen, fuck-twizzle, I’m not the one who kept asking that poor plumber if he knew how to quote ‘install a golden shower’—”

“What the fuck was that?” Emery asked.

North glanced up and went back to his search. He tossed a wallet, a phone, and a walkie onto the ground. “That was me getting totally robbed. That was my takedown!”

“I meant—”

“How did you do that?” Auggie asked.

“Oh—” Shaw began.

“Easy,” North snapped. “Wait for your boyfriend to do all the work and then take all the glory. Sound familiar, wundertwink?”

John stooped to recover the walkie. It was on, and as he picked it up, it crackled as a voice said, “Bobby? Bobby, you copy?”

Kneeling, Theo grabbed the wallet. He flipped it open and said, “Robert Jenkins.”

“Shit,” Jem said. “Did he call it in?”

A new voice came across the radio: “Somebody check it out.”

Squabbling broke out on the radio as a game of hot potato began, everyone trying to toss the responsibility to someone else. It gave them a few moments, Emery knew. No more than that.

“We need to—” Emery began.

“I can get that padlock open,” North said, tilting his head toward the U-Haul, “but I need time.”

Emery didn’t need to say—nobody needed to say—what North had left unsaid: that there might be kids in the truck too.

“I’ll be your bodyguard,” Shaw announced.

“Great. Perfect. Never mind. Somebody just blow me up the ass.”

Nobody seemed to know what to say to that.

Even under the security lights, the color in North’s face was obvious as he mumbled, “I meant with a gun or something.”

“Uh huh,” Jem said. But then he clapped Theo on the shoulder and said, “We’ll take the back. If they send somebody out that way, we’ll keep them busy.”

Theo looked at Auggie.

“No—” Emery began.

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