I didn’t have time to listen to Lucian use his scary ass intimidation voice.
“I think you’re making the incredibly ignorant assumption that you have any say over what I do or don’t do.”
“If I find out you leave town limits tonight, I will see that your beloved library never gets another dime of funding. Then I’ll buy every piece of land around your house and build apartment complexes so tall you never see the sun again.”
“You rich son of a…”
I left them to it. I opened the door to my truck and climbed behind the wheel. A second later, the passenger door opened, and Lucian got in. “Where are we going?”
“I’m starting at the top. I’m going to beat the hell out of Anthony Hugo until he tells us where his asshole son is. Then I’m going to find him and beat the hell out of him until I break every bone in his face. Then I’m going to marry Naomi Witt.”
“This should be fun,” my best friend said, pulling out his phone.
“You can give Nash a heads-up on the way and then tap that creepy source network of yours to find me Anthony Hugo.”
We were ten minutes out of town with two credible locations for the biggest crime lord in Washington D.C. One of the sources even coughed up the gate code for the property. Lucian Rollins was a scary motherfucker.
His phone rang again.
“This is Lucian.” He listened for a few seconds then handed me the phone. “For you.”
It was probably my brother bitching me out for taking the law into my own hands. “What?” I said.
“Knox. Grim here.”
Grim was the high-stakes poker-playing, mostly almost-legal motorcycle club president.
“This is not a good time to plan another poker game, man.”
“Not poker-related. Club business. Got some info I thought you might be interested in.”
“Unless it’s the whereabouts of Anthony or Duncan Hugo, I’m not interested.”
“Then you’re about to be real interested. That pretty little waitress of yours just marched her fine ass right on into Duncan Hugo’s new chop shop.”
My heart was hammering away against my rib cage. “What did you just say?”
“My guys have been sitting on the building for reasons.”
“I’m not the cops,” I reminded him.
“Let’s just say some local businesses aren’t real happy about the competition.”
Translation: Grim’s club was planning to hit the chop shop.
“Been keeping tabs on all the comings and goings. Just got photo confirmation. She’s a twin, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I remember her talking about her twin sister at the last game. Looks like she wasn’t bullshitting about the twin. Bitch had Naomi handcuffed to the dashboard.”
I dropped my foot on the accelerator. “Address,” I demanded.
THE OL’ SWITCHEROO
Naomi
“Five…four…three…two…”
“Wait! What makes you think Waylay knows where whatever the hell you’re looking for is?” I asked, desperate to keep Duncan distracted from his deadly countdown. “She’s just a child.”
“Mmmph mmm,” Waylay grumbled, clearly offended.
Tina didn’t say anything. Her eyes were glued to Duncan, and I was surprised he hadn’t caught fire from the flames shooting out of them. The man had no idea the fuse he’d just lit. I only hoped my sister’s impending explosion wouldn’t get us all killed.
“Simple addition. Tina took the flash drive, and it disappeared. Only one other person in that house. The little brat who likes technology and stealin’ stuff.”
“Tina told you it disappeared?”
“No, Santy Claus did,” Duncan said, rolling his eyes.
“Did it ever occur to you that Tina is hiding the flash drive? Maybe she took it to cut you out of the deal.”
Both Tina and Duncan were now looking at me. I didn’t know if I’d made things better or worse, but at least the gun was pointing at the floor. I dropped to my knees and attacked the knot on Waylay’s wrist.
“Don’t listen to her,” Tina said seeming to come back to life. “She’s just doing what she used to do with our parents. Trying to manipulate you.”
“I hate that shit,” he said, raising the gun once again. “Now where was I? Five?”
“Nine?” I suggested weakly.
“You have to go to the bathroom,” Tina announced to me.
“What?”
She gave me a hard look. “You have to go to the bathroom,” she said again before turning back to Duncan. “She got her period. You don’t want to shoot her and get period all over the place, do you, Dunc?”
“Gross. Don’t tell me that woman shit,” he complained, looking like he was about to vomit.
“I’ll take her to the bathroom, and we’ll get the kid to talk about where she stashed the drive,” she said with a pointed look in Waylay’s direction. “Then I’ll run out and get you some of that fried chicken that you like.”
Tina was definitely up to something. She had that crafty look on her face. And I definitely hadn’t gotten my period. The Honky Tonk Code Red was two weeks out.
“That’s more like it,” Duncan said, satisfied that his woman was back in line. “Wasn’t really gonna shoot you, T.”
“I know you’re under a lot of stress, baby,” Tina said as she dragged me across the room toward a door marked RES OOM. “Take a break. Drink a beer. We’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder.
She shoved me through the door into a bathroom that needed to be hosed down with a truckload of bleach.
“Take your clothes off,” she said when the door swung shut.
“What? Tina, we can’t leave Waylay alone with him. He’s insane.”
“I’m gettin’ that. Now take off your goddamn clothes,” she said, dropping her pants.
“You’ve lost your mind. This isn’t just another bad decision with horrible consequences. You’ve gone off the deep end, haven’t you?”
“For fuck’s sake. I’m not trying to have incestual relations with you. This ain’t a porno. We’re trading places. He’s not gonna let you walk out of here and get help. But he’ll let me leave.” She stripped her shirt off over her head and threw it in my direction. It hit me in the face.
“Then leave and call the police,” I hissed.
“I’m not leavin’ Way with that stupid motherfucker.”
“You already abandoned her once!”
“I left her with you, smarty-pants. Knew you’d take care of her until I got my score.”
I knew I shouldn’t really take that as a compliment, but it was about as close as Tina got to giving them.
“He’s fondling that Beretta like it’s his dick and he’s got a loaded PPK under the pizza box,” she continued. “You know how to work one? Are you willing to shoot a man in the fucking balls and risk prison?”
“No and yes. If it gets Waylay out of here alive.”
“Well, I’m yes and yes. Pretty damn good shot too. So gimmie your damn skirt. And you go call the cops.”
“Can’t you just send Knox or Nash a text and tell them where we are?”
“Phone’s in the car,” she said, dragging my skirt up her hips. “Dunc’s paranoid about being tracked by the government. Won’t let a cell phone near him here.”
I pulled her shirt over my head. “Fine. Okay. So what’s the plan then?”
“We go out there. I’m you but I give Waylay the code.”
“What’s the code?”
“I say ‘I read this article on the devastation of the rainforest,’ and she knows it’s code for get ready to run.”
I supposed it was Tina’s version of having a family fire drill. “Okay. Then what?”
“She’ll make up the location of wherever she hid the thing. Dunc’ll send his guys to get it. You’ll leave to get celebratory chicken, but really you’ll go down to the car and call 911.”
This didn’t sound like a great plan. And I trusted my sister about as far as I could spit, which was not far at all. But I didn’t have any other options. “What will you do?” I stalled. “Even if you get past Duncan, there are men with guns outside.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to get Waylay out of here.”
I zipped her jeans and then stepped into her boots.
We looked at each other.
“Your boobs are exploding out of my shirt,” I observed.
She reached for the roll of toilet paper. “Stuff.”
“Seriously?” I squeaked.
“As long as you and me have big tits, he won’t notice the difference. He’s seven beers into his night.”
“You have got to get better taste in men,” I complained as I shoved wads of toilet paper into my bra.
She shrugged. “He’s not so bad when he’s not drunk.”
“Yo! Ladies! Get your asses out here. I’m ready to shoot someone.”
“He sounds like a dreamboat,” I grumbled.