“Good point. What do we do with him?” My chills were finally subsiding, thanks to the heater.
Christian reached over and pulled me to him. I scooted across the bench seat and leaned into him. I loved bench seats, something modern cars didn’t have anymore. Christian’s body heat felt delicious, and I wrapped my arms around his middle and felt like icing sliding off a hot cake.
I slipped my hand into his shirt and placed it against his stomach. “We can’t take him back to the house in the woods. Lenore knows about it now, and she might do a flyover.”
He rubbed my back several times. “Did you finally learn how to swim?”
“No.”
“Hmm. Then I’m curious—did you get used to it underwater?”
I looked up and speared him with a glance. “What do you think? It was a nightmare. I felt like I was dying or dead. I couldn’t think, I could barely swim, and my entire chest felt like it was going to explode.”
“It’s a wonder you ever survived the womb.”
“The East River is not a womb. It’s the opposite. Cold, dirty, and confusing.”
Christian kissed my head. “Like my first sexual experience.”
His phone vibrated, and he reached inside his coat to answer. Instead of holding it to his ear, he put it on speaker. “I’m not bringing you snacks.”
“Have you heard from Claude or Gem?” Wyatt asked.
“No.”
“Huh. I got a weird message, and when I tried calling, it went right to voice mail.”
“Maybe they’re ignoring you,” I suggested.
“Uh-uh. Not on the job. We set up geolocation on their phones since Viktor didn’t trust Ronald. They’re off the map. Gone. Poof.”
“Then you’ll have to go see,” Christian said. “I have my hands full at the moment after fishing Raven out of the East River.”
“Well, Captain Ahab, thanks so much for your complete lack of teamwork.”
We had a body in the back of the truck we needed to figure out what to do with.
“Wyatt,” I said, steeling my voice from all the teeth chattering. “Get a team out there. I bet they’re out of range with no cell towers. Ronald said the storage was underground, and that could be interfering with reception. See what Viktor wants you to do, but we can’t go. We’re nowhere near the location, and the roads are a mess.”
He sighed dramatically. “Looks like you get your wish, Niko. They haven’t heard from them, and they’re too busy swimming.”
After Christian wrapped up the call, I scooted back to the passenger side. “Let’s go to my father’s place. He’s got a truck bed cover in the garage we can use until we figure out what to do with Fletcher. That’ll give me a chance to put on some dry clothes and make sure his place hasn’t burned down.”
Christian leaned to the side and tugged his coat out from beneath him before taking it off and handing it to me. “He wouldn’t happen to still have that machete, now would he?”
CHAPTER27
While Christian put the cover on the back of the truck, I went inside the trailer and took a hot shower. I stayed in there until I finally got my core temperature back to normal. Crush kept some of my old clothes in the bottom drawer on the rare occasion I’d stay the night. After drying my hair, I put on a pair of grey jogging pants with white stripes down the side and a long-sleeved Harley-Davidson shirt. At least now my hair smelled like dandruff shampoo instead of the East River.
Christian stepped inside and shut the door. “Are you sure you don’t want to handle things here?” he asked, eager to do away with Fletcher.
“I don’t want those memories here.” I dumped the stale dog food in Harley’s bowl into the trash. “I’d feel better if he had another stunner in him. If he rolls around back there, that push dagger might come out.”
“Your da wouldn’t happen to have one lying around, would he?”
I set the empty bowl on the floor and then thought about his weapons in the closet. “Let me go check.”
After rummaging through his closet, I found a few blades. Though stunners didn’t affect me, I could pierce my skin and tell if a weapon was in that category. To my delight, I found a nice big one.
