He sighs. “Alright. I need you all to be careful because Detective Patel is far too interested in you, Leland. I’ll let you know if we get anything from the four guys who we’ve taken into custody. Currently, they’re refusing to talk. I have my doubts they’ll spill much soon.”
“My guess is someone hired them,” I say. “It just feels weird that they’d be with the Barlow family.Butthis is Teo Barlow we’re talking about and not his father Raul. I know very little about Raul’s children.”
“But why hire someone so sloppy?” Sophia asks.
“Fuck if I know. I’m heading to scout out Teo’s estate. I will contact everyone if I see anything. Let me know if Cassel hears anything. Henry, can I bestow my very own child upon you for the evening?”
“My wife will watch Waylon. I don’t think you should go alone,” Henry says.
“And you’re going to go?” I ask. “Don’t you have shit happening here?”
“I do, but I trust my officers. They have this handled… and they won’t have to handle it at all if we get it fixed first.”
“Do you think we’re all okay going?” Jackson asks. “What if all of us are off three hours away and Cam’s still in the city?”
“Where’s Micah? He can stay here with Cassel and Jeremy,” Everly suggests.
“I have no idea what Micah is doing,” Jackson says. Neither do I, honestly. Micah is another person who was raised by Lucas to be a killer, going by the codename Chaos, though he eventually got away. He comes around and helps us occasionally, though usually for a price.
“Tavish can stay here too,” I offer.
“No, I think Tavish should go with us. Six of us to scout out the perimeter would be nice,” Jackson says.
I scowl a bit about that because is itreallynecessary? “I feel like he’s a liability. I’m confident our risk goes up when Tavish joins.”
“Reliability, you mean. Ha. Get it?” Tavish asks, as if anyone would want to “get” anything when it comes to him. “I’m fucking hilarious.”
I stare at the man who would dare try to make a joke when that ismything. It’s just stomach churning whenever he tries.
I scowl at him but head upstairs to retrieve Veronica and Belmonte, my two guns. Patting them to remind them that they’re good babies, I hurry out to the parking lot behind Wellstone and over to where the kidnapper van (or murder van depending on the day) is parked, since it’s the only vehicle that would hold all of us. I could use some of my money for a more comfortable alternative that doesn’t look suspicious as fuck, but I highly doubt Sophia would have the patience for me to go pick out a new three-row SUV. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy her discomfort, but I feel like I really should put a bit of speed into saving Waylon’s friend.
With the plan for Ellis to swoop by and pick Waylon up, we are left waiting a couple of minutes, and I use that time to stand uncomfortably close to Waylon so I can pet him a bit.
With each pet his scowl deepens. “Why are you petting me?”
“It might be affection or it might be a threat, you’ll never know,” I promise him.
“So fun,” he says.
Ellis pulls up and Waylon almost looks relieved to hurry over to his car.
“Thanks for taking him,” Jackson says.
“This is my kind of job,” Ellis replies. “Driving people around. No bullets, no airplanes, and no one after my head.”
I want to object to all of that, but the look Sophia is giving me tells me I don’t have time to. So instead, I turn to Waylon.“Please be careful. If you see anything you don’t like, just shiv it,” I instruct as I put a knife in his hand.
He stares at it and cocks his head. “No!”
“You know how to shiv them. Make me proud.”
Waylon looks a bit scarred as I put him into the passenger seat with his very first knife. He’s holding it in such an awkward manner, which I definitely didn’t teach him.
“He’s going to poke his eyes out holding it like that,” I mutter. “Ellis will hit a bump in the road and pop goes the eye.” I feel some relief when Ellis seems to notice this and quickly takes the knife from Waylon.
“Why did you give him a knife?” Jackson asks.
“It was that or the rocket launcher. You’re right, I should have gotten him the rocket launcher,” I say as I turn to go back for it, but Jackson pushes me into the middle seat of the van before I can. Somehow, I get in the worst spot, stuck beside Tavish with Everly behind me. I really feel like Everly is breathing down my back and Tavish wouldn’t waste a breath to tell me if Everly was going to stab me for fun.
