“I’m here.”
“Should I kill that man?”
Cassel’s quiet for a moment, and I wait with the van door still open. The man is looking in my direction, and even though I’m positive he can’t see me clearly from this far away, it seems like he’s locked on to me.
Finally, Cassel says, “He killed part of an organization known for selling people once they’ve racked up so much debt they’d never be able to pay it back … maybe what happened here was a bit unorthodox, but he’s simply cleared out more toxic people who can hurt others.”
“I don’t like him.”
“I don’t either.”
I slam the van door shut, and once I’m seated, Jackson starts to drive.
“What was that shit show?” Henry asks, and I can tell he’s mad. Was it because we all fucked up so badly? “Leland told you these people weren’t to be fucked with and yet every step of the way, I saw all of you taking risks. You’ve gotten cocky because you’ve been off dealing with men and women who aren’t of this caliber.”
I stare at him, not sure I’ve ever seen him so irritated… well… besides that one time I tied him up, but that wasoldHenry. This is the new and improved Henry.
“Leland’s so pissed he can’t even think of something foolish to say for once in his life,” Tavish says.
I shake my head. “The whole thing was just… wrong. Every part of it went wrong. The third party threw us off our game. And… I think we were set up.”
“Obviously,” Everly says. “It was like we were dumb fucking mice weaving through a maze looking for our cheese, but instead of cheese, there was rat poison.”
“You two hurt?” I ask.
Tavish tugs at his cut shirt. “A foolish mistake on my part. I shoved someone back, and when I wasn’t looking, a woman came at me. I managed to get away but she cut just the edge of my shoulder. It’s not even bad enough for stitches.”
Everly sighs. “Then that guy had a gun on us. I swear he came out of fucking nowhere. He promised he wouldn’t shoot if we kept our weapons down. It was a risk, but he seemed calm, and until we had a better idea of what to do, we decided to follow his instructions. That’s when you strolled in.”
Cam is just frantically looking between us. “W-What is going on? Mom, what the hell… some guys just… they attacked us and then… why did they do that? Why did they take me?”
“Shhh,” she says, hugging him and holding his head against her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“And… why are Waylon’s parents here?” he asks.
I decide to take one for the team and explain it to him. “Funny story, your mother was all like, ‘Woe is me, my child has been stolen,’ and we were all like, ‘We’ll save him!’ and then she was like, ‘You are the bravest men in the world,’ and I was like, ‘Thank you, but my husband is taken.’ And then here we are.” There, that should be plenty to confuse him into not asking for more details.
Cam gapes at me.
“We’re private investigators,” Jackson says, which is a horrible summary of what I just said.
“W-Waylon told me that, but he said you like… caught cheating couples or something, and this was…” He stares at the gun I’m holding as I slowly slide it out of sight, as though movingit to a different location in the van might fix something. “Mom, what’s going on?”
Sophia is just patting his head with vigor. Maybe she’s hoping to cause some trauma to his head so he’ll forget everything that happened.
“Mom!”
“I’m right here,” she says.
“That’s not… What’s going on?”
“I don’t know why they took you. I’m just glad I got you back.”
“You have a gun on you. Do you even know how to shoot a gun? What… and who were those people? They kept calling you a different name, but I know they were talking about you because when I told them I didn’t know someone by that name, they told me it was you. They knew you. They…” He trails off.
“I love you, Cam,” she says.
“We could try replacing his memories with new ones. I bet if he met The Fence, he’d forget all about this,” I suggest.
