As he drives off, I’m left standing here with two dogs and a dead man while my mind spirals out of control. I should follow him, hunt him down, and kill him. I should leave Jackson with Waylon, jump on the first plane I can, find Raul and kill them all. Make sure there is absolutely no one left who could point a single finger my way.
“Whatchu doing with the dead body?” Tavish asks from behind me.
“What do you think of him?” I ask, aware he’d been here during the whole exchange.
“The body or the man?”
“The man.”
“I think he’s trying to get under your skin. He wants to push you until you run off alone and start on a murdering spree, but where does it end? When you’re done with Barlow’s organization, will you start on the guns for hire? Will you venture out to kill every single person who could possibly look at Jackson and Waylon the wrong way?”
I freeze as I realize that Tavish outsmarted me for once in his irritating life.
Letting out a growl of dissatisfaction only makes him chuckle, pleased with himself.
“Chuckle like that again, and you’ll be the first to go,” I decide.
“I can’t even fucking laugh now?” he asks.
“Not when I’m mad.”
“Fine, go run off and get murdered all alone. I’ll let Ellis rub your husband’s back while he sobs on my shoulder, and I’ll whisper in his ear, ‘I told that foolish fuck not to go alone.’”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I growl, displeased that he’s being the voice of reason. Really, he shouldn’t be so irritating. I sigh, knowing that I need to get my thoughts under control, take all of that and shut it away behind a door that remains locked so I don’t make a single mistake while thinking about the family I have to protect.
I sigh and turn toward my house before glancing back at Tavish.
“Come on,” I say. “No sense in standing out here like we want to get our heads shot off. I’ll have someone come deal with the body.”
I head inside with Tavish and the dogs while I call Tucker to deal with the body on the front porch. I really have been using this service more than I should lately. Then I open the app that shows the security system and check the archives for when the guy who’d broken into my house arrived.
Tavish watches over my shoulder as the man who currently lies dead in my front yard starts in on the door. I can’t quite see what he’s doing, but it’s obvious he’s skilled because before long the door swings open, and then he does something to the security system that keeps it from going off.
That’s about how far he gets before Sarge has hold of his wrist. I’m not even sure the manheardSarge before the dog is on him. Sarge grabs his wrist in his mouth and shakes it hard. The man screams and falls out through the open front door, dragging the dog after him. He kicks Sarge and the dog loosenshis grip, but I’m pretty sure it was only loosened to get a better hold on him or to go for the other arm.
The man pulls out his gun, but before he can take the shot that would have ended Sarge’s life, the man falls back and collapses where he stands. The masked man walks up, checks for a pulse, then drags him out of sight before taking a seat and patting Cayenne who is already prepared to make friends with him.
“This whole situation is fucked,” I say.
Tavish snorts. “I’ve noticed.”
“Help me pack some shit for Waylon. Do you know how to take down a gaming console?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you pack that up for me? Make sure you grab his spare controllers. I’m going to get a few things,” I say as I alert Cassel that someone took down the security system, which he’snotgoing to be pleased about. I’m pretty sure this kind is his favorite system to use.
I go into my gun shrine to choose which of my babies to take. I hate leaving them here in this unprotected house, so I decide that maybe I should pack them all up and take them with me. Honestly, it’s the smartest thing to do. One never knows when they might needallthe guns.
“What… what are you doing?” Tavish asks when he peeks into the room.
“Just packing up the most important ones,” I say.
“Is that why every single gun in this room is now inside gun cases that are stacked to the ceiling? Did you even leave anything behind?”
I look around the empty room and then at the tower of cases and conclude that Tavish is just jealous of my children.
“While you did theveryimportant job of making it so that we have to spend the next thirty minutes loading both vehicles withguns, I packed up Waylon’s console, some clothes, a few books, toothbrushes, and other essentials.”
