“You cannot do that,” Harper said testily.
“Well, don’t tellhimthat!” The other voice was disgusted.
“Just go,” Harper said. “Deliver him to Clay and?—”
A third voice spoke up, sharply. “Who the fuck is that?” and Mick stopped kicking so he could hear whatever was happening.
“They’re just driving past,” Harper said. “Smile and for God’s sake, keep your weapons holstered!”
Jules absolutely did not expect this.
“Still want me to drive past?” Sam asked, slowing just a little.
Because all three men—Harper plus two—were watching them. At this point, they were little more than a car with glaring headlights. But when they passed—if they passed—even if Jules ducked, they would see Sam behind the wheel. And yes, he could turn away or even hold his phone up to his face, pretending to be talking to someone, but holy shit, it was clear from the brightly lit windows of the surrounding houses that plenty of other people in this neighborhood were home and still awake.
Gunshots, or any type of altercation, for that matter, would draw a crowd.
Jules hoped.
“Your order, at any time, would be apprec?—”
“Slow down and pull over!” Jules ordered, even as he used his phone to dial Hobbit. “I’m gonna leave this line open so you can hear what’s happening,” he turned to tell his friend in the backseat. “Record this if you can.”
Hobbit was wide-eyed. “I will.”
“There might be more men inside,” Sam warned.
“Garage is empty,” Jules pointed out. “No SUV. Nothing’s parked on the street, either. The shorter guy, on the left, is mine.”
“Copy that,” Sam said.
“Hob, as soon as we get out, get behind the wheel. Lock and load. Be ready for anything. Above all, keep yourself safe. Do you understand?”
“Locked, loaded, and ready,” Hobbit confirmed. “And ditto please.”
“What exactly are we doing here?” Sam asked.
“Follow me.” Jules got out of the car while it was still rolling. “Hey! Mr. Harper! Thank God, you’re all right!”
Sam jerked to a stop, leaving the keys for Kevin. He swiftly followed Jules out of the rental car which he’d parked pretty damn badly, directly across the street from the driveway where Harper and two of his hired guns were standing.
Jules—whom he was following—just fucking walked right up to them, as if the sidearms that Dumb and Dumber had pulled and were waving in his direction were invisible.
So Sam just fucking walked right up to them, too, positioning himself as close as possible to Dumber, who was the man on their right.
Jules, of course, was expounding on his initialThank God you’re all right!which was, Sam had to admit, pretty fucking ballsy. “We got a call from Milt. He wasextremelyupset. He said that Emily had been shot, and he seemed to thinkyouwere responsible, although that’s...” He made a WTF sound. “Is he... How do I ask this? Does Milt have mental health issues that you’re aware of?”
Harper’s two men were looking to him for direction, but Jules had managed to surprise the lawyer by completely reframing the situation. It was no longer Harper and his men against Wig-Milt and his investigators. It was all of them, on the same side, deeply concerned for Wig-Milt’s fragile sanity.
“He’s always had issues,” Harper intoned, trying to sound sad about it, and mostly just sounding like the asshole that he was.
Jules, of course, wasn’t done. “He said he was going to kill you and I’msosorry, I didn’t have your cell phone number to calland warn you. We were tracking his phone and we think he came here before he must’ve—I don’t know—taken the battery out? We lost contact a few minutes ago. And of course, we recognized that this is the Devonshire property, which we knew you were checking up on this weekend, so we got here as quickly as we could. I honestly don’t know if he’s actually armed—I don’t think he is, but sir, I’mextremelyconcerned for your safety.”
As if he were searching for any sign of Wig-Milt sneaking up on them, Sam turned and scanned the street and the neighbors’ front yards, using the movement to bring his body even closer to Dumber, even as Jules shifted toward Dumb.
They all damn well knew that Mick had already been apprehended, probably by these very men. But Harper and his little team didn’t know that Jules and Sam knew.
Although it was also more than obvious that Mick was currently stashed in the trunk of that Lexus, from the way that Harper kept nervously glancing over at it. And Sam knew from the very brief eye contact Jules shot him, that Jules knew this, too. If Mick was in fact in there, he knew enough to stay silent—or at least Sam hoped he did.
