Before Jake could respond, Elena opened the door. Her smile did not match the terror in her eyes, glassy and red as she blinked back tears.
“Jake, come in!” Her loud cheerful voice lied. She stepped back to let him pass.
“Mmm, something smells good!” Jake scanned the front room and found it empty. Rachael’s tote sat next to a recliner by the door. He pointed to Rachael’s bag and mouthed the words,I know. He opened his leather jacket to show her his gun in its holster. To her credit, she took it in stride, nodding as if she already knew.Rachael must have tipped her off. Good.
“You okay, Elena? Your eyes look a little red.” He held up two fingers and mouthed,two men?
“Fine, fine! My eyes are watering from chopping onions. Rachael’s in the kitchen. We started eating without you, sorry.” As she spoke, she shook her head and held up three fingers, then pointed toward a hall Jake assumed led to Tina’s bedroom and held up one finger. Then she mouthed,Hank. Tina.Bedroom. She held up two fingers and pointed to the kitchen.Deal. Sheriff.
“Well, I’m starving and I wanna see my girl. Plate me up.” He put a reassuring hand on Elena’s shoulder and moved her behind him. As he walked to the kitchen, he whispered just loud enough for the comm to pick up, “Hank confirmed. Deal and sheriff in kitchen.”
“Stay cool, brother. You’ll appreciate this. I came in through the bathroom window. Nothing but a loose, busted screen. I’ll let you know when the girl’s secured.”
“Roger.”
“And I want to marry whoever made dinner. Smells amazing.”
Jake plastered on a big, shit-eating grin and stepped into the kitchen. He feigned shock when he saw Deal and Sheriff Stevenson sitting at the kitchen table with Rachael, plates heaped with food and some of it already staining Deal’s shirt.
“Mr. Deal.” Jake looked quickly between Deal, Rachael, and the sheriff. “I don’t—”
Deal waved his hand. “Take a seat, Jake. We need to have another conversation. I don’t think you quite understood what I told you yesterday about Rachael.”
Jake glanced at Rachael and tried and failed to hold down his rage as he noticed her swelling cheek. “What the fuck happened?”
“That is your fault, boy,” Deal said. “Now put your arms up while my friend the sheriff here,” he waved at Stevenson as the man stood, “relieves you of your pistol and whatever you’ve got in your boot right now.” Deal smiled and looked proud of himself for getting Jake to tell him what he carried during their previous conversation.
“Fuck you both.”
The sheriff drew his own gun. “What was that, boy?”
“Stop, please! Jake,” Rachael looked at him, pleading, “Just do it. Please.”
Jake complied. He lifted his arms as the sheriff took his .45, patted down his back and sides and found nothing, then bent and pulled Jake’s knife from his boot. Jake resisted the urge to break the man’s jaw with a well-placed kick.Was he the one who hit Rachael? Didn’t matter—they’d all pay.
Deal smiled as the sheriff returned to his seat. “Now, Jake. Sit, boy.”
Jake took a deep breath to clear his head as he sat. He had one chance at getting Rachael and Elena out of there alive and his rage wouldn’t help. Elena stood in the kitchen doorway behind him, Rachael sat to his right, Deal sat directly across the table, and Stevenson was to his left. Deal tucked back into his food. The sheriff kept his gun trained on Jake. Rachael sat with her hands in her lap and her head down, but Jake could tell she was hyper-focused on her surroundings. Elena kept silent.
Deal speared a hunk of pork and chewed as he talked. “I can see you’re upset, Jake, so I’m just gonna get right to it. Where the hell’s my book?”
“Book? What book? I didn’t peg you as a big reader, Boss.” Jake eased back in his chair and folded his arms.
Deal smiled around the food in his mouth. “You really want to do it like this? Play dumb?”
“Not dumb, just ignorant. I have no fucking clue what book you’re talking about. Care to enlighten me?” Jake listened for any sounds through his comm that would let him know where Camden was. Nothing.Hurry it up, brother. Can’t stall this asshole forever.
Deal set his knife and fork down. “Fine. The plant’s accounting book. I want it back.”
Jake uncrossed his arms and laid his hands on his thighs. “Why would I have it? That’s not part of my job as foreman.”
Deal pointed at Rachael. “Because my whore daughter gave it to you after she stole it, that’s why.”
Rachael kept her head down, but Jake saw her body tense like a coiling spring.
Deal went on. “I thought I’d gotten rid of the garbage when you kicked Hank’s ass. Turns out, I just traded one pile of shit for another.” Deal picked his fork back up and took another bite. “Thing is though, Hank’s an ass-kisser, always has been, always will be. He’d march right into the slaughterhouse with the rest of the cows if he had the chance to pucker up for the boss. You though, you’re different. You think you can come in and take whatever you want. My book. My daughter. You know, you’re getting sloppy seconds with her. Hank fucked her first, she tell you that?”
Through the comm, Jake heard the barest sounds of a struggle. A muffled grunt, then back to nothing.
