“The hell she isn’t,” Raider returned, keeping his gaze on the wounded farmer. “She’ll stay where I put her.”
Sean lifted his head, sweat rolling down his damaged neck. His eyes were bloodshot and his nose definitely broken. “My girl does what she wants.” He broke off to cough up blood, the sound wheezing.
Yeah. Definitely broken ribs and punctured lung in there somewhere.
Eddie smiled at the guy who’d done the damage. “Good job tonight, Tom. Looks like you just got a promotion.”
Tom cracked his neck. “Thanks, boss. Want me to finish this?”
“Nope. You go on, now. Have a good night,” Eddie said, his gaze returning to Sean, who was silently glaring.
“Okay.” Tom strode out the back door, limping slightly. Maybe Sean had given him more of a fight than was first apparent. Two seconds later, an engine ignited, and then Tom was gone.
Jonny moved to Sean and punched him in the gut. Blood sprayed in every direction, covering Jonny’s entire front, including his chin. Sean growled and tried to lift off the chair. “Make this a fair fight, P. Though you’ll be crying.”
Raider’s legs bunched to intercede, but he forced himself to stay in place.
Jonny snarled. “Want me to handle him?”
“No.” Eddie turned and looked at Raider. “This is how you earn trust, Raider Times. Take out that gun Jonny so kindly gave you and put one through this asshole’s head. Nobody betrays me. Just think what a clear path you’ll have with the daughter, then.”
Shit. Raider drew out the gun just as Josh did the same, except Josh pointed his at Raider.
“Oh,” Eddie added. “If you don’t shoot Sean, Josh is going to shoot you. Make a choice.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brigid took a long pull on her straw and led the way into case room one, where Roscoe was already back to sleep on his plush bed in the corner. Angus was paranoid, to say the least, so nothing interesting had been left up on the board. “Okay. Why do you want to find Wolfe so badly?” She flipped on the lights.
Dana followed and took a seat, retrieving her laptop from the bag. “I figured your offices would be nicer than this.”
“We’re the rebels,” Brigid said easily, also taking a seat. “Not exactly the gold star of HDD agents.” For some reason, she was happy with that fact. Well, she would be if she hadn’t signed a plea bargain basically giving away her life. But one thing at a time.
“Though that is a nice-looking dog,” Dana said.
Yeah, he hadn’t gotten enough sleep, apparently. “What do you have?” Brigid asked.
Dana opened her laptop, looking lovely in the glow of the screen. But at least she wore normal clothing and wasn’t all fancy, though Brigid wished she could do that casual hair-pulled-up look. Her curly hair was tough to tame. “I need the Wi-Fi password,” Dana said.
Brigid reached for the laptop and connected it to the system. “There. You can use the screen now, too.”
“Thanks.”
The elevator dinged, heavy footsteps sounded, and Malcolm West strode into the room. His hair was mussed and his eyes tired. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Brigid performed introductions. “What do you know?” Her lungs seized. Just how bad was the situation?
Malcolm shook his head. “Nothing. Raider went for a ride, and we don’t know why. Wolfe left his phone, and Force is doing something to find Raider, but that’s all I know. They didn’t have time to talk.”
Brigid’s throat clogged. Raider was trained and he was smart. Same with Wolfe and Force. Everything would be all right. “Where’s Kat?”
“Home with Pippa,” Malcolm said, turning toward Dana. “Let’s get some work done while we wait. What do you have?”
The elevator dinged again, and heels sounded. Nari poked her head in, her eyes clear, her hair perfectly in place. “Have you heard anything yet?”
“No,” Malcolm said. “But I called you in just in case. For now, this is Dana, Wolfe’s reporter friend.”
“Hello.” Nari moved inside and took a seat. Today she wore a pale yellow silk blouse with dark jeans. “I take it you have information for us?”
