He didn’t care enough to keep his dick tucked into his pants.
So, why the hell would he care enough to make my birthday one of his passwords.
“Gordon’s birthday should work just fine,” I murmured as I pushed against the small, metal Rolodex of numbers. They clicked into place, one after another, and when that lid popped open as the last number fell into place, I didn’t even feel shocked.
I simply felt more ready for what was coming.
“What’s in there?” Ranger asked.
The first thing I did was I picked up the gun. It looked like just any old handgun. Black. Official. Heavy in its weight. The bottom looked longer, though. As if someone had attempted to shove more bullets up its ass than ever before.
“An extended mag,” Ranger murmured as he crouched beside me. “Interesting.”
I moved it to the other side of the rectangular box, and it revealed wads of cash. And not just any cash, either. Different currencies. There was pink money, and green money like ours, but it sure didn’t look like ours. I picked up a passport and flipped it open to find Gordon’s picture, but none of his information.
“Mikey Leeway?” Ranger asked with a scoff. “Jesus, you could Google a fake name better than that.”
The more I uncovered, the more certain I became of my decision. A man like Gordon didn’t need to be walking around this planet, infecting it with his disease. He had destroyed enough lives. He had destroyed enough of mine, that much was for certain. And as I picked up a journal from the very bottom of the lockbox, I flipped it open to find that same coded shorthand I remembered listening to from around the corner.
Rivers, and lakes. Mentions of mountains. There were dates with timestamps followed by things like ‘two lakes’ or ‘pristine rivers.’ There was even a sale for ‘four and a half mountains,’ whatever the fuck that meant.
“I’ll just… keep this,” Ranger said as he plucked the wad of U.S. currency from the lockbox.
I merely shrugged, though. I didn’t care what they took. I just didn’t want to look at it any longer.
“Hey!” Sheriff Barnes barked.
I whipped my gaze up and stood to my feet as he charged back through the hidden doorway.
“Everything all right?” Ranger asked.
The sheriff pointed his finger in the man’s face. “Where’s Gordon? I know you’ve got him, and if you want this to play out the way we discussed, you’ll turn him over right this second.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ranger said.
I saw the shadow of that grin on his face, though, and that’s when I knew what Dutch and Troop had done.
They had taken Gordon right from beneath that man’s nose.
God, my guys are good.
“Ranger, this isn’t how this is going to go,” the sheriff warned. “Either you give me back that man, or I bring you up on charges.”
“Of what, exactly?” Ranger asked kindly.
I’d never once heard him ask anything kindly in the time that I had known him. But, when it dripped from his lips, it almost sounded sarcastic.
Which made me snicker.
“I believe you’re going to want this,” I said as I kicked the lockbox and its contents toward Sheriff Barnes.
The man looked down at it before he hiked up his suit pants in order to crouch down. A groan fell from his lips before he picked up the gun, and he turned it over before heaving a heavy sigh.
“Numbers have been filed off,” he murmured.
I pointed. “The passport is fake as well.”
The sheriff picked up the pink currency. “Well, this is just fucking great.”
