Page 53 of One for the Money

Judge was the one and only person to ever evade me, and this fucking con artist managed to unearth him.

Ahand gripped my jaw and turned my head until I met Bear’s gaze. His onyx-colored eyes searched my face carefully as if he was worried I’d gotten lost in a nightmare.

I reached up and curled my fingers around his wrist. “I’m fine, just caught off guard.”

That answer didn’t comfort Bear. If anything, it made him look even more concerned as he released his hold. “You don’t get caught off guard. Who is this Judge?”

“The one who got away,” I answered cryptically. “He’s the only man to slip through my fingers.”

Erik tugged the paper free from my hand and read over it. “This guy certainly has a flair for the dramatic, but it’s a good twist on the nursery rhyme.”

“You have no idea how fitting that is,” I muttered, closing the case’s lid and getting to my feet. “Let’s go. If this feather duster really found him, I’m not letting Judge slip through my fingers again.”

Bear grabbed the handle and lifted the gold-plated case like it was a fucking pillow. I watched as his muscles swelled and defined his arm even more. Moments like this made me glad he hated wearing shirts and never anything with sleeves unless it was a leather jacket.

The brush of a finger swiping just under my bottom lip brought me out of my stupor. “Sorry… you were drooling,” Erik teased.

“Fuck off,” I grumbled, batting his hand away. “You’re just jealous.”

“Maybe a little, but I think I’ve got a shot at making you look at me like that with a little time.” He leaned in closer so I could feel his breath on my neck. “You’ve got your hooks in me bad, little siren. Now I just need to figure out how to return the favor.”

My skin flushed with the heat of his words, tingling, needing to be touched. I cleared my throat and stepped back, trying to rein in my impulsive nature. There had never been an issue with my sex drive, but something shifted after being with both of them this morning. It was like a switch had been flipped, and I wanted nothing more than to spend the whole day in bed exploring all the different ways three people could have sex.

“Sirens don’t fall for their victims. They just present the illusion, and the men are foolish enough to fall for it,” I said, even though I wasn’t so sure I believed my own words. “Let’s go. I have a feeling these coordinates aren’t close to the city. Probably why he brought us to the outer edge.”

Erik simply smirked and slipped his hands into his jeans pockets. He knew he’d struck a nerve but chose not to play that card just yet. At the rate he was going, it would be like Erik the veterinarian never existed. It goes to show we can’t hide our real nature no matter how hard we try—it will always be waiting just under the surface.

Back at the bikes, Bear strapped the gun case to his bike while I pulled up the location on the satellite GPS. I’d been right—the coordinates took us out of the city and over to an old abandoned mining town. The country of Hasnad was known for being mineral rich, a main factor why it was one of the top agricultural producers on top of the mining industry. Like many countries, there’d been a boom in mining, and here, the mineral of choice was molybdenum, used as an additive to strengthen other metals against high heat like nuclear reactors. Once the nuclear age ended and the need for the mineral lessened, mining towns all over the country collapsed. This was one such town Coronis was leading me to, and it was the perfect spot for an ambush.

It took an hour and a half to get to the location—a proper ghost town. Simple row houses built for the miners and their families were in various stages of dilapidation. Many of the structures had collapsed in on themselves, making me feel better. No one would be stupid enough to hide in a building that might bury you alive.

To be safe, we took a lap around the place, looking for any sign people had been there recently. If one of my competitors were coming after me, they’d bring an army of men. However, the opposite would be said if this was a hit to collect the bounty. Neither of those options felt right for this situation, but you know what they say—plan for the worst and stay two steps ahead.

Wait, maybe was it speak softly and carry the biggest stick?

A tap on my thigh had me turning to Erik, who was waiting for my attention. “Over by the entrance to the mine, I saw something,” he signed.

I waved to Bear and signaled him to follow—I wasn’t splitting us up this time. There was too much ground to cover for us to spread out. The houses were a little ways from the actual mine, so I was surprised Erik saw anything. However, once I had a clear line of sight, it was easy to see what caught his attention. A bunch of bright red balloons bobbed in the light afternoon breeze. There was one set of tire tracks showing someone had come and gone, leading me to feel confident this wasn’t an ambush. If it were, they’d have done all they could to hide their presence.

Off our bikes once more, we walked over the balloons which were tied to a wooden crate. Unlike the ones I used for shipping goods, this had hinges and a latch to put a padlock through. It wasn’t locked, and another wolf’s head was burned into the wood, marking it for me. I went to open it, but Bear’s arm shot out, halting me.

“Let the newbie open it this time,” Bear instructed, giving Erik a pointed look.

“Yeah, sure, why not let the new guy get blown up,” Erik muttered, running a hand over his buzzed hair.

Bear wrapped his arm around me and dragged me back from the crate. He turned his back so if anything happened, he’d get hit first. Peering through the space between his arm and torso, I watched as Erik took a moment to roll his shoulders, stretch his neck, and crack his knuckles before shaking out his hands. “Right… okay, let’s do this.”

Flipping up the metal latch, Erik moved to the side, flung the lid back, and ducked. He used so much force the lid slammed into the back of the crate with a boom. The sound echoed around us, bouncing off the semicircle of buildings on either side of the mine’s entrance. When nothing happened, Erik peered over the crate’s edge to look inside before standing.

“All good, just a bunch of ammo for your machine gun and grenades,” Erik announced, then pulled out a note. “He says to use these for your favorite games, hot potato and laser tag. What the hell is he talking about?”

Bear released me, and I rushed over, snatching the note out of his hand. Sure enough, there it was in black and white just as Erik had said. “I don’t understand. How could he possibly know about this? The only person besides you and Bear would be the person playing the game, and they always end up dead.”

“Hold on,” Erik said, holding up his hands, each grasping a grenade. “Are you telling me you play hot mother fucking potato with grenades?”

“Not just that, I also use them for egg toss and bobbing for grenades. I’m sure if I sat down to think about it, I could come up with a few more,” I corrected. “Grenades can be used for all sorts of things, just like C4. Oh my God, I just thought of something, Operation, but all the objects are made of C4, and if they touch the side, it acts as a detonator, blowing them up if they fail. Fuck, that’s brilliant!”

I was practically vibrating with excitement just thinking about how to make it happen.