Page 135 of Out Of A Fix

He groaned like he was dying.

“Mr. Colter?” Luke came into the room, hand out. “Thank you so much for sending Nash to me—I mean, us, sir. I can’t thank you enough,” he said as Jared took his hand.

“Well, the thanks goes to your brother-in-law. Perhaps you might reach out to him. It seems to me your kids have an uncle worth knowing.”

Luke nodded. “I certainly will.”

Owen walked over then, having met Luke’s parents, and took a seat at the table, powering up his scary laptop, not at all something normal-looking, more like a box that should contain deadly serums or some kind of new-age tactical weapon.

“That’s yours?” Tatum asked, putting my French press down in front of me. She had the half-and-half in her robe pocket with one mug, and another mug in the other pocket. She always put things in her pockets because she was not a fan of making multiple trips. Plus, she needed both hands to carry my coffee.

“Thank you,” I told her as she removed things from her pockets like a magician.

“That robe is handy,” Jared commented.

She smiled at him, but her attention was on Owen’s laptop.

“This is mine, yes,” Owen confirmed. “I built it myself.”

She squinted at him. “Are you a hacker?”

“I am,” he said. “But only for good.”

“White-hat hacker, gotcha.”

He smiled at her, then turned to me. “You have questions, I have answers.”

We all said that, having picked it up from Jared.

I leaned forward as Jared swung his legs over the bench to sit on my left and Luke sat down on my right. “Do we need the kids here?”

“Yes.”

“Tatum, love, go upstairs and nicely wake up your brothers.”

She got up and dashed around the corner. “I like how you added nicely so I wouldn’t get my Nerf gun like the last time,” she bellowed from the stairs.

“I know you,” I yelled back.

“You really do,” Luke said, leaning against me before kissing my jaw.

Viola and John sat down at the table, Viola bringing a cup of coffee for her son. I poured from the press for Jared first and then me. Jared picked it up to drink.

“There’s cream and sugar there, Mr. Colter,” Viola said, looking concerned.

“No,” Owen said with a shudder. “He drinks it black.”

“Got used to it in the Army,” he told her. “And call me Jared.”

“You were in the Army?” John asked.

“Yessir,” Jared responded. “For quite a while.”

“Okay, so really quick,” Owen said to Luke. “Your ex-wife will not have to testify. The man she was testifying against turned witness himself, so they will keep her in the queue, as it were, in case he changes his mind, which is highly unlikely. So she’s still in WITSEC and will remain so for the foreseeable future.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” Luke replied.

“This also means that you and your family are no longer in any danger from the cartel.”