Page 76 of Wrong Pawn. Right Capo.

“Where’s Liza?”

“Look man, I don’t know—”

Before he finishes, I land a heavy blow directly to his jaw. He groans weakly, stumbling to the floor from the force. Of course, he’s a weakling. He’s a con artist, not a soldier.

“Look, I can’t. H-He’ll destroy me,” he groans.

“Bastard’s dead,” I spit. “Now answer the damn question, or you’ll be next.”

His eyes dart around the room as his resolve crumbles. Good. “Cabin. She and the kids are in the cabin. Who are you and why do you want them?”

Ignoring his question, I fist his collar. “I want you to walk with me to the cabin. You’re going to knock on the door. You’re going to tell Liza there’s a power problem and that you need to check the connection box inside. When she opens the door, you’ll fucking step aside.”

“Fuck, man, you can’t make me do that. Liza is smart, she’ll sense something’s wrong. We haven’t had a power outage in years!”

“You’re a con artist. Time to put on the best fucking show.”

Without giving him the chance to be a coward, I nudge him toward the exit, my gun pressed against his side. The walk to the cabin is tense, and I can see Jeremiah shivering.

We get to the door of the cabin, and he knocks. Twice. I move away, hiding around the corner. There’s silence until the deadbolt thunks.

“Antenna’s throwing codes, Liza. I need to check the router in the closet. The wind is kicking up ahead of the storm coming in, so it might’ve knocked something loose.”

She hesitates, then opens the door. As Jeremiah steps forward, I move. I’m inside before she can scream, clamping my hand over her mouth.

There are three children in the living room, all of whom look scared.

“Sit. Be quiet. And no one gets hurt,” I growl to Liza, slowly letting her go when she stops thrashing against my hold. She quickly backs away, wedging herself between the kids and me.

“W-Who are you?” Her lips tremble. She looks twenty years older than her society page photos—blonde hair and dull blue eyes, probably the result of being holed up in the middle of nowhere.

“The consequence of your husband’s choices.” I lower the gun but let it remain visible.

“He made a deal with some people… involving a man named Victor Caughn. That deal got my family killed. Now, the people behind that deal have taken someone from me. You’re going to tell me how to find Caughn.”

“I don’t know any Caughn!” Her voice is a desperate hiss. “My husband... he never talked about his work. He just sent us here to be safe.”

Not in the mood for any fucking bullshit, I stride toward her, shoving her out of the way and snatching one of the toddlers by her arm, pointing a gun at her head.

“I’m not a man with much patience, Liza,” I grit out, though I’m careful not to press the barrel of the gun into the child’s skin. “So you better start talking.”

Her eyes widen, and I see maternal terror overriding everything else. Good.

“Something has happened to my husband, hasn’t it?”

“He’s dead.”

She swallows thickly, eyes darting from the crying toddler in my grasp to me. “Please don’t hurt her. Paul, my husband, had a safe house. Said if anything ever happened to him, I should go there to find the truth.”

“Where?”

“An abandoned shack,” she whispers, shakily. “He took me there once, years ago, before... all this. To show me. In case he died.”

She continues, giving rough directions. Something about a major landmark and a dirt track off a dirt road, close by.

“I promise, I don’t know how to find Caughn. I only met him once…with my husband, outside of this ranch. You’ll find something there that’ll lead you to him.”

Tense silence eats up the space as I study her to assess her body language. It looks like she’s telling the truth.