Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
CAL
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that shouldn’t be like that,” Antonio says as he stares at a small guardhouse, near where we’d passed Emma when she was taking Copper back to the others.
This time, there’s no Emma or guardhouse.
The flimsy thing appears to have been flattened, possibly by a vehicle.
“Let’s park the vehicle elsewhere and carefully head up to get a closer look,” Lane suggests.
“On it,” Antonio says before he backs out onto the road and starts down it until he finds a field with a lane that he pulls into. We get out and I hug my rifle as I look at Grayson.
“How many workers are here?” I ask him.
“It depends on the day. Some days there are five, some days twenty-five.”
“How many are involved in this issue with Allen?” Felix asks.
“Seven of them. We have Ned, of course, and then there’s Emma, who is Ned’s fiancée’s sister.
Another is Emma’s husband. Of the remaining four, one is knowledgeable about what’s happened—that’s the guy who recognized Antonio—and the others were fucked over like Ned was.
Ex-military who were practically destroyed when they tried raising a fuss about Lt. Allen.”
It’s broad daylight, making it significantly harder to sneak around. But Felix leaves Brigs and Trav inside the vehicle and only takes Copper with him so he can guide Lane.
“Brigs is gonna be pissed. He has a bit of separation anxiety, but he’ll be alright,” Felix says as I glance through the window at Brigs, who is lying on the seat where Felix had put him. He twitches a little in his sleep, not a single concern in his piggy body.
Lane takes hold of Copper’s harness and the group of us make our way across the road and into the trees. Grayson leads us, seeing as he knows the place, and when we get close, he stops us while we still have ample cover.
“Let’s figure out what we can see from here,” he says, pulling out his binoculars as I use my scope to see what’s going on.
“I see four men surrounding the metal storage container we were being held in,” I state. “The way one of them is kicking the walls makes me believe they have people inside they’re trying to keep silent. Are they Ned’s men?”
“Definitely not. I don’t recognize any… oh! The one waving his arms around is the guy who got locked in with us while they abducted Antonio, isn’t he?”
I wait until the man turns a little. “Sure as fuck is.” I scan the greenhouse before noticing a handful of people on the other side of it. “Well, fuck me.”
“I already have a man so I can’t fuck you, sorry,” Felix says.
“Not like that.”
“How else do I fuck you, then?” Felix asks.
“I’m interested,” Grayson says.
“Shove it. Both of you. What I was trying to tell you is that Audrey is here.”
Grayson doesn’t seem surprised. “I did tell you I wondered if she was involved.”
“Wonder no more,” I grumble, quite displeased with it.
“I see at least nine people. And those are the ones out in the open. We have no idea how many more are inside of the greenhouses or the main building,” Grayson says.
“We also have no idea who these people are or what they want; I would rather not engage them if possible,” I say, anxious at the idea of shooting someone who could be innocent.
“I hear you. And I know, I know, you’re all going to cry that I’m a sucker for risky shit or something,” Felix begins, “but I think that maybe we should think about saving Ned and his crew if you really think they are innocent and have simply fucked up by getting involved. If that’s what they did to Ned’s fiancée…
I can’t imagine what they’re going to do to him. ”
“Ned and his crew really aren’t bad people,” Grayson says. “I think they’ve allowed their grief to cause them to make some questionable choices. But no, I don’t think they’re bad people.”
“Irritating people to me,” I growl.
Grayson squats down next to me and wraps an arm around my shoulders before pulling me in to squeeze me to him. “I know they don’t deserve a second chance, but I also know you’re such a good person you’re going to give them one.”
“No, I’m not.”
“If you weren’t, we’d be getting back in that vehicle right now.”
“Which I’m going to do the very second I’m done staring at Audrey and whispering curses.”
“Oh? You a witch now or something?”
“Something like that.”
“I taught him that,” Felix says. “That’s why I need all of these pets. They’re my familiars. Obviously, Lane .”
“Don’t make some bullshit excuse for why you keep stealing pets.”
“Grayson… if I had one wish for your relationship with Cal, it would be for you to not treat Cal with the brutality Lane treats me with every time I save a perfectly innocent pet from winding up in a horrible villain’s hands.”
“Have I ever made you return a pet? Do I let that pig sleep in our bed? Do I just suffer as I trip over at least one pet a day?”
“You love them as much as I do.”
“Now that might be stretching it. I very much love Copper. I even love Clawdia. But the pig…” Lane thinks for a moment. “Anyway.”
“No! You were explaining how much you love Brigs!”
“I like him. Is that good enough?”
“We’ll work on that.” Felix is silent for a bit before going, “I kind of feel like I should have binoculars too.” He twirls his baseball bat, reminding me that it’s the only thing he seems to have brought that’s useful.
“Like… we’re just chatting over here because we’re kind of bored.
Did you guys bring anything for us to look through? ”
“You mean you dressed up like kinky burglars and packed nothing for the actual job?” I ask.
“Kinky burglars… I wonder if we’d get more customers if we renamed our detective agency to that.”
“You’d definitely get more customers, but would they be the right kind of customers?” Antonio asks.
“Did I tell you my idea of having Lane naked and waving a sign over his genitals to get people to come in?”
“Like… airing them out?”
“No, like one of those sign twirlers. Antonio, gosh, you have such a dirty mind.”
I look away from my scope just so I can fully experience the expression of disbelief on Antonio’s face.
“Do I? Am I the one?” he asks.
“Have you seen anyone else during this riveting conversation?” I ask Grayson.
“You know, I got so caught up in the conversation, I forgot what we were here for,” Grayson decides.
“Funny, guys. I know we’re hilarious. I know you wish you were like us, but right now we need you two to do all the stuff we’re not good at,” Felix says.
“Well, Audrey went inside the building, which makes me think there are more people inside,” I say.
“What do we want to do?” Grayson asks.
“Could we like… call the police?” Antonio suggests.
“Trying to alert the authorities is how we’ve gotten into this position,” Grayson says. “Sadly, Lt. Allen has some kind of pull that’s allowing him to get away with this time after time.”
“So… what if we capture Audrey and then just like… punch her a little?” I ask.
“Does that… solve something?” Grayson wonders.
“Maybe we’ll punch the truth out of her so we can learn what’s going on. And while I’m at it, I will just… enjoy punching her. Does that make me sound like a bad person? I’m not sure I care.”
“They’re dragging someone away from the building,” Grayson says. “Greenhouse two, west side.”
I shift my scope over to look and see them dragging a man out.
“It’s hard to see with their bodies in the way, but I think that’s Emma’s husband,” he continues as I watch them throw him to the ground.
“I don’t like the look of this,” I say a second before one of the men kicks him in the face so hard his head snaps back.
It must stun him because he slams down on his back, and for a moment he reaches out, but he can’t seem to get his limbs under him to try to get up or even to protect himself from the next blow.
This one gets him right in the stomach.
“Is he even involved? It sounds like he’s just here because of Emma losing her sister,” I say.
Felix takes the binoculars from Grayson and explains to Lane and Antonio what he’s seeing.
“The lock on that storage container they held us in was easy to open. What if I sneak over there, unlock it, and at least get the innocent people out of here? While they’re distracted with Emma’s husband, we’ll get them to safety.
And then… maybe we can somehow get to Emma’s husband then. ”
They’ve at least stopped beating him for the time being. Instead, they’re just hovering around him while he curls up on the ground.
“I don’t like the idea of you sneaking over there alone,” Lane says.
“I’ll go with him,” I offer.
Apparently, Grayson thinks that was the wrong answer because he protests, “Why would you go? Why wouldn’t I go?”
“Because you’re good at this, and I’m good… at shooting people if the need arises.”
Grayson looks concerned about that, but what else does he want me to say? No, I don’t ever want to kill someone again, but I’m well aware I would go very far to protect the people I care about. “I don’t want you to have to shoot anyone else,” he says.
“I will allow you to stroke my baby while I’m gone,” I announce as I put my rifle in his hands. “He likes it when you squeeze him tight.”
“I’m… concerned?”
“We’ll be right back,” I say. “Treat him well.”
His hand wraps around my wrist before I can hurry after Felix. “Cal, I don’t like this. Stay on the rifle. I’ll go with Felix.”
I catch his eyes. “Grayson, I know this is risky. I know you don’t want me out there any more than I want you out there, but Felix has done so much for me. I want to protect him, and I will. Trust me.”
Grayson seems uncertain, but this time, when I pull from him, he lets me. “Be safe.”
“I’ll be very safe.”
And then I disappear into the trees and rush after Felix. I catch up to him before we get too far—he never moves very quickly.
“Do you have a plan in mind?” I ask.