19. Gauge #3
“Sheriff?” I asked.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he looked down at his boots. “I want a copy of that.”
“Are you sure?” Dallas asked.
He whipped his head up. “We need that on as many hard drives as possible. We can’t let it out of our sight. Send it to me, and I’ve got a couple of computers that’ll be safe with that footage on it.”
“That’s good thinking,” Plug said as he disconnected the external, “I’ll get that video onto a thumb drive for you.”
“Thanks,” Nielson murmured as he raked his hands down his face.
“Where is she now, you think?” one of the deputies asked.
“I can actually answer that question for you,” Deac said, “follow me.”
I reached out and grabbed his arm. “Are you sure we want to show them that room?”
Deac stared me down. “Do we have a choice at this point?”
Dallas came walking up to us. “Everything okay?”
“Are we sure we want to show them our sanctuary?” I asked.
Dallas shrugged. “We can always build another one if their presence compromises it. But with us on a technological lockdown, we don’t have much choice.”
I nodded mindlessly. “Yeah, yeah. I know.”
Deac patted my arm. “Come on, we’ll think about what to do about our privacy after this is all over. Right now, though, we can’t risk anything else.”
He looked over at Char, who whispered something into Rat’s ear. The man grinned before he looked at her with that sly little look of his, and the two of them laughed. For the first time since Bait’s death, he smiled. Genuinely smiled. Goddamn it, that woman was good for all of us.
She deserved to have this wrapped up as soon as possible.
“Sheriff?” I asked as I headed for the hallway. “Follow us.”
And we didn’t stop until we were all stuffed like fucking sardines in that room with the red dot still dancing along that topographical map.
“Whoa,” Sheriff Nielson said, “is that red dot her?”
“That’s her,” Deac said. “Plug? Where is she?”
He scoffed as he typed on what looked like a new laptop.
“Air gapped?” I asked.
Plug nodded. “It’ll stay that way too until absolutely necessary.”
“Compliments of Nielson,” Deac murmured.
I looked over at the sheriff and nodded my thanks.
“Anytime,” he mouthed back.
“Of course she is,” Plug murmured.
“What?” Deac asked. “Where is she? What’s going on?”
That’s when Plug turned to Nielson. “She’s at your precinct right now.”
“What?” Char asked.
“Or she’s at least heading that way. She’s on the main road right now,” Plug said as he turned back to the map and pointed. “But she’s not in that black van. She’s fucking booking it, so she’s either being reckless, or?—”
“Or she ditched her fucking van and torched it somewhere,” I snarled.
“Any way to know what vehicle she’s driving?” one of the deputies asked.
Plug chuckled and cracked his fingers. “Watch and learn, fellas.”
Not only did Plug manage to snag a picture of her behind the wheel of her new, well, wheels, he was even able to pull up a picture of the license plate.
She blew a red light through one of the small towns to get back to Layborn, and it snapped her angry face, the full front of that vehicle, as well as the entire back of it.
“She’s getting sloppy,” I said with a smile.
That’s when Nielson turned toward his deputies. “All right, everyone. Let’s pack it up! Let’s go see what this woman wants.”
I reached out and grabbed his arm. “Don’t give anything away.”
He snickered. “This isn’t my first rodeo, Gauge. We’ll be fine.”
“No, seriously,” I said as I dropped his arm. “This is the first time we’ve ever had the jump on her. We have to keep our advantage as long as possible.”
Nielson’s eyes darkened in a way I’d never seen before. The dastardly grin that spread across his face matched the lifelessness of the anger behind his eyes.
“This is just as much my town as it is yours, gentlemen. So let me do what I do best,” he said.
And no one dared to challenge the man.
“What are you going to do, Sheriff?” Char asked.
His eyes almost immediately cleared as he looked down at her, with his grin spreading into a full-blown smile.
“I’m gonna strike myself another deal.”
“Sheriff,” Deac warned.
He held up his hand, though. “I won’t give the big parts away, I’m not that stupid. But we have to pivot this target onto an official back. Might as well be mine.”
Deac placed his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Take a couple of my guys with you. Let them hide just in case. You saw what they did to Rat and Bait. To our shop. She’s not working alone.”
Nielson nodded. “How do you guys feel about handcuffs then?”
“If you’re arresting them, then I’m going with you,” Char said.
“No.”
The entire room answered her on that one. The word bounced around, echoing off the walls as we all stood there, staring down at the fiery little cohort who joined our ranks without so much as batting an eye.
“Anyway,” Char said as she moved out of the kitchen, “hope that made you guys feel better. Sheriff?”
“Yep?” he asked with a muted grin.
“I’ll wait by the door,” she said as she exited the kitchen. “I can ride with you, whenever you guys are ready.”