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“Sweetheart, you start crying on me, and we’re going to have problems. I don’t have anyone to shoot yet. ”
Her smile trembled. “Don’t worry about me. Crying isn’t something I do very well. ”
But she turned her head, sliding back into the seat and moving back to the passenger side.
Alex whispered a curse. “I’ll murder the bastard, Zeke. ”
The sheriff shook his head. “Don’t tell me about it, okay? I’m the one with the badge. Some things I might not need to know. ”
“It’s clear, Sheriff. ” One of the officers moved around the building. “We have the front and back entrance secured. We’re ready to move inside. ”
“Let’s check the restaurant first. Work our way up. ” Zeke looked into the truck. “You have the key, Janey?”
She shook her head. “I left those keys upstairs. All I have is the house key. ”
Zeke grimaced.
“Natches has the keys. He carries them with him all the time. Just in case,” she told them. “If he’s on his way. ”
The sound of the Harley racing through the streets could be heard.
“Sounds like him,” she muttered.
Janey clenched her fists, grit her teeth, and forced the tears and the fear back into the dark, lonely hole where they couldn’t feed, where they couldn’t build. She could feel herself shuddering on the inside, freezing. So cold that even when she wrapped Alex’s coat around her, she couldn’t get warm.
She wanted to curl into a corner alone and scream. She wanted to hit. She wanted to howl out at the pain and find something to untie the knot of horror growing inside her.
This shouldn’t be happening. She should be able to live in peace now that Dayle and Nadine were dead.
She shouldn’t have to be afraid again, shouldn’t have to fear for those she cared about.
She shouldn’t have to leave the town she loved to protect those who meant the most to her.
She pressed her knotted fists into her stomach as Natches moved up to Alex and the sheriff. Her brother’s voice was hard and cold now. It wasn’t angry; he wasn’t acting the fool as he had at the bar.
He was stone-cold serious, and the gun she glimpsed shoved into the holster at his side assured her of it.
Minutes later, Dawg and Rowdy were joining them, both of them armed as well. They weren’t joking around. They were still considered agents, attached to the Department of Homeland Security, owing to their participation in the investigation that had revealed Dayle Mackay and Nadine Grace as members of a domestic terrorist group.
“Janey, I’m locking you in the truck. ” Alex turned back to her. “Keep the doors locked, no matter what.
Do you know how to use a gun?”
She nodded bleakly. “I know how to shoot. ”
He reached over, popped the glove box, and drew out another, smaller automatic handgun. He checked the clip, then shoved the gun into her hands. “Use it if you have to, honey. You hear me?”
She nodded again, then turned to him. “Be careful, Alex. Please. ”
“Always,” he said softly.
He moved back, hit the lock on his door, then slammed it closed. She watched them as they moved to the office entrance. Two officers were at the back stairs as the sheriff moved into the restaurant with Natches, Dawg, and Rowdy.
It was too dark back here, she thought. Too many shadows. Too many places for someone to hide. The officers left outside were cautious, wary. Their hands rested on the butts of their weapons as they watched, in different directions, their bodies tense and prepared.
Janey wanted to curl into the seat and just escape. Like she had escaped the day Nadine had touched her. She wanted to burrow into her own mind and pretend none of this was happening. But Alex and Natches were in there. Once again, someone else was protecting her; they were putting their lives on the line while she sat safely along the sidelines.
As she sat there, she heard a distressed feline wail. The officers jerked, turning toward the Dumpsters that sat along the fence on the opposite side of the truck.
