Page 29 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

And it scared the shit out of me. On some level, I wanted out but I didn’t know how.

I shook myself out of my musings as I drove onto the lot, suddenly feeling more nervous than I usually did, knowing I’d be coming face to face with him, and I had two FBI agents watching the goings on. I knew they were taking pictures. Mars had opened his trunk and taken out a camera, handing it to Mickey. Mars had told me to try to get Josiah out in the open so they could get some shots of him handing me money in exchange for the Maybach. The nerves were making me shaky as I stopped the car and got out.

The manager’s office had its usual light on. I turned and looked back toward the street. I couldn’t see the black Camaro in the dark, but I knew they were there. I could sense them watching.

“Don’t look in our direction,” Mickey said in the earwig. I immediately put my hand up to my ear. “And for God’s sake, stop touching your ear.”

I instantly dropped my hand. “Sorry.” I debated whether I should go over to the office. Mars had said they wanted photos. Shit. I just had to wait until Josiah came out. I turned my back on the office so anyone watching me from inside wouldn’t see my lips moving. “What do I do? Usually, I go inside. I completely forgot about that. Fuck. It’s gonna be weird if I just stand here.”

“Bugger.”

That had been Mars’ voice. “Tell me what to do,” I said, reaching out to rub a hand over the car’s painted hood, pretending to be busy.

“Give ‘im a minute,” Mars said. “Maybe ‘e’ll come out if ya don’t go knocking.”

I nodded then cursed myself for doing it. When the door behind me suddenly burst open, I spun around. I was expecting Josiah, but instead two of his lackeys came out. I wasn’t sure what to call these guys…bodyguards maybe? They sure as hell were big enough to be, taller even than the man himself. They crossed the lot as I stood there, shifting my weight from foot to foot. I didn’t think Josiah would let them do anything to me out here in the open even though it was after dark. He’d never tried anything like that in the past. But once Mars and the FBI got involved, asking me to wear what amounted to a wire, so they could hear and possibly even record everything he said to me, made me really nervous. What if he found out? What if he saw the earpiece I was wearing? Shit. This had been a really bad idea.

“Why didn’t you come into the office?” one of the guys demanded as soon as they walked up. “You know Josiah don’t conduct business out in the open.” He darted a glance around, narrowing his eyes as he tried to see out onto the street. I prayed Mars had parked the Camaro somewhere he couldn’t be spotted. I figured the FBI was good at that kind of stuff…hiding in plain sight, so to speak. When he seemed to relax a bit, dipping his shoulders—which I hadn’t even realized were tense—I breathed out a slow sigh of relief.

They were standing so close, I had to crane my neck to look up at them. Both tall, but not taller than Mars, who I really wished was standing next to me right now. “I-I’m sorry,” I squeaked, coughing to clear my throat. “Sorry. I just was admiring this car.” I pointed a thumb at the Maybach.

The more intimidating of the two looked past me and gave the car a brief once over, then walked quickly around it. I thought I saw a quick smile flit across his face before he returned to my side. “Good.” Before I could say anything else, he snapped his fingers. “Now, get in the office, Cam. Josiah’s waiting and you know he hates being kept waiting.” He didn’t wait for me to say anything back before they strode away from me.

“Go ahead and follow them in there but remember the signal we gave ya, Cam,” Mars said in my ear. “If Josiah tries any funny business, we’ll be there in less than twenty seconds. We’re listening.”

I sighed, feeling my heart pounding as I remembered the signal word I’d chosen. Repainted. That had been the word. I was supposed to use it if anything bad was about to happen. I suddenly thought, repainted what? A car? How would I even put that in a conversation? I’d chosen it thinking it would be enough of a distraction to stop Josiah from shooting me if I asked him if he’d repainted…something… The room maybe. Just long enough for Mars and Mickey to burst inside and save me. I don’t know what I’d been thinking. Fuck, I was an idiot and I was really bad at all this undercover shit.

“I remember,” I whispered.

The intimidating one stopped and pivoted. “Did you say something?”

“No…I…ah, was just thinking I remember I gotta come back here and check out the cars you keep on this lot. I’m in the market for something cheap and reliable and I don’t just wanna steal one or—”

“Fine. Shut up. Let’s get this shit over with.”

We reached the office door and the two thugs let me go first. I knew they’d follow me in, effectively blocking me from running out until Josiah’s business was concluded with me. I felt super nervous as I spotted a gun tucked into the waistband of the guy holding the door for me. I’d never noticed he’d been armed before, but that only made sense. I didn’t normally look at their waistbands. I just dropped off the car and went into the office to get my payment.

Of course, they were all armed. Josiah wasn’t the kind of guy who went into situations unarmed or his goons. The night I’d first met him, he’d waved the fucking gun in my face, threatening to shoot me in the head. It had taken Mars and Mickey catching me red-handed this morning to realize just how dangerous Josiah really was, and now I could think of nothing else.

I stopped in front of a big, metal desk, looking desperately around the room as Josiah leaned back in his creaky, desk chair. He looked pissed and the butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I dragged my gaze away from his livid features and deliberately looked anywhere but right at him. How could I possibly have forgotten the walls were like this? The paint was peeling in long sheets off the wall and once again, beat myself up over my stupid choice of signal word. I couldn’t very well ask him if he’d repainted the office when it looked this bad. I’d completely fucked that up. I deserved to be shot.

If he decided to pull out a gun instead of an envelope full of money, I could use the signal word in a kind of sarcastic way, trying to make a joke. But if he really did have a gun pointed at my chest when I said it, he’d shoot me just for saying something that stupid. I was such a fucking idiot.

“Why the fuck didn’t you come inside?”

I swallowed hard as I realized his eyes were narrowed, looking suspiciously at me. I cleared my throat, shifting my weight from foot to foot. “Uh…no reason. Just admiring the car and I thought you might want to come out and see it.”

He frowned. “I do business inside. You know that.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, but I’m kind of proud of this one. It’s a bitchin car. I just thought you might want to see it right away.”

He drummed the fingers of one hand on the desk, making me wonder if he was holding a gun with the other hand. Oh, shit, I was going to die. This was so stupid. “No, I’ll see it later.” He looked past me at the two guys and I turned around. They stood in front of the door with their arms crossed, glaring at me. “Did he bring me the Maybach?”

“Yeah, boss,” the more intimidating one said.

I turned around and grinned at Josiah. “The Maybach is what you asked for, so that’s what I brought.”

“Good.” He slowly nodded and then leaning forward in the chair, opened his desk drawer and pulled out a thick envelope. He held it out to me and gave me a pirate smile. It wasn’t a nice one. “Here you go, Cam.”