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Michael. Her eyes flew to his damaged truck.
Keep moving. Find a task.
What task? What could she do?
She couldn’t breathe. Had he survived last night only to die here and now?
Then she heard the clink.
At first her subconscious registered the sound and ignored it. Clink. Then she heard it again. And again. Clearly coming from beneath the wreckage. And then, a faint recognizable pattern. Clinkclinkclink. Clink. Clink. Clink. Clinkclinkclink.
picked up another chip. “Jesus, Merrick. Maybe you could tone down the paranoia. Why didn’t you bring the cops, then?”
“The cops think I’m involved in whatever happened to my neighborhood.”
“So you’re holding on to proof that you’re not?”
“A bunch of pictures from a random phone number? That’s not proof of anything. Hell, it’s proof that I am involved. It’s proof that more people are in danger.”
Some of the aggression leaked out of Tyler’s expression. “The blonde in those pictures. Your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “Her father is the county fire marshal.” Tyler gave a low whistle. “So where is this guy you’re supposed to meet?” He looked around. “You’ll know him when you see him? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know.” Michael sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I feel like I should be able to figure this out.” He looked around again. The more time that went by, the more he felt certain this was an effort to separate him from his brothers. He twisted his hands together and fished his phone out of his pocket to send a text to Gabriel.
All OK?
His heart beat double time as he waited for a response, but he didn’t have to wait long.
Yeah. What’s up?
Nothing, just checking. Waiting for other guy to get here.
Michael blew air through his teeth and set down his phone again. “Why here? Why now? And why is he late?”
“Text him and ask.”
Michael felt like an idiot for not thinking of it himself. He typed out a quick message.
Either I don’t see you or I don’t know you.
Then he hesitated before pressing send.
What was the worst that could happen? The guy could stand up and shoot him? And how was that any different from just sitting here waiting?
Fuck it. Michael pressed the button. The progress bar at the top of his phone showed the text going through.
And then the restaurant exploded.
Hannah pushed food around her plate and tried to ignore the way Irish kept kissing her father’s ass. James had long ago abandoned the dinner table for his Legos, and Hannah was tempted to join him.
But no, when they had a guest, her father insisted that she remain at the table.
Like she was a teenager who needed a lesson in etiquette.
If her father were the only one at the table, Hannah would have walked out without question. But she wouldn’t disrespect her mother that way.
Irish’s alert pager went off with the chimes promising an urgent message. Out of habit, everyone went silent. No one in this house was a stranger to emergency alerts.
