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I walked around the bar and opened the door to the back room. The La-Z-Boy recliners were gone and had been replaced by five leather club chairs. There was a thick cream-colored rug on the floor and a new big-screen TV on the wall. The rickety card table had been replaced by an elaborate dark wood poker table and six poker table chairs on casters.
Two men in T-shirts and jeans were arranging side tables by three of the club chairs. Two forty-something chunky men in suits were leaning against the far wall, arms crossed over their chests, eyes focused on me.
“This is a private party,” one of the suits said. “This isn’t a public room.”
“I’m looking for Charlie and Lou,” I said. “Have you seen them?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Who are you?”
“Stephanie Plum.”
He smiled and looked over at the other suit. “This is our lucky day, Ed. Just when we’re wondering how we’re going to snatch Stephanie Plum, s
he brings herself to us.”
“Yeah, lucky us,” Ed said. “Unlucky her.”
The door pushed open behind me, and Grandma stepped in. “I thought I’d give it a peek, too,” she said.
“Well, what have we got here?” Ed asked.
“I’m Edna,” Grandma said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Ed. And this is Chick.”
The other suit nodded and smiled at Grandma.
“This is a very nice room you have back here. I like the decorating,” Grandma said. “Although, I’m guessing Benny will miss his La-Z-Boy.”
“I’m thinking we have Stephanie Plum’s granny here,” Ed said.
“Yeah, we hit the jackpot,” Chick said. “It would be good if you two ladies would move away from the door.”
“Actually, we’re going to be heading out,” I said. “Nice meeting you.”
Both of the suits pulled guns and the two guys in jeans moved to the back of the room. I heard Grandma take in a sharp breath, and I wrapped my hand around her wrist and gave it a fast squeeze.
“Step away from the door,” Ed said. “There’s people who want to talk to you and Granny.”
My heart was running at double time, beating so hard I had blurred vision. Bad enough I had stumbled into this—now I had Grandma in their crosshairs.
“Who wants to talk to us?” I asked.
“People,” Ed said. “You got a hearing problem?”
“That’s rude,” Grandma said. “The La-Z-Boys would never talk to a lady like that.”
I was calculating the distance between Grandma and me and the open door and the time it would take the gorilla in a suit to pull the trigger. Probably he wouldn’t kill us because people wouldn’t like that. On the other hand, people might think I was expendable. Grandma had the key to the treasure. I was most likely just a pain in the ass. So, they might be willing to kill me and run down Grandma. I was about to turn and drag Grandma through the door when Potts burst in.
“Here you are,” he said. “I got worried when you didn’t come right out. So, I came to see if you were okay.”
Potts spotted the two goons in suits and his eyes got wide. “Oh b-b-boy,” he said.
“What the heck,” Ed said.
Without a thought in my head, I acted on the distraction, spun Potts around, and shoved him toward the door. “Run!”
“What?” he said.
