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Or not at all.
The door lock clicked, and it opened. She hadn’t even heard it lock, but they never left her to roam. If she was allowed to walk around the compound without oversight she’d have blown this place to kingdom come and destroyed their business already. And they likely knew that.
“Come with me.” Kart stood there, silhouetted by the light. “Now.”
Kenna tucked her arms against her front, almost folding them. She tucked her feet under her and rolled to a stand in one move without putting her hands on the floor. Something Jax had taught her. Finding strength in other areas to account for the weaknesses she had—building muscle in her legs for when her arms refused to work.
Her arms were a weakness she could try and cover by tucking her hands into her pockets. As a bonus, it made her look all casual instead of scared to death and at the end of her rope.
As she passed him and stepped out into the hall, he sniffed. “You need a shower.”
“Do I? Weird.”
He held a gun by his side, apparently confident she wouldn’t attack him. Or certain that if she did try then he could overpower her.
Which was, of course, completely true.
He walked her down the hall to what looked like an office…on a military base. Metal file cabinet, metal desk. “Sit.” He shut the door and rounded the desk.
She settled in the chair in front of the desk. “Got a job for me?”
He settled in the chair behind it. “Actually, yes. That attack was the Navarro cartel, and we need you to return one of their dead—with a message.”
Like a bomb stuck in the dead guy’s chest cavity, or a strongly worded note? “What kind of message?”
“One you’re going to hand-deliver before you return to us.”
“Because you need me here—and alive—when the sheriff shows up?”
The skin around his eyes flexed. “I don’t need you to comment. Just listen, shut up, and do as I say.”
She pressed her lips together.
He wore dusty clothes in a way that kept things buttoned up, no matter that he’d fought for his compound just a short time ago. He might’ve retucked his shirt, but that was all it took to put his appearance back together. His hair was short enough he didn’t have to do anything to it.
He still held on to that military decorum.
But with no flags on the wall. No photos, or commendations. Nothing that indicated he’d been in a squad with the three guys outside. Kicked out of the army, maybe? It was that or they’d gone AWOL, and that wasn’t easy with four men in the group. They moved like a team, borne of hours of training. Kart, Anthony, Benjamin…what was the fourth guy’s name? She couldn’t think if she’d heard it.
Maybe they’d all been reported as killed in action as a cover to start a new life south of the border.
She’d asked Kart once why they chose to live here.
Down here I can do anything I want.He’d meant it as a threat to her, but she took it both ways. He needed to be outside the law.
She stared at him.
“You will be here when my cousin arrives.” He stared right back. “I keep my word.”
“Good for you.”
Given the look in his eyes, if they’d been within arm’s reach he’d have cuffed her for being snarky.
She wasn’t going to apologize. “When do I leave?”
Kart leaned back in his chair. “Benjamin will take you as far as their ranch. You take the truck through the gate, deliver the message, and then leave.”
“Like…drive the truck back out, or run away in a hail of gunfire?”
