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“Thank you, both of you,” Ryan said as she crossed the room and took a fleece jacket off a hook near the door.
She pulled it on over her head and grabbed her keys. “You’d do the same for us,” she said, flashing him a smile before she left.
“I’m not sure I’m the one you should come to if you ever need to go on the run,” he told Jake.
Jake slapped him on the back and slid from the chair to his feet. “You’re the one we come to when we get in trouble with the law, which is an equally valuable service. Come on, I need to get something from my office.”
Ryan pocketed the phone, shouldered the duffel, and followed Jake into his small, spotless office. The room may not have been large, but the view, in the daylight, was vast and sweeping as a wall of glass displayed the verdant valleys, the dense trees, and the purple ridges of the Shenandoah Mountains. Right now, it revealed only an impenetrable wall of darkness.
Jake flicked on his desk lamp and used its amber glow to see as he opened the biometric safe hidden behind one of the wide oak wall panels. From the safe, he removed a boxy black gun, a carton of ammunition, and a thick stack of rubber-banded cash.
“Did I just walk into a mafia movie?”
Jake lowered his chin and gave Ryan an unamused look. “You’re in danger, Hayes. The kind of danger that gets people killed. Until we get it sorted—and we will—you need to embrace your primal nature.”
“My primal nature,” he repeated.
“I’m not suggesting you lose sight of your moral compass or throw your integrity out the window. But I speak from experience—when bad people come for you, you need to be ready.”
Ryan’s shoulders tensed and his gut clenched at the grim warning, but he protested anyway. “I’m not going to shoot anyone, Jake. Come on.”
“That’s a choice you can make. If you have a weapon, you have a choice. If you don’t ….”
He stared at Ryan. Ryan stared at the gun. After a long pause, Ryan sighed. “If I don’t, I don’t.”
Jake placed the weapon down on the desk in front of Ryan. “It’s not loaded. Do you know how to load it and shoot it?”
Ryan nodded. “I’ve been to the range with Omar a few times.” He didn’t add that he’d hated the experience.
“Good. Remember. Never point the weapon at someone or something you’re not willing to kill. Not ever.”
Bile rose in his throat and he forced it back. “Understood.” He unzipped the bag and nestled the gun inside, wrapping it in a thick thermal shirt. Then he tucked the box of ammunition into the bag as well.
“Don’t forget the money.”
Ryan eyed the brick of bills. “If I get pulled over, how do I explain this?”
“You’re the lawyer. Talk your way out of it.”
“Talk my way out of a gun that I’m not licensed to possess and a gangster roll? I’m a lawyer, not a Jedi knight.”
Jake nodded. “In that case, don’t get pulled over.”
The kitchen door opened, then shut. The alarm system beeped as Chelsea armed it.
“Jake? Ryan?” she called.
Jake waved his hand in a hurry-up motion, and Ryan shoved the wad of bills into the bag and zipped it shut.
“In my office,” Jake called. “But we’re finished in here.”
He turned out the light and ushered Ryan out of the room. Chelsea stood in the hallway, dangling the keys to her Forester from one finger.
“You’re all set.” She gave Jake a searching look. “Does he have everything he needs?”
Something about her words and the way she said them told Ryan she wasn’t oblivious to the contents of Jake’s office safe.
“All set,” Ryan told her, snagging her keyring from her. “Thanks again.”
