Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
“Obliged,” he murmured. Using the plastic bag to shield his fingers from the foil and paper, he peeled it back. He unearthed another plastic bag, shoved his free hand in it like it was a glove, and only then took the drink from her. After he got his beverage, he munched too.
Divested of their offerings, neither of my chicks left the scene.
No surprise.
I had a low buzz humming through me that there was an imminent breakthrough about Jeff, so I gave the guys a few minutes to put some food in their stomachs and tried to ignore Harlow and Raye lingering before I pushed, “Homer, what’s a street warrior?”
“They’re us,” Homer told me.
I clenched my teeth, reaching for patience, because that gave me nothing. Or, at least, not anything I understood.
When I got a lid on it, I urged, “Can you share more?”
“What he said. They keep the darkness out.”
“Homer, I really need you to explain this to me,” I begged.
“Shadow soldiers,” Homer said.
And that was all he said.
God!
That didn’t give me any more!
I was about to press him further, but he took a step back, the General took five, and this was because a shiny, black Denali rolled up beside the herb garden and stopped.
The cavalry had arrived.
Damn.
I was back to clenching my teeth as I watched Cap swing out of the passenger seat.
And more clenching as Eric angled out from behind the wheel.
I didn’t know who called them. There were four viable culprits (including Tito), but I’d deal with that later.
Now, if these two badasses scared away my informants when I was on the verge of learning something about my brother, I was going to lose my shit.
What happened next was unexpected.
Cap and Eric strolled up, the General’s empty wrapper fluttered to the ground, his partially sipped water thumped to it, he took two strides forward, stood at attention, saluted, left his hand at his forehead and grunted to Cap, “Colonel.” Then to Eric, “General.”
Without missing a beat, Eric replied, “At ease, soldier.”
The General widened his stance and caught his hands behind his back.
Oh fuck.
I was going to cry.
Harlow made a noise that told me she was feeling the same thing.
Raye’s fingers closed around mine.
“We hear you need transport,” Cap said to the General.
“Yessir. Back to barracks, sir,” the General replied.
Shit!
“We’re not done,” I said quickly to Eric.
“Does this lady have everything she needs?” Cap asked the General.
Smartly, he turned to me and shared, “Street Warrior. Your brother is a Street Warrior. You won’t find him. But we’ll put the word down, and he’ll find you.”
My stomach squeezed so tightly with hope, it came out wheezy when I requested, “Will you do that? Put the word down?”
A smart nod. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Thank you,” I said.
The back door opened and Luna came out carrying a milk crate filled to the brim with foil wrapped burritos. Hunter, one of our coffee cubby guys, was beside her holding a bread tray filled with lidded cups with straws stuck in them.
More tears threatened.
Told you Tito was generous.
“Provisions,” the General said, excitement in his voice.
“Let’s load ’em up,” Cap told him.
They moved to the back of the Denali.
“Homer, you wanna climb in?” Eric invited.
“I don’t have enough plastic bags for the seats,” Homer told him.
“We don’t mind,” Eric replied.
I squeezed Raye’s hand before I let it go, sidled close to Eric and murmured, “It’s not about that. He needs plastic bags for the seats or he won’t sit in your car. It’s rare he touches anything without a plastic bag between him and it, unless that something comes from a plastic bag.”
“On it,” Raye said and dashed in the back door.
“We’ll get you covered,” Eric said to Homer.
Homer nodded, glanced at me, dipped his chin, then moved to the passenger door on the driver’s side.
“I’ll help look for bags,” Harlow mumbled and went inside.
This left me with Eric.
“Who called you?” I asked.
“Tonight,” was his bizarre, uninformative reply.
“What?”
“I gotta get these guys back, and Cap and I were in the middle of something. We’ll talk tonight.”
We would?
“Later, Jess,” he said and started to move away.
Just like that.
No further info.
No “Hey, great day yesterday. Let’s do it again sometime.”
He was just walking away.
Whatever.
Though, we weren’t done.
I caught his forearm, and he stopped. “Do you know what a Street Warrior is?”
He shook his head, then said, “Never heard of it. And don’t give me any shit. I know you wanted to go this alone, but that cat is way the fuck out of the bag, so it’s gonna happen. With that I mean, I’m gonna find out.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you pissed?”
“They walked right to your place of business, Jess.”
Oh shit.
They had. I hadn’t thought of that.
I also hadn’t ever mentioned where I worked.
But…they had.
They’d walked miles, just to give me a little information about Jeff.