“We’ve got it all. Connor, stash it in the truck, I’m going to play with your sister.”
“Leave her the fuck alone. We got what we came for, now let’s go.”
Derek grabbed Connor by the front of his jacket and hauled him close, holding the knife up to intimidate him.
“No,” Sadie yelled.
“Shut up, bitch.” Derek got in Connor’s face. “Your brother needs to remember his place.”
“You touch my sister again, and I’ll take off with these bags and dump them, then we’ll see if the boss wants to play with you.”
Derek shoved Connor away. Connor stumbled back a few steps, then rushed forward and grabbed the two bags from the floor. He turned his back on the knife-wielding hothead and stormed off to the truck.
Sadie shifted her gaze to Derek, who slowly walked forward, the knife in his right hand, his left index finger poised on the wicked-sharp tip of the blade.
“I’m going to make you bleed, bitch.” He slashed the knife through the air across his body.
Trigger shoved her back two steps, putting distance between them and Derek. “You’re not slicing her up. We have business, and we’re late.”
“Come on, man, it’ll only take a minute.”
“Touch her and you’re dead.” Rory held the rifle pointed directly at Derek’s head.
Connor rushed back into the barn. “Where the hell did you come from?”
“Get over there,” Rory ordered.
“Take him down,” Derek called, moving forward to help Connor.
Rory anticipated Connor’s rushed move, sidestepped, and cracked Connor in the ribs with the rifle stock. Connor pressed his hand to his side and fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath.
Trigger glanced past Sadie and out the other side of the barn. Sirens sounded in the distance. “Cops are coming. We need to get out of here.”
“Not without the drugs.” Derek ground the words out, crouching, ready to go up against Rory.
Trigger grabbed her arm and hauled her to the side and shoved her into an empty stall. “Stay put,” he demanded under his breath. He held the gun up trained just over Rory’s shoulder. “Don’t be stupid, man. You don’t want to start something I’ll have to finish.”
Trigger ran to Derek and grabbed him by the arm. “We have to go now. They’ll be here any second, and we’ll be screwed.”
Rory kept the gun trained on all three men.
Connor made it to his feet, his arms banded around his middle. Trigger tugged Derek backward to the other side of the barn. After several stumbling steps, Derek finally turned and ran with Trigger and Connor out the doors and off into the night.
Rory ran to Sadie just as she walked out of the stall. He grabbed her and held her close. “Are you okay? Did that guy hurt you?” Rory rubbed his hand over her hair and neck and looked her up and down.
“No. I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me at all.”
“He pulled your hair.” Rory tipped her chin up to look at her skin where Trigger pressed the gun. “There’s no mark.”
Sadie wrapped her arms around Rory’s neck and held him tight. “He barely touched me. He didn’t want to hurt me. In fact, he whispered that he’d make sure nothing happened to me.”
“He did?”
“Yes. It was strange. He gave me this.” Sadie held up the slip of paper.
“What’s in it?”
She opened it up and stared at the strange arrangement of letters that didn’t spell anything. “A code?” she asked.
“Could be. Stay put. I’ll catch up to them.”
She held tight to him. “No. Let the cops handle it.”
“But . . .”
“Rory, let it go.”
“You can’t keep protecting him.”
“I’m not. I’m protecting you. One’s got a gun, the other likes to play with knives. If something happened to you . . .”
He crushed her against his chest and kissed the top of her head. “I’m just glad nothing happened to you. When I saw that guy with his hands on you and that gun pointed at you . . . I told you to stay outside.”
“I thought they might see you by the truck.”
Cop cars pulled into her driveway, their headlights blinding Rory and Sadie. The blue and red lights swirled around the inside of the barn.
Sadie dipped her hand in her blouse and tucked the paper into her bra. Rory’s gaze followed her hand’s progress. She gave him a shy smile and shrugged. “He told me to give it to a DEA agent. It seemed important that only he get it.”
“I don’t like this,” Rory said.
Mark cautiously entered the barn, gun in hand and pointed at the ground. “You guys okay?”