And off she went again. While he felt like an idiot standing over the guy with a frying pan. At least it was cast iron. This sucker was heavy.
When she returned with the handcuffs,
Taser
, and a roll of duct tape, Jimmy had her hold the Taser on the guy while he’d bound his ankles with duct tape and slapped the cuffs on his wrists.
Several minutes later, the man groaned, opened his eyes, took a look around, then worked himself into a sitting position.
“Frying pan, huh? Had to be cast iron. You got some aspirin?”
Now that the immediate danger had passed, Jimmy studied the guy. Caucasian. Short brown hair, brown eyes, average features. No scars, no identifying marks.
Jimmy was pretty sure he’d never seen him before, but he’d never been good with faces.
“Who are you?”
The guy gave him an unmistakable “are you serious?” look. “I figure you already called your brother, so why don’t we just wait until he gets here. Then I don’t have to do this again.”
Jimmy’s gaze narrowed. “So you know Nic?”
“Yeah, he does. What the fuck are you doing here, Zeke?”
Jimmy turned to see Nic walking into the bedroom, shaking his head, a disgusted look on his face.
“You know him?”
“Yeah,” Nic sighed. “I do. Who you working for this month, Zeke? Apparently someone stupid enough to hire you.”
The guy had the nerve look offended. “Hey, you’re lucky it was me they sent and not one of the other goons they have on staff. They wouldn’t have been as…considerate of your brother’s feelings as I was. And they wouldn’t give a shit about hurting the girl.”
Nic flashed Jimmy a look that promised a follow-up question later. “So what are you here for?”
“Aw, now, you know I can’t tell you that. And you know I’ll be out on bail in a couple hours.”
“He’s here for my notes,” Jimmy said. “They’re being shipped out today. Obviously somebody hired this guy to take them before the transfer.”
“Well, shit.” Nic grinned at the guy, who must have known Nic pretty well because his expression finally showed the first signs of fear. “Guess your boss forgot to tell you this isn’t a private matter. It’s military. And the second I bring in the Feds, you’re screwed four ways to Sunday.”
Zeke’s response was so creatively obscene, Jimmy was slightly impressed. Even Merri, standing at a safe distance behind Nic, seemed impressed.
“So,” Nic continued when the guy finally wound down. “You want me to call my contact at the DOD? Or do you want to tell me who you’re working for and I’ll consider letting the locals have you for B&E?”
Instead of answering Nic, Zeke looked at Jimmy. “Whatever it is you’re working on, you might want to rethink your exit strategy. I’m not the only one who knows about it. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s coming after it.”
Chapter Seven
“So what now? Do we lie in wait for the next guy to get here? And what are we going to do with this one?”
Merri tried to keep the excitement out of her voice but didn’t quite manage. This was the most fun she’d had in…well, ever.
Sure, her side hurt from where she’d hit the door jamb after Zeke had pushed her aside to get in the house. But the fear she’d experienced in those first few minutes before Jimmy had knocked the guy out had been replaced by excitement.
Nothing like this ever happened at her office.
And from Jimmy’s apparent lack of surprise and Nic’s matter-of-fact questioning, it seemed like it happened here in the real world a lot.
As she stared back and forth between the brothers, Nic tried to hide a grin while Jimmy just stared at her with something like horror.
“
We
are going to do nothing,” Jimmy finally said. “
You
are going to go spend the day with Mal and Janey.”
“What? Why?”
Jimmy’s frown got so scrunched she figured his face had to hurt. “Because it’s not safe here.”
“So you’re leaving too?”
“Of course not.”
She slid a glance at Nic, who now had his head in his hand. Was he laughing too?
“So why is it safe for you and not me?”
Jimmy opened his mouth but words never emerged. Probably because what he was going to say would have pissed her off. Like “because you’re a girl.”
Yeah, that would’ve made her really angry.
Her hands went to her hips, daring him to say it.
When he kept his mouth shut, she couldn’t help herself.
“You do know I probably have more combat training than you, right? I have a brown belt in tae kwon do, and the only reason I don’t have my black belt is because I haven’t had time to take the test. I’m ranked expert in weapons qualifications and I have my own Berretta that my daddy bought me for my sixteenth birthday. Mal taught me everything I know about street fighting, and I’m pretty damn sure I can take care of myself better than you can.”
So there, she added silently, barely restraining the urge to cross her arms over her chest and stamp her feet because that would really show him just how much she could handle herself.
Ugh.
But, jeez, the guy was treating her like—
Someone he cared about.
Shit. She was a total idiot.
“Jimmy, that was… I’m sorry. That—”
Curling his hand around her neck, he gave a slight yank and, as she stumbled toward him, he kissed her.
Right in front of Nic and the guy they had tied up on the floor.
It wasn’t a nice, tame peck either. It involved tongue and teeth and she totally forgot there were other people anywhere in the vicinity.
Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she flattened herself against him, letting him take what he wanted.
When Nic cleared his throat, Jimmy didn’t release her right away. When he finally did, she felt light-headed. Hot. Maybe a little embarrassed. But definitely not enough to
not
want to kiss him again.
Jimmy sighed as he released her only to put his arm around her shoulders and draw her into his side. “Okay, so now what?”
He directed the question to Nic, who looked at Merri. “You got your gun or do you need one?”
“It’s in my backpack.”
“Go get it. Jimmy, let’s see if we can find you something other than a frying pan to defend yourself with.”
Jimmy grinned. “I’ve got the Taser. But I gotta admit, the frying pan is pretty effective.”
Merri circled to the other side of the bed away from Zeke and retrieved her gun. She hadn’t been kidding about her training. Her dad had been downright militant about her knowing how to defend herself.
“All right then.” Nic cocked an eyebrow at Zeke. “Who else and how many?”
Zeke didn’t look at all frightened and Merri wondered how Nic and their would-be robber knew each other. “You know that’s gonna cost you, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. What?”
“You let me go. I tell you who’s coming, then I quietly disappear myself while you prepare for the next round.”
Nic just stared at the guy. “Zeke. How stupid do you think I am? Tell me who’s coming and then I’ll think about letting you go.”
“I’ll need your word that you’ll let me go first. And I’ll give you mine that you won’t see me again. Trust me. Next time I take a job, I’ll do a little more homework.”
“Good plan.” Nic nodded. “Deal. Now spill.”
* * * * *
A few minutes later, Jimmy tried hard not to grind his molars into dust as he paced his office while Merri and Nic played with their guns. Checked their guns. Whatever.
Jimmy had locked the notes securely in the floor safe, and they’d stuffed Zeke in the closet, where he agreed to keep quiet until they’d dealt with the next threat, after which they’d agreed to let him go.
Zeke had been more accommodating than Merri, who refused to take his truck and get the hell out before the next thief tried to violate his home.
“Merri. Will you please let Nic and me handle this?
Mal’s
on his way and—”
“I’m just as good a shot as Mal. And if what Zeke told us is true, Mal won’t get here in time. No, you’ll need me.”
He turned away from Merri, who looked adorable with her braids and held her weapon with total confidence, to Nic, who’d been silent the entire time. “Nic.”
His brother shook his head, not even bothering to look at him as he slid the clip out of his gun and shoved it back in for the third time. “No way, Jim. Besides, she’s right. Another gun can’t hurt, especially since she knows how to use it.”
Jimmy scrubbed a hand through his hair and tugged until it hurt.
Shit. How the hell did he get himself into this? Who the hell was after his compound? And how had someone known he kept copies of his work at home?
He always kept two paper copies. One at the office and one here. He didn’t keep a full set on his computer. Even though their office network was next to impossible to hack because of his sister’s expertise, he usually worked on a huge whiteboard then transferred individual pieces of the problem to paper so he could work on those and still be able to see the entire process on the whiteboard. When he was finished, he wrote out the entire problem on paper, minus a few key pieces, and erased the whiteboard.
The system worked for him and only a handful of people knew how he did it. And they all worked for the Army lab. Obviously the lab had a leak.
Zeke had given them the name of the man who’d hired him, but it would take some investigation to find out who had set up that theft.
And they still had another hired gun to deal with. Jimmy wanted Merri gone before the next wave hit. He wanted to gnaw the furniture at the thought of her getting hurt. But she didn’t seem to understand or care about the danger.
Probably because she was the one with the gun and he was only proficient with a frying pan.
No wonder Nic was laughing at him. Not out loud, of course. But he saw laughter in his brother’s eyes. The bastard.
“Fine. So you really think Zeke can be trusted?”
Nic nodded. “The guy’s a thief but he’s no liar. And if he’s right about this second one… Well, let’s just say we might need the help.”
Great. That didn’t make him feel any better.
“Then don’t they already know we’re sitting here waiting for them?”
“It’s not a ‘they,’ it’s a she. And I’m hoping she’s smart enough to know she’s out-numbered and wait until the courier arrives to pick it up.”
Shit. “Shouldn’t we warn the courier?”
“Already texted the lab. They told the courier and have backup coming, but they’re even farther away than Mal. I told them we’ll be able to handle it until they get here.”
And this was why Nic handled security and Jimmy just blew stuff up.
“If we figure she’s already in place, she probably saw me arrive, but I’m hoping she dismisses Merri as just a…cute little creampuff.” He winked at Merri in apology. “
Merri’ll
be our secret weapon. You’ll be the bait.”