Page 104 of Broken Wheels

Dixon smiled. “We’re going to catch this son of a bitch red-handed.” He shrugged. “Or we could just shoot him. My money is on option B.”

Chalmers coughed. “Within the lines of the law, remember? We should wait and see what Sam says.”

Dix folded his arms. “Then make the call. He needs to meet with us, like, yesterday.” He was still reeling from Doc’s theories.

What kind of sick bastard does something like this?

The kind of sick bastard who needed to be stopped.

Doc, Dixon, and Chalmers sat at the conference room table, sipping iced water the setup crew had put out for them. Chalmers appeared deep in thought. He’d hardly uttered a word since calling Grady.

Doc twisted his fingers around each other until they were in almost in a knot, and Dix was pretty sure Doc’s knee was bouncing in time to a beat only he could hear.

“He’ll be here soon,” Dixon told him.

Doc frowned. “I know. I’m worried about Coby. It’s his first time alone.”

That was a lie, but Dix wasn’t about to call him on it. “He’ll be fine, I promise.” He pulled up the app on his phone, which showed Coby napping away on Doc’s chair. He turned the phone around. “See? He misses his daddy, but he’s fine.”

As he was about to put it away, there was a quick beep. Dix swiped a finger over the screen and held the device to his ear. “Meeks.”

“Hey, this is Grayson from the desk. I have a man here saying he’s a US District Attorney, and he has a meeting with you.”

“Which he does. Please send him to Conference Room B on the fifth floor.”

“Will do, Dixon.”

Dix slid the phone into his pocket again. “Well, time to get this show on the road.”

“Fair warning,” Chalmers said. “Sam can be… prickly.” He rolled his eyes. “Or maybe just a prick. It could go either way, depending on his mood.”

“Seeing as how he’s meeting with you? I’m guessing we all know which way it will go,” Dix snarked.

“Dixon….” Doc’s voice held an edge of annoyance, and Dix winced. He didn’t need to stress out his man more than he already was.

He held his hands up. “Sorry. I’ll play nice.”

“Don’t do it on my account,” Chalmers teased. “I mean, how else could I be sure it’s really you if you’re not your usual self?”

Dix jerked his head to stare at Doc. “See? He drags it out of me,” he protested, pointing at Chalmers.

Doc smirked. “Best friends,” he whispered.

As much as Dixon hated to admit it, he could see him and Chalmers becoming buddies. The man had risked his life for Doc on more than one occasion. He’d come to help him when the police accused him of having the poison, and thankfully Chalmers had been able to divert their attention. He’d been there for both of them.

Okay, so he isn’t such a bad guy after all.

Bastard.

There was a knock at the door before Dix could reply, and Chalmers got up to answer it. A tall, really good-looking man entered, and Dix’s first thought was that he seemed awfully young to be a US District Attorney. He was clean-shaven and dressed in a brown suit that brought out the color of his hair.

It’s a good thing Doc can’t read minds. Dix would be on the receiving end of some dirty looks. Then from the corner of his eye, he caught Doc giving the guy the once-over. Oh really?

Apparently, he and Doc both had excellent taste.

Grady and Chalmers shook hands. “Hey, Sam. Thanks for coming. We’re in a bind, and we need some expert advice.” He indicated Dix and Doc. “Dixon Meeks, Josh Malone, meet US District Attorney Sam Grady. Sam, these upstanding men—well, one of them—are Dr. Josh Malone and Dixon Meeks of CrossBow Protection Services.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sam said in a perfunctory tone, his gaze locked on Chalmers. “Why did you call me?” he finally asked.

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