Page 135 of Broken Wheels

He also prayed Spencer was getting nervous right about then.

“Doc?” Dixon’s voice was a welcome distraction.

He turned to his pad. “Yes?”

“Is Gary nearby?”

“He’s in the bedroom taking a nap. The idiot called Coby, and when she went running for him, he tried to pick her up and hurt himself. Again. I gave him a pain pill, so he’s resting.” Josh frowned. “Do you need him?”

“No, it’s fine. We found Carson.”

His heart pounded. “He’s alive?”

“He was worked over pretty badly, but they think he’ll live. They’re preparing to take him to the hospital. Michael called ahead and was told the CrossBow clinic wouldn’t be ready for another week, but they could still care for a patient. I’ll have the team guard him until we can move him there.” Dixon paused. “I want to ask him questions, but he’s so out of it now, he barely knows his own name.”

Relief swamped him. But he’s alive. “It’s fine. Let him get some rest. Maybe that’s what we all need.”

“You sound bummed.”

It was kinda comforting to know Dixon could read him, even across the miles that separated them.

Josh sighed. “There’s so much here, and I can’t even see the end of it. Spencer didn’t lie in that interview. He’s like a hoarder. He has notes, receipts, scraps of paper. Heck, if I keep digging, I’ll probably find his pocket lint catalogued too.”

Dixon chuckled, which made Josh grin. “You know, you do have a resource you should use. I mean, she’s just sitting in a room at CrossBow, twiddling her thumbs.”

The thought of talking to Kathy left him cold. “She’s involved with the same people who are trying to kill me. I don’t know if I can talk to her.” Not and stay calm while he did it. He sighed again. “I wish you were here.”

“Me too, but you have Coby. Gary, too, at least once he wakes up. Think about talking to her, though. You and Gary together would be a formidable team. She wouldn’t stand a chance. If worse comes to worse, remind her she can be out on the street in a matter of minutes, and in the sights of some sniper seconds after that. Ask if she thinks she’d be as lucky as you.”

Wow, Dixon could be dark. That was hot. “Thanks. I’ll take that to heart.”

“Okay, gotta go. I need to check in with the team, get them something to eat, and order a few gallons of coffee since it’ll be a long night.” Dixon paused. “Look, I know you have a ton going on, but I was hoping you might be able to help me here.”

“What do you need?”

“A list of the employees at the Santa Ana facility. I want to find out if the people we had to kill were employed by Spencer, especially the one who was about to kill Carson. I want thousands of fingers pointing in Spencer’s direction so the fucker can’t squirm away.”

“Sure, I can do that. Shouldn’t take long. I’ll message it to you.”

“Thanks, Doc.” Another pause. “You know I love you, right?”

He did, but hearing the words was still nice. “Love you too. Now, get back to work. I know how Jazz is without caffeine.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Coby came into the room, jumped onto the table, and settled in beside the laptop. Josh reached out absently and rubbed her, delighting in the loud purrs that vibrated through her.

They were also doing a pretty good job of breaking up the chunks of anger and doubt plaguing him.

He scritched under her chin, “You’re a good therapy pet, you know that?”

Mew.

Josh snickered. “Yeah, not surprised. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that Dixon—well, we—adopted you.”

After a few more moments of rubs, Josh dove back into the files. He was right. It didn’t take long to find what he needed from the information Carson provided. He sent the sheets off to Dixon’s pad, then went back to his own work. He continued for another hour, then realized it was hopeless.

It was no good putting off the inevitable. He needed to talk to Kathy. It had been her filing system, after all.

---