Page 144 of Back in the Saddle

She started this shit and was our unofficial ringleader, so they would.

“One of us go undercover in a camp,” I announced grandly.

All the women made faces, and I got that, because it wasn’t a super glamorous undercover mission, but Tex leaned back and shared, “Boys already thought a’ that. They’re gettin’ me kitted. And Duke’s flyin’ down. I’m goin’ in tomorrow at your camp, Duke’s going into another one where people have been snatched.”

I blinked at him, and my blink wasn’t about the fact I had no clue who this Duke person was.

Okay, bummed my bright idea was already thought of by the Hottie Squad.

But one could say Tex would definitely melt into that world a lot better than me or any of the girls.

And I’d really like to see what he’d do to someone who tried to snatch him.

Everybody gazed expectantly back at me.

I lifted my hands. “That’s all I had.”

“I have a thought,” Harlow said timidly.

We turned to her.

She bit her lip, took a big breath into her nose and said, “Okay. So, Jess has been hitting these encampments regularly for a while now. And, I mean, before you commit a crime somewhere, you case the joint. Yeah?”

How could she still be adorable when she said shit like “case the joint?”

It was just the way of Harlow O’Neill.

“Yes,” Raye encouraged her to go on.

“So, the bad guys probably keep an eye. They’ve probably seen Jess. They might not know what she’s doing, maybe they think she’s a do-gooder, like Mary did,” Harlow went on.

“Yeah?” Luna prompted.

“So, two things. One, the people in the camp trust Jess, and the baddies have maybe seen her, so they won’t think anything of Jess showing. So maybe she could go in, with us going with her, and ask a few questions. Even the Hottie Squad can’t get them to talk, but maybe Raye could, and maybe they’ve seen something. Something that will give us leads,” Harlow suggested.

And it was a good suggestion.

“Eric and I are having truffle fettucine tonight, but I can be in to do that tomorrow night,” I said.

“Truffle fettucine?” Raye asked.

“It’s all in the truffle butter,” I told her like I knew what I was talking about, when I really didn’t, but I suspected it was a good guess.

“That sounds awesome. I need to share that with Cap. Do you have a recipe?” Raye asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“Focus,” Tex grunted.

Right.

Focus.

“Maybe we should wait for a weekend,” Luna remarked. “Do it during daylight hours. When are more of them around?” she asked me.

“At night.”

“Okay then, we do night,” Luna stated.

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