Page 219 of Back in the Saddle

“He’s plotting on stealing mine.”

“Then maybe you should tell him I own a gun.”

That made me laugh.

Henny opened his eyes to share the vibrations were disturbing his rest.

I stopped laughing.

Henny closed his eyes again.

“He’s got you wrapped around his paw,” Eric noted.

“We’re down with that, aren’t we, Henny?”

Henny kept purring.

Oh yeah.

We were so down with that.

There was a knock on the door.

“Bets on who it is?” Eric asked as he angled up. He was definitely getting the hang of the Oasis.

“Raye,” I told him. “She knows we were going to the rescue today, so she’ll be all about meeting Henny.”

Eric opened the door.

I was right. It was Raye.

Along with Cap.

Raye looked at me, and then Henny, but she didn’t come to us. She and Cap just stopped once they were in enough to close the door.

I wasn’t surprised about this, considering the feel they brought with them and the looks on their faces.

Eric felt it too.

“What’s going on?” he asked Cap.

“We gotta go into the office, brother,” Cap replied. “Someone in the camp got word to Mary. Mary got word to us. They took someone else.” He paused and said, “Then Tex phoned in a report from the police station. He tried to stop them, but they shot at him, and he had to abort. Fortunately, no one was hit. Another bonus, Tex confirmed this Clown guy was with them. So we have confirmation on the crew we’re dealing with.”

My heart lurched, and I cuddled Henny to me as I shot to my feet. Henny didn’t like the sudden movement, and he squirmed to get away, so I dropped him on the couch.

“The sun isn’t down yet,” I said to Cap.

“They’re getting bolder,” Eric noted darkly.

But Raye and Cap were both still giving off weird vibes, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“What?” I asked.

“Oh, Jess,” Raye whispered.

My lungs stopped functioning.

“What?” I wheezed.

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