Page 89 of Junkyard Dog

He inspected every inch of the exterior before unlocking it and getting in, repeating the intense scrutiny inside. Easing forward to give him room to open the passenger door, Ryan drove them out of yard, silent until they hit the main drag.

“Will you be pursuing the woman again?”

Alex stared out the window. “She saw us.”

Checking his rearview mirror, Ryan adjusted the angle. “I know. She gave us the information packets.”

“No,” Alex said slowly. “She saw us. With the Pirithous. And me.” He swallowed and exhaled loudly. “She saw me transform. Saw us end him.”

Ryan went quiet, his brows knotting as he considered the complications a witness could bring about. “We’ll check online to see if she said anything,” he finally stated, pulling up to the trailer park and keying in the gate code. “This is a discussion for all of us.”

He dragged his feet into the small trailer, inching past Ryan to wake Bo. “Get up, dickwad,” he called, booting his twin’s dangling arm. “Family meeting.”

Hunched over his phone, Ryan scanned the area news from the past month, muttering updates about the stalled FBI investigation and the subsequent shrinking of its ground force in the valley. “Well, she didn’t talk.”

Bo rose up on his elbows, scratching at his bare stomach. “Who?”

“Charlotte,” Alex replied as he sat at the kitchen table, her name feeling foreign on his lips. “She saw us.”

Swinging his legs down, Bo shrugged. “Standard protocol then.”

Ryan’s hand shot out to Alex’s shoulder, forcing him back into his seat. “I think this case warrants a little more consideration than a blanket doctrine,” he stated, his fingers digging into the muscle. “Perhaps given Alex’s past relationship with her, killing her should be pulled from the table.”

Bo snorted. “Whatever. We’re uprooting to Albany anyway, aren’t we? Feel her out for any evidence she might have squealed and deal with it from there.” He yawned and leaned over to the fridge to grab a beer. “What bar are we hitting up tonight?”

Ryan stared Alex down. “I think we need to discuss Hades’s response to your attachment.”

“There’s no attachment,” he growled, shaking Ryan’s hand off his shoulder and rising to his feet. “Hades has every right to keep his junkyard dog leashed, right? Besides, we have a job to do.”

“Perhaps Seph—”

“Seph won’t intervene.” He looked out the window at his SUV. “She loves her little show ponies. Sit. Smile. Shake a paw. We’re trinkets to her, dolls she dresses up and parades around so everyone can compliment her on her pretty little pets.”

Bo set his empty beer on the table. “It is what it is, man. Always has been, always will be. And you were fine with it until that chick came into the picture.”

*

Max set hisphone down and dipped his last fry into the ketchup smeared across his plate. “The Washout?”

Charlotte leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “Aren’t you getting a little old to do this every night?”

“Aren’t you getting a little old to have a purse with hearts stamped all over it?” Max tossed back, grinning when her lips drew into a tight line. “Exactly. Everyone’s already there. To the limo, Jeeves!”

Shutting her car door with more force than necessary, she reapplied her lipstick and backed out of the stall. “You’re running defense,” she warned. “Any drunk who comes near me is on you to fend off.”

“Then you’re running offense,” Max countered, rifling through her purse and lifting her eyeliner out to examine it. “Any hot chick who comes near me, you talk me up.”

She grinned, parking at the far end of the lot. “Deal.”

The bar was packed, the music making even the loudest of conversation nearly impossible as they made their way toward the table of rangers seated by the dance floor. She waved to everyone before tapping Max on the arm and nodding to the bar to let him know she was covering his first round.

She swung her purse over her shoulder and squeezed through the crowd, her eyes locked on her destination. When she was within reach, she stuck her hand onto the bar to claim her spot, wedging into place against a beautiful blonde and the back of a tall guy leaning against the counter. The blonde smiled at her and slipped into the throng of people, giving her enough room to stake her spot, the bartender smirking when she angled her elbows out to increase her footprint.

“Two ryes and a water, please,” she yelled over the din.

The bartender nodded and got to work, chuckling at something the tall man beside her said. She looked up as the man turned, dropping her head immediately when recognition set in, running a hand through her hair to create a veil to hide her face until she could leave, her heart pounding.

“Excuse me?”

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