Page 63 of Hard Knock Hero

“I’m not either,” Jessi said with a sweet smile.

Owen pushed his frown so hard that furrows appeared around his mouth. “No. Absolutely not. They had guns on the mountain, Aiden. They have guns in those jeeps.”

“I’m aware of that. You want to loan me a weapon?” I’d left the rifle I took from Mitch back at the diner.

“Hellno, I will not. Are you crazy?”

“We’ll be careful,” Jessi said. “If this is our shot to nail them, I refuse to miss it.”

Owen looked at me like he expected me to transform into the voice of reason. But that had never been my forte. I had no intention of putting Jessi in danger, but as she had said, we didn’t want to waste this opportunity. Tomorrow was my last day in Hartley. I had no idea what she might try to do once I was gone. If she wanted to investigate this, shouldn’t I help her with it now, while I was still around to protect her?

“Even if you do find something, I can’t use it as evidence,” Owen said.

I shrugged. “We’ll worry about that later. Perhaps you’ll receive an anonymous tip, complete with photos. After we get out of this car, you won’t know for sure where we go or what we do. I’m sure it would be better if youdidn’tknow.”

Jessi and I jumped out of Owen’s truck, just barely latching the doors to avoid making noise. He backed his truck up carefully, then turned around and drove away.

“Wait,” I said to Jessi before she could start toward the warehouse. “I’m doing this with you, but I won’t put you at unnecessary risk. This is recon only. We see what we can see, and when it’s time to get out of there, you need to follow my lead. If I tell you to run and leave me behind, then you’d better go.”

She pulled me into a quick kiss. Warmth zipped through me despite the cold temps. “Whatever you say.”

I suspected she was placating me. I’d just have to stay close to make sure this didn’t go sideways.

Jessi and I crept along the tree line so we’d be in shadow. By the time we reached the warehouse, the drivers of the jeeps had finished unloading. They were standing around casually, smoking cigarettes and chatting with men who I assumed had emerged from inside the warehouse.

Owen had loaned me his binoculars. I lifted them to my eyes. “There’s Jeremy,” I said, recognizing him from the diner that afternoon.

Jessi took the binoculars, then touched my arm and pointed. “And Chester’s with him.”

The Rigsby cousins stood just outside the open loading bay. Light spilled out from within, illuminating their faces. The bandage on the bridge of Chester’s nose shone like a beacon, and I could still make out the bruises spreading beneath his eyes. That made me smile. Jeremy’s sandy hair was neatly combed, and he wore a scarf around his neck, as if he was hiding some bruises of his own.

That made me smile even wider.

“So Jeremy’s in on it,” I said. “The Rigsbys wasted no time bringing him in. Maybe he already knew about it before he arrived today. Could this have been going on two years ago before he went to prison?”

“I don’t think so.”

We watched them for a few minutes, trading the binos. Boxes were stacked inside the loading bay, but there was no clue to their contents.

After a while, the drivers got back into the jeeps and left, but the Rigsby cousins stayed, trading sips from a metal flask.

“The real question is whether Sawyer knows about this,” Jessi said. “Are they using his warehouse under his nose? Or is he part of their operation?”

“No way to know from here.”

“Exactly why we should get closer.”

“Jessi. That’s not what we—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Jessi had dashed away in a crouch, heading for the warehouse.

Shit. I had known this would probably happen, yet I’d ignored those warnings in my head. Jessi had me wrapped around her manicured fingers, didn’t she?

I raced after her. When I reached her, I pulled her back against me, wrapping my arms around her so she couldn’t step out into the open. “That’s close enough.”

We were only a few yards away from a side entrance into the warehouse’s office. Jeremy and Chester continued to chat. We no longer needed the binoculars to see them, and their voices traveled clearly.

I caught the nameMitch.

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