Page 91 of Hard Knock Hero

Aiden rubbed his forehead. “I knew you were going to say that.”

We got in Aiden’s pickup, and he parked it in one of the spaces in front of the travel shop. But we continued to watch.

“We still have a lot of time before you have to be in Steamboat,” I reasoned. “If they’ve got something illegal, we can call Owen. Or even Jake. I’m sure the federal government would want to know about verifiable evidence that the Rigsbys are transporting illegal drugs. Owen and Jake said they needed more proof, and this is our chance.”

Aiden turned to me and rested his hand over mine. “I know this is important to you. The Rigsbys deserve whatever is coming to them. Eventually, they’ll mess up and the law will catch up to them. But you don’t have to be the one on a crusade. That’s not your responsibility.”

I thought about what my brother had asked me last night. How much I was willing to risk for Aiden. I’d told Trace that I would risk everything. I didn’t have a single regret about that. But I was willing to risk a lot for Hartley, too. That town was my home, and I intended to fight for it. This wasn’t just my personal vendetta against the Rigsbys. It was about what wasright.

Aiden seemed to think Sawyer was just going to leave Hartley. But why would he, when he owned so much of the town? He owned my diner. He had the loyalty of the mayor and plenty of other people, too. If anything, Sawyer and the rest of his family would dig in and redouble their efforts to exploit the people of Hartley. Could I stand by and let that happen?

If that box truck hadn’t blown a tire, then it would’ve been long gone by now. And if I hadn’t come with Aiden, he might not have stopped here and we never would’ve seen it. But wewerehere. Maybe it had all lined up for a reason, and maybe it was pure luck. But either way, we couldn’t ignore it.

“This could be the only shot we get to stop what the Rigsbys are doing,” I said. “I’m going to try. Because if I don’t, who will?”

Aiden studied me. His gaze had gone soft, and he brushed a few strands of hair away from my cheek. “Then I’ll go with you. Since that first night at the diner, I’ve stood with you. But there are two of them with weapons against the two of us with none. Unless you count my chef’s knives, and knives are no good in a gun fight.”

One of the men wore glasses, and he was now smoking a cigarette. The other had on a blue Yankees cap, and he was speaking angrily into his phone. “We need to separate them,” I said. “Or wait for them to split up on their own. We get the keys to the cargo area of their truck, and we get inside. See what they’re transporting.”

Aiden didn’t say anything. His jaw was hard as we continued to watch the two men.

Then the guy in the blue cap jammed his phone in his pocket and walked toward the travel store.

I reached for the handle to the passenger door. “This is it. You follow that guy into the shop. I’ll go over to the other one. I’ll sweet-talk him.”

Aiden’s eyebrow arched so hard it almost reach his hairline. “Sweet-talk himhow?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve never seen the guy before, so he doesn’t know me. He’s not from Hartley. I’ll get him to trust me and figure out some way to grab the keys.”

“Absolutely not. No freaking way.” Aiden stopped me before I could get out of the truck. “We’re sticking together, or we’re not doing this at all.”

“Fine. Then how is this supposed to work?”

“Two on one. We both take the guy who’s in the shop. Then we handle the other.”

That sounded a lot less efficient. But I could tell Aiden wasn’t going to compromise. Perhaps this was one of those moments when I was being a little too impulsive.

Slow down. Be careful.

“Fine, we’ll do it your way. But we’d better get moving. The guy’s already inside.”

We both got out of the truck and headed into the shop. Aiden leaned toward me and whispered, “He’s going to the bathroom.”

We followed him to the back, where the restrooms were located. But there were people streaming in and out of both the men’s and ladies’. There was no way we could subdue the guy with a crowd watching.

This wasn’t going to work.

Being careful was all well and good. But sometimes, you just had to jump.

Before the guy in the Yankees cap could enter the men’s room, I dashed forward and grabbed his wrist. “Sir? There’s something I need to show you. It’s right over here.”

I pushed him toward a closet. The door was barely ajar, and I could tell nobody else was inside. It was full of cleaning supplies for the bathrooms. The guy started to protest, but we had surprise on our side. And though Aiden was probably furious at me, he didn’t waste a moment. He rushed in front of me, forcing the guy in the Yankees cap against the back wall of the closet.

He kicked the door shut. There was a muffled crash.

“Is everything okay in there?” a random woman asked on her way to the bathroom.

I spun around. “This place has a rat problem,” I stage-whispered. “You wouldn’t believe how big they are.” Behind me, another thump came from the closet. “See?Huge.”

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