Page 43 of Once a Hero

“No. But neither are you,” Kenichi snapped. “Now move along. Go. Leave.”

“It’s a pointless exercise,” Jake said. “You’re just going to follow me anyway. I say let’s team up.”

“You have nothing to offer us,” Kenichi said.

“On the contrary, I do.” Jake turned to Beatrice. “I think Philomena is a bait. Which puts us all in Molyneux’s crosshairs, considering she seemed to have a penchant for killing family members—you know, like your dad and his girlfriend.”

Beatrice drew a deep breath. No, she wasn’t related biologically to Molyneux. However, Jake might be getting somewhere.

“Then explain why we seem to be alone here,” Kenichi replied. “I don’t see her people coming after us right now, do you?”

“Because they’re probably already in the cabin.”

That made everyone quiet.

Beatrice couldn’t imagine what she was going to miss if Molyneux’s men ransacked the cabin before her team arrived. What if there were clues in the cabin about how Dad had lived long after they all thought he was dead? Why hadn’t he reached out to her and Benjamin at all for over twenty years?

“They might be waiting for us,” Beatrice said. “An ambush we cannot win. If we call 911, it would take forever for the police to show up.”

“They can send a chopper,” Jake said. “I’m in contact with my associates and they are on standby if anything happens to us.”

“How far away are they on standby?” Beatrice asked. “San Francisco?”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Someday, we’ll learn to trust each other.”

“Not any day,” Kenichi snapped. “Her standards are too high for you to reach.”

What? Beatrice didn’t know how to respond to Kenichi.

There was something else more urgent. “Boys, pay attention. We might be able to get to the cabin, but we might not be able to get out again if Molyneux’s people are there.”

“I’ve already worked out that scenario,” Kenichi said.

“You have? We’re a team here,” Beatrice reminded him. “I don’t recall approving anything.”

“You were driving. Ray was napping. I wasbraining. You’re welcome.”

Beatrice did not like Kenichi’s answer at all. She was in charge. She paid the bills. What was Kenichi doing behind her back? Who was ordering him around?

“Can you get backups in fifty minutes?” Beatrice asked.

When Kenichi didn’t answer, Beatrice knew that he had been working on something long before they left Eureka. “We’ll talk about it later, but I expect you to answer to only to me.”

Not to my brother also.

“If they come for us, they’ll be in a group,” Jake said, diffusing the tension.

Beatrice wasn’t happy at this point, but she decided to deal with Kenichi later. Perhaps she would also call her brother to tell him what she thought about him running interference.

Hopefully it was only Benjamin giving extra orders—and not the enemy.

“I’m not the enemy here.” Kenichi’s voice softened.

Surely he hadn’t read her mind.

“I have to see the cabin,” Beatrice said. “Give Jake a spare uniform.”

Chapter Nineteen

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