Page 80 of Burn Bag

“Then I’ll buy them!”

“You will not! You don’t have the money.”

I did. I had plenty of money and I would pay whatever it took to save these animals. I’d have to do some fancy lying, but I could make it happen.

“Thirty thousand!” I shouted.

“Listen here!” the buyer shouted. “We had a deal!”

“I want the agreed amount or you aren’t getting any of them!” the seller retorted.

“Forty thousand!” I upped the bid. I was going to lose them. I knew it.

“Are you out of your mind! Stop bidding,” Bradley snarled. “This isn’t an auction!”

The seller stalked up to the buyer and got in his face. “We had an agreement.”

“Before I knew you were hiding things from me!” He spat in the man’s face, and I gasped, surprised at the hateful gesture.

“It didn’t need to come to this,” the man snarled before reaching behind his back. Eli flung himself at the man and Bradley tackled me to the ground as Red went after the buyer. I had no idea what was happening as Bradley hauled me to my feet and dragged me to the vehicle while I screamed for the cats.

“Those are my cats!” the seller yelled as Bradley stuffed me into the back seat.

He pointed his finger at me, his anger hanging on by a thread. “Stay.”

He slammed the door, stalking away from the vehicle. Instantly, I pressed my face to the glass, watching the cats in their cages. I couldn’t let this happen. Neither of those men should have those animals. Who would allow cats to fight? It was just sick.

The buyer made a dash for the cats, and I turned to watch out the back window, desperate to see what would happen to my babies. And that’s when I saw it. A whole cache of weapons just waiting to be used.

Not that I knew how to fire a gun or even had any interest in doing it, but those cats needed someone to defend them, and all Bradley and his men were doing was trying to diffuse the situation.

Biting my lip, I tried to hold back. Bradley would not be happy with me if I did this. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I just stood by and watched it all happen.

Decision made, I snatched a rather large weapon and flung the door open, stepping out of the vehicle in what I hoped looked like a brilliant Hollywood action scene.

Red did a double-take as he saw me sling the gun toward the buyer, holding onto the handle and the long, pointy part of the weapon. A Hollywood action star, I did not sound like.

“Oh, fuck.”

“What?” Bradley asked, spinning around to find me stalking toward the cages. “Goddamnit, Daphne!”

“Get away from them now!” I shouted at the buyer. I jabbed thegun in his direction and scowled. “I swear to God, I will pump you full of lead if you do not step away from those animals!”

“You’re insane!” the man shouted, stumbling backward.

I could hear Bradley pleading with me to put down the gun, and I saw Red holding back the seller. I was very possibly making this situation worse, but I didn’t have a choice.

This was the only way out.

20

KAVANAUGH

“She’s fucking insane!”Red snapped, watching as my wife stalked toward the buyer with a rifle in her hands.

“I know that,” I gritted out.

“She’s not even holding it right. She’s gonna burn her fucking hands!”

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