Page 20 of The Executioners Three
“But that’s not your job.”
“Nope,” Bowman admitted with a shrug, “but my family has a saying:On n’est jamais si bien servi que par soi-même.”
Kyle cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”
“It wasn’t English,” Freddie murmured.
“Oh.”
Bowman just glared. “It means one is never better served than by oneself. In other words, if I want this done right,Ineed to do it. It’s less hassle for me to look into these roaming animals than it is to deal with County Animal Control.”
“Have you found anything?” Freddie asked, curiosity building in her belly. “Like, why are they all roaming?Thatseems weird.”
“Eh.” Bowman shrugged with just the perfect amount of Agent Dana Scully skepticism. “Or maybe it’s just a natural migration cycle, Freddie. Either way, you two be careful, okay? Especially you, Gellar.” She leveled a cool stare onto Freddie. “You’ve had enough excitement lately. And it’s notjust turkeys that are on the move. I’ve had reports of coyotes and wolves too.”
“Cool.” Kyle perked up.
Bowman sneered. “Not cool, kid. Wolves can rip you to shreds. Coyotes too, so just stay out of the park and be smart.” She backed up a step and then, almost as an afterthought, added, “And watch the damned road, Friedman. Or next time I’ll arrest you.”
The cul-de-sac was exactly as Kyle had described, a gravel spot set at the end of a long, unfinished road that Mrs. Elliot had thought would be a great spot for vacation rentals. She’d been anout-of-towner,so the Bermians had already disliked her on principle. Add in the fact that she’d wanted to bring in more out-of-towners, and she had become public enemy number one.
To absolutely no one’s surprise except perhaps her own, Mrs. Elliot’s permit requests had been denied. Eventually, she’d gone back whence she came with only this road to linger—a warning that Berm did not take kindly to tourists who overstayed their welcome.
Laina’s mom’s Volvo was already at the abandoned cul-de-sac when Kyle pulled up, and Cat’s old Taurus joined them three seconds later. Everyone convened at Kyle’s trunk, where he opened the door with much fanfare.
And revealed ten industrial jugs of corn syrup.
“Thisis your plan?” Freddie chewed her lip. All this time, they’d been driving with sugary contraband in the trunk, and she’d had no idea. Thank goodness Sheriff Bowman hadn’t seen this. There would have been no plausible explanation that Freddie could have conjured for possessing so much corn syrup, and knowing Kyle, he would have just blurted out the truth anyway.
“It was one of the ideas in the Official Log,” Cat explained. She leaned into the trunk, looking enviously stylish and totally Bond-worthy in her pleather pants, black boots, and fitted turtleneck. She lugged out the nearest jug.
Kyle hauled out a second and third. “We’ll pour it all over their bleachers. Just in time for the big soccer match with Elmore.” He offered Freddie a green-eyed wink. “Sticky asses for the rich pricks!”
Freddie’s heart fluttered.
“What do you think of the plan, Gellar?” Laina had moved to Freddie’s left side while Divya had moved to her right. Laina wasn’t dressed too differently from earlier, except for the addition of a black leather jacket. Divya, meanwhile, had traded in her jeans for black cords and a black hoodie that Freddie didn’t recognize.
She hoped that meant Divya had borrowed it from Laina.
“Yeah, got a better idea, Prank Wizard?” This was from Luis, who was hauling out the next two jugs of syrup.
Prank Wizard. Freddie bit back a smile.See?she wanted to demand of Divya.Iamthe Answer Finder, and now the Prank Wizard too.
“We need to take Fortin Prepdown,” Luis went on. “They hit us hard this morning, so we can’t be gentle here.”
Freddie’s smile fell away—because the disappointing reality was that thisdidfeel pretty low caliber. After all, it was just sugar on the bleachers. A hose could wash it away in five minutes.
But she also had no better ideas. Not when the nearness of Kyle was making her brain melt, so she simply shrugged and said, “Let’s do this!”
“Excellent.” Luis clapped his hands. “Boys can each carry two jugs, and girls can snag one—”
“I can snag two, thanks.” Laina bowed into the trunk and plucked up two. She made it look so easy that Freddie was shocked when she grabbed one and,oh my god,it was so heavy. She had never considered herself weak, but she suddenly felt Deeply Inadequate Indeed.
“One jug leftover, I guess.” Kyle slammed the trunk shut, locked the doors with akey fob(how fancy!), and then turned to face everyone. “Ready?”
“Not without these.” Cat held out six black masks. They were just cheap paper and really did nothing to hide anyone’s faces. Not to mention, once everyone had slipped them on, they looked vaguely like the Hamburglar (which made Freddie’s stomach rumble).
Still, she couldn’t help but grin at Divya, who grinned right back. And when Divya slipped her fingers around Freddie’s forearm andsqueezed,Freddie recognized it for the physical-touch version ofWheeeeeeeeeee!
