Page 80 of The Scenic Route
Chris let out an audible breath, but at least he didn’t jump in his squad car and tear off. “Explain, please.” He still sounded terse though.
“The gun giveaway setup went just as planned. Then I had to say something about how well it worked, and two of Clint’s militia minions—”
“Trey and Kelsey,” Bennett interrupted. When she and Chris looked at him, he finally expanded on that. “Tied up outside Rory’s store.”
Pretty sure that was all the details they were getting out of Bennett for the moment, Felicity continued. “Trey and Kelsey set off an explosive device outside the store. The wall has a good-sized hole in it, butno one was injured.” She emphasized this part, since Chris was starting to look tense again. “Bennett took off after those two, and Rory texted me that their van was outside her front gate, so I went there, planning to incapacitate it before helping Bennett.”
Bennett’s interest perked up at this part, which made sense, since he’d experienced the first part of her story firsthand.
“Clint grabbed me, and we tussled.” She felt Bennett’s thigh tense against hers, so she kept her voice light. “I would’ve won too, but Finn cheated and snuck up behind me to knock me on the head.”
Bennett instantly started gently feeling her skull, looking for the lump, and she smiled up at him. When she looked back at the deputy, he was staring at her in disbelief. “Finn?”
“Finn Byrne.” She gave a decisive nod and then winced as Bennett found the bump. He immediately lightened his touch, giving a displeased grunt at her injury. Despite her sore head, that made her smile.
“Wait—Finn Byrne, the firefighter? You’re sure?”
“Wild, right?” She knew her expression was much too happy for this conversation, but she couldn’t help it. Her husband loved her and hated when she was hurt. “Firefighters are never the bad guy.” She remembered something and jumped a little in her seat. “Oh! He’s still in the van.Heprobably does need medical.” Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she pointed atwhere Clint was starting to stir. “Him too. He got run over by a golf cart.”
Still looking shell-shocked, Chris radioed in that he needed medical and backup. Once he’d put his radio back, he looked at Felicity expectantly. She swayed a little, exhaustion suddenly hitting her hard, and Bennett wrapped his arm around her, steadying her.
“You okay?” he asked for the third—fourth, maybe?—time that night.
“Yeah.” She leaned into him, soaking in his strength. “Just tired all of a sudden.”
“You’re going to let the EMTs take a look at you when they arrive.”
Felicity opened her mouth to argue and then reconsidered. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Bennett sounded surprised at her easy acquiescence.
“Probably a good idea after getting knocked over the head. Again.”
“Can you finish your statement?” Chris asked sympathetically. “Then you can go back to the shop, have medical check you out, and give me a written statement in the morning.”
“Sure.” Bennett’s warmth and coziness were making her a little too comfortable, and she was about to fall asleep, so she sat up straight. He kept his arm around her shoulders, however, and she was grateful for the support. “I wasn’t knocked out by Finn’s hit, but I was a bit wobbly, so I didn’t fight back when they tied my hands and tossed me into the van. They took off, driving away from Rory’s, and Bennett must’ve been following.Finn was going to shoot him, so I kicked his seat lever to recline his seat, then kicked him a couple more times to make him drop the gun and then to knock him out.” When she recounted what happened, it sounded a little more premeditated than it actually had been. She’d just kicked until the threat was mitigated. “Bennett must’ve shot out their tire?”
Glancing at Bennett, she raised her eyebrows at him, and he nodded, confirming her assumption.
“So the ride was pretty rough, especially when Clint let go of the wheel to grab the gun and then me. He got the van stopped, we got out, started walking—which is really hard in the pitch-black—all while he was talking about how much he was going to enjoy killing me.” She didn’t want to be whiny, but she felt pretty justified in complaining a little. Bennett’s arm stiffened as he made an unhappy sound, so she gave him a reassuring pat on the leg. “Then there was a whirring sound, and I told Clint it was the sound of firefly wings, and Bennett ran him over with the golf cart while Clint was arguing with me about whether Colorado has fireflies. Bennett tied him up, and then you showed up, and we were really glad it was you and not Deputy Donkey-Face, since we think he’s allied with the militia.”
Chris stood there for a few moments before nodding and heading over to Clint, who’d opened his eyes but was still looking rather bleary. Cutting the zip ties, Chris replaced the one on Clint’s wrists with handcuffs and then hauled him up onto his feet. Clint swayed, stumbling a little as the deputy led him over to his squad car and sat him in the back seat.
As Chris closed the back door, locking Clint inside, Rory’s pickup came to an abrupt halt next to the squad car, and all four murder club women poured out.
“Felicity! Bennett! You okay?” Lou asked.
Giving her abbreviated statement had used up Felicity’s last reserves of energy, so she just offered a little wave and smile. Chris immediately swept up Daisy in his arms, and they had a low-voiced, intense conversation that Felicity was glad she couldn’t overhear. It was enough at the moment just to deal with all her own newfound feelings.
“Callum’s babysitting Dino,” Lou said as she, Rory, and Ellie gathered around the golf cart. “You were all out of camera range, so we came to check on you.”
“The whining was unbearable,” Rory said.
At Felicity’s confused look, Lou translated. “Dino. He tried begging and threatening and had moved on to crying when we left. We were mainly concerned about you two, but I have to admit that it was very nice to get away from that. I feel bad for whatever deputy is stuck in a car with Dino when they bring him to jail.”
“What happened?” Ellie asked. “All we saw was the van flying away from the gate and then Bennett pursuing in a golf cart.”
“I made improvements,” Rory said, stroking the front of the cart affectionately, “but even so, I didn’t think you were going to catch up.” She eyed the van huddled pathetically just outside the light from the two vehicles’ headlights. “How’d you manage that?”
