Page 60 of Take a Hike
“The guys can.”
With a snort, Charlie squinted through the near dark at her sister. “Yeah, and those two will happily stay here and answer the sheriff’s questions as we jaunt off to Denver without them? The only reason they’re not crammed in here with us is that they’re the size of small bears.”
Although Fifi made a grumbly sound, she didn’t argue—she couldn’t, because Charlie was very right.
There were a couple of distant thuds from outside, and they both went still, listening. Charlie peered through the crack she’d made from popping up a ceiling tile a bare inch, but the space beneath them stayed empty and still.
“Should we send Molly, Norah, and Cara to Denver?” Charlie asked in a whisper. As much as she hated to delegate anything to do with Jane’s case, they were running out of time. Their mom’s first court appearance was tomorrow, and in order to keep their house, they needed to make sure she actuallyappeared. In the meantime, a murderous militia was literally gunning for them, so there were a lot of balls in the air.
“Let me text them.” Fifi wiggled around, retrieving her phone from wherever she’d had it stashed and tapping at the screen. “Nope. They’re all up to their eyebrows in the latest case from Barney.” The glow from Fifi’s phone highlighted her frown. “They will if we really need them to, but they’re really close to bringing the skip in, and you know Barney’s just looking for any excuse to cause some last-minute shenanigans. Plus, we need to keep him happy, just in case we aren’t able to bring Mom in on time.”
“Ugh,” Charlie groaned. “I’ll be so glad when all of this is over and we can tell him to shove his entire being up his own—” Her phone vibrated against her leg, cutting her off. She shifted carefully so she could pull it out and look at the screen, not wanting to put any pressure on the fragile ceiling tiles surrounding her. The metal framework she rested on supported her weight, but she wouldn’t trust the tiles to even hold up her phone. Reading the text, she felt a thrill of anticipation as she nudged her sister and held the phone in front of Fifi’s face.Here we go.
Slowly and carefully slipping her phone back into her pocket, she pulled the gun from her hip holster and aimed it through the tiny crack she’d made by popping up a ceiling tile. Next to her, Fifi mirrored her. Steadying her breathing, Charlie waited.
The floor below creaked, heavy footfalls and even heavier breathing echoing through the attic storage space.For a militia guy, he’s not very stealthy,Charlie thought, adrenaline powering through her, making it hard to stay still. She controlled her body, however, not even allowing herself to twitch a toe.
Tank came into view—or at least the top of the dirty ball cap he was wearing did. Crouching by one of the dirty windows looking out onto Simpson’s main street, Tank set down his duffel bag and unzipped it.
It was nearly impossible to wait, but Charlie didn’t want any ambiguity afterward. It needed to be obvious why he’d come, why he’d bribed the sports-store manager to give him access to their second-story storage area with the window that looked directly down on the blackened coffee shop.
She held herself still, waiting until Tank had opened the window, taken out his rifle, and aimed at the street below. Apparently, the saying about good things coming to those who waited was true, because Tank bent over, sticking out his ample rump.
Charlie grinned. He couldn’t have presented a better bull’s-eye if he’d drawn some concentric circles on it. She almost felt guilty for shooting such an easy target, but then she reminded herself that Tank was only there to kill them. Lou had happily babbled to Gabrielle about Charlie and Fifi’s plan to visit the site of the coffee shop fire in order to look for clues. He wasn’t innocently looking out the window. The guy was an assassin, lying in wait.
Ever so carefully, Charlie took aim and pulled the trigger.
He jumped and yelped, one hand reaching back. Before he could do more than that, Fifi sent her own shot into his other butt cheek.
Tank yipped again, and his rifle clattered to the floor as he whirled around, his hunted gaze scouring the storage space.Charlie could almost see realization dawn on his face as his eyes turned to the ceiling. Groping for the rifle on the floor behind him, he stared right at their hiding spot.
“Ready?” Fifi whispered, but Charlie was already in motion. Of course she was ready. She wasalwaysready. Dropping the gun, she grabbed the water pipe in front of her and pulled her knees in, crashing through the ceiling tiles as she swung from the pipe like she was a kid on the monkey bars. She got a glimpse of Tank’s wide eyes and pale moon face—as well as the gun he was swinging in her direction—before her boots connected with his chest.
He hit the floor like a felled tree, the crash loud enough to be heard from the street, and Charlie went down with him. She tried to catch her balance so she landed on her feet, straddling him, since that would look rather awesome, but her foot sank into his gut instead. As the air left him in awhoosh, she lost her balance and crashed down on top of him.
Shoving off of his bulky form, she scrambled to her feet. It was too late though. She could hear Fifi laughing behind her.
“I suppose your dismount was more graceful,” Charlie grumped, crouching next to the motionless man.
“Infinitely.” Fifi joined her on the other side of Tank’s limp form. “Plus I stuck my landing.”
“Good for you.”
Fifi ignored Charlie’s sour grapes and took Tank’s pulse. “Did you knock him out, or did the sedative from the darts kick in?”
Charlie shrugged, although she stayed alert to any sneakymove by Tank. “Or he’s faking it. Your guess is as good as mine.” Poking his arm, she sighed. “It’s going to be a pain in our asses to roll him over to cuff him.”
Fifi nodded. “It would’ve been so much more considerate if he’d passed out on his stomach.”
A thunder of boots on the stairs made them both stand and turn toward the door, ready just in case the people about to join them weren’t friendly. When Kieran was the first one through the doorway, Charlie relaxed and grinned at his scowling face.
“Excellent,” she said when Bennett followed right behind Kieran. “You’re just in time to help us roll him over.”
Kieran’s gaze flicked over her as if doing inventory, making sure all her parts were in the proper order. When he met her eyes again, his severe frown softened into a smile. As always, a happy Kieran made her heart skip a beat. Without saying a word—or waiting for Bennett, who was doing a more hands-on check of Fifi’s well-being—Kieran strode over to Tank and turned him over onto his belly.
“Whoa.” Charlie was impressed…and turned on. “You just flipped that huge man like a pancake.”
“He’s not even breathing hard,” Fifi said with proper awe before looking at Charlie. “And you said it was just fine.”
