Page 58 of Take a Hike
“Clint is very…angry about last night,”she started.“He’s sure it’s the PIs visiting from Denver.”
“Bounty hunters from Langston,” Charlie muttered, only to be shushed. “Well, if I’m being accused of something, they should at least get their details right.”
“Accused?” Kieran gave one of his harshly amused grunts. “Wedidbreak in.”
“And blow up most of their arsenal,” Fifi said absently.“Local law enforcement should thank us for that. No one on that compound should have a grenade launcher in their sticky little fingers.”
“If you guys don’t zip it, I’m going to start gagging people,” Lou warned, and they all settled in to watch the video feed.
“…this time,”Gabrielle was saying.“It’s obvious—Clint said it’s obvious—that the coffee shop wasn’t enough. We need to end them this time.”As if she’d realized how strong her voice had gotten, Gabrielle ducked her head.“He’d like to hear your…ideas? On how to accomplish that?”
“I don’t like this,”one of the men said, but Charlie barely heard him over the pounding in her ears.
“The coffee shop?” she repeated, rage surging through her. Unable to stay still, she turned abruptly and began pacing the floor. “Shewas the one who almost killed us?”
“Be mad about it in a minute,” Fifi said, her eyes still fixed on the screen. “We need to hear what their next attempt will be.”
“The sheriff already has her eyes on us because of Cobra, and now Clint wants us to murder a bunch of PIs?”The sour-looking guy—the only one who hadn’t rushed to fawn over Gabrielle—was talking when Charlie managed to dial back her anger enough to pay attention to the video feed.“Guess he won’t be happy until we’re all in prison with him.”
Gabrielle glared at the man for just a split second before looking down at her knees.“You know Clint wouldn’t set you up, Saul. He just trusts that you can pull this off without getting caught.”
“Ooh.” Lou gave a dramatic wince. “Did you see those deadly eye lasers?”
“She’s definitely the boss.” If Gabrielle hadn’t been in the process of convincing a bunch of militia guys tomurderthem, Charlie might’ve been a little impressed. Gabrielle had likely knocked off her abusive husband—or at least taken advantage of his death—and was now ruling the militia in his place, all without any of the misogynistic members knowing they were taking orders from a woman. Since she was, in fact, planning tomurderthem, however, a fresh flame of anger burned any admiration Charlie felt for Gabrielle right up.
“How does Clint want us to do this then?”an older guy with some unfortunate facial hair asked.“Blow ’em up?”
“We don’t have much as far as explosives go after last night,”Daryl said doubtfully.“I suppose we could just…shoot them?”
“How’re we supposed to do that without getting caught?”Saul huffed.
“Tank, you’re our best sniper.”Gabrielle’s breathy voice held an extra heaping of admiration. A stocky guy who’d been quiet so far lit up at her compliment.“We’ll just need to find out where they’re going to be and then get you into position beforehand. There’ll be enough commotion after for you to slip away.”
Saul gave her a suspicious look.“Shouldn’t you run this by Clint before you start making plans?”
Her head dipped again as her voice softened enough that Charlie had to strain to hear her.“This was one of Clint’s ideas.”
Although Saul didn’t look convinced, he kept his mouth shut—for the moment, at least.
“Won’t I need an alibi?”Tank asked, not sounding that bothered by the idea of shooting several innocent—well, relatively innocent—people.
“I’ll go talk to the sheriff about Cobra’s case at the same time. Saul can wait in the car in a hat and sunglasses, and I’ll make sure to mention to the sheriff that Tank drove me and give her a glimpse from a distance. If the sheriff vouches for you, that’ll be an ironclad alibi.”
“What about my alibi?”Saul whined.
“The fact that everyone knows you can’t hit the side of the barn from ten feet away,”one of the guys said. Everyone besides Saul and Gabrielle snickered.
“Just tell everyone you’re planning to go hunting.”Gabrielle was losing her breathy, innocent tone as irritation seeped into her voice. Charlie was a little surprised she’d managed to pull off the whole stealth-leadership thing, since she had a hard time staying in character. It was possible that the Paxes were testing Gabrielle’s patience, however. They were good at that.“After we get back from the sheriff’s office, you can drive to Connor Springs and wander around town, making sure lots of people—and security cameras, if possible—get a glimpse of you.”She paused and when she spoke again, the trembling uncertainty was back.“That’s something that Clint would do, I think.”
Saul didn’t look happy.“The timing won’t line up.”
“Fine.”The word came out as a snap before Gabrielle caught herself.“Daryl, you’ll drive Saul’s truck to Connor Springs before the op, get the license plate on some cameras but keep your face hidden. Saul, someone else can give you a ride there later, and thenyou and Daryl will swap places before you put your face on every camera you can find. Will you do that for us, D?”Her voice was sheer sweetness, and even on the camera feed, Charlie could see Daryl positively melt.
Guys are kind of dumb, generally speaking.She glanced at Kieran, who met her gaze with a curious frown—one that deepened when she gave him an apologetic grimace for mentally slandering his gender.
“How will I know where they’ll be?”Tank asked.
The camera angle was just right to show Gabrielle’s slow, smug smile.“I’ll find out from Lou Sparks. She’s buddied up to them, and she never shuts up. All I’ll need to do is bring them up, and she’ll babble away, telling us everything we need to know.”
