Page 47 of Dangerous Command
“Yeah,” she gave a laugh. “A lot has happened since you left.”
I suppressed the heartache. When you had a stepdad like mine, you learned quickly that you couldn’t keep anyone close, even if they were your only friends, like Tina and Tim had once been.
“What’s going on, anyway?” I asked.
“When I told Tim what happened, with you showing up with that guy, we agreed that something was up. We wanted to make sure you were okay, that you weren’t being coerced into something.”
Heat gathered in my face as I peered down the hallway at Derek, the phone still clutched to my ear. He hadn’t forced me to do this, but Tina knew how I desperately wanted to get out of that life. And showing up on her doorstep after a decade of silence, asking about Miles Muro, a famous crime boss, didn’t exactly signal that I was staying away.
“You were worried about me?” I asked.
“I mean, if he’s asking about Muro out in the open and demanding you go everywhere together, he’s probably in the mob, right?” her voice cracked. She cleared her throat, then continued: “Maybe he’s even the head boss. Is he taking over Midnight Miles Corporation? Are you alright? What’s going on, anyway?”
When I decided to leave Brackston, I left everyone behind, including her. Our relationship hadn’t been great for years by the time I ran away, but she had never left my mind. She was one of the few things I wished I could have kept in my life, but at the time, she wanted to work for my stepdad, and I had to get away.
And since I ran away, things had changed. My hair color. My name. Anything to help me forget who I was when I had lived in Brackston.
“We’re trying to figure out this thing with Muro,” I said. “But what about you? How are you and Tim?”
“We’re fine. Paying our dues. Staying out of the way,” she said. “I try to help if I can.”
“Help?”
She didn’t say anything, and I knew something was coming. What was she waiting for?
“Come by again,” she finally said. “We’ve got someone who might know more than we do.”
I hung up the phone, then looked at Derek. Getting help from Tina and Tim seemed like going against good wisdom, but it was the only shot we had. I went back to the living room.
“Do you think you can be around Tim without hurting him?” I asked.
“As long as he doesn’t disrespect me or my family,” he said, gritting his teeth.
“That won’t be a problem.” As long as Tim and Tina were satisfied that I was safe, there wasn’t a reason to get into an argument.
“Better not be.”
I went to Lucy’s to make sure Mack was okay, with rules that he wasnotallowed to get into any more adventures. The library was fine. Kicking around a ball was fine. Butnotthe playground.
When we got back to Tina’s, this time, I gave her a long-overdue hug. I held her tight, trying to communicate what I had held back for so long:I’m sorry I left. That I never said goodbye.She hugged me back, though it wasn’t the same forceful grip that she had once had. I didn’t blame her for not trusting me.
Derek glared at Tim.
“All right,” I said, cutting the tension before another fight broke out. “You said you have someone to help us?”
Tina nodded, and Tim patted his holster, to prove to us that he was as capable of violence as Derek was.
“Let’s go inside,” Tina said.
She went up the driveway, and the rest of us followed her. Their home was emptier than I had expected but still furnished. A thin man sat at a small dining table in the kitchen. His hair was cut short against his head, his eyes twitching.
“This is Kyle,” Tina said, gesturing at the table. He flinched to the side. Derek and I took seats beside him. “He said he might have information for you.”
I motioned for Derek to go away, to let me talk. If the man was giving up informationwillingly, there was no need to intimidate him. For once, Derek listened, waiting along the back wall.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Maddie.” Kyle didn’t move. “Do you know where Miles Muro is?”
He hesitated. “Not exactly. But I know where he used to hang out.”
