Page 35 of Nest of Thieves
“Okay. Let me turn around.” He visibly trembles and scrambles into the tow truck. His engine is loud, but he does what he said he would, too chickenshit to run away.
Smart man.
If he ran, I’d have to chase him.
No one wants me to chase them.
Vette and Lark have pulled Jo out of the Nissan. Her unconscious form lies on the sidewalk. Lark drops to his knees and checks her vitals.
“She’s alive.”
I know I shouldn’t be relieved, but I am.
“What are we going to do with her?” I ask.
Vette looks at me. He’s as pissed as I am, but more so about what Jo did than her getting hurt.
“We’ll call the doc and have her checked out. Then we’re going to have a talk with her.”
“She’s not giving up on that ruby,” I unhelpfully point out. What? Someone had to say it.
“Unless she’s stupid enough to go after Damien, she’s not getting it back. She’s already going to be on his shit list.” Vette shakes his head. “We can use her.”
Lark stands and brushes off his knees. “You think she’d be up for it?” Grabbing his phone, he shoots off a quick text to the doc.
The tow truck beeps as it backs up toward the car. I eye the driver when he hops out and chains it up. I don’t know if it’ll work to get the GT-R off the road, but we can’t leave it here. We can’t have an accident like this come back to the shop. That’ll put the whole business at risk.
“She won’t have a choice. Not if she wants to live.” Vette glances down at Jo.
Her brunette hair is in her face, and he reaches down, brushing the strands away. A trickle of blood traces down the side of her forehead.
“I’ll take care of the cameras.” Lark is already working on his phone, noting every street we raced down and how much security footage he’ll need to wipe. Jo led us on a good little chase. He’ll have his work cut out for him.
“It’s ready.”
I simply look at the tow truck driver. He flinches like I slapped him. The GT-R is secured with chains, and shattered glass is all that remains on the street. I glance back at the Rover. There’s not enough room on the truck for my SUV too. Guess I’ll need new rims.
* * *
We get the cars back to the shop and load Jo into one of our spare SUVs. Vette demands to drive. Fine by me. I hop in the back and place Jo’s head in my lap, running my fingers over her hair. It’s so soft.
“¿Qué haces?”
I glare at Vette in the mirror. “I’m not doing anything.” Still, I can’t seem to pull my hand away from her.
“She’s off-limits, Mac.” Vette drives us through the industrial neighborhood with an annoyed line stuck firmly between his eyebrows.
“Relax, Vette. She’s not going to hurt anyone.”
Lark scoffs. “Tell that to the guys at the shop.”
Okay. Maybe Kitten did cause some trouble, but I had invited her to find us. I’m technically to blame for the chaos that ensued. The ring we stole is worth a lot of money, but Kitten here might have the cash with her. She’s smart enough to have stashed it somewhere safe. The money is a moot point now. Damien will never trade the ring for the cash.
Jo stirs in my lap, and I run my palm over her hair. “Hey, Kitten.”
She squints at me and groans in pain. “Ow.”
“Yeah, you had a pretty hard hit. We’re getting you to the doctor.”
