The Holler Thief by Heskett Jim

Author:Heskett, Jim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Royal Arch Books
Published: 2021-07-13T00:00:00+00:00

26

For the second time in three days, Serena Rojas performed a sweep of Harry’s house. As he ate a bagel and drank coffee in the kitchen, she searched the exterior and interior as thoroughly as she could. The events of the night before still upset her, even though she hadn’t been present for any of it. The fact that she hadn’t been present is what frustrated her most of all.

After failing to prevent the attack on Harry yesterday morning, she had also failed to stop an attack at his house last night. And since Harry had already refused to accept her resignation, she had only one choice remaining: be better.

“A disco ball, huh?” she said as she closed the front door behind her.

Harry looked up from his breakfast, a dab of cream cheese on his lower lip. “Yeah. I couldn’t believe it worked, either. If I went through that scenario a hundred times, ninety-nine of those times, I would never think to use a smart home prank as self-defense. But it happened the one time I needed it, and I actually slept pretty well last night.”

“They’ll come back for you,” she said. “And they won’t fall for that again.”

He spread a flat smile toward her, as if trying to convince her everything was fine. “I know. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

“Next time, they’ll either bring more guys, more guns, or both. And they won’t give you a chance to talk your way out. They’ll put a bullet in your foot to make you compliant, then they’ll haul you off to wherever they intend to interrogate you and then leave you. Probably deep in a holler where things like bodies go missing.”

He flashed an uneasy smile. “You paint quite a vivid picture.”

She studied him. Serena knew from joint weapons training exercises that Harry had indeed fired multiple types of guns before. But she didn’t know if he’d ever once pulled a trigger not at the range. She didn’t know if he’d even punched anyone before. Weeks and months of trying to get him to arm himself had resulted in little movement toward that idea.

Serena could see only one way to fix this situation, and although she didn’t like it, it seemed like the most logical option on the table.

“I’m going to stay with you, for a while,” she said. When a surprised Harry opened his mouth, she said, “It’s not up for discussion. For the time being, where you go, I go.”

“Um…”

“How many bedrooms you got here?”

“Three. One is already set up as a guest room. The sheets are clean and everything. But when you say ‘not up for discussion,’ let me present a counter-argum—“

“No,” she said, raising a hand like a crossing guard. She pursed her lips and decided to say no more, since she felt like they had covered the topic sufficiently.

He chewed on this for a few seconds. “Okay. Okay. I usually go to bed early and get up pretty early. And—fair warning—I’m not used to being quiet in the mornings now.

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