Page 91 of Agency

“I’m thinking.”

“Well, time for thinking is gone. Do I have your word, or not? Because, otherwise, we’re about the same distance to a place in Colorado that I know we can hunker down.”

Morgan and I knew exactly where he was talking about. Medicine Mound, Colorado. Or, rather, out in an unincorporated area of Clarke County, where Trinity Security had its main offices at the ancestral home of Alex Wilcox, one of the company’s original founders. We even had some buddies with actual bunkers out there.

She let out another sigh, but didn’t sound nearly as exasperated or borderline disgusted this time around. “Fine,” she said with a groan. “Fine, okay? Happy?”

“Say it with me, then,” Jericho replied. When he spoke again, his voice was almost a sing-song. “No revenge trips.”

“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not saying it like that, though.”

“Okay, okay, fine.” He cleared his throat, and then the two of them locked eyes. When next they spoke, it was in unison, but there was not even a whiff of a trace of sing-song to either of their voices.

“No revenge trips.”

“All of us now, but with more enthusiasm!” I said. “No revenge trips!” The three of them fixed me with deadpan stares, and I shook my head. “You guys are zero fucking fun. You’re like the anti-fun.”

“Sorry,” Ambyr began, her voice as deadpan as her look had been, “but I’m still reeling from the fact that my aunt installed a tracker in my neck.”

“You’re really going to milk that for all its worth, aren’t you?”

She stuck her tongue out at me, then broke into a smile. “Maybe.”

“Stick your tongue out like that again, and I’ll show you what to do with it.”

“Well, itisa long trip to Billings.”

“Stow it, you two,” Jericho said. “We’ve still got plenty to do before we can get on the road. Need to find a cash car, first. Because, like Ambyr said, it’s a long trip to Billings, and I don’t necessarily want to be making that trip with a screwdriver sticking out of our ignition.”

“Fair,” Morgan said with a nod. “Where to?”

Thankfully, we were out in the boonies, and so finding a nearby disreputable car dealership with my cheap burner smartphone only took five minutes. On the way, we counted our pooled cash, and figured we’dmaybehave enough to buy an early model SUV. Nothing too fancy, but fancy wasn’t always best.

Sighing, Ambyr unzipped her hoody and began to lift her shirt.

“Whoa, whoa,” I said. “I was just joking about the tongue thing.”

“Oh, shut up, Andrew.” Shirt still pulled up to reveal her bra, she felt around on a cup for one moment, and then she was slipping her fingers beneath the edge and tearing at the seam. She removed a wad of hundred dollar bills from one cup and handed them over to me, saying, “Thousand there.” Her fingers went to work on the other side, producing another slim stack which she passed over.

“And another thousand. I’d been planning on using this for my revenge trip, but apparently that’s off the table.”

“Uh, thanks,” Jericho said with a raised eyebrow as he took the cash from me. “This’ll definitely help.” He glanced my way, but all I could do was grin back at him and shrug.

“What’s that old saying about not looking a gift horse in the bra?” I asked.

All three of them groaned.

Soon, we were pulling up at the used car dealership, and Jericho and Morgan both went to get out. I’m not much of a car guys, that was more their wheelhouse, so I opted to stay in the car with Ambyr for the moment. Jericho was sticking his head back inside seconds after exiting, though, and craning around to look back at Ambyr.

“Almost forgot,” he said, holding something out to her.

“Almost…?” She trailed off as she looked to the glass bottle in his hand, and the two small, still active trackers. “Oh…”

“They’re yours, ain’t they?” he asked, giving them a little shake so they rattled inside the jar. “Or, at least, one of them is. So, take ‘em.”

“Um, thanks. I guess.” Swallowing hard, she took the jar from him, and he closed the door. “What do you think?” Brow furrowed and eyes narrowed, Ambyr held the jar up and looked at them.

“Me?”