Page 51 of Burn Bag (Owens Protective Services #31)

KAVANAUGH

Week One…

“What we’re looking at is a layout of the facility,” Johnny said, pointing to the entrance at the top of the page. “If we can get in and out without being seen?—”

“How the fuck do you think that’s gonna happen?” IKE asked. “This is the Shadow Government. They have eyes everywhere. Hell, we wouldn’t even know they existed if it wasn’t for the intel Knight brought back.”

I glanced over to where Knight sat in the corner silently, listening as we all debated how to handle the latest intel. For a man who’d been shot by his brother, he sure was willing to go back in and risk everything to get his brother back. I didn’t understand it, but I respected it.

Jack shoved to his feet, storming over to the board. “Realistically, there’s not a good way in or out. Chances are, we’ll be caught.”

“So, it’s a suicide mission,” I clarified. “To gain intel that will most likely change the minute they see us set foot on their property.”

“Hell, they probably already have eyes and ears on us,” Jason muttered .

“Then what are we doing here?” Lock asked, pushing to his feet. “Rae, where do we stand on the headcount?”

“Not looking good,” she admitted. “So far, I haven’t been able to track any more of them. We only have five members. That’s not enough for a takedown.”

“Five members,” Lock muttered. “Out of how many?” His eyes flicked to Knight. “Any ideas?”

He shrugged. “Not everyone was there that night.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because they wouldn’t have brought everyone to the same location for something as simple as whether or not to bring Cash into the fold,” he explained. “We need the location where they meet for the vote. That’s the only way to bring them down.”

“The vote,” Lock scoffed. “We don’t even know when they vote or how often! And since your brother went rogue and decided killing you and joining this elite squad of assholes was more important than anything else, we have zero communication and even less intel.”

“He went rogue long before he shot me,” Knight pointed out.

“Yeah, he shot me,” I pointed out. “I knew the fucker was pissed at me, but I never thought he would actually try to kill me.”

“You stood between him and his goal,” Knight muttered.

“You’re forgetting,” Jack said, slamming his fist on the table.

“Cash is no longer the man you all once respected. He’s so fucking far out of his mind over pulling that trigger on Rafe that he’s never going to be the man you knew.

If you thought you knew him before, throw that fucking script out the window.

He made the decision to leave his morals at the table along with Betty. ”

He was right about that. The moment we saw Betty sitting on her box, we all knew the Cash we knew and loved was gone. There was most likely no bringing him back, not that any of us would ever admit defeat.

“So, what’s the plan, then?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Lock sighed. “We can’t move forward without the proper information, and I will not send anyone on a suicide mission for something that could turn out to be a setup. ”

“I don’t believe I asked for your permission,” Johnny snarled.

“You work for this company,” Lock argued.

“We were brought in here for Rafe. As far as I’m concerned, that arrangement still stands.”

“I thought you walked away,” Lock snarled. “I thought you dropped him when he put your family at risk. Have you forgotten how you almost lost your brother? Or how he set up Tahlia?”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Johnny snapped. “But there was once a time I would have followed Rafe anywhere. I made a fucking promise to him, to always follow him. Rafe is gone, and that promise transfers to his brother as far as I’m concerned.”

Lock eyed Jack and Jason. “And you feel the same way?”

A look passed between the two of them before they nodded.

Lock sighed heavily, shaking his head. “I can’t stop you, but I can’t back you either. If you do this, you’re on your own.”

Jack nodded, glancing at Johnny and Jason before storming out of the room.

All of us would follow them if we knew there was a chance, but as it was pointed out, it was a suicide mission.

Even if we had all the manpower in the world, there was no way we’d get in and out in one piece.

And that was a lot to ask when there was very little guarantee that we’d even glean any intel from the op.

After the door shut, Lock turned to Knight. “Anything to add?”

Slowly, he shoved to his feet. You could see the tension in his body, how he was still recovering from the shot to the chest. How he could sit here after his own brother shot him at point-blank range was beyond me.

“I have some work to do.”

He walked out, leaving us with that cryptic message that left us all a little baffled. Sighing, Lock tossed down the ballpoint pen and shoved his hands on his hips.

“Anyone else want to say something mysterious as shit and then leave the room?”

I raised my hand, to which he rolled his eyes. “I might need to see a man about a mummy. ”

He rolled his eyes and turned off the screen. “That concludes the meeting.”

Everyone got up and started to leave, but I was confused. “I’m serious.”

Eli snorted. “Sure. You want to find a mummy.”

I shoved back from my seat and caught up to him as he walked out. “She’s been gone a week. I need to see her.”

“And you’re willing to go up against a mummy for her?” Red asked, coming up to me on the other side.

The thought of going over there made me itch, but yes, I was fucking willing to do it. “Whatever I have to do.”

“Man, it’s been a week. You’re telling me you can’t make it a few more weeks without her?” Eli asked.

“Would you be able to?”

Eli sighed, stopping to face me. “Look, I get it. You miss her, but did you ever think that maybe this is the perfect opportunity to make sure she’s the one?”

“Are you suggesting I sleep with other women?” The thought made me cringe.

“No, I’m suggesting that a few weeks on your own will do you some good. You’ll survive. I promise you.”

He clapped me on the shoulder and walked away, leaving me alone with Red. I turned to him, hoping he would see my predicament. “Red…feel up for a trip to Egypt?”

“Not even a little. You’ve talked to her. What did she say?”

That was the part that killed me. Every fucking time I talked to her, she yammered on about how wonderful everything was. “She likes it,” I grudgingly admitted. “It’s just like the old days. They have dinner around a campfire and talk about their finds of the day. She sounds fucking ecstatic.”

“Okay, so why would you want to ruin that?”

“Because I’m lonely!” I shouted, immediately lowering my voice as I looked around to see how many people had just seen me admit that. Luckily, it didn’t look like anyone had. “Look, I know I come off as this confident man who doesn’t need anyone?— ”

“You don’t come off that way at all.”

“But deep down, there’s a man who just wants to be loved. I want what everyone else around here has, and that doesn’t include my wife being halfway around the world.”

“Maybe you should talk to Scottie,” he sighed.

I perked up at the thought. “You think he’d fly me over there?”

“No,” he said slowly. “I think his wife travels a lot and he might be able to give you some insight on how to deal with that.” Red snorted, shaking his head at me. “Dude, man up. It’s been a week. You’ll survive.”

“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” I muttered as I was left alone. Nobody got it. Their wives were home every night. They were exactly where they wanted to be, but me? No, my wife was digging up mummies and perfectly happy about it.

But Red was right. If anyone would understand, it would be Scottie. So, I shot off a text and headed out, hoping he would want to commiserate over a few beers. If not, it was going to be a long, lonely night at the bar.

Fucking 80s music blared from the jukebox as Scottie dropped in another quarter. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, after all. Not that I had a problem with the 80s, but the man was stuck there.

“This is one of my favorites. You know, Quinn and I danced to this song for the first time when we met in Colorado.”

“You don’t say,” I muttered, wishing I could wipe the wistful smile off his face.

“Yeah. You know, I think back sometimes on what it was like that first night. It all went so wrong, and I don’t get why she was so against building a fire with me.”

“Because she wanted sex,” I snapped.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t work. You know what I mean, otherwise you would have fucked Daphne from the start. ”

Well, he had a point there. “True. I didn’t want to screw it up like I had with Isla.”

“Exactly. You built that fire, and now look at you.”

“Yeah, look at me,” I huffed out. “Sitting on a bar stool, drowning my sorrows because she left me for a mummy.”

“Well, my wife leaves me for volcanoes. I can’t say it’s too much different.”

“Why is that?” I asked, taking a sip of my beer. “Why do they feel the need to run off and…explore?”

“Beats me,” he scoffed. “I mean, there are plenty of things to explore in Kansas.”

“Right? Like the fields.”

“And the corn.”

“And the prairie grass,” I added, thinking really damn hard about what else they could look at. “I’m sure there are fossils around here. You’d just have to dig for them.”

“Just like in Egypt,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, just like in Egypt. I mean, what the fuck is so great about a mummy?”

“I mean, besides that, it’s thousands of years old.”

“Hey, I bet you anything we could find a dinosaur in any one of these fields. I bet she would come home for that.”

“Right, and then we’d laugh in her face because we’d get to name the dinosaur.”

I nodded along with him as a plan came together. “How hard can it be to actually find one of those things? I mean, they’re fucking huge.”

“Yeah, you need like…a fossil or something. We could find a fossil.”

“It’s not like it’s that hard,” I said, completely annoyed by the whole situation. “And volcanoes, like they’re really that amazing.”