Page 119 of Protecting Peyton

“No thanks.” He’d already rejected granola bars, apples, and kiwis.

It wasn’t healthy, but at least the package was unopened. “Oreos?”

“Perfect.”

I pulled out the junk food and noticed the bag of birdseed on the floor below it. Filling the feeder for his poor little birds was something constructive I could do.

I took a plate of cookies out to Jordy and laid it on the coffee table next to his phone.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Yell if you want more.” I didn’t have enough ways to show how grateful I was for all the help the Hawk people were giving me. “I’m going to refill the bird feeder out back.”

“You’re supposed to stay inside.”

I pointed at the backyard. “It’s right there.”

He didn’t look up. “Not a good idea.”

“You’ll be able to see me through the window the entire time,” I argued.

He kept typing, watching the characters show up on the big screen.

Annoyed, I marched over and positioned myself between him and the TV. “Look.” I pointed. “You’ll be able to watch me through the window.” I crossed my arms.

He turned and nodded. “Okay,” he said, shooing me to the side with a wave of his hand.

“Thank you.” In the kitchen, I cut the corner off the birdseed bag and went outside. Getting the feeder down was easy, but I should have worn shoes. I wiped my feet off on the small patch of grass Zane had back here. The white splotches on the ground under the feeder were probably bird poop.Yuck.

Resting the feeder on the table, I ran into a problem. I couldn’t get it open. Clearly, the top had to come off somehow. In their effort to make it squirrel-proof, the manufacturer had also outwitted me.

Trying to lift the cap didn’t work. And I was afraid I’d break it if I pulled harder. Twisting it didn’t get me anywhere. It barely moved. Taking it to the table, I was ready to give up when I pressed it down, and that allowed it to twist. “Thought you’d outsmart me, huh? I’m not your average squirrel.”

Finally, twisting the top loose, I brought the birdseed bag to the table and looked up to see if Jordy had noticed my success.

He was up off the couch, but he didn’t look right. Clutching his ear, he staggered toward the window and pointed behind me.

I turned. There were only bushes.

The sound of an explosion inside the house froze me in place.

Zane

“This is boring,”Yates said, sitting in the passenger seat of my Porsche. He loosened his tie.

“You didn’t need to wear a suit,” I observed.

He had wanted to ride along and get a look at what we did for a living. He obviously didn’t have a clue.

I shouldn’t have stuck around for an extra few kisses from my woman this morning. Yates had shown up just after the others had left, and Lucas had assigned him to ride with me.

“Welcome to investigations,” I told him. “TV makes it look glamorous by leaving out the boring parts, but there are plenty of those.” We were parked on the street at the location Lucas had assigned me today. This street was wide enough to allow for a U-turn if the location was behind us.

I had to agree that the technique Jordy had cooked up was boring with a capital B, but at least I didn’t have to be in my car every minute of the day and pee into a bottle.

Yates dialed his phone, which I’d earlier connected to the car. “Hey, Rob, are you sure the Hawk program is up and running?”

Roberta’s voice filled the car. “It’s running, but there aren’t many hits yet.”