Page 7 of Ride the Lightning

Chuckling, Jonah said, “No, I’m not feeling lucky. I went home without my stash of Caramel Bugles.”

“Oh, those were for you?” Dakota asked, then worried his bottom lip between his teeth.

“What do you meanwere?”

Mr. Ling smiled apologetically. “I forgot to explain our arrangement to Dakota. He saw the delivery and assumed they were for sale and stocked them on the shelves this morning. I was arguing with distributors and hadn’t realized what was happening until they were all gone.”

“Sorry,” SWG Dakota mumbled.

Jonah tamped down his disappointment. “It’s fine.”

“Mrs. Ling is gathering some from our other stores. You can pick them up on your way home.”

“Thank you, Mr. Ling.”

“So, Caramel Bugles, huh?” Dakota asked.

“You got something against caramel-covered corn snacks?” Jonah countered.

“Well, no, but you seemed so…” Dakota waved his hands around while presumably searching for the right words. Either no adjectives came quickly, or he wasn’t willing to speak them out loud in front of his boss and ruin his second chance.

The phone rang, and Mr. Ling left him alone with Dakota to answer it.

“Who is Dirty Harry?” Dakota asked.

“It’s a movie franchise starring Clint Eastwood. Mr. Ling just performed some of the iconic lines from it.”

“Never heard of him,” SWG said.

“Scott Eastwood’s dad,” Jonah explained.

Awareness sparked in Dakota’s blue eyes. “Oh, I know him.”

“He looks just like his dad,” Jonah said.

“Where’s your gun and badge?” Dakota questioned.

“He’s not that kind of cop,” Mr. Ling said as he rejoined them. He tapped his temples, and Dakota looked even more confused. “Uses brain to catch bad guys instead of a gun.”

Jonah could happily go the rest of his life without holding a gun, let alone shooting one.

“I’m a criminal intelligence analyst,” Jonah explained. “I have to take all the same training and certifications as the field agents, but my position doesn’t require me to carry a gun.”

“Brain is a weapon,” Mr. Ling said emphatically.

“So, you’re like acybercop?” Dakota asked.

Jonah wasn’t in the mood to correct the kid’s assumptions, so he said, “Something like that.”

“How’d you get the scar?” Dakota asked. What the fuck was this? Twenty questions?

“Knife fight in a bar last year.”

“Cool,” the kid said nervously.

“Nonsense,” Mr. Ling said. “Big joker, this one. He got the scar in war. He’s a hero. Always be nice to him.”

Hero.