Page 91 of Ride the Lightning

Felix and Jonah both chuckled.

“Yeah, what’s the point of doing all this if we can’t make charges stick? I think we also need a decoy to act as the prison guard. Do you have someone in mind?” Felix asked.

Jonah nodded. “I know the perfect person for each role.”

On Monday morning, it was hard to tell which emotion was riding Jonah harder—fear or frustration. Both revolved around one delectable intern who refused to call in sick to work as Jonah had requested.

“I never miss work,” Avery had argued the previous night over the phone and again before work this morning. “We need everything to look normal.”

“I need you to be safe,” Jonah had countered during both conversations.

He reached out to Rocky and Felix for backup on his way to work. He’d argued that calling one of them from his office to confirm the meet time and location would be just as effective as sharing the details with Avery.

“How often does Avery miss work?” Felix asked.

“He doesn’t,” Jonah admitted reluctantly.

“I think it would look suspicious, especially since it’s your first day back after an injury,” Rocky said.

“Unless Avery is one hell of an actor, everyone at the office has to know how much he adores you,” Felix said.

The remark warmed Jonah, even if he was aggravated his friends were annoyingly hashtag team Avery. “I can’t allow Avery to become a casualty of my war.”

“Ourwar,” Felix and Rocky said at once.

“Awww,” Jonah said. “Look at the two of you bonding.”

“Bonding?” Felix scoffed. “We agree on one point.”

“It’s not like you caught us in bed together,” Rocky added.

Felix snorted. “As if.”

“You’d never be the same,” Rocky said smugly.

“Ruined for other men or put off sex altogether?” Felix countered.

“Okay, I’m out,” Jonah said.

“Hey, big guy,” Felix said, stopping Jonah before he could disconnect.

“Yeah?”

“Keep your head in the game. That’s how you and Avery will stay safe.”

“Fine,” Jonah grumbled as he pulled into the GBI parking lot. “I’ll talk to you two nitwits later.”

“Nitwits?” Felix and Rocky repeated.

Jonah disconnected the call with a chuckle. Closing his eyes, he counted backward from twenty. Felix was right. He couldn’t allow his emotions to cloud his judgment or things would go sideways. Stick to the mission.

A tap on his window startled him. Jonah opened his eyes and found Trexler glaring at him. Jonah knew there would be a showdown but here? Now? Jonah hit the button to roll down his window. “Sir?”

“You either have balls of steel or the hit you took from your mugger last week has addled your brain,” Trexler said.

“Good morning to you too, sir,” Jonah somehow managed to say with a straight face.

Trexler narrowed his eyes as an angry blush crept up his neck and face. If he were a cartoon character, steam would soon escape through his ears. Ignoring Jonah’s cavalier response, his supervisor continued. “Or maybe you just don’t value your career. Is that it?” Trexler ambushing him in the parking lot was precisely what Jonah needed to get in the right frame of mind. “You’d piss away the opportunities the deputy director gave you in favor of the podcast with thoselosers?”