Page 19 of The Most Wanted (The Kinky Bank Robbers #4)
Chapter Eleven
We headed back to the office the next day for another meeting with Herk.
I’ll admit, heading out to the office was not on my list of top ten most-appealing things to do after somebody tries to blow up your car with you in it, but my guys were keen on moving forward with the investigation, and Zeus had this thing about showing up at the office every day.
So we showed up.
I sat on the desk as they went around turning on the lights and clearing the place. And there was no Coco Chanel suit, either. Instead I wore my favorite sweater and jeans. Comfort clothes. I was shaken.
I’d always thought they couldn’t be in more trouble than they were already in, sort of the way you can’t get more pregnant than pregnant. They were internationally wanted fugitives, after all; could you get more wanted than that?
Yes, apparently you could. Apparently other criminals could turn on you, too.
It was a vast and exciting new panorama of enemies to make.
The devious kind that knew where you hung out.
The kind that would want to blow up your car, and probably had the perfect bomb-making materials in the closet where most people kept their wrapping paper and Christmas tree ornaments.
Thor came over and took my hand and kissed it. “We’re okay,” he said .
I managed a weak smile. We were so far from okay it wasn’t even funny. We weren’t okay on the inside, what with the rift between Zeus and Odin, and we weren’t okay on the outside.
But we were all determined to help Herk. Like we couldn’t have a normal life, but our pal Herk could.
Herk brought Maria Galvano along to the meeting. She had long black hair and decal nails, and she was a biology major at USC, or had been before the transfer to Oxford. I’d met her once or twice at Guvvey’s, and I’d always liked her. She seemed skeptical, though.
“You seriously think it’s Kenny fucking James?” she said once Zeus had caught them up on the night’s events. “That Kenny James would take my dad’s car…”
“It wasn’t me !” Herk said.
“I believe you, but…” Maria paused. “Kenny James? With a wig? The candlestick, the library…”
Herk sighed impatiently. Maria wanted to believe him, but she didn’t.
“We’ll figure it out,” I said.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to sound impatient. I just don’t have much time. I have to pack. I have to get clothes for a whole different climate.”
“Your dad won’t make you go once he sees he’s being played,” Herk said.
Odin asked him about his history with Kenny James, and Herk went into a long saga about his younger sister dating Kenny James.
When she’d discovered Kenny was having an affair, she’d dumped him.
After that, Kenny showed up at her house—repeatedly—pleading his case.
He’d gotten a little scary at one point, and she’d called Herk, who’d come by and beat the crap out of Kenny.
“In front of her,” Maria said.
“Damn right I beat his ass in front of her,” Herk said. “So she could see him cry like a little wimp and not want him back. A girl doesn’t want a guy once she sees him weep from a beating. It’s evolutionary, man.”
“Evolutionary in a man’s mind,” Maria said. I smiled in solidarity, even though I kind of didn’t agree with her.
“Fuck yeah,” Herk said. “And now I’m gonna tear his fucking face off. I mean that literally, man.” He stabbed a finger at Zeus. “You find him, and I will take care of the rest. And he’s going to apologize to the Don, and then he’s going to apologize to Maria and kiss the ground she walks on.”
A seemingly tall order for a man with no face, but that wasn’t the kind of detail you pointed out at a time like this.
He turned to her, then. “Fucking put you through this. Put us through this. It’s not right.”
“I know, baby,” she said.
Herk pulled her tight and kissed her. “I can’t believe Kenny would do that.”
“Either way, we really appreciate your trying to figure this out,” Maria said. “If there is any way we can help…”
Zeus asked her what she was doing, and she told him she was shipping some boxes, then heading off to the mall.
“Don’t start shipping things yet,” Herk said.
“I have to be practical,” Maria said.
“We’re going to figure this out.”
“I can’t just drop out of college in the meantime,” she said.
“Your dad still sends you around with muscle, right?” Zeus asked.
“Sure,” she said. “I got two guys.”
Zeus crossed his arms. “Can Ice come?”
“But the investigation! I need to help,” I protested.
“Not when the explosions start,” Odin said. “This guy’s getting desperate.”
“And you know what today is?” Zeus said. “You’ll require a new dress.”
“A new dress?” I said. “You think that’ll make it okay to not include me? Because, wow, I get a new dress?” I could barely swallow my anger.
“When things start blowing up?” Zeus said. “Damn right we’re not including you.”
“I’m an important part of this team,” I said, looking my bandits in the eye—Zeus, Odin, Thor. No go. All I saw was a united front of caveman thinking. Even Thor wasn’t going for it. The car bomb had really spooked them. “This is our thing. Ours together.”
“We’re hunting, baby,” Zeus said. “You’re amazing at the questioning, but we’re hunting a hunter. Somebody who knows we’re after him. Somebody who is looking at a very undesirable fate if he is to be caught.”
I knew this was an argument I wouldn’t win.
“Come along with me,” Maria said. “It’ll be fun.”
I turned to her. “I know. It’s just?—”
Her wistful look told me she got it. “I know.”
“Man’s got nothing to lose,” Odin said.
“Fine,” I said.
“Bring something to do while I deal with shipping and customs forms, and we’ll have some fun after that,” Maria said.