the surprise element Jimmy Boy had brought along in the event Happy didn't get the job done.
The bruiser was slapping the butt of the baseball bat in the palm of his hand. The smacking noise irritated Noah.
'Put the bat down,' he ordered once again.
'Not before I break a couple of bones.'
Noah suddenly smiled. He looked as if he'd just won the lottery. 'Hey, Theo, you know what?'
'What?'
'I'd call Happy's remarks threats. Wouldn't you say they were threats? I mean, you'd know, since you're a lawyer in Justice,
and I'm just a lowly little FBI agent. Those were threats. Right?'
Theo knew exactly what Noah's game was. He was letting the three men know who they were so they couldn't say they
hadn't been informed when they were locked up.
'Yeah, I'd have to say they are.'
'Listen, smartass,' Jim said, addressing Noah, 'you get in my way, and I'm going to enjoy hurting you too.' He stabbed the air
in front of Noah's face with his stubby finger.
Noah wasn't paying him any attention. 'Maybe we ought to let one of them hit us,' he suggested to Theo. 'It would probably
look better in court.'
'I can make the case without getting hit. Unless you want to get hit.'
'No, I don't want to get hit. I'm just saying…'
'You think this is a game, sonny?' Jim was bellowing now. He took yet another step forward, poked Noah in the shoulder, and said, 'I'll wipe that smug smile off your face, you son of a-'
He didn't get a chance to finish the threat. Noah moved so fast, Jim didn't even have time to blink. But then again, blinking was definitely out of the question. He cried out, then froze and stared with one wide eye at Noah. The barrel of Noah's Glock was pressed snugly against his other eyelid.
'What were you going to say about my mother?' Noah asked softly.
'Nothing… nothing at all,' Jim stammered.
Happy swung the bat in a wide arc while Cauliflower pivoted on his heel and reached inside his jacket.
The loud click of the shotgun as it was being pumped reverberated throughout The Swan. The noise gained everyone's full attention.
Noah kept his gun pressed against Carson's face as he glanced behind him. Michelle was leaning against the counter with a shotgun aimed at Cauliflower. Theo moved in and grabbed the weapon from the thug's waistband. Then he looked at Michelle.
'I asked you to go to the kitchen.'
'Yes, I heard you ask.'
Cauliflower tried to grab his gun. 'I've got a permit for that. Give it back to me.'
'That's such a stupid thing to say,' Theo muttered. Cauliflower lunged. Theo pivoted and using two knuckles chopped
Cauliflower just below his Adam's apple. The man reeled back, and as he turned, Theo struck him on the back of his neck. Cauliflower collapsed, out cold on the floor. 'I can't abide stupid people.'
'I hear you,' Noah said. 'Jim, I'm gonna have to shoot you if Happy doesn't put that bat down real soon.'
'Do it, Happy.'
'But, Mr. Carson, you told me-'
'Forget what I told you. Drop the bat.' He tried to back away from the gun, but Noah simply followed.
'Please put that away. I don't want you to accidentally shoot my brains out.'
'That's assuming you have a brain,' Noah said. 'I'm not so sure about that. What were you thinking, coming in here with
your hired hands? Are you so cocky you didn't worry about witnesses? Or are you too stupid to care?'
'I was mad… I wasn't thinking… I just wanted…'
He stopped stammering as soon as Noah removed the Glock. Then Jim, making up for lost time, began to blink furiously.
'Is Harry dead?' Jim asked. 'If you killed Harry…'
'He's still breathing,' Noah said. 'Don't make me ask again, Happy. Get rid of the bat.'
Happy looked decidedly unhappy as he threw the bat hard at the table next to him. Since he couldn't break any legs, he decided
he wanted to break some property. Then maybe Jim Carson would still pay him. The baseball bat struck the edge of the table, bounced back, and struck Happy's foot. He let out a yelp and started hopping around as though he were playing a game of hopscotch.
Theo handed Harry's weapon to Noah and rubbed the sting out of his knuckles. 'Put Jim in the chair,' he added before striding
to the bar. He looked at Michelle now. 'Michelle, what the hell are you doing with a sawed-off shotgun? Put that down before
you hurt someone.' Then he got closer to her and noticed how modified the weapon was. 'Where did you get this?'
'It's Daddy's.'
'Okay,' he said, holding his patience. 'Where did Daddy get it?'
He was suddenly acting like a Justice attorney and making her feel as if she were the criminal.
'Daddy's never fired the thing. He will occasionally wave it around when he thinks there might be a bar fight.'
'Answer my question.'
'John Paul gave it to Daddy for protection. He taught both of us how to use it.'
'You can't have this. It's illegal.'
'I'll put it away.'
'No, you'll give it to Noah and let him get rid of it for you.' He took the weapon from her. 'This sucker could take down a
rhino at a hundred yards.'
'Or an alligator,' she remarked.
'Oh? Have there been many alligators fighting in the bar lately?'
'No, of course not, but-'
'You know how many years your dad could get for this?'?
She folded her arms across her waist. 'We do things different in Bowen.'
'Last I heard, Bowen was part of the United States, and that means you follow the same rules. Where did your brother get
hold of something like this?'
'Don't you dare think about giving my brother trouble, Theo. He's a kind, gentle, sensitive man, and I won't let you-'
He wasn't in the mood to hear a glowing testament. 'Answer my question.'
'I don't know where he got it. For all I know, he made the thing, and if you take this one away, John Paul will only give Daddy another one just like it.'
Theo's eyelid twitched. She knew she was upsetting him, but at the moment she didn't particularly care. What was Daddy supposed to do when things got out of hand in The Swan? Wring his hands while they tore his bar apart? Besides, her father would never shoot anyone, but the sound of the shotgun being pumped was always enough to discourage hotheads.
'That's just the way things are around here.'
'Your father and your brother are breaking the law.'
'The shotgun's mine,' she announced then. 'I made it, and I put it under the counter. Daddy doesn't even
