His hands shook as he stretched it toward the pile. “Are you sure they’re working?”
Cain crooked her finger at Katlin so she’d run the locator over her desk. When she did, the needle on the meter jumped completely to the right. “They’re all working, and the calvary isn’t coming. Think about that when you pay your federal taxes.”
Jimmy peered at her with bloodshot eyes and mucus draining out of his nose. “But why?”
“In situations like this, you’re either a pawn or a prized target. You’re under a lot of stress and obviously not paying very close attention, so I’ll repeat myself so it’ll sink in. They’re waiting for the target to kill the pawn. Then they’ll rush in here. Now I do believe we’ve established that’s
“Only the ones on the right?” he asked. He made his cut as if ready to get it over with.
“About twenty-five,” Cain said when he was done. “Not enough to get sick on but enough to show me you’re trying. One more thing—strip.”
“What?” he gazed up at her again. “Why?”
“Because I asked you to. Don’t make me ask again.” He took his shirt off first, displaying the tattoo Emma had described, then removed his pants and underwear. “Bon appetit.”
Jimmy started with the small ones first and gagged on the larger ones. He coughed and held his stomach on the last one but managed to get it down without throwing up on Cain’s desk. “Finished,” he said.
“Not quite.”
For the next part Shelby and the other agents on duty listened as Jimmy grunted and cried, but they couldn’t hear any other voices or noise. Cain must have written her directions.
“Shelby,” Claire said when the front door opened and a naked Jimmy stood there.
He ran across the street and tapped on their back window. When no one inside answered, he banged on the glass again until the van started swaying.
“Open up, you sons of bitches, or I swear I’ll break it,” he screamed.
Lionel was closest to the door and gave in before the neighbors called the police. “You’re okay now,” he told Jimmy, who was holding his hands in front of his genitals as if trying to preserve some of his dignity.
“Shut the fuck up and give me a map of where you put all your shit.”
Shelby tried to calm him down. “We can’t do that, Mr. Pitre. We went over this, remember?”
“I owe that crazy bitch a bunch of money unless you give me a map. If you don’t, who’s going to pay?”
“We’ll figure something out, but first we need to know what happened,” Shelby said.
“You know what you need to figure out? The quickest route to my house because I forgot my pants in there and I’m not going back. And once you drop me off, stay the hell away from me.” He got in and grabbed his stomach as soon as he was past Lionel. The momentum landed him in the middle of them. “Oh God,” he said in obvious pain.
After that, everyone but Jimmy dashed for the back and piled out into the street. Cain’s car stopped as it came through the gate and she rolled the window down.
“Problem?” Cain asked, smiling.
“You know damn well what our problem is,” Shelby said.
Cain craned her head to see in the van. “I really don’t know, but that,” she pointed to the van and the stains on their pants, “is the true meaning of listening to shit.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A few cars were parked in front of Jarvis’s house when Cain got back, but she assumed Remi and her family were there. Emma was waiting at the front door and took her hand and led her into the kitchen.
“Giving cooking lessons?” Cain said as a joke as she kissed the side of Emma’s neck. “Not that I don’t want to be alone with you, lass, but don’t we have company?”
“If you weren’t so big I’d spank you. We have company, but not all of it is who you were expecting. Nunzio Luca’s here and Remi’s keeping him company.”
“Did she ask you to call Ramon and Mano?”
“Not yet, and she didn’t ask me to leave, so I’ve been making small talk to help her out. Honey,” she held both of Cain’s hands, “this guy’s a creep. I didn’t think anyone could be a bigger ass than Juan, but after spending an hour with Nunzio, I have to admit I was wrong.”
“He’s not only a creep, he doesn’t know how to take directions. Today isn’t Tuesday.” She kissed Emma and turned to join Remi.
“Hey,” Emma said, stopping her. “You were gone longer than I thought. How’d it go with Jimmy?”
“He owes us some money, and after our talk,” Cain couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m sure he had an ass full of me and all those bugs we found.”
“You didn’t.”
“You’re right, I didn’t, but Jimmy sure did. After he was done I suggested he return them to their rightful owners. I’m sure they can be used again, but I hope they disinfect them first.”
Emma was laughing so hard she was hanging on the counter. “Thanks for putting that image in my head, and thanks for taking care of it. I feel like an idiot that I didn’t post someone over there.”
