“Definitely not,” Cooper agreed. “If anyone has the right to brag, though, it’s Hannah. She just took out three of the furies.”
“What?” Boone straightened. He’d only been half listening to the conversation. “Are you serious? How?”
Cooper shrugged. “With her hands.” He wiggled his fingers for emphasis. “I tried shooting one, but it barely slowed him down. She’s the one expending all the energy.”
“Well, that’s ... I won’t say good. We’re down to two, right?”
Hannah bobbed her head. “Ray and Nikki said the other two were already here.”
“Ray and Nikki?” Tyler cocked his head. “Wait ... are you saying they were furies?”
“And the other chick who applied for the job,” Cooper volunteered. “Lorna was one of them, too. She tried to seduce me in the seamstress shop, although she didn’t put a lot of effort into it.”
Hannah shot him a dirty look. “You almost sound disappointed.”
He chuckled at her jealous reaction. “Not in the least. It was just ... weird. She said that she couldn’t kill me because they agreed to gather all the humans in town and use them to force you to sign over the deed or something. I forgot to ask, what with the dead bodies and all, but what did she mean by that?”
“It’s convoluted,” Hannah replied. “I’m not even sure I understand. They mentioned the town being deeded to me by blood magic and it’s a spell they can’t break. If I die, they can never tap into the magic of the land. They need me to willingly give it to them.”
“I don’t understand.” Boone strode to the small refrigerator Tyler kept in the corner and grabbed a bottle of water, cracking it before returning to Hannah. He hunkered down to give her a closer look ... and didn’t like what he saw. “Honey, you are extremely white. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m just tired.” Hannah graced him with a grateful smile as she took the bottle of water and downed half of it before taking a breath. “I’ll be fine once I rest.”
“Which might not happen for a bit if the other two furies really are here,” Cooper noted. He didn’t like how run-down she appeared either, but he knew better than arguing with her. She could very well be their only shot of surviving the afternoon. “There’s another thing.” He told them about finding Portia’s body behind the saloon. “I think she’s been there since she talked to Hannah and Tyler. I don’t think she ever left.”
“That might explain why I never saw her leave,” Tyler mused. “I’m not sure what to think about that, though. I mean ... why kill her and stuff the body behind a dumpster? These furies seem to enjoy dropping bodies where people can find them.”
“That’s what I said.” Hannah bobbed her head in agreement. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m not sure we can dwell on that.” Boone moved to the open door so he could study Main Street. “What do you think we should do?”
The question was addressed to Cooper, but Hannah was the one who answered.
“We have to draw them out,” she said. “We need to get them to come to us so we can end this.”
“Or we could go to town,” Cooper argued. “We could find a place to hunker down, let you recharge, and then come up with a plan.”
Stubborn to a fault, Hannah shook her head. “No way. If we go to town, they could follow. If that happens, other people will be at risk. We have to end this here.”
“We don’t have to do anything,” Cooper shot back. “We can take a few minutes. You can rest.”
“Coop, you can’t protect her from this,” Boone said in a low voice, resting his hand on the security guru’s shoulder. He understood that the idea of Hannah being hurt was almost too much for Cooper to bear, but they had to be practical. “Hannah is right. We have them isolated out here. We have to ... deal with this now.”
“Besides, that FBI agent is still out here,” Tyler noted. “We can’t just leave him to fend for himself. He’ll die.”
“Thank you!” a voice boomed from the other end of the barn, causing everyone to jump and look in that direction.
Cooper’s heart rolled when he realized Jacob was standing there. “How long have you been listening?”
“Um, since you guys got here.” Jacob was strangely blasé. “I saw Hannah and Cooper cutting through the buildings. I thought I would be able to catch up, but they were too fast. Then I decided to hear what you were talking about, and I have to say, I’m a little disappointed that you just now decided to worry about me.” He mock-clutched at his heart. “I’m hurt.”
“He’s sloth,” Hannah announced, grunting as she regained her footing. Weariness threatened to overwhelm her, but she could hardly check out of this fight.
Boone sent her a sidelong look. “Well, we probably should’ve seen that coming. Did I not tell you that he was the laziest FBI agent I’d ever come across?”
“I believe I told you that,” Cooper said.
“No, I definitely thought it first.”
“Does that matter?” Tyler was beside himself as he thought of the animals that stood between Jacob and the small group. “Let’s take this out to the street,” he suggested. “There’s no reason to upset the animals.”
“Why?” Jacob’s lips slid into a sly grin. “Are you worried that the horses will beat up you and Cooper again or something? That was the worst lie ever, by the way. Pretending to believe it was fairly difficult. Of course, it was easier to believe it than to push you to come up with another story.”
“That’s what you do, right?” Hannah queried. “You settle for things.”
“Pretty much.” Jacob nodded, his grin never faltering. “Isn’t it
