Page 22 of Ghost
He wandered toward the cash register,where a middle-aged woman and the cashier wereconversing.
“You know, since those menmoved into town, I gotta say the eye candy around this place hasdefinitely improved,” the customer said.
The younger cashier blushed. “Too badnone of them is looking for a woman. There’d be lots oftakers.”
“Why are all the hot mengay?”
Ghost had difficulty stopping himselffrom laughing at these two and was soon on his way to the nextperson. A gentleman Ghost hadn’t seen before stood facing a wall oftile, appearing to be looking for something he liked. It wasn’tlong before the old vet came over and stood a couple feet away fromthe first guy.
Ghost felt pretty proud of himself atthat moment, considering that would make four people who hadn’tbeen able to spot him as he ghosted around the store. He was aboutto move on when the vet stopped him in his tracks.
“What the hell do you thinkyou’re doing?”
Ghost froze. Shit.
“What do you mean by that?”the stranger asked.
Ghost could breathe again; the vetwasn’t talking to him.
“You know exactly what Imean, Jackson. You weren’t supposed to take potshots atthem.”
Oh shit, this was gettinginteresting.
“They were snooping aroundin places they shouldn’t be.”
“I didn’t call you to letyou know they were investigating Miles so you’d go out and killthem,” Mr. Cross said.
“I wasn’t trying to killthem, just scare them off.”
“You don’t know who you’redealing with. These folks don’t scare off. They hunt harder, youidiot. Now they know someone’s on their radar, and they won’t letit go until they find out who it was.”
“Then maybe I should takethem all out. That would solve the problem.”
“How have I ever notnoticed how stupid you are?” Mr. Cross said, shaking his head.“These men are trained military, special ops shit. You might getone or two before youre dead.”
“Fine. What do you suggestwe do?”
“Sit tight. Let this blowover and wait to see what shakes out. Don’t go doing anythingstupid again. Your parents and grandparents haven’t made it thisfar for the entire plan to go up in smoke as we stand before thefinish line.”
Mr. Cross stormed off, and Ghostmanaged to get out of his way at the last second. The other manhuffed and headed for the front of the store. Ghost followed him.When he stepped out into the hot Texas afternoon, the guy jumpedinto a shiny new truck parked beside Gunner’s. Ghost was quick tomemorize the license plate before he tore off down thestreet.
Ghost was nearly vibrating withnervous energy, and he knew he had to get out of the store andbreathe, or he might begin reappearing. The older lady from earlierwalked to the front door and opened it, and Ghost took theopportunity to sneak out behind her as the door slowly closed. He’dwait for Gunner and Fletcher by the truck.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, theguys came out from the side alley of the hardware store carryingthe two-by-fours.
“You better be here, youlittle shit, or I swear I’m going to use you for target practice,”Gunner growled under his breath.
“I am,” Ghostwhispered.
Fletcher threw the lumber into theback of the truck and opened the passenger door.
“Get in.”
Ghost did as he was told, and soon,the three pulled away from the store.
“Mind telling me why youtook off?” Fletcher asked, sounding as angry as Gunner.
“I wanted to test myability in public, but that’s unimportant.”
