“What?”
“I was looking for the little prepackaged utensils Gertie’s Diner always gave us. I wanted to cut the hamburger in half. But the bottom moved.”
I slid the box closer and it definitely didn’t feel empty. Peering inside, I could see it wasn’t really a false bottom, but a piece of cardboard cut to fit the bottom and hide something out of view underneath.
The utensil package was there and I popped it open, grabbing the knife. I slipped it down the side of the box and under the bottom. The cardboard slid up.
Two guns and four knives.
Carly palmed one of the guns like she knew what she was doing.
She turned and smiled at me and the pure revenge in her eyes made my skin crawl. Shedidknow what she was doing with that gun.
“Can you use that?” I whispered.
“Yes,” she said. “This means that the guy who dropped off the food is on our side, doesn’t it?”
“Anyone else would have felt the weight was off and said something,” I reasoned. “So yes. We’ve got someone on our side. I don’t know how to use a gun, Carly-girl. Those are all yours.”
“What about the knives?”
“Bowie knives?” I pulled the knife out of the sheath and ran the blade over the back of my fingernail. I pushed it forward on the nail and it didn’t budge. “I can work with this. Nice and sharp.” I slipped it back in the leather case.
“Hey, um…Uriah? The guy that dropped off the food? His name was Jordan. I remember him.” She took the knife out again and sliced the hamburger in half. “He’s the one who taught me how to shoot.”
I stared at her. “Why would he…”
My jaw dropped. This was a hell of a lot bigger than just Gerry kidnapping his kids. If that guy had taught her to shoot and gave her a gun… He was expecting guests. And probably soon.
“Eat your burger,” I said. “I have the feeling we’re going to need some energy.” I threaded one of the knives onto my belt. “And whatever happens, stay with me. You and Devon. Stay by me.”
She nodded.
I felt like an inadequate Rambo with this stupid thing on my belt, but I wanted it near me. I watched as Carly checked the gun, just the way I had seen several cops and agents do it over the years.
Which just made me more sure that Jordan—whoever he was—was actually an agent and undercover.
That made me nervous.
What the hell had Gerry been up to?
And why the hell was my twin brothergiddy?
Oh, hell.
Austin
Noah was goddamn giddy. It was kind of frightening, but he was an amazing driver, finding some off-road track into the back of this compound.
Of course, he’d found it by looking at restricted maps that Smoke wouldn’t show the rest of us.
That just made him more giddy.
“The other cars stopped following,” I called quietly.
“I told them to. They’ll all follow this track in,” Smoke said. “On foot. We’re going in with the Suburban because we need a vehicle that can extract quickly and easily.”
I looked at Nelson and Marcus. “Extract what?”
