Page 2 of Derecho

“The thumb drive. He said he gave it to you. That you had it. We’re not leaving here before we figure it out.”

“I don’t⁠—”

“Call him,” Mack said to the other guy. “Tell him he needs to show his face. This is his fucking mess, and we shouldn’t be here doing his dirty work.”

Silence filled the space, but I began shuffling slowly—very, very, slowly—in front of my sister. If they had a weapon…if they had a gun…I wanted to be in front of her and my niece.

“Get behind me,” I whispered, so quiet I could barely hear the words myself. But she started moving, and some of the panic eased in my chest.

“Get your ass in here. They’re not fucking talking,” Mack barked over the phone.

A minute later, a man covered from head to toe in black strolled into the shop. Oh, God. These assholes were going to try and hurt us. The third guy was holding a baseball bat. Without thinking, I began bouncing the adjustable wrench in my hand up and down. Let him think about taking a swing at us, knowing what would be swinging back at him.

“Now. Where is the thumb drive?” Mack was staring right at Jessie, but I knew it had to be some sort of misunderstanding. We didn’t have anything like that at the shop.

“I-I don’t have anything. I don’t have a thumb drive. You can go into that office and look. The laptop we had before was stolen and the replacement one we’ve been using is so old, the ports stopped working years ago!” A tear slipped down Jessie’s face as the asshole took a step closer to us. I moved my hand out immediately, tucking Jess the rest of the way behind me.

“That’s where you’re wrong, little Mama. You’ve had it all along.” Mack flicked his finger towards the guy in the mask. “He told us so. And since this place was meant to be empty today so we could tear it apart and find the fucking thing, I think it’s the universe’s way of helping us out…putting your pretty little self right in our path so we don’t have to go through the hassle.”

“Who the fuck are you?” I spit at the guy in the mask. He used his free hand to roll up the sleeve of his shirt, and in an instant, my whole world fucking crumbled. Because my best friend had the same fucking tattoo in the same fucking place.

The guy who’s name still hadn’t been given laughed before turning to me. “Look, man. We don’t have time to tell you all the fucked up details. We just need to know what you did with the thumb drive.”

I looked over my shoulder at my sister. “Jess?”

“I swear, I don’t know anything about a thumb drive. We store all of your business stuff right on the laptop in the office. After the first one was stolen from my room, I’ve only restored a few things digitally. You know before that, we kept things on the computer or printed out in the file cabinet. I haven’t used a thumb drive in years.”

I nodded. “You heard my sister. We don’t have what you’re looking for.”

The nameless guy lunged, pushing me as his hands wrapped tightly around Jess’s arms. Her screams filled the entire garage as he pulled her away, Mack charging me as I lifted up the wrench in my hand, ready to swing. I was about to put these fuckers six feet under. It might have been just me against them, but I wasn’t about to let them hurt my sister or my niece.

I was so consumed with getting to Jess that I was fucking blindsided when a large body shoved into me, pushing me back into the control box for the lift. I fell to the ground a second before the lift started moving, and in an instant, I was trapped.

Sharp, fire-fueled pain flooded every nerve in my body. It consumed me. Not just the part of my body I couldn’t see any more—my left leg felt like it was just gone, crushed beneath the weight of the car. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do anything except try my hardest to stay awake for Jess’s sake.

“LACHLAN!” My sister screamed my name as she stumbled towards me.

I needed her to get away. They were going to hurt her. And now…fuck, I was starting to lose my grip on…everything.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay, Lach. I’m going to get help.”

“Get…outta…here…” I tried to push her away.

“NO! I just need to get to the office. My phone…my stupid phone!”

The corners of my vision started to go dark before everything went black. I couldn’t see her anymore. The pain that had consumed my body was dull, and everything felt miles away from where I was starting to drift to.

“Jessie…you need…the baby…”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m getting you help. We’re fine. And you’re going to be fine, too.”

My poor sister’s sobs were the last things my brain registered before the darkness completely pulled me under.

Lainey

PRESENT DAY…

“Ouch,” I groaned, bringing my wrist up to my lips after setting Mrs. Norman’s tray of chicken tetrazzini on the cooling rack that sat over my stove top. I turned, my belly bumping into the sink as I moved the handle to tepid and stuck the fresh burn under the cool, running water.