Page 36 of The Big Fix

I jolted. “We need to—wait, sorry. You said Dante has her?”

“Yeah, it was badass. He jumped on the hood of the car, shot the three guys inside, and pulled her out.”

“Is she fine?”

“She’s shaken, and wasn’t letting go of Dante for a second,” she said, chuckling. “But, you know, if you have the opportunity to hold Dante Cerreto’s hand…maybe you hold on for a minute or two just because you can.”

“He’s old enough to be her father.”

“So the fuck what? The man is hot. And what is this whole ageist thing you’ve got going on? Since when is age a determining factor when it comes to love?”

“We should maybe focus right now,” I told her.

“We are actually hiding right now,” she reminded me, “and are perfectly safe right here in the most empty shop I’ve ever seen in my life.”

It was but that was to be expected. There were hundreds of hole-in-the-wall shops selling all the same stuff.

“We should probably—”

“This is the thing that’s got you all twisted up about Owen, isn’t it?”

We were in a tiny store, waiting to move, and she thought right then was the time to take a deep dive into my psyche. “Are you kidding me?”

“Fine,” she groused, “but we are going to talk about this.”

I had no doubt.

“Okay, people, let’s go,” said a voice behind me.

Rounding on the man who’d spoken, reaching for the Sig Sauer P229 that George had brought me, I was a second from pulling the trigger when I realized I was facing Garland Murray.

“Hold on, Colonel. I come in peace.”

“Holy shit,” I groaned, and it was my turn to bend over, shaking, having nearly put a bullet in his head. Nam returned the favor from earlier and patted my back.

“You guys should get off the street, don’t you think?”

“Don’t you think,” Jing parroted back.

“What did I do?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe announce yourself next time before he shoots you or I gut you,” she snapped, and only then did he see the blade in her hand.

Because of her luminous beauty and charismatic presence, people thought Jing couldn’t be lethal. But she could cut a swath through a room with just a knife.

“Sorry,” Garland said sheepishly. “I really thought he saw me.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, his reflexes are not as good as they used to be.”

“I’m right here,” I snapped at her.

“Hi, I’m Charkrit Nam,” the young man said, introducing himself, offering Garland his hand. “But please call me Krit. I’m not actually with them. We’re just running from the bad guys who tried to kill me, together.”

“Pleasure,” Garland told him, shaking his hand. “Garland Murray, but you can call me Gar.”

“In all honesty, Gar, I’m the one responsible for Owen being kidnapped, but I must tell you that I was pressured into it. They threatened my sister and niece.”

“I understand,” Garland assured Nam. “When people threaten your family, what’re you supposed to do?”