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His eyes widened. The conflict going on in his brain was obvious and kind of adorable. He wanted to say he would if I asked him to, but he wouldn't want to kill Jake. And he probably wouldn't want to kill Hutton.
I put him out of his misery before he had to answer. "I wouldn't ask you to do that. Besides, I don't think either of them would make very tasty cookies. Burgers, maybe." In spite of my empty stomach, the idea of food made me feel sick again.
"Now I'm hungry for a burger," Cooper sighed sadly.
"How do you have room for more food?" Hutton asked him. "You ate half the pizza."
Cooper shrugged. "I'm a growing boy."
"You will be growing if you keep eating like that," Hutton agreed.
Cooper, being the mature almost-twenty year old he was, stuck his tongue out at Hutton. "Don't worry about me. I'll work it off. Right, Ivory?"
I didn't have the heart to correct him right now, so I turned my attention to Ben. He was scanning the area, his eagle eyes taking in everything.
"Is anything out of place?" I asked. "Apart from us."
"Yeah, something," he agreed. "I can't quite put my finger on it. I would suggest we're being watched, but there are security cameras everywhere. Chances are, some of them aren't ours. Or aren't in our control."
"He does like to watch," I said. If I knew which cameras he might be watching us from, I would flip him the finger.
"There's no smell of gas," Ben pointed out.
I nodded slowly. "I noticed that too. Why get us out here then?"
He scanned the buildings around us, and the sky. "And how?" he asked. When I looked at him questioningly, he added, "The building’s sensors were triggered by something. Or someone. Either from inside the building or remotely."
"Right," I said slowly. I didn't like either prospect. Either someone at Crimson was working for Dagen, or he'd found a weakness in our security system.
"Or he got us out here so we can see that." Jake sounded furious.
I turned and followed his gaze. "Fuck."
My restaurant, Scarlett, was on fire.
12
"Mother fuckingson of a dingo's balls," I swore. "Couldn't he have sent a text message?" As if that would have beensomuch better.
Wailing sirens headed towards us. They echoed through the streets for a good two to three minutes before the fire trucks swung around the corner and stopped outside the restaurant.
Jake still had his phone to his ear. "Yeah, well, get someone out here. If there is really a gas leak… Yeah, well, hurry up." He hung up the phone and scowled. "Fucking gas company. If they worked for us I would fire them all. By the time they get someone out here to check, the whole place could have gone up. If that happened it would take the whole fucking block with it."
By now we all knew the gas leak was a load of bullshit, but he was right to be pissed off. If Crimson was flammable, we would all be incinerated.
"Gas leaks seem to follow you."
I was so busy watching the flames pour out of the front windows of my restaurant, I didn't see Singh or Gilbert approach until Singh spoke.
"Or is it just disaster?"
Unfortunately, that was a fair question.
I sighed. I was genuinely frustrated at the situation and confused why they were both still alive. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Jake's expression. Apparently he was wondering the same thing. Or maybe he was just realising he'd forgotten to have them killed because he was so busy looking for me. Either way, he might end up in a hamburger patty yet.
"Like I said the last time we met,” I said wearily, “people like me become targets. In the case of the gas leak, it seems to be a fault in the sensors. Hopefully that's all it is. I apologise for the disruption."
Crimson wasn’t the only place evacuated. The area contained other restaurants, clubs and hotels. I didn'tneedtheir support or goodwill, but it was easier than having everyone around pissed off at us. The hotels in particular sent a lot of customers our way.
