Page 69 of Broken Wheels
He sighed. “I’ve seen the autopsy footage. There are cameras all over prisons. Maybe we can find out who killed Porter and trace something back to them?”
Michael’s smile was a relief. “If I wasn’t afraid Dixon would kick my ass, I’d kiss you.”
Josh scowled. “Dixon wouldn’t need to kick your ass. I’d do it myself.”
Michael opened his mouth, but then hurried across the room at the sound of a soft knock at the door. Gary came in, leaning heavily on his walker.
“Sorry,” he rasped. “Needed to take a shot of inhaler. Hard to breathe today.”
“We should have come to you,” Josh said.
“No, no,” Gary chided. “Everything I’ve got going on might slow me down, but I’m not gonna let it stop me. I just have to accept that sometimes it takes me longer to get from point A to point B.” He sat, gazing at them with interest. “Now, what’s going on?”
They explained what they knew, and what Josh had suggested. Gary listened in silence. Finally he cleared his throat, then erupted into a harsh coughing fit.
“Fuck,” he whined. “I’m getting better, goddammit.”
Josh thought Gary was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.
No one spoke, and after a moment Gary was breathing more evenly. He straightened. “I’m tired of dancing to someone else’s tune,” Gary announced. He pointed a slim finger at Josh. “I’m giving you carte blanche. Do whatever you need to in order to get us something to work from. I’ll take responsibility, and if the government doesn’t like it, they can lick the sweat off my balls.”
“I’m not about to let them do that.” Michael smirked. “That’s my job.”
It was quiet for a moment, and then everyone broke out laughing. Josh was grateful for the tension-breaker. The men assembled needed a bit of fun to hold them over for a while, because now it was time to take this fight to their unknown enemy.
And considering the things they’d done to the people who worked here, God had better take mercy on their souls, because the people of CrossBow wouldn’t.
Chapter 21
Josh stretched and flicked his pad off. He checked the time on the microwave. He blinked and checked it again.
No way.
It had to be wrong. It couldn’t possibly be almost eight at night. That set his mind off on a tangent about time and space anomalies, something that had fascinated him since he’d been a kid, but now wasn’t the time to slide into that particular rabbit hole. He needed to know if Dixon was okay. They’d been working ever since the meeting with Gary and Michael. It had only taken one glance at Dixon to let Josh know his bodyguard’s mind was not focused on the files.
Except he’s way more than that now, isn’t he?
Josh had nudged his elbow. “You know, if you want to go, you can.”
“No, I’m fine,” Dixon replied in a strained voice.
Josh frowned. He might not be the master of social cues, but even he knew Dixon wasn’t being fully honest. “Hey, we had a rough day. You deserve a little downtime to decompress, and you did say you wanted to hit the gym. So go for it. I’m not leaving the room, so I’ll be here when you get back.”
“No, I’m not going out while you sit here and continue working.”
Josh had snorted. “I wasn’t intending on it. My brain needs to decompress too. I’ve got a book I’ve been trying to read for six months, except I keep getting to parts that make me think of other things, which pulls me away from getting it finished. If you go, maybe I can get through two or three more pages.” He chuckled. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re absolutely sure?”
He loved that Dixon worried about him first. It was time Josh returned the favor. “Yes, go.”
Dixon had given him a gentle kiss, then headed out the door. That had been an hour ago, and yeah, Josh was a little nervous about where Dixon might have gotten to.
I’m allowed to be nervous. This was his first relationship, so he didn’t have all the rules and cues down. Maybe he’s waiting to see if I go looking for him. Yeah, that had to be it. It wasn’t until he put the pad in the charger that he realized he had no idea where the gym was. Truth be told, he hadn’t even known CrossBow had a gym, though it shouldn’t have been a surprise, considering they had everything else. He checked the building map on his phone, then set out to find his destination.
Two agents jerked their heads in his direction as he stepped outside the door.
“Dr. Malone, can we help you?” one of them asked politely.