Page 111 of Secret Squirrel

“Whoa, where are you going?”

“Into the building.”

He laughed at that. “Yeah, I can’t let you do that.”

“What are you talking about?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I get that you want to do this. I was all on board with it, but I don’t want to get on Rae’s bad side.”

“You’re afraid she’s going to kill you,” I said bluntly.

“Yep. Look, I was totally lying to you earlier. I didn’t let her do anything. She totally got the drop on me. I always forget because she’s so tiny.” He paused and narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t tell her I called her tiny.”

“Not a word,” I grinned.

“Good, because she does not like being called tiny.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Can we go?”

I started to walk around him, but he shuffled in front of me, laughing slightly. “Really, I can’t do this. If I take you in there, we’re going to get into trouble. Then there’ll be gunfire and someone will die. Rae is fiercely protective of you. She doesn’t think you want this life, and if I drop you in it, she’s going to grind me up and serve me to everyone in the form of shawarma, which happens to be one of my new favorite meals. That’s just harsh.”

“Mmm,” I nodded in understanding. “Then I guess we’d better not shoot anyone.”

Again, he stepped in front of me. “I’m going to be honest—”

“You say that a lot. Are you normally dishonest?”

“Actually, I usually am very upfront with people.”

“Good.”

I started around him again, and he shifted in front of me, which only pissed me off. “I was also warned by Cash that I wasn’t to start any shit down here.”

“Good, that doesn’t include me.”

“It was actually mostly about you,” he said. “I’m pretty sure he was afraid I would corrupt you. You can’t go.”

“I’m going,” I said forcefully.

Fox shrugged. “Well, I tried.” He slapped me on the back and started walking with me. “Come on. Let’s get in there and see what damage we can do.”

I shook my head. So much for not getting into trouble. I followed him across the street, but instead of going for the front, he walked down the sidewalk and turned at the corner, walking to the back of the building. A place like this had to have a lot of security, but I assumed Fox had a plan to get in.

He peeked into the alley, checking his watch. A few minutes later, a van came toward us, turning down the alley. “That’s our cue.”

Without telling me anything else, he started running after the van. Not knowing what else to do, I followed. He grabbed onto the back of the van and hopped on, opening the back door. He motioned for me to get in, and I ran harder, jumping into the back, careful not to make too much noise. He hopped in, pulling the door closed behind him.

Now that the door was closed, we were plunged into darkness. I felt the van slowing and Fox grabbing my arm. Before I knew what was happening, Fox was tossing me into a bin of some kind, and then I felt his body topple in next to mine.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re sneaking in,” he hissed.

“I figured, but what are we doing in bins?”

“They’re laundry bins,” he answered. “Today happens to be their pickup day.”

“And you just happen to know this?”