School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,124
and Ace forming a sling between them and walking sideways to get Constance to the sidewalk and help him sit on the grass.
“What in the actual fuck?” Ace said, his twang more apparent than ever. “You were in one piece when we left you on the road.”
Constance glared at Ace sourly. “And you still had eyebrows,” he muttered.
“Well, I lost my eyebrows blowing up a dirty, no-good, child-trafficking, drug-selling mob boss,” Ace said defensively, handing Constance a water. “What’s your excuse?”
“The US military wanted the children to get to the dirty, no-good mob boss,” Jason said, weariness etching lines in the corners of his eyes. “So they could say how they knew he was dirty and no good. I guess they’d been trying to pin down his operation for a long time, and part of it involved stealing guns from the military itself. The kids were their way in.”
“Fuck that!” Jackson couldn’t help it—he flailed when his shoulder and his back and his neck all hurt and then everything hurt more. “They actually—they shot you so they could do that?”
Constance grunted. “The mobsters shot me. Someone in the military who was making money from the guns told the mobsters where I’d be.”
“Well, that sucks,” Burton said, giving Ziggy a fuck-you kick in the ribs before moving over to crouch at Jason’s side. “Are those people dead?”
Jason shook his head. “Not all of them. And the guy in the military is still there. We haven’t figured out who it is yet.”
“Goddammit, Jason,” Burton muttered. “There is now a price on your head. That’s just swell.”
“I got nothing,” Constance said, stifling a yawn. “I… God, I need my wound irrigated and some antibiotics and some sleep and a computer and….” His voice trailed off, and whether he was about to pass out from exhaustion, blood loss, or illness, Jackson couldn’t be sure, but he knew the man was done.
He looked down the block to where everybody—everybody: EMTs, rescue vehicles, DAs, detectives, and police officers—had begun to park, and singled out Henry’s brand-new luxury sedan almost immediately.
“Ace,” he said urgently, “can you help me get him?”
“I’ll do it,” Burton muttered. “You go talk to your buddy, and we’ll follow you.”
Jackson shot him a look, and Burton rolled his eyes.
“You are bleeding, asshole. Now move it so you and Cramer can get some first aid. You both have head wounds, are you aware?”
Ugh! No, he hadn’t been. “Bleeding before breakfast,” Jackson muttered. “Not a good idea.” With that, he headed toward Henry, who was looking pissed off.
“Twenty minutes. It took me twenty minutes from a cold start to get dressed and get my ass down here, and you still managed to wreak havoc across three city blocks.”
Jackson couldn’t help it. “Heh heh heh heh heh.”
Henry shook his head, his blond hair looking seriously sex-tousled, and Jackson didn’t feel bad at all. “Lance says he’s down to help. What do we have?”
Jackson nodded to Ace and Burton, who were on either side of Jason Constance, helping him walk toward the brand-new town car that Henry had driven up in. As far as Jackson knew, Henry didn’t own his own vehicle; he just drove Galen’s car, because most of the time, it had Galen in it.
“We have one battered military guy whose whereabouts need to be unknown,” Jackson told him.
Henry nodded. “Yeah. I explained to Lance how the guy is pretty much a hero. He said he could deal.”
“Well, there’s the ADAs in charge of human trafficking cases getting out of their vehicles now. Let me go talk to them for a minute, make sure everybody’s on board with ‘No, sir, that bus drove itself.’ I would really like Lance’s name to not even get mentioned, but there are still bad guys out there who might be very interested in where Jason is, and someone on the inside in the military who might be giving them tips.”
Henry sucked air in through his teeth. “Now that just hurts. Goddammit. Drove a school bus full of children through a meat grinder to get them to safety. Guy should get a parade.”
“I think he’d settle for some painkillers and a good night’s sleep,” Jackson told him. “But if you’ve got a parade in mind, go for it.”
Henry snorted and called to Burton and Ace. “Here, let me put a towel down first.” He grimaced to Jackson. “All-new leather upholstery. Feels disrespectful to let someone bleed on it the day after we bought it.”