enough money for two tickets and some snacks. His stomach growled in anticipation.
She glanced up and nodded. “Good idea. Let me get rid of these first.” She stripped off the makeshift gaiters covering her legs and shoved them into a trash can while he added the F-150’s license plate number to a note on his burner phone.
Five minutes later, after ordering food and using the restroom, they sat in the back corner of the ornate-but-aging theater with elegantly draped, faded red curtains framing its dingy screen. So far, they were the only two in attendance. They couldn’t completely let down their guard, but maybe they could relax an inch.
The twenty-something working the ticket/food counter had looked askance at their dirt-caked, bedraggled appearance, but hardly even roused himself to look them in the eye. Todd kept his injured arm turned away, counting on his dark jacket to hide the drying blood. The understandably bored—and monosyllabic—kid had returned to a game on his phone as soon as he’d handed over the food and Todd’s change.
Now, Lindsey sat to Todd’s left, resting a large bucket of popcorn on one knee and a paper dish of nachos on the other. He held a ridiculous stack of tiny napkins and a giant cup of Coke that barely fit in his hand.
Her entire body trembled and she stared, glassy-eyed, at the seat in front of her.
He set the drink on the floor between them and used a few napkins to wipe some wet blood from his jacket sleeve, holding back a grunt at the fiery pain.
“Want me to take a look?” she asked, blinking rapidly, a deep groove carved between her brows.
Maybe he’d grunted after all. He shook his head, stuffing the soiled napkins into his jacket pocket so they wouldn’t traumatize whoever cleaned the theater later. “Thanks, but there’s nothing you can do right now.” He’d have to give the wound more attention soon, but the quick wash and paper towel compress he’d applied in the bathroom would have to suffice for now.
She scrunched up her nose and stared down at the orange sauce coagulating on the chips.
“How about you?” His seat squeaked as he took the popcorn so she’d have a free hand. “You okay?”
“Maybe,” she said, her voice clipped. “Happy to be out of sight. I couldn’t breathe out there.”
That made two of them. Resisting the urge to put a comforting hand on her leg or shoulder or anywhere, he shoved a handful of tasteless popcorn into his mouth and chewed, balancing the container and the napkins on his lap. As long as the guy working the counter—or anyone who came into the theater—didn’t connect them to the pair in the news, they should be safe for a few hours.
“I’m going to call Kurt,” he said. At her nod, he dialed. The forties big band music being piped into the room was just loud enough to be annoying, but he mostly tuned it out.
His boss picked up after one ring. “Steele.” The man’s voice was a mixture of caution and hope.
“It’s me.”
Kurt let out a relieved sigh. “Did you find the friend?”
“Yes.” Todd glanced at Lindsey, whose gaze kept straying past him to the doorway that bisected their row. Unlike in modern movie theaters, patrons here entered through the rear, down a central aisle. “Turns out she was in on it,” he said, cringing internally at the memory. “Pete was her brother.”
He felt more than saw Lindsey flinch.
“Shit, that’s—” Kurt went silent for a second. “Wait…was?”
Todd’s jaw clenched and he forced away the image. “He came at me.”
“Fuck. That’s going to complicate things.”
His hackles rose. “I didn’t have a choice.” He hadn’t, right? Pete was bigger and stronger—history had proven that—and had been much too close, armed with a wicked blade. If Todd had let the man get any closer, Pete would’ve gutted him like a fish. And then he might’ve gone after Lindsey. Todd had had no other choice but to shoot.
“I know,” Kurt said.
That was it. Just two simple words said with complete conviction.
Thank God someone trusted him. Todd’s muscles loosened a millimeter. Having allies was everything.
“I’ll call the feds about the shootout too,” Kurt said. “The sooner we get legit law enforcement involved the better. Maybe they can keep the locals from destroying all the evidence.”
“Good idea. Before I forget, can you take down this license plate?” Todd rattled off the number. “We stowed away in the back of that truck. The feds might be interested in its owner.”
“Good thinking.”
Todd