for Dottie to call on him. “Is anyone going to let me in on what’s happening?”
Slapping Ned Wanamaker on the back, King chuckled. “Dad, you’re up. He won’t take a swing at you.”
Well, those words didn’t fill Arnie with warm and fuzzy happiness. He grimaced and looked at his father.
“Maybe you should have a seat, son.”
“Really?” Arnie griped. “Are we gonna do that again?”
“Sit the fuck down,” Dottie snarled.
All it took was her half-assed shove to topple him into his desk chair. It was disconcerting as bloody hell when his father, Stan, King, Jon, and Dottie formed a tight semi-circle.
He’d never been so helpless. It wasn’t a good feeling.
Assuming the parent role, his dad led the charge.
“We took a vote. It was unanimous. Running in, guns blazing, so to speak, might seem like a good idea—at first.”
Oh, man—he did not like the words coming out of his dad’s mouth.
“What the fuck does that mean? Summer and my kid are in danger. I want them out of there as soon as possible.”
As the half-moon assemblage of collaborators glanced at each other, the uneasiness in his stomach gathered strength.
“By morning, we’ll have active surveillance in place twenty-four seven.”
King reminded him, “We don’t yet know who is watching her.”
So? What difference did it make? If they had an address, why couldn’t it be a simple extraction? Shit, they did this sort of stuff in their sleep. He didn’t give a flying fuck who Giselle had on her evil payroll. His only concern was rescuing Summer. And their baby.
“Here’s the thing, son. Yes, we can ride into the San Fernando Valley, rescue your fair maiden, and have that be the end of it.”
The pregnant pause made Arnie hella nervous.
“But,” he continued, “this scenario leaves a lot of loose ends. Ends capable of regenerating.”
“Dad,” Arnie grumbled. “Thanks to you and my brother, the former raging alcoholic, I’m viciously hung over.”
Stan laughed out loud. Arnie glared at him. Before he lost his temper and made things worse, he asked for clarification.
“Regenerating ends aside, what the fuck are you saying? Can you spare me the bullet points and get to the main subject?”
More looks were shared, and King nodded. “He’s right. Just say it. Time’s wasting.”
“Okay,” his dad muttered. “Here goes. Arnie, my boy, by letting Giselle’s scheme play out, we can catch her red-handed. In flagrante delicto, if you will. In the act. While the crime plays out.”
It took his alcohol-soaked brain a moment to catch on. “No!” He angrily railed when understanding shook him to his core. “Are you fucking crazy? Let it play out? She’s trying to traffic my kid!” he shouted. “And lord knows what she has planned for Summer. No!” he yelled. “Absolutely not. Fuck you all.”
He stood and was quickly tackled until his ass was once again in the chair.
Jon pushed Dottie to the forefront. “Your turn, Quickie.”
Panic-stricken, he jumped first. “Dottie. This is Guantanamo all over again. You know damn well I can’t do nothing.”
“It’s not the same,” she replied in an annoying reasonable voice.
He resented her calm, and for the first time in all the years he’d known her, he wanted to get in her face and bully her into getting out of his way.
“You listen to me, Darnell.” She spoke in a snapping, waspish tone. The one teachers and grown-up authority figures used to prove they were scary. “You won’t be doing nothing. I wouldn’t sign off on this plan without every possible safety protocol in place. If things start to go south, we can throw a shield around them.”
“Do you hear yourself? What you just said is practically word for word the same bullshit assurances they fed me at Gitmo.”
“Something tells me we shouldn’t be hearing this,” Stan muttered.
His brother was right, but for the first time ever, he didn’t care about top secret classifications or CIA security protocols. He couldn’t care less that he almost divulged one of the DoJ’s most troublesome skeletons.
“Think, Darnell. Don’t just get pulled under by emotion.” Dottie held his gaze. “For your entire life, you have seen Giselle for what she is. How many times did you tell me she deserved whatever karma she got for making Darnell Senior miserable? For what she did to Ned? And Stan?”
Seeing his brother’s pained expression, Arnie took a deep breath.
“She’s marched stepped through the men in your family, and now she has her sights on you. Enough already.”
Dottie took a breath and crouched in front of him so he was focused on her and