Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,169

goods she still had on her shelves, and had taken two of the boxes she had indicated were available for people to use to pack up their shopping.

“Lotta work for one person, running a place like this,” one of them said as he placed boxes of ammunition on the counter. Two boxes were the caliber that fit the revolvers both men wore. The other box of ammunition held the same rounds she used for her own rifle.

“I have part-time help, and friends help out with some of the heavy lifting,” Jesse replied.

“That’s everything,” the second man said, bringing a box to the counter. He looked sheepish when the first man stared at the two bags of chocolates and the bag of caramels resting on top of the box. “Got a sweet tooth,” he told Jesse. “Haven’t seen bags like this in a while. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Better to have someone buy them and enjoy them than have them go stale,” Jesse replied. She rang up the purchases and hoped Rachel would stay quiet in the back room a little while longer.

“Noticed you have a bank, but it wasn’t open,” the first man said.

“It opens late on Windsdays,” Jesse replied. In truth, she had no idea why the bank wasn’t open.

He removed a money clip from the front pocket of his jeans and handed her a hundred-dollar bill. “Keep the change.”

“Then my cash drawer won’t balance.”

He shrugged. “Then put it in a charity jar as thanks for satisfying my cousin’s sweet tooth.”

Jesse hesitated, then nodded. “All right. I’ll do that. Appreciate it.”

The phone rang.

He looked at her, waiting. The cousin with the sweet tooth also waited.

“You take care, ma’am,” the first one said. He lifted the second box, and the men walked out.

Jesse grabbed the phone. “Walker’s General Store, Jesse speaking.”

“Mom? You okay?”

Tobias. “Had a couple of visitors just now.”

“Are you okay? Is Rachel?”

“We’re fine. Well, I told Rachel to stay in the back and be quiet, and she and the puppy are a little too quiet—”

A low growl told her Rachel’s opinion of that.

“But they’re fine.” She looked back at the young Wolf, who was standing to one side of the doorway, peering at her with one eye. Jesse pictured Rachel peering from behind a rock or tree in much the same way as she watched her prey.

As she listened to her son relay the information he’d received from Jana, she tucked the phone against her shoulder and watched, as if it were connected to someone else, her right hand close over her left wrist.

You take care, ma’am.

It had sounded like something anyone would say when leaving, but it had been a warning—and Jesse suddenly knew why the bank wasn’t open. Stanley Weeks, who ran Prairie Gold’s tiny bank, must have had a feeling that the bank needed to be closed today.

And she had a sudden feeling that …

“Tobias, we have to go.”

“Mom?”

“Rachel and I have to leave the store. Right now. I’ll call as soon as I can.”

She hung up, grabbed the shotgun, and put out the Back in 10 Minutes sign on the counter. Small town like this, it wouldn’t look strange for the store to be empty when the lone person running it needed to take a break.

“Rachel, honey, we have to go. Put Cory on her leash. We’ll go out the back.” Jesse went into the back room, grabbed her daypack, then hesitated, inexplicably resistant to leaving when she knew they needed to go.

She opened her gun safe and swapped the shotgun for her rifle—and felt the resistance vanish. Closing the gun safe, she headed out the back door, grabbing the red flag out of the umbrella stand as she left.

Rachel followed at her heels, carrying the puppy.

She walked swiftly, holding up the red flag—the signal to the terra indigene that there was trouble in Prairie Gold.

“Should I howl for Morgan and Chase?” Rachel whispered.

Wolves. Men with guns.

Jesse shook her head and wished Tolya was there. She didn’t know if the Sanguinati were impervious to bullets, but she thought there wasn’t much that could hurt one in his smoke form.

She dropped the red flag, chambered a round in the rifle, and looked at Rachel. “I’m going to take a look around. If the street is clear, we’re going to cross to the other side and run into the library.” She doubted whoever was producing this feeling would be interested in walking off with a bag of books.

She heard the car before she reached the front of