“I sure as hell don’t want to be blinded again, even if it is temporary.”
“Fuck. Me neither. That’s why we’re going in with guns drawn.”
I nodded. Sounded damned good to me.
“What the hell do you mean he got away?” Joe grabbed Trevor Mills by the collar of his shirt.
I held my gun steadily on his partner, Johnny Johnson.
“Let go of me,” Mills said. “Right fucking now.”
“For what I’m paying you clowns, you’d better find the bastard.” Joe let him go.
I forced back a sigh of relief. Joe was on edge, and Joe on edge could easily turn into Joe in a rage.
“We had him locked in a bedroom with bars on the windows,” Johnson said.
“Is he goddamned Houdini?” Joe said sarcastically.
“No. He must have picked the lock.”
“With what?”
“I have no idea. I frisked him good. There was nothing on him. We took his shoes, too, so wherever he is, he’s in his stocking feet.”
“Did you strip search him?” I asked.
“Uh…hell, no,” Mills said.
I swallowed. “This guy is dangerous and unpredictable. Hiding a bobby pin or anything else up his ass would be nothing to him.”
“You two should have foreseen that,” Joe said. “Why didn’t you tie him up?”
“Because we’re PIs, not lunatics. It’s ba
d enough we took him against his will.”
“The mercenary PIs with a conscience.” Joe rolled his eyes. “You two take the cake.”
“He couldn’t have gotten far,” I said to Joe. “Let’s go after him.”
“I wish we had two trucks,” Joe said. “We could cover more ground. What if we miss him?”
“He didn’t have access to a vehicle, did he?” I said to Mills.
“No. Our vehicles are accounted for.”
“Then he’s on foot, and he hasn’t been gone long,” I said. “We’ll take the truck and drive all around here. Good thing you’ve got four-wheel drive.”
Joe grunted.
I replaced my pistol in my holster. “We could use some help,” I said to the PIs.
“Can’t do it,” Mills said. “We’ve got another job.”
“That pays as well as I do?” Joe said.
“It’s all green to us.”