Malin tapped her lip, waiting for him to get to the point. “Yes, sir,” she murmured a second time.
“Director Flatley has sent me to do a full debrief as well as to offer his congratulations for a job well done.”
“Where, sir?”
“I’ve just arrived in San Luis Obispo and am heading your way. Is now a good time for us to meet?”
“This is unexpected. When will you be arriving?”
“In less than a half hour.”
“That soon?” she asked, giving Doc a thumbs up. “I mean, of course, sir.”
“I’d rather not disrupt the Butler Family. Is there a place where we can meet privately?”
Malin ended the call after assuring Montgomery that the outer gate to the ranch would be left open, and that she’d be waiting in the winery.
“Showti
me,” said Razor, grasping Gunner’s shoulder. “Let’s move out.”
Dutch walked over and put his arms around her waist. “I’m sorry to do this with an audience, but I have to.” He bent down and kissed her. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you,” she whispered back.
Dutch groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “I have to go, as much as I don’t want to.”
“I’ll come with you,” she told him, looking back at Doc. “Potty break.”
Malin blew Dutch a kiss before going in the door to the ladies’ bathroom.
She felt on the wall for the light switch, flicked it a couple of times, but it didn’t go on. Just as she turned to go back out, she felt someone’s arm encircle her waist as their opposite hand covered her mouth. Before she could utter a sound, darkness engulfed her.
—:—
Dutch was crouched just outside the winery’s door, by the loading dock, when he thought he heard a noise from inside. He drew his gun and was about to run in when something heavy hit his head, and everything went black.
“What the fuck?” he heard a familiar voice shout through the haze in his addled brain.
“Dutch!” The voice yelled, and he opened his eyes. “Where’s Malin?”
“What do you mean? She went into the bathroom.” Dutch sat up, his body shaky as he looked at Doc, who was shouting orders he couldn’t understand through the mic on his headset.
“Can you stand?” Doc asked, pulling him up.
Barely, but Dutch wouldn’t tell him that. “I’m getting fucking tired of people hitting me over the head.” Once on his feet, the haziness in his brain dissipated as Doc’s words sunk in.
“You asked me where Malin was. What the hell happened?”
“She didn’t come back,” Doc muttered while listening to what someone was saying through the headset.
“What do you mean she didn’t come back?” he yelled, grasping his throbbing head with one of his hands.
“Roger that,” said Doc into the mic before putting his hand on Dutch’s shoulder. “Can you handle a gun?”
“Of course I can handle a fucking gun,” he shouted, feeling for his. When he didn’t find it, he grabbed the one Doc held out for him. “Where is she?”
“Caves.”