Page 40 of Defender
“No. I mean, he was definitely hanging with the wrong crowd, which was why I broke it off, but he wasn’t violent or dangerous.”
“Maybe he wasn’t then, but he should be considered dangerous now. We need to call this in.”
“I’m not even sure if he was the one behind the wheel. I never got a good look at the driver. I just know it was his truck. What if he sold it?”
“Dani, this was a targeted attack. Whether it was him or not, we need to report it.”
“Of course we’ll report the incident, but I want to confront Colter myself. And I know where he hangs out. There’s a bar in Southwold.”
Not knowing quite what to say, Michael stepped out of the car to assess the damage. Dani got out too, making a lap around the vehicle, now covered in a layer of dust. One tire was flat, but for the most part, the Tahoe was okay.
“Do you have a spare?” she asked.
Michael popped the trunk and dragged a tire out.
She grinned. “Of course you do. Way to go, Boy Scout.”
He tried to ignore the way a simple compliment from her had him wanting to pull his shoulders back a little straighter, hold his head a little higher. She was his best friend’s little sister. It shouldn’t matter.
But it kinda did.
Which was all kinds of confusing.
But whatever. He had a job to do. Which meant, first and foremost, that he needed to protect Dani. The more he thought about it as he changed the tire, the more he wouldn’t mind facing Colter McCord face-to-face. From the way he’d stared at her at the garbage place and the fact that she’d recognized his vehicle, it wasn’t a huge leap to assume he had something to do with this.
He tossed the jack into the trunk. “Let’s figure out where we are and call the incident in. I’ll make it known that we’re going to follow up with a possible suspect and don’t need assistance out here.”
“Okay.”
The glint in her smile said she knew she was getting what she wanted but was trying not to gloat.
Funnily enough, he didn’t mind.
Thankfully, the car ran fine, and soon they were weaving through the dirt roads back to the main street. Michael talked to the dispatcher and called in that they were following a lead. Dani navigated him to the bar called the Snake Pit, in a seedier part of town in Southwold. The snake pattern painted on the street side of the metal building had seen better days. Patches were flaked off or rusted.
Michael pulled into the crowded parking lot. “So what’s the plan? We need to make sure we do this right.”
“The plan is to talk to Colter.” Dani hopped out as soon as he parked.
Michael sprinted after her. “Wait! That’s your plan?”
“It’s nothing elaborate. Colter has a temper, but he’s not the smartest. And if he’s the one who ran us off the road, then it probably won’t take much to get him to admit it. Then you arrest him. Nothing to it.” Dani continued walking past cars toward the neon sign at the entrance.
That was not a plan. That was something thrown together, and they were quickly running out of parking lot to discuss this.
“Dani, wait.”
She didn’t. For a person on the petite side, she sure moved quickly.
“Dani!”
But she’d already reached the sidewalk leading up to the front door.
The front door guarded by a giant of a man who blocked her way.
An armed man, at that.
And she didn’t back down a bit.
