Page 118 of Secret Squirrel

“Connecting us against all odds,” Scottie said as he stared off in space.

Rae cleared her throat, interrupting our reminiscing. “Should we leave you two alone?”

I glared at her. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“You’re right. There is no way I understand two grown men dancing together during a shootout.”

“I still can’t believe you tried to dance with him,” Scottie muttered.

“Don’t blame me. It’s all his fault.” I jabbed a finger in Duke’s direction. The man was terrible at following orders.

“I’m sorry, are you pointing at me?”

“Yes, you and yourlet’s not hurt anyone.If I had done things my way, none of this would have happened. I had it all planned out. My dance was going to be the perfect way to take those guys out. But you just couldn’t follow my lead.”

“Because we were standing there with guns pointed at us,” he said forcefully. “Sorry that I didn’t see dancing as a logical choice for getting rid of our enemies.”

“Ah!” I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air. “If I lose my Funyuns and shawarma because of you, I’ll make sure you regret this.”

Rae sighed heavily. “Is that what this is all about? You’re afraid you’re going to lose your favorite foods?”

“You say that like it means nothing, but let me tell you, if I lose shawarma, I’ll be coming after you first.”

The video line on the computer rang and we all stood there staring at the screen. There was only one person that would be calling, and we all knew who that was.

“Maybe we don’t have to answer,” I said, hoping they all agreed with me.

Rae shoved past me and hit the button on the screen. “Yeah, boss.”

“There was an explosion just a few miles from you,” Cash said angrily.

I stared up at the ceiling, refusing to take any part in this call. It was a setup. If Cash didn’t want me to be involved in something that might turn out this way, he should have just forbade me from going. I tried following his rules. It wasn’t my fault everyone else went rogue.

“Yes, we heard,” Rae answered.

“And you look like you were part of it.”

She looked down at her clothes, then back to Cash. “Your point?”

“My point is that a building blew up.”

“It didn’t exactly go as planned,” she confessed.

“Fox,” Cash said angrily. “What did I tell you?”

I scoffed at being called out. “Of course, this all comes back on me. Don’t blame me, boss. This is on the two hooligans standing front and center.”

“You expect me to believe that Duke is responsible for the building being blown up? Do you take me for an idiot?”

“If you believe them,” he grumbled.

“I told you what would happen if you went down there and stirred up trouble.”

My face fell at the threat. “I took it seriously, boss! I tried to tell them not to put the canisters into the compactor!”

“Fox,” he sighed. “Why do you even try to make excuses? This has you written all over it.”

“If it had me all over it, you’d see a bunch of dead bodies.”