“Hey,” I cut him off quickly. “You’re on speaker, honey. I’m fine. The girls are fine. Everything’s fine. Just back off. I’ve got something worked out with Cisco.”

He sounded incredulous, and maybe a little freaked, when he asked, “What?”

“I’ve got something worked out with Cisco and he’s got, uh…wherever we are wired to blow with land mines outside and stuff. So, you know, just stay safe, stand down and I’ll call you in a bit with directions of where to pick us up.”

“Evie—”

“Be quiet and stand down, Mag,” I snapped. “I have it covered. Just be quiet and listen for your phone. Listen to your phone. I’ll call you.”

I hoped he was now listening to me.

Really listening to me.

“Mag?” he asked.

Okay, he was listening to me. I never called him Mag. I thought of him as Mag, but when his name was in my mouth, he was Danny.

I didn’t exactly know what I was communicating with that, I just wanted to catch his attention and make him really hear me.

“Quiet. Listen,” I said. “Is Axl all right?”

“Yeah, he’s right here with me.”

Thank you, God.

“We’ll be out soon, and I’ll call,” I finished.

I touched the screen, but I didn’t disconnect the call and I hoped like all hell that Mag didn’t say anything, which would mean his words coming through the speaker, because I wanted to get Pepper back to Juno. I wanted the girls to get the lead out and give the guys a shot.

And I wanted to go home to Mag.

Quickly, I put my phone facedown on my thigh and held my hand out for Cisco’s phone.

It was shaking.

I didn’t think this was bad. I wasn’t a trained operative. My hand was going to shake. He’d expect that.

“Get me in your phone and dial Dad,” I ordered. “I’ll get him to talk to you about where he can hand off that gun.”

Cisco looked at me and then he leaned back, opened his jacket and pulled out his phone.

He ran his thumb over the screen then handed the phone to the free guy.

I heard it ringing.

He had it on speaker.

I took in a very deep breath as that guy handed it off to me.

“Man,” I heard my father’s voice coming over the phone, and for a second, I was shocked silent, because he was using a tone I’d never heard.

Brisk. Bold. Strong.

Deep in the role of player.

I could assume a role too.

Or at least I hoped I could.

Dad kept speaking in that tone.

“I don’t wanna be talkin’ to you unless you got my money. You got twenty-four more hours before I hand this thing over to the cops.”

“Dad!” I cried, all panicky. “Dad!”

Silence.

“Dad!” I exclaimed. “Cisco…Cis-Cis-Cisco! He has me! He has me and my girls! He kidnapped us from Cherry Creek mall.”

“Evie?” Dad called.

“Dad! Please, just please. You gotta get him that gun! You gotta bring that gun to him where he tells you.” I whimpered, then, “Please…No!” I shrieked. “God, no! Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me again! Don’t touch her! Get off her! I’m doing what you told me to do!” I blew a harsh breath at the phone. “Dad! Please! Help me! Give Cisco that gun! They’re hurting me! Us! Help! Plea—”

I cut myself off and jerked the phone toward Cisco.

The guy walked it to a grinning-again Cisco, and Cisco took it.

“You heard her,” he said to my dad.

But he said no more since I screwed myself up and screamed bloody murder.

Cisco was out-and-out smiling at me when I went quiet, but the girls started making a ruckus.

“Yeah, motherfucker,” Cisco was talking loud to be heard over the fake shouting and pleading for help. “An hour. That gun. Glazed and Confused. Broadway Market. I’ll have the girls. You have that gun.”

He paused a second.

Then he said, “You better,” before he disconnected.

All the noise instantly stopped.

Cisco started smiling big again.

I curled my hand over my phone at my thigh.

“That was phenomenal,” he shared.

“Glad you approve.”

“Totally like you,” he declared.

“If you really liked me, you’d take the gun away from Pepper’s head.”

“Oh, right,” he muttered, then jerked up his chin at the guy on Pepper.

The guy stepped away and dropped his gun hand.

I heard Pepper’s sigh of relief just as I had my own.

I was running my thumb over my screen in hopes of disconnecting from Mag before they took it away from me.

Thus, I was holding my breath when the guy by me reached in and took it away.

“I was kinda hoping I could keep that,” I said quickly, so if Mag was still on the line, he’d hear, know I no longer had my phone, and he’d disconnect.

“You were hoping wrong,” the guy grunted.

I shrugged and looked back to Cisco.

When I caught his eye, he asked, “Feel like donuts?”

I always felt like donuts.

Who didn’t always feel the need for a donut?

Except now.

Now the thought of a donut made me feel queasy.

He’d ruined my day.

He’d ruined the girls’ days.

And now he was ruining donuts.

Shit.

Nevertheless, I forced a grin that even felt like it was a grimace.

And I replied, “Sure.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Smarty Pants

Evie

We were driving into the city and I didn’t like it.

I didn’t like it because I’d been separated from the Dream Team.

The girls were all in different cars.

I was sitting in the back of a shiny black Lincoln town car with Cisco, and we were in the lead.

“So, you have a new boyfriend,” Cisco broke the silence we shared where I was tense and he seemed tense too, drumming his meaty fingers on his knee. “Hawk’s boy.”

“Yeah,” I muttered to the window.

“You two solid?”

Oh God.

Apparently, this guy really liked me.

Gulk.

“Absolutely, one hundred percent solid,” I told him.

He made no response.

Then he asked, “What about that one, the one who was sitting next to you?”

Wait.

What?

Seriously?

I turned my head his way.

“The one you had your guy turn his gun on?” I asked.

He gave me a “you know how it is” tick of his head and a crooked grin.

Bluh.

He also said, “Yeah, that one.”

“Well, first, you kidnapped her and then you had one of your men hold a gun to her head. And second, she has a kid, and no offense, but she really loves her kid, so I don’t think she’d be big on exposing her to bad influences.”

“No offense taken,” he assured.

Well, thank God for that.

“And I can’t be dealin’ with no other man’s kid,” he declared.

And the utter coolness, and true, real-man-ness of Auggie was all of a sudden proven.