She forced herself to look up, her vision was still blurry but not enough that she could mistake the gun aimed at her.
Fuck.
* * *
Spike expected to walk into chaos.
So he was shocked when he found the bar was almost quiet. It had mostly cleared out
of patrons which wasn’t good for tonight’s takings, but there were still about twenty people all gathered around one of the larger tables.
“Woot! Will you look at that? I’ve won again,” a female voice said.
There were a series of groans as he walked forward to find a woman with frizzy, gray hair sitting at the table along with a couple of Iron Shadows guys. Behind her stood a slightly stooped man with thick glasses. Over at the bar, someone hooted with laughter.
A big, gray-haired man dressed in a flannel shirt whacked Razor on the back. “That is good joke, man. I remember that when we go back to Nowhere.” The man spoke with a Russian accent.
Razor gave him a puzzled look. “That wasn’t a joke.”
Behind the bar, another woman was showing Jewel how to mix a cocktail. She wore a green floral dress and a huge, wide-brimmed white hat.
What the fuck?
Shock flooded him as he stared around, taking it in.
Someone poked him in the back and he turned to find a short, round man glaring up at him.
“It’s about time you got here, young man,” he said.
The bar went silent, watching on. Reyes stood behind the man, glaring at Spike.
“Reverend Pat, good to meet you. None of you mentioned you were visiting.”
“We’re here to check up on Millie,” the woman who’d been playing poker said, coming around to stand by the reverend. The man who’d been behind her came and stood with her.
“Mr. and Mrs. Spain, Millie is fine. You didn’t have to come all this way.”
Especially without giving him a heads-up.
“We thought it would be a good surprise, yes?” the Russian man boomed. “Give you no time to try and hide anything.”
“What would I hide?”
“I don’t know. Dead bodies in the closet.”
“Skeletons in the closet, dear,” the woman from behind the bar said.
“Skeletons? Who would let them decay in the closet?” Andrey boomed. “The stink would be terrible.”
“Take us to Millie,” Reverend Pat said. “Now.”
* * *
Millie licked her dry lips.
Her heart pounded. She had to do something. Fast. Not just for her but for the poor, broken woman lying across from her. And for Hack.
Oh God, Hack. Where was he?