The Tempest A.J. Scudiere (books to read in a lifetime .TXT) 📖

human had never been the plan. But none of this had been in the plan.

She’d had a fully shit two days, and she wasn’t in the mood to be dicked with by anyone.

Backing up slowly to keep her footing, she let her thoughts run wild, because she didn’t want to pull the trigger on one of these people, but she was still sorting out who to trust.

Paul shouldn’t be the problem. He'd been caught up in this whole thing, the same as she and Jerry. She didn’t even know who the woman was, other than “Paul’s daughter.” It seemed the woman had been held hostage, too. But right now, she was glaring daggers at Joule.

Joule motioned with the gun as if to say, I know how to use this and I will.

Another portion of her mind was listening to the animals, now more than uneasy and making concerning noises. Something else was happening outside the barn, but her immediate threat was three pairs of eyes. Only one of which—Jerry's, shockingly—were looking at her as if she knew what she was doing and it was all okay.

Another stray thought tapped at her brain, wondering about the kitten. Where was Toto?

She’d tossed him away just a moment ago. Could she afford to turn and look?

“Toto?” she called out as if a kitten would come when called by name—as if this one even knew his name yet.

“Toto!” she called again, frantically, when she got no obvious response. Maybe if she could find the kitten and do one thing, the other things would fall into place. It was illogical thinking, but it was hers.

Though Paul and his daughter glared at her and Paul made small adjustments as though he was going to dive for her, Joule didn't even flinch. She raised an eyebrow at him and motioned with the tip of the gun for him to keep his ass planted. He didn't have the chops to do what she had done. He didn't have the chops to tackle anyone the way Jerry had, either.

“I see him!” Jerry announced happily and, as though there wasn't a standoff going on and there wasn’t a loaded shotgun between them. He headed to the corner of the large, open space. At least he wasn’t tackling her again. Crouching down, he held out a hand and called softly, “Hey Toto! Come on out, Toto.”

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Joule turned her head briefly to see if Toto was coming out. This time, Paul did lunge at her, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Joule stepped back quickly, a reaction and not a plan. Again, she jerked at the gun as if to indicate she would shoot when it was becoming pretty clear that she wouldn't.

She’d had enough of this. So she motioned to both Paul and his daughter and gruffly demanded, “Sit down!”

As they were moving, a heavy crack sounded through the air and they all jerked in surprise. Paul fell the last foot on his awkward path to the floor, but all heads spun to the side.

Not immediately registering what had made the noise, Joule whipped back to looking at her prisoners. She was grateful she'd already gotten the other two on the ground, or they might have been able to take advantage of the noise and steal the gun away from her.

Beside her, the whinnies and angry huffs let her know that the horses were not calming down. In fact, they were getting worse, as though they could feel the tension in the air. The noise had almost definitely been one of them kicking at the stall or the barn wall. From the sound of it, he’d broken something. But what?

Though Joule couldn’t tell, she imagined she could see the wood stalls still shuddering from the impact. But the horses would have to wait.

“What's your name?” she asked the woman.

“Brenda.” It was curt and short.

“I don't want to shoot anybody,” Joule said, “but don't think that I won't. Now someone needs to explain to me what is going on.”

Paul lost all his tension then, his shoulders sagging, his head going into his hands, as if Joule’s declaration had stolen the final bit of fight from him. Now, he was not only sad, but ashamed.

“Laura and Levi came through looking for you,” Paul told his daughter. “I said I hadn’t seen you, but then I told them what I'd found in Jerry's truck, because I was surprised. Apparently, I was being an idiot, because it wasn’t about Jerry. It was about them. They played me and I fell for it.”

Brenda was nodding, putting her hand out to her father's arm, as if maybe she'd been there at the time. And sure enough, the next part of Paul's story cleared that up. “I came out to see if y’all were here. Then when I went back to the house to tell Brenda, I found Laura and Levi holding her hostage. I thought they’d left, but they had guns on us both.”

He needed a breath, but Joule waited. She had to hear the whole story.

“They told me they’d followed people to my barn and that I needed to come out and get you. They seemed to think I had a better chance of talking you into coming down the ladder. They needed to see your faces. If you were who they wanted, they said I could exchange you for Brenda.”

Joule opened her mouth to retort, “Well, that didn't go as planned, did it?” but he already knew that. He was now under threat from his own gun and he’d not exchanged anyone.

Lowering the gun, but still holding it tightly in the one hand—so she could have it at the ready if she needed—Joule put her free hand to her forehead. She needed a break from this damn day. But it wasn’t coming.

Jerry still crouched in the corner, Toto not quite warming to the idea of coming out for him. Joule almost laughed at her kitten’s stubbornness, but another loud