Before You

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE


Roth looked to Adam. His lover nodded. Roth said, “Let’s do it.”

Joseph grasped Adam’s hand. “We’ll go outside and get out of their way.” He caught the rental’s keys Nathan tossed him.

“I wanna see,” Adam resisted.

Joseph tugged at him, using a tone one might with an intractable child. “We don’t know what’s in there. Let them look first. We’ll sit in the vehicle and enjoy the heat.”

Going to his man, he slid his hand under Adam’s ponytail to curve around his nape. The warmth of his skin recalled their naked bodies entwined. Roth drew him forward so their foreheads touched. “This could be ugly, baby. Maybe you should let us see first.”

Adam closed his eyes briefly. “Okay.”

Kissing his lover short and affectionately, Roth released him. “Go with Joseph.” After they’d exited through the single door, he spoke. “You’re the human bulldozer. Do your thing.”

Nathan pulled his pocket knife, flipped it open and recovered the dime and caught it on the blade before adding it to the baggy he withdrew from his pocket.

“Goddamn boy scout, too,” Roth chuckled.

Nathan worked his fingers into the groove between sheets of paneling and hauled slowly back. The fabricated wall covering whined and broke in a brittle snap. Even with just that minor piece removed, Roth saw open space behind it.

The big man just methodically grabbed and yanked, clearing the barrier. When Roth reached to help, he stayed his hands. “That touch’s not for labor. Save it for what you did for me, doc.”

“Fair enough.” He stepped back.

Nathan’s labor revealed a small space the looked like it might have originally served as a half bath, cleared to hold a tall wide safe. Dust swirled on the chill air. “I’ll be damned.”

“We’ll need Adam to help with the combination,” Roth concluded reluctantly. It didn’t please him to chance his lover’s mental state.

“Yeah. Hold on.” Nathan departed.

Roth stared at the dust-coated safe, speculating at it’s contents as the wind from the open front door cleared the air of minute debris. His breath created white plumes. On a philosophical mind bent, he considered all the factors than had brought him here. As he heard the other men re-enter the dwelling, he called, “I hope you can remember Bradley and your father well, baby.”

Adam joined him in the confined space. He dropped to a squat and stared at the dial. He tried several combinations of birth dates. None worked. “They might have deliberately used numbers without meaning to them.”

Nathan replied, “That’s a good guess. The dime was significant, given the phrase ‘dropping a dime’, meaning supplying info. Bradley knew you’d recognize the date.”

Joseph snuggled up to his fiancé. “Can we get it out of here and have it cut into?”

“We’d have to get pros in to move it and get it to somewhere to load it onto a plane.” He looked at Roth, then Adam. “You know full well that bastard’s got men on us. If they see this, there’ll be a grab attempt.”

“Faster we move, the better,” Adam observed.

Roth flipped open his phone. “This is when being loaded’s a real bonus.” He handed the cell to Nathan and took out his wallet to hand the man his American Express as well. “Get us hired muscle to ride shotgun.” Seeing Joseph shiver, he added, “And, back to the vehicle with you.”

They flew home on their commercial return trips while the safe went via private cargo charter. Adam called a guy he used to workout with sometimes. The man worked as a cop and provided an escort for the safe from the airfield to a machine shop Roth knew specialized in diamond-tipped drill bit work. The guards remained. Nathan had personally escorted Joseph home. This junket had turned sleepless marathon and the younger, less physically tough man needed some shuteye.

Roth stood with Adam, admiring his stoicism during the tedious process of drilling through the safe’s locking mechanism. Because they had no way to determine the fragility of the contents, the tech treated it like a newborn waited inside.

“Moment of truth,” Roth murmured as the tech cut off the drill. “Sure you don’t want me to see first?”

Adam nodded. “We’ll do it together.”

Briefly, Roth squeezed his hand. “Okay.”

When the door opened, it seemed almost anti-climactic. Having half-expected a dismembered body or something equally shocking, the neat stacks of files and folders proved quite mundane.

Roth called Nathan to return for the task of getting the documents from the shop to the house. The ride passed in tense silence. All three of them sat rigid and expectant in the taxi. In front and behind rode the muscle. They had slipped the cabbies considerable ‘motivation’ for staying close, watching lights and not breaking up the trio.

Roth began to breathe easier as they turned onto their street. Nathan called to the taxi driver. “Stop! That car’s never been in that drive before -”

Lacking the responsiveness of a professional driver, the fellow hit the brakes seconds too late. The big sedan in question accelerated from the driveway and T-boned the taxi of guards traveling in front of them. The cab the three of them occupied rear-ended it. The impact, even at this low speed surprised the hell out of Roth with the noise and violence. Before Nathan could open the door, the vehicle behind them struck, causing a second collision to theirs.

Like a force of nature, Nathan used his bulk and power to shove open the damaged door on his side of the automobile. He shouted to the guards from the first car as two of them exited. Roth looked to Adam. His lover had a cut in his hairline, blunt force from striking the divide. Blood trickled down his brow and along the line of his nose. He appeared lucid, but dazed.

Nathan caught a pistol tossed from one of the escorts. He yanked out Roth and Adam, shoving them to the ground. “You two stay the fuck down!”

Roth saw a fifth vehicle pull rapidly in behind the last in their disabled caravan. He heard the dreaded and distinctive pops. Climbing on top of Adam, he used his body to shield his lover’s.

A full-fledged firefight erupted. Roth kept Adam’s head pressed to the asphalt. “We’re outnumbered here. Stay down, baby. I have to help.”

Adam shot back, “I can fight, damn it!”

Roth kissed the cheek not pressed to the road. “Your family died in vain if the files we have convict these criminals and you’re not here to decipher any potential code.”

“Shit!”

Roth checked the magazine of the discarded weapon that skidded over the pavement. Full clip. “Locked and loaded, Nathan!”

“Let’s dance.”

Roth knew what that meant. Engage. He rolled to his feet and selected a target.