Page 39 of The Scrooge Effect

Shrugging, he bent over, going through his pockets. “Don’t matter to me. I just collect the cash.”

When he waited for my portion, I dug out the money and handed it over. As soon as he walked away, I called it in. “Rocket’s leaving with the cash. Edu’s down. We’ve got to get him to a hospital.”

“How the hell is he down?” Thumper asked. “It was a simple job.”

“There was a dog.”

“A dog took him down? Was this a Pitbull?”

I winced as I recalled the tiny thing. “It was a Scottie dog.”

“Fucking ridiculous,” Thumper muttered. “We’ve got Rocket. Tailing him to the next location. We’ll check in at the drop.”

I hung up and tried to rouse Edu again, but nothing happened. “Shit. Come on, Edu. I cannot send you home unconscious. Harper would kill me.”

“Ambulance is on the way,” Brock said, getting down on his knees beside me. “Any change?”

“No. He smacked his head pretty hard on the pew.”

He sighed. “I always fucking hated church.”

Slowly, I turned and glared at the man. “Yeah, because the church knocked him out.”

“Hey, I’m just saying, bad things happen here.”

“Yeah? Name one.”

“Hello? Were you not just part of the whole drug operation?”

“The church didn’t do that!” I snapped.

“Hey, don’t yell at me. I’m not the one selling drugs to kids.”

As he walked away, I lowered my voice and whispered to Edu. “I swear to God, if you leave me with these guys, I’ll come back as Jacob Marley in another life and haunt you forever.”

10

EDU

Colors swirled in prisms above me. As I pressed my hand to the lump on the back of my head, I shoved myself into a sitting position and looked around for the guys.

I was still in the church, but there wasn’t a soul around. They had just left me. Seriously, I’d been passed out, and they just left me behind. What great teammates they were.

Shoving to my feet, I stumbled against the pew, grimacing when my hand came away with blood. That was seriously fucked up.

“Guys!”

When no one answered, I stumbled down the aisle, searching for anyone who might still be hanging around. Surely, the sisters wouldn’t have left with me still in the church. They probably just went to wait for paramedics.

“Hey! Anyone here?”

I pressed my hand to the back of my head again, wincing when pain shot through me. I really needed some fucking Tylenol, or a shot of morphine. Walking through the church, I headed to the front doors, but when I pushed on them, chains rattled around the bars. I was fucking locked in.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

This was fucking insane. Who locked a church with chains?

“Guys! This isn’t funny! Where the hell are you?”