***

Terry reclined the driver’s seat, his cowboy hat was tilted over his forehead, blocking out the afternoon sun beating down through the windshield. Despite the shade, the beads of sweat continued to collect around his neck.

A ping sounded from his laptop, letting him know the email had arrived. He removed his hat and immediately opened the attached file. Terry scrolled through, examining the information Jones had sent him.

Jones didn’t disappoint. The files were extensive, but most of the offenses were minor, nothing headline worthy, until he came to the very last page. What he found there wasn’t just enough to end the congressman’s career but to land him in jail for the rest of his life. He had what he needed.

Then, just before Terry closed out the email, he noticed the subject line in bold, capital letters. He had to reread it a few times just to make sure he was looking at it correctly. Each subject line that he and Jones corresponded with had a different meaning. Depending on the job, it could read “YOU’RE A WINNER!”, which signaled that the individual in the attached file would need to be roughed up. Or it could say “JUST ONE CLICK AWAY FROM YOUR PRIZE!”, which meant that the item in the description attached needed to be recovered.

But what Terry saw in this subject line baffled him a bit. He realized that Jones had acted a little weird when Terry brought up Hunter’s name, but that was because Terry thought he knew the guy well. What this subject line represented wasn’t something you would do to a friend but to someone you wanted gone.

Terry didn’t question it. A job was a job, and it would pay triple the bounty on Brooke and Eric. He knew Jones would pony up the dough once the deed was done. He shut the laptop and stuffed it into the seat cover behind his driver’s seat.