"Okay, right here we're a bit hidden and still have easy access to get out." Dodge pulled into a spot behind Stan's store and off to the right. The area was unmoved and tall weeds stood all around. They didn't quite cover the car, but they camouflaged it well enough. Clearly there wasn't any traffic to speak of in this town, so they should be good parking here.

"Perfect." Jax twisted in her seat and looked the area over. When she turned back to him, her eyes sparkled and her smile was brilliant. "Let's do this."

He chuckled at her excitement. It was invigorating and a bit daunting. They needed to ensure they didn't screw this up. He took in a deep breath as he checked his ankles for his guns. One Springfield 9mm and one Ruger 380. Quietly getting out of the car and gently pushing the door closed, he opened the trunk and pulled his third pistol, a Ruger 9mm, from his bag and tucked it into the hidden holster in the front pocket of his jeans.

Jax followed much the same routine, she had two ankle holsters, hidden by her sexy ass-hugging jeans, and a holster in her bra. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want to see that one. Pulling the lid of the trunk down and pushing it closed, they inched along the back of the building.

An unfamiliar voice could be heard from the door. "Mags is a bit disappointed in you, Stan. You said you'd do your part and yet you turned away a shipment yesterday. So now she's of a mind that she doesn't need you anymore. You know what that means?"

He looked back at Jax and her lips were pinched together. She pointed to the backdoor and swirled her finger signaling he should go around to the front. He couldn't let her go in there alone. He shook his head and she vigorously nodded, then reached for the handle of the door.

"It means fuck Mags is what it means." Stan responded to his visitor.

An eerie laugh echoed out.

"Fuck." She muttered before she opened the door and stepped inside.

Indecision flooded his brain - follow her in or go around. Deciding to run around to the front of the store as she asked, he high stepped it around the store, hearing a gunshot just as he got to the door. Bursting through the front door, he quickly ducked behind shelving off to his right and out of range of the backdoor.

Another shot rang out and then a third one, the bullet whizzing past his head and hitting some old dusty bottles on the shelf behind him and then a fourth shot. Pulling his gun from his pocket he slowly squat-walked down the aisle, listening for more sounds.

A scuffle could be heard followed by a grunt and then a body hitting the floor. Something that sounded like a punch or a kick and then another grunt. Quickly making his way to the back, his breathing shallowed and his heart pounded, he found Jax, sitting on the chest of a younger man, at least younger than Mags and there was blood on his shirt near his stomach, just below Jax's ass. Stan leaned against a stack of boxes, holding his side, blood seeping between his fingers.

"I've got this piece of shit." Jax spat out and he chuckled a little - he'd been in that position and knew how strong she was. Relief sweeping through him, he holstered his gun then went to Stan, eased his hand away to see a bullet hole in the bib of his overalls. Pulling the denim away from his frail frame, the flannel shirt he wore had a matching hole. "I gotta look at this Stan, okay?"

"Yeah, go ahead. It didn't hit anything vital, your girlfriend got here in time to distract him." His old faded blue eyes flicked to Jax and his lips hitched up at the corners.

"Yeah, she's quick." And she was, and brave as fuck. She didn't hesitate to run into what could have been a deadly situation to save an old man she only just met.

Lifting Stan's shirt he saw the bullet had entered the flesh of his left side, just below his ribs. Feeling around his back, there was an exit wound which Dodge expected, since there wasn't much bulk to Stan to stop a bullet. "Let's get you sitting down, Stan."

Seeing an old wooden chair in the corner, he leaned Stan on the wall, nodded and grinned when he got a wink in return. He pulled the chair over to Stan and helped the old man sit down. Pulling his phone out he called Wyatt, "We've got Stan, need an ambulance and a cop. Two men hit with bullets, Stan and one of Mags’s boys."

"Fuck." The man Jax sat on wheezed out. "She thought you two were suspicious."

Not words he wanted to hear. His eyes landed on Jax and her little nose wrinkled. She added a bit of pressure to the man's throat though he wasn't sure if it was to shut him up or make him pass out. Leaning back a bit she must have hit a tender spot from the gunshot wound and he groaned.

"Yeah, if he can be found, send him." He didn't want to give up their friendly's name in case this asshole got back to Mags before they finished their mission. One was certain, Mags was on to them, or at least suspicious of them now, and this wasn't going to help.

Mags’s boy heaved up, trying to roll Jax off. She tightened her hold on his neck and reared back with her fine ass and put pressure on his stomach again. He groaned again and struggled to breathe.

"May as well kill him. We're all dead if he tells Mags what happened in here." Stan said.

Tucking his phone into his pocket, Dodge heaved out a breath, "Yeah, maybe we should but we'd rather take him in for questioning and see what he'll tell us."

Mags’s boy finally passed out or so it seemed. Jax said over her shoulder, "I need something to tie him up with, I'm not getting off until he's secured."

Dodge ran through the store and rummaged for some rope. He found a bundle and went to the back of the store, tying the assailant's feet, and then motioning for Jax to get off him. Dodge rolled the man over and tied his hands behind his back. For good measure, he ran a length of rope between the man's hands and down through his ankles and around the rope at his feet, tying it off tightly.

"Wow, nice." Jax smiled.

"Hate to take chances."

He wanted to get what information he could from Stan. "Does Mags own the ambulance crew or anyone at the hospital?"

"Nah, the hospital is more than thirty miles away and she doesn't reach that far. She stays fairly close to this area and a little bit in Jasperville."

"How far is she into Jasperville?"

"Just a couple of places, the hotel and one little bar called Charlie’s."

Stan coughed then winced and Dodge hated to ask him anymore.

Jax pulled her phone from her back pocket and walked to the backdoor. Tapping an icon, she listened until her brother answered.

"We broke up a potential murder. Trouble is I shot and wounded the asshole. And I'm afraid if he goes to the hospital they'll let him go or Mags will have people to get to him and find out what happened here. Think we can take him and question him somewhere to see what we can get out of him?"

Dodge looked around and decided to lock the front door so no one came in. No doubt someone heard the shots. Mags will think it was her boy shooting Stan for a while, but when he didn't go back, Dodge sure didn't want another of her errand boys coming in and causing trouble.

Walking through the front of the store he mused at the condition. It looked just like an old country general store, including the dust. Old Stan didn't do much around here including cleaning. The store looked more like a collection in someone’s basement or attic.

Another shot rang out, and Dodge's heart hammered. "Jax!" he shouted as he ran to the back of the store, his gun pulled and at the ready.

There he saw Stan standing over Mags's boy, with his gun dangling from his hand.

"I told you, you couldn't let him live."

Jax stood silent immediately inside the backdoor, her eyes locked on his her phone dangling from her fingers. He saw her swallow, then jerk her head as if to shake herself awake. Slowly she walked to Stan and put her hand over his gun hand.

"I need the gun, Stan.

The old man gave it up without a fuss. She took it and stepped away from him, laying the gun on the top of some crates. She looked at Dodge again and slightly nodded. He'd stood frozen at the thought she'd been shot and then trying to get his brain to catch up with the events of what had just happened.

Stan wheezed and he quickly walked to the old man. "Stan, sit down."

"It doesn't matter about me now, I'm a dead man anyway." He wheezed as he sat.

Jax knelt on one knee in front of Stan, "Don't say that. We'll get you out of here, Stan."

The old man's faded blue eyes locked on Jax's eyes and she softly smiled at him. "I have cancer sweetheart, I don't have long for this world anyway. It's the only reason I had the courage to stand-up to the old bitch. I was sick of her telling me what to do and when to do it."

She frowned at Stan's health news and several thoughts came to his mind at once. Even frowning she was beautiful, her clear olive skin radiant. Her dark brown eyes sparkled with the threat of tears and that's when it hit him. She tries being a hard ass, but she's just a softy inside. Sad for an old man she just met and his situation.

Jax took Stan's hands in hers and looked into his eyes. "Do you know anything about a large pink diamond or a jeweler somewhere in the area to cut it?"

Stan took a breath and nodded his head. "Yeah. She's got her at the hotel in Jasperville. I'm sure she'll be moving her today though. She wanted me to hide her at my house this week and that's the shipment I refused. So, she'll install her at one of her minion’s house."

Dodge stepped forward, "Do you know which one? Does she look for anything in particular when stashing someone like the jeweler away?"

The elder man shrugged. "My house is only a mile from here and yet private. I live in the woods, just south of here."

Jax looked at him then and he suspected they were thinking the same thing, they'd likely passed his house on their way to Jasperville.

"Stan, do you live alone?" She squeezed his hands in hers.

"I’ve been all alone for the past many years. Martha, my wife, and I only had one son and they were both killed in a car accident years ago."

Jax turned to him. "So he's alone and close-by. That would mean no one else to worry about saying anything and close if she needs to get to him for any reason."

A truck could be heard outside and Dodge skirted past Jax and Stan and peeked out the backdoor. "Wyatt."

He opened the backdoor and nodded at Wyatt. The big man stepped into the store, looked around at the body on the floor and the old wheezing man sitting in a chair with blood all over his bibs and let out a whistle.

Moving to stand behind Jax he lowered his voice. "Stan, is the store next to you empty as it looks?"

Jax looked back at him, her brows furrowed.

"Yep. Alex Branson inherited it from his parents when they died. He tried opening some exercise place, but..." He laughed, then coughed. "Well, you know. There's no one to come and use it. He thought it would be his field of dreams."

Looking at Wyatt he said, "Let's move this body into that empty store until the cops come and go. We take Stan out of town with us and get him to the hospital in Jasperville, then we sit and wait. We can call cops about the body tomorrow or something. We just need Mags to think her plan to kill Stan worked."

Jax stood, her forehead wrinkled briefly. "You think she'll take the jeweler to Stan's now that she thinks he's dead?"

He nodded and smiled at her as her smile grew.

"Rather than taking Stan away..." She glanced at Stan and nodded. "What if our friendly pronounces him dead and word gets out? She'll certainly feel bold enough to use his house then."

She was smart this one.

She knelt in front of Stan again, "That is if you don't mind pretending to be dead as the ambulance carries you out Stan. Once you get to the hospital we'll have someone we trust sneak you out of the hospital in Jasperville and to another one where Mags won't know where you are."

Stan's wrinkled face beamed as he looked into Jax's eyes. "You folks are smart." He tapped her nose with his forefinger. "Especially you."

He looked at Dodge then. "You keep this one, she's priceless."

Wyatt chuckled, the fucker.