Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

fruits.”
    Dan sat down beside her, rubbing her back. “And that is why she can outwork and outrun you guys.”
    “Really?” Sonny asked.
    Tess shrugged.
    Sonny started plucking out his cheese and putting it on the saucer that used to hold the bread.
    Frank scooped the cheese up and stuffed it in his mouth.
    Sonny grinned at Tess. “Will you teach me to eat healthy?”
    She ran off a list of things to avoid. By the time she’d finished, Sonny had a furrowed brow and a decided pout.
    Having finished her food, she stood and patted his shoulder. “You don’t have to convert all at once. Just drop white potatoes and potato chips, using yams in their place.”
    His smile returned. “I can do that. I like yams.”
    She returned to the living room, ran through the names of her hired workers again, then went to bed.

Chapter 3
     
    Next morning, Tess sat on a rock waiting for Team Two to arrive. Seven of the guys showed up early. She greeted six of them by name, which did seem to make them grow an inch taller. However, the seventh one she didn’t recognize. Nor were the other guys talking to him. In fact, several of them were watching him with caution. Finally, a guy named Malcolm asked her to come identify a plant for them. He was standing by a fern. Who couldn’t identify a fern? Still, she went over to him.
    “Did you put a new guy on the team, because we don’t know the guy staring at the missing road?”
    “No. Let me call Sheriff Cobbs,” she whispered.
    “Mind if we contain him now? He’s starting to look a little nervous.”
    “Okay, but don’t hurt him. He’ll probably sue.”
    Instead of approaching the guy directly, the guys spread out as if looking for more plants for her to identify. Thus, when Malcolm moved toward him and the fellow took off, he was tackled in an instant by Greg. Oddly, Malcolm had large, black plastic ties on him and secured the guy’s hands and feet in less than a minute.
    Malcolm then searched his pockets, pulling out a switchblade and a gun. “Joe, call the rest of our team and make sure they’re okay.”
    Just then Sheriff Cobbs arrived, which was weird because Tess had failed to call him yet.
    He went straight to Malcolm, listened to his explanation, bagged the weapons, and picked the guy up by the arm and put him in the trailer of his pickup truck. Using a pair of handcuffs, he attached one side around the fellow’s belt and the other to an iron loop on the truck bed. He then walked over to Tess. “That one’s an imposter.”
    She nodded in agreement. “Can you find out what happened to the other four men? I’m worried my father’s behind this.”
    “I guarantee it,” Sheriff Cobbs replied. “The boys said you took their pictures yesterday. Any chance you can familiarize yourself with them so this trick can’t work?”
    “I did that last night. I knew he wasn’t one of my workers, but evidently so did the other workers, because they handled matters before I could call you.”
    He smiled.
    “Do all my guys know each other?”
    “They do.”
    “So this was destined to fail from the start.”
    “True, but if someone comes up to you when none of the others are around, I need you to know if he’s a member of the crew or not.”
    “Well, I have badges for them, but I’ll keep reviewing the pictures every night just to make sure.”
    She passed out the badges for the six there then stared at the four remaining in her hand. She turned to Cobbs. “Any chance they decided the work was too hard?”
    “None whatsoever,” he sighed. He glanced at his watch. “You should take these guys up and get to work. If I find the boys alive and able to work, I’ll send them up.”
    His ‘if’ almost made her toss her breakfast. Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. If I had known I was putting their lives at risk, I wouldn’t have hired anyone. In fact, I should let these guys go, as well.”
    “No!” the sheriff snapped, gripping her arm. “That will only teach