FO4 | Book 1: Bombs on Monday Morning ✔️

Ch 14: Teacher-For-Hire

"Bobbi, what are you doing here?" Fahrenheit sounded more disappointed than angry or surprised. She stood on a metal grating above us in the middle of the strongroom with two big guys on either side of her, with big guns to match.

"Shit." Bobbi drew her gun on Fahrenheit.

"You seriously didn't think Hancock would catch wind of your scheme? He took you in, Bobbi. And you're stealing from him?"

"Don't listen to her," Bobbi told me and Mel.

"What does this have to do with Hancock?" I asked in confusion.

"I see the rest of you are in the dark about this," said a speculating Fahrenheit. "Nice, No-nose. You all just broke into Hancock's storeroom. You know. Hancock? The mayor of Goodneighbor?"

"Dammit, Bobbi!" Mel was sweating bullets within seconds.

And I wasn't far behind him. I could feel the gravity of the situation setting in. I didn't know if Hancock was a very forgiving man, and I didn't know what he'd do once he found out — that is if Fahrenheit didn't kill us first. Anger, guilt, and nervousness ran through me, causing my palms to sweat and my mouth to go dry.

"Listen, guys," Bobbi started to defend herself. "I know this isn't what you expected. But there are still a ton of caps on the line here. Help me take her out, and all of this is ours."

"This is Hancock we're ripping off here!" Mel yelled. "The guy tends to hold grudges!"

"Counteroffer," Fahrenheit interrupted. "Just go back into your tunnel and we can forget this ever happened. What do you say?"

"What is this about, Bobbi? Why did you lie to us?" Seething and demanding answers, I refused to die in the middle of God-knows-where just for some easy caps. I had a son to find, and Nick put it best when he said I was no good to him dead.

Bobbi only lowered her gun a little to rant. "I knew no one in their right mind would help me rip off Hancock. Everyone is so damn afraid of him or so damn in love with him. He thinks he is invincible. I wanted to show him he wasn't."

I was appalled. So far, everyone I had met showed Hancock nothing but respect. bobbi was the first to show any disdain toward the charismatic mayor. And though I was fairly new to town, he treated me like I mattered.

"I'm not helping you anymore, Bobbi. You lied to us. Forget the pay, it's not worth it." I stepped away from her.

"You can't do this to me. This isn't how this is supposed to go. Know what? Fine! More for me!"

She turned her gun on me and aimed right at my face. My heart leaped into my throat. Fahrenheit and her boys had drawn their guns and fired on her. The bullets whizzed past me, prompting me to jump back. She was down in seconds before my eyes, her blood lightly splattering my face and jacket.

My heart was hammering away behind my ribs. This was overkill for sure...

As the room grew quiet, Mel walked up to me and said, "I gotta say, I'm not really cool with how this all went down."

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. "I'm sorry it had to end this way. I didn't know how all this was going to play out. And if I had, I never would have accepted the job."

"Heh, you and me both. Bobbie and I... We had history. Used to do a lot of jobs together. Well... I'm outta here. No offense, but I hope we never run into each other again. I want to forget this whole thing." He looked up at Fahrenheit. "Sorry for almost stealing from your boss, Miss Fahrenheit, ma'am."

He walked toward the front entrance, reminding me that we didn't have to walk back through that godforsaken tunnel.

"You made the right move," said Fahrenheit as she made her way down the stairs of the grating overhead.