“That was new,” she says through her breaths.

  “Did you like it?”

  “Parts of it,” she says with a coy smile. “You’ll have to figure out which.”

  I stroke her hair. “We’ll figure out plenty when we find a place to settle down.”

  “Sounds lovely. Can I ask you a question?”

  “Anything,” I say.

  “You have a peculiar accent. It’s like Spanish and British together. Where . . . ?”

  I chuckle. “I had an English tutor when I was a kid. He was from England. The Spanish part I’ll tell you later.”

  Piper looks at me. “Later?”

  “When we reach San Diego.”

  “You have to tell me everything then.”

  And I will.

  I’m standing at our window watching the parking lot when a police cruiser from Kenedy County arrives. It’s the same cruiser we saw in Boerne.

  Piper calls Sheriff Rose, and the cruiser stops in front of our room. It’s almost noon. We’re both dressed.

  Bandit’s perched on top of Piper's backpack, upset we're not playing catch. Catch will have to wait.

  Sheriff Rose steps out of the car. Stern face, ponytail. A trim uniform that reveals a hard physique. Forty or so, older than me. My eyes fall on the huge gun in her holster, and that’s no regulation firearm. A .50 caliber Desert Eagle, I judge. A fucking hand cannon.

  “She’s here,” Piper says.

  “Here and armed.”

  We open the door for her, and Daisy Rose strolls in without a second look at me. She puts her hand on Piper’s shoulder.

  “You okay, sweetheart?”

  “Just fine. This is Luke. Um, Lusander is his full name.”

  The sheriff turns to me. “The Walmart guy.”

  “Yeah,” I say gruffly. Piper gave me the quick version of her conversation with Rose at the diner. “We’re together,” I say, nodding at my girl.

  “Where you from?” the sheriff says.

  “San Antonio.”

  Rose gives me the once-over, not bothering to hide her distrust. “What do you do?”

  “I’m a dentist.”

  Piper makes a face at me.

  “Try again,” Rose says.

  “I’m a biker.”

  “That’s not a profession, Mr. Alvarez.”

  “I got something better than a profession. I got money. I can take care of Piper.”

  “Piper Ginn is eighteen. You like young girls, Alvarez?”

  “Just one. And I don’t care if she were eighty. I love her.”

  Rose frowns. “You love her?”

  “With all my heart. It’s one of those things, Sheriff. You just know it.”

  Rose looks into my eyes, and I don’t know what she sees there, but her suspicion seems to lessen by a small amount. She still keeps one hand near her belt like a gunslinger about to draw. “I don’t put much stock in ‘one of those things.’ I like facts. Numbers. I like things I can touch. You know she’s a runaway?”

  “Yeah. And I know what she ran away from.”

  “Young girls who leave home with nothing tend to meet monsters.”

  “Not this time,” I say.

  Rose looks around the small motel room. It’s clean and tidy, but it’s no Four Seasons. “You fancy yourself a hero?” she asks me.

  “I fancy myself her provider.”

  Piper nods. “He’s a good man, Daisy. You got no cause to hold us.”

  “I reckon I can find some.”

  The sheriff paces around the room, peeking behind the bed, nodding at Bandit, checking the bathroom. She runs her finger here and there. Then she speaks with Piper for a while, asking her where she’s gone since leaving Milburn, the details of how she met me, and if I’ve ever hurt her.

  I’d rather die than hurt a hair on my girl’s head.

  I'm about to add that commentary to the conversation when I catch movement outside the window. Three hulking motorcycles roar into the parking lot. The men riding them I recognize at once.

  Johann Schmidt.

  Romo and Wesker, vicious sons of bitches who'd follow Johann to the lowest ring of hell.

  They’re the last three surviving members of the Santa Muerte MC, remnants of my old life come back to haunt me.

  The men wear black pants and leather jackets emblazoned with the logo of Santa Muerte, a skeleton robed in white. Our Lady of Death. I suppose they think the dress code is still in effect.

  How the hell did they find me out here?

  The sheriff’s still talking with Piper and doesn’t notice.

  Johann and the others dismount their bikes. He holds a phone-sized gadget in his hand, pointing it at my Escalade. I have no fucking clue what he’s doing, but it can’t be good.

  “Sheriff,” I say, “we have a problem.”

  “What now?”

  “There are some gentlemen after me. The kind who shoots first and never asks questions. They’re outside.”

  I see the scrunch in Piper’s face, and I curse myself for putting her in danger. Sheriff Rose comes to the window.

  Johann's waving his gadget over the trunk of my car while Romo and Wesker stand watch.

  “What are they doing?” Rose says.

  “Looking for the money.”

  “What money?”

  “The three million dollars in my trunk.”

  Piper joins us at the window holding her half-open backpack with Bandit inside. The kitten’s perched halfway out, her eyes nervous.

  “We need to leave,” I say. “I can explain everything once—”

  “You stay put,” Rose orders. “I'll have a talk with them."

  When she walks out, I get my leather duffle bag and take out the sawed-off gun from the mesh pocket. I check the shells to make sure everything’s loaded and ready. I feel Piper’s eyes on me.

  My girl presses her lips together. “Luke?”

  “Just in case.”

  Sheriff Rose stands right outside the door, asking Johann and the others what they’re doing, who they are.

  My body tenses.

  Johann approaches with his suave smile and hands raised. Wesker and Romo follow suit.

  I put my gun away but keep it loose in the duffle bag so I can grab it quick. I step outside with Piper behind me.

  “Luke Alvarez,” Johann says pleasantly. “Sheriff, this man stole our money. We’ve been looking for him.”

  “Drug money,” I say.

  Johann scoffs. “We’re a motorcycle club, Sheriff. He’s lying through his teeth.”

  One of us is.

  Rose checks the men for weapons and finds none.

  She checks their bikes. Nothing. But I have an eye for bikes, and there’s something odd about theirs.

  Forget the bikes.

  Where are the guns?

  I know Johann never leaves home without at least a handgun, and I’m wondering where the fuck he could’ve put it when a Dodge Viper roars down the road in front of the hotel. The car turns into the parking lot with tires screeching.

  Gavril Marsh steps out, eyes brimming with fury.

  Great.

  Piper and I trade a look. “Sorry,” she mouths.

  I put on a slack-jawed grin for her, even though inside I’m wound up tighter than a ball of rubber bands.

  Marsh must be a Kenedy County local, because Rose recognizes him. “What the hell are you doing here?” she says to him, none too kindly either.

  The skinny man raises a bony finger at Piper. “Her ma sent me, Daisy. Esther wants her home.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Piper snaps.

  Johann ignores the newcomer. He keeps his eyes on me and I keep mine on him.

  Sheriff Rose, standing in the middle of our little circle, puts one hand on her holster. “Nobody move a muscle.”

  She gets into her police cruiser, talks to someone on her radio, and comes back out. “What’s going to happen is this. You’re all coming with me to the Pescos County Sheriff’s Office up in Iraan. We’ll figure out this mess there. Mr. Schmidt?”

  “At your service,” Johann says far too agreeably.

  “You leave first, head north on Route 349. Alvarez follows you. Gavril, you can come along too. I’ll be at the rear. If any of you makes so much as a wrong turn, I’ll run you down like a wild coyote. Piper Ginn, you get in my cruiser right this minute.”

  Piper glances at me.

  I nod. I may end up in hot water, but at least my girl will be safe.

  Chapter Seven

  Luke

  Our little convoy rolls up the desolate road with endless plains of dusty shrubs stretching to the horizon.

  Alone in my Escalade, I keep my eyes on Johann and the others riding ahead. I'm on edge. They've never cooperated with the police before, or anyone for that matter. Something's up.

  When we’re five miles from Sheffield, Johann’s bike swerves off the road. He crashes, throwing up a cloud of dust. I slam the brake. In my rearview mirror, Marsh and Sheriff Rose do the same. We barely avoid a chain crash.

  What the fuck?

  As I get out, Wesker and Romo help Johann up. He’s none the worse.

  Rose walks over to them, and I follow at her back, more for her safety than anything. “What happened?” she asks them.

  “Blowout,” Johann says, pointing at a shredded hole in the front wheel. “Must've run over a rock.”

  Bullshit.

  I couldn’t see Johann earlier because the other two rode on his tail, but that looks like a bullet hole to me. He shot his own tire. “If you ran over something there’d be a long tear,” I say.

  “What the fuck are you, the Highway Safety Administration?”

  “Where’s the gun, Johann?”

  He shows me his palms with a vicious smile. “Search me, motherfucker.”

  The sheriff does, but all she finds is a phone.

  “Both of you shut up,” Rose says. “Get back in your vehicle, Alvarez.” She glares at Johann, her suspicions rising. But we’re in the ass middle of nowhere and she’s outnumbered. “Can you get your tired plugged?” she asks Johann.

  “In a jiffy.”

  Rose puts her hand on my chest. “Back to the car. I won’t ask you again.”

  We walk toward my Escalade.

  “How’s Piper?”

  “Just fine.”

  “Look after her.”

  “I was looking after her long before you knew she existed.”

  “I always knew she existed, I just didn’t know her name.”

  We reach my driver side door. Rose stares at me for a moment. “You’re a real piece of work, Alvarez.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Get in your car. I’ll call this in with Pescos County.”

  The law has spoken.

  Minutes later, I'm tapping the wheel, tension building at the base of my spine. I look in the rearview mirror to see that son of a bitch Gavril Marsh in his Dodge. I can’t even see Rose’s cruiser clearly, which pisses me off. I’m sure Piper’s safe with Rose, but I need to hold her, feel her heartbeat under my fingers.

  Then I look ahead.

  Johann has his bike upright by the roadside. He’s pulled off a piece of the handlebar and looks to be pushing a grip of some kind into the piece. Wesker and Romo also detach parts from their bikes, assembling something with quick hands. I narrow my eyes.

  Fuck.

  They’re putting guns together.

  I start my engine and put the gear in reverse just as Romo raises a huge shotgun. His muzzle flashes before I slam the gas. A spray of hot metal whips across my windshield.

  The three men advance with weapons blasting while I drive backward. Romo and Wesker fire shotguns from the hip. Johann shoots a small machinegun.

  I back my Escalade until I’m parallel with Sheriff’s Rose’s cruiser. Her hood’s riddled with holes and smoking, the tires flat, the windshield shattered. Johann and his men brought plenty of bullets.

  Rose has taken cover behind the trunk with Piper huddled at her side, and the sheriff returns fire with her hefty handgun.

  Gavril Marsh is nowhere to be seen, likely hiding in his car, but the bikers pay him no heed.

  I grab my sawed-off shotgun and join Rose.

  “Get back in your vehicle,” she shouts.

  “I’m taking Piper to my car.” I could make a stand right here against Johann, decide the matter once and for all, but not with my girl in danger.

  “Go!” Rose yells.

  I grab my girl, shielding her with my body as we rush to the Escalade. I push her into the back. “Stay here, okay?”

  Piper nods, her eyes glazed over. “We can’t leave Rose.”

  I know.

  When I get back to the cruiser, Rose has caught a fragment in her shoulder. She’s on one knee, blood spreading down her sleeve.

  “You okay?” I say.

  “Just dandy.”

  She bangs off one last shot before she runs dry. In the distance, Wesker topples. Johann and Romo keep spraying.

  If I could exchange the money for Piper’s safety, I would in an instant, but those men aren’t interested in talking. The fact there’s an innocent girl caught in the crossfire would never concern them. Hell, even Marsh is just a bystander in this mess.

  Johann has never needed a reason to kill.

  “Your cruiser’s busted,” I tell Rose. “Come with me or you’ll die.”

  Her face has paled from blood loss. “You’re a real piece of work, Alvarez.”

  “Come on,” I say.

  She lunges up.

  We dash for my Escalade.

  Rose slides into the passenger side with a pained grunt.

  I grab the wheel, slamming the gas as we careen toward the empty horizon throwing up dust. Nothing around us but a vast Texas plain covered with thickets and shrubs.

  “Where are you going?” Rose says.

  “Anywhere but here.”

  Where I’d been going until I met Piper.

  The dusk is beautiful.

  Rose's groans are anything but. She's managing though, a bandage tied around her shoulder from the first aid kit I got at Walmart. She throws back a bottle of whiskey I had stashed in my trunk.

  A coyote howls in the distance.

  We’ve stopped because nighttime driving in the wilds is more dangerous than outrunning two stone-cold killers. I could hit a rock without ever seeing it, even with the headlights on full power.

  “Heck of a day,” Rose says. She’s slouched in the passenger seat.

  Piper stands a few feet away with Bandit, her eyes pinned to the sky where the first stars twinkle.

  “They’ll have to stop for the night too,” I say to Rose. “Johann’s not stupid. But he’ll be on us again in the morning.”

  “How do you know?”

  “If somebody took three million dollars from you, at what point would you stop looking?”

  The sheriff asks for details, and I give her the short version of Santa Muerte’s recent, bloody history.

  She stares at the skull tattoo on my neck.

  “Fucking hell,” Rose says. “Dentist, huh?”

  “We’ll find you a hospital in the morning.”

  “You even know where we are?”

  “No.” We got no phone reception out here.

  “So how do you figure we’ll find a hospital?”

  “You strike me as the lucky sort,” I say.

  Rose laughs. “Let me tell you something, Alvarez. If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s lucky. Piper Ginn and I have a lot common there. I grew up the same way as her. No father, a single mother who could barely hold her own life together. That I'm still alive has nothing to do with luck. It’s strength.” Rose slumps back. “The only thing you can count on in this world.”

  “Stay strong a bit longer. I’ll find you a hospital.”

  “If your pals don’t find us first.”

  “The situation isn’t so bad.”

  Rose laughs again. “I’d like to see your definition of bad. I’d like to see that very much.”

  “Get some rest. I’ll look after Piper.”

  “Do that.” The sheriff closes her eyes.

  I leave her in the passenger seat and find Piper still staring at the sky. I put my hand on her shoulder.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  She sounds anything but okay. “Don’t wander off. There could be scorpions and rattlesnakes out here.”

  “Bandit will handle any nasty critters.”

  My honest opinion is that a rattlesnake could eat Bandit whole, but I keep my mouth shut. Bandit sleeps soundly in Piper’s backpack.

  By now the stars are out in full. They don't add much light on the ground, but they're breathtaking in the sky. Like fine dust shimmering in that vast expanse. They make you feel small in the best way, just knowing they’re out there, and they’ll go on no matter what happens on earth.

  Piper sighs. “They’re amazing,” she whispers.

  “You’re staring at the past,” I say.

  “Huh?”

  “It takes light a long time to reach our planet. And light is all we can see. The stars up there are so far away, what you see now is how they looked millions of years ago.”

  My girl glances at me. “Are you an astronomer or something?”

  “Nah. I paid attention in school.”

  We fall silent for a while, staring at the sky. Then she asks me where Venus is. I take her hand and point at the brightest dot in the west. “There. And over there is Mars.”

  “Pretty,” she whispers.

  I feel her body heat and get hard. This isn’t the best place to get hard, but I can’t control myself. The press of her ass on my crotch gets me harder.

  “Let’s sleep out here tonight,” she says. “Sheriff Rose is in the car anyway.”

  “So?”

  “I don’t want her to see us.”

  “See us doing what,” I growl.

  Piper turns around. “Luke, it’s now or maybe never. I want now. And don’t tell me it’s not perfect or whatever. I don’t need perfect. Do you?”

  “No.” I need her.

  I check on Sheriff Rose to find her sleeping in the passenger seat. Her breathing’s uneasy, but her pulse feels strong. Rose will make the night.

 

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