Lost Cause (Killer of Kings 8)

“Can I sit up now?” Cleo asked.

“Let her sit up,” Harb said.

“Are you fucking crazy?”

“Let her up. We need to know if it’s her they’re after or us.”

“How the fuck will we know that just by her sitting up? She stays down and we drive.” Priest wasn’t about to have her put in harm’s way. Not for anyone.

“I swear, I’m going to make Boss double my fee for you.”

“Fuck off. It’s a good plan. We drive, they follow but don’t do anything, then we know it’s just us being crazy.”

“No, if we allow them to follow, maybe they do nothing. We let Cleo sit up, and then we get to see who they’re after,” Harb said.

“Not happening.”

“For goodness sake, guys, stop arguing. Harb’s right, Priest. I know you want to protect me, and I appreciate it, I really do, but we also need to be logical about this. If they’re going to keep on tailing us, we can’t make it to the safe house. Let me do this.”

He still held the back of her neck, and he didn’t want to let her go.

There was no way he could allow anything to happen to her. Not on his watch.

She reached up, putting a hand on top of his. “I’m fine. I can do this. Please, let me help.”

He had so many reasons why she shouldn’t be helping, but he couldn’t think of a single one right now.

He nodded at Harb.

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Harb said. “You have my word.”

Priest didn’t trust Harb’s word. Or anyone’s for that matter.

He shouldn’t have been in the same car driving with Harb. Boss had made the decision as some kind of punishment. Boss was going to make his life a living hell because of what he’d done. Not that he could blame him. He’d do it all again.

Cleo was a special woman. She deserved the best, and no one had the right to snuff the light out in her eyes—not him, not anyone else.

She was the first person in his adult life to finally make him believe that good still existed. For the longest time, he had only known death and hate. Cleo was so much more than that.

Glancing out the window, he watched as the suspicious five o’clock car followed them at a reasonably safe distance.

Why stop at a gas station, make no movement, and then start to drive away again? The car was definitely tailing them. He had no doubt about it.

They weren’t shooting, but he also couldn’t get a good look at the person inside.

“Can you see how many?”

“No. They’ve got heavy tint on the fucking car,” Harb said.

Priest eased back his jacket and pulled out his gun.

“You’re going to have to let her sit up,” Harb said.

“We’re in a built-up neighborhood.”

“Dude, we hit the open road, we’re fucked, you know this.”

He did.