“Good to see you, too, Savage.”
“Fuck you, Tag. What the hell do you want?”
“I’m in deep shit. I need a tug out.”
“Whatever, man.” I turn to leave.
“You owe me. You know you fucking owe me.”
I stop dead in my tracks, grimacing with those words.
“I’ve never asked for payment. I’m demanding it now.”
I turn to face him. “You don’t demand shit of me, man. Fuck you. Get one of your boys on the payroll. They’re stuck suckling your tit. I’m not.”
“Someone burned me, betrayed me. There’s a hit out on me. I’m going underground until this is over. You’re the one I trust to handle this.”
“Handle this? Define that statement.”
“A job you’ll enjoy, I promise. I need you to hit the man who’s the mastermind.”
Trigger pulled. “I don’t hit,” I say. “Not anymore.” I turn to leave him, and this shit, behind for good.
“I have so many ways to burn you and you know it.”
Acid burns my chest and I stop walking, but I don’t turn and look at his ugly fucking face again.
“I wonder how your past affects the Walkers’ reputation,” he threatens softly and it is a threat.
My hand goes to my gun and I pull the fucking thing, turning to point it at Tag, who is pointing his own weapon at me. Piece of shit. “You don’t think I know you, Savage?” he challenges.
“You won’t kill me. You need me.”
“And you won’t kill me. You don’t want a mess to clean up.” He holsters his weapon. “You owe me.”
“To think I once respected you.” I holster my weapon, aware as he is aware that a debt between mercenaries is a blood oath. The price of betraying that oath is not pleasant. “I don’t do threats,” I say. “I will, however, honor the favor owed. If I have the facts and feel good about the job. The end. My debt will then be paid. And if you come to me after it’s paid, I will shoot you. Start talking.”
“You know how this works. We protect the integrity of the mission. We cut off a leak at the knees. You go where I send you and await instructions.”
He reaches into his jacket and pulls out an envelope that he hands me. “Your mission, should you so choose to take it.” With that, he steps around me.
I rotate to speak to his back. “To think I used to respect you.”
He glances over his shoulder at me. “I don’t give a fuck if you respect me. An oath is an oath.” He disappears around the corner and I stand there, fingers curled in my palms for one reason: if I move, I will kill him. I shove the envelope into my pocket and glance skyward, the dark, starless night a perfect match for my return to that man’s world. I can’t put off reading my instructions and even if I could, this needs to be behind me.
I yank it from my pocket again and open it to remove the white card inside with only one word, one place, the place I swore I’d never return: San Antonio.
“Damn it to hell,” I growl, squeezing my eyes shut, the torment on Candace’s face when I told her I was leaving gutting me in ten different directions.
I ball up the paper, tossing it against the wall.
A movement behind me sets me off and I whirl around, grab the asshole sneaking up on me, and shove him against the wall.
“Holy hell, Savage,” Adam growls. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Why the hell are you ghosting me?”
“I know you, man. I knew there was trouble. And I saw who you were talking to. He’s that piece of shit you were working for when we met, beneath you a hundred feet. Whatever he wants, you’re saying no.”
“You don’t make that decision.” I release him and step back, scrubbing my jaw. “I’m off the books for a couple of weeks.” I rotate away from him and exit the alleyway.
I’ve made it three steps when he’s by my side. “San Antonio? You’ve got to be kidding me, man. I know what that place is to you.”
“You don’t know shit.”
“Candace. Your father.”
I stop walking and turn on him. “How do you know about Candace?”
“Vodka, man. I told you to stop drinking it. You forget when you drink vodka.”
“I don’t talk about Candace.”
“Yeah, man. On at least three occasions. Which says a hell of a lot about why you’re single.”
“You’re single, too, you prick.”
“Your point? Never mind. My point—”
“Unless it involves more tequila, I don’t care.” I turn and start walking. He falls into step with me. He’s pissing me off. “Get out of my face, man. I’m a live wire right now, and it has nothing to do with you. Don’t make it about you.”
“Punch me, asshole. Whatever. You go to San Antonio working for that asshole, I go with you.”