“Oh.”
I let him chew on that while I dug into breakfast. A few minutes later, Arnie reappeared. Most of the bloodstains were gone from his jeans, and his face looked a little better without the packing. He dabbed carefully at his nose with a bloodied wad of toilet paper.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s just bleedin’ a bit ‘cause I took the packin’ out a few minutes ago. It’ll be fine.” He inhaled cautiously. “That’s better. ‘Least I can breathe now.”
“Breakfast?” I offered him the bread and the peanut butter jar.
“Nah.” He dug into the grocery bag and extracted a couple of handfuls of beef jerky and a snack cake. “Shit, I’d kill for a coffee. Weasel!”
“Yeah.”
“Ya got coffee here?”
“No.”
Hellhound blew out a sigh. “Guess we’ll hafta catch a drive-through. Ya ready to go?”
“I guess.” I surveyed his bruised face, feeling guilty. “I really don’t want you to do this.”
“It’ll be fine.”
I waved them toward the Caprice. “I’ll be right there,” I told them as I started toward Weasel.
“Darlin’, don’t…” Hellhound cautioned.
“It’ll be okay.” I stopped well outside Weasel’s groping range. “Hey, Weasel. Thanks for letting us crash here and drink your beer. And thanks for looking out for me last night at the cafe. No hard feelings, I hope.”
He gave me his yellowed grin. “I got nothing but hard feelings for you, Jane-Crazy-Bitch.” He hoisted a dirty hand into his crotch and thrust in my direction a few times, grunting. “You wanna wrap your hot pussy around my hard feelings?”
“I’ll pass.”
He smiled. “Come back soon.”
Chapter 28
Arnie breathed a sigh of pure contentment as he cradled his coffee cup. “Jesus, I might live after all.”
“Yeah,” Dave agreed from the back seat, slurping his own brew.
I eyed them fondly, savouring the rare moment of peace and harmony. I leaned my head back against the headrest and tried to ease the tension out of my shoulders. Breathe. Ocean waves. The smell of coffee and normalcy.
And a faint whiff of gamy clothing. Hellhound was resplendent in one of the clean new shirts, but Dave was on Day Three of what should have been a one-day T-shirt. He’d washed and borrowed my deodorant stick, but there was only so much he could do.
God, if we spent much more time together in this damn car, I was going to have to fumigate it before I gave it back to Bruce. Assuming I lived long enough.
I sighed and opened my eyes. “Now what?”
“Back to the same place, darlin’. Time to go visitin’.”
I put the car in gear with reluctance. “Maybe you should take Dave with you this time.” I wasn’t actually sure whether that would be a good idea or not, but the thought of sending Arnie back into the lion’s den alone was making my stomach twist.
“Nah. I need Dave to stay in the car an’ watch out for ya. I ain’t gonna be long this time.”
“Arnie, I have a gun. I can take care of myself. You might need the backup.”
He shrugged. “I got a gun, too.”
“But you can’t use it. You’ll go to jail.”
He snorted. “Better’n goin’ to the boneyard.”
“Not for me, it isn’t.” I shuddered. “I’d rather die.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Dave asked.
“God, no, I’m dead serious.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m claustrophobic. I get panicky just thinking about jail.”
“Turn here,” Hellhound interjected. “There, park right there.”
I pulled up to the curb, and he gulped the last of his coffee. “I oughta only be a few minutes. Half an hour, tops. If ya hear shootin’, get ready to drive fast.” He considered for a few seconds. “If ya hear shootin’ an’ I don’t come runnin’, call the cops an’ bug out.”
I knew better than to cling to him this time. I pulled him into a careful kiss, mindful of his bruised mouth, and slipped him the tongue. “See you.”
I felt his lips quirk up, and he kissed me back in a way that made it clear that impending death was Priority #2.
Dave cleared his throat in the back seat. “Uh, want me to take a walk?”
Hellhound finished up unhurriedly, leaving me breathless. “Nah. I don’t mind an audience.” He winked and slid out of the car.
I avoided Dave’s eyes until the heat left my lips and cheeks. The ones on my face, anyway. It was going to take a while to cool the others off. We sat in awkward silence, both making a show of watching out the windows for potential threats.
At last, Dave spoke. “Uh, this morning… um. Don’t get me wrong, he deserved it, but… would you really have killed him? Didn’t look like you were gonna stop.”
I turned to meet his troubled eyes and sighed. “I don’t know, Dave. I didn’t even know what I was doing.” I sank my head into my hands. “I’m so fucked up. Before this year, I’d never hit another person in all my adult life. If I’d killed Weasel today, I’d never forgive myself. He’s just a harmless little shit. I don’t know what’s the matter with me.”
“He’s not harmless. And you’re under a lot of pressure,” he said.
“Lots of people are under pressure. They don’t go around beating people half to death for nothing.”
He reached over the seat and patted my shoulder. “Aydan, it wasn’t nothing. He’s a sick pervert, and he attacked you.”
“He didn’t attack me. He never even touched me, and I don’t think he would’ve pushed it too far even if we’d been alone.”
Dave gaped at me in disbelief. “He’s a scumbag. He belongs in jail.”
I sighed. “Dave, I’m pretty sure he’s harmless. Trust me, I’ve met guys who really like hurting women, and he’s not one of them. He just has some… unusual preferences, that’s all. And not much sense of personal space.”
“He’s a sick, disgusting pervert.” He scowled. “And I can’t believe you thanked him.”
“He’s one of Arnie’s contacts. I don’t want to mess that up for him.”
“Contacts for what?” Dave spat. “Drug deals? Stolen cars? They’re both bottom-feeders. You’re wasting your time with him. Why can’t you see that?”
I swallowed my annoyance. “Arnie isn’t a criminal. Sometimes he needs contacts like Weasel so he can do his job as a private investigator. That doesn’t mean he likes it.”
Dave frowned. “Why-”
We both jerked around in our seats at the sound of two gunshots. I had just met Dave’s wide eyes when a third shot rang out. Icy fear squeezed my chest and I started the car, willing Arnie to be safe with all my might.
I’d barely begun to panic when he pounded out of the alley at a dead run. I reached across and flung the passenger door open, then put the car into gear, one foot on the clutch and one on the gas.
The car lurched as he dove in, bellowing, “GO!”
I didn’t waste time. The tires squealed and the Caprice shot forward as two men dashed out of the alley. The car roared and accelerated as I slapped the shifter through the gears, the tires chirping with each shift.
Another shot rang out behind us. I snapped a glance in the rearview mirror, but my vision was obscured by Dave’s white face and panicked eyes.
“Aydan, train!” he shouted. “TRAIN!”
I jerked my eyes forward again, adrenaline slamming into my system like nitromethane into a top-fuel dragster. Goddamn sonuvabitch fucking train tracks in the middle of the fucking neighbourhood, what the hell was with that?
Another bang, and something thudded into the rear of the car. I gauged the speed of the train in an instant, catching a glimpse of Hellhound’s white knuckles locked on the dashboard.
I could make it.
The train whistle blared and the engineer waved frantically from his window. The crossing arms were almost down.
I slapped the shifter one more time and punched the gas. The car screamed like a wild thing. Or maybe that was Dave.
At the last second I flipped the switch, and the kick of the nitrous blasted us across the tracks, the rear end fishtailing while the tires spun and smoked. The guardarm scraped over the roof and thudded on the trunk, and then we were through the crossing.
Lots of time to spare. Hell, I could’ve backed up and gone over again. Almost.
Hellhound let out a wild whoop and pounded the dashboard with the flat of his hand, laughing like a maniac. “Woo-hooo!” he bellowed. “I love ya, darlin’, marry me now! Woo-hooo!”
I concentrated on slowing the car and headed for Deerfoot Trail, the most direct route to anywhere-but-here. The engineer had gotten a good close look at the car. I hoped he hadn’t gotten a close look at me. Or the license plate.
Hellhound was still laughing. “Jesus Christ, darlin’, where’d ya learn to drive like that?”
“Bruce taught me. We used to drag a lot, back in the day.” I grinned hugely, feeling the rush blooming into euphoria. “Goddamn, that was fun!” I let out a whoop of my own, and the laughter bubbled up. “Goddamn! I need to do that more often!”
I shot a grin into the rearview mirror at Dave slumped gasping in the back seat. “You still with us, Dave?”
He clutched his chest, grey-faced and sweaty. “Think I’m having a heart attack.”
“Shit!” Terror flash-froze the blood in my veins. I glanced at Arnie’s suddenly grim face. “Rockyview?”
“Yeah.” He turned to lean over the back of the seat. “Hang on, buddy, we’ll get ya to the hospital. Gimme your wrist for a sec. Just gonna take your pulse.”
“No, it’s okay,” Dave muttered. “I was just kidding. I’m okay. Keep going.”
“Ya don’t look like you’re kiddin’.”
I shot another fearful look in the mirror. He really didn’t look like he was kidding. He looked like he was in serious trouble.
Arnie gently pulled Dave’s arm toward him and clamped his fingers over the pulse point. “Ya got chest pain?”
Dave took a deep breath. “No, it’s gone now.”
“What’d it feel like?”
“Just a sharp pain.” Dave didn’t sound so breathless now.
“Like crushin’ or squeezin’? Any pain in your arm or your jaw? Ya feel sick? Dizzy?”
“No.” Dave took another deep breath. “Just a jab. Probably just a muscle spasm. I’m okay now.”
Arnie and I exchanged a look. “His pulse’s slowin’ down,” Arnie said dubiously. “An’ he’s gettin’ his colour back.”
I turned off the street into a back alley and pulled over so I could twist around and examine Dave. He did look better. He was breathing normally, and the sickly pallor was gone from his skin.
“Have you ever had your heart checked?” I demanded.
“Yeah. It’s fine. Really, I’m okay.”
“When did you get it tested last?”
“Last year. Had to have the physical for my Class One driver’s license.”
“Have you ever had a muscle spasm like that before?” I studied him, feeling guilty all over again.
“Yeah. Lots of times. No big deal. Let’s go.”
“Dave, if you’re lying to me…”
He gave me a twisted grin. “What, if I die, you’re gonna kill me?”
“Uh, yeah. Something like that. Wise guy.”
“Come on, let’s go,” he said.
I turned back to the steering wheel. Stopped.
“Go where?” I asked.
I turned to Arnie in the silence that followed. “What did you find out?”
He snorted. “Found out those assholes had a coupla friends after all.”
“Did you, um, do anything we don’t need to know about?” I asked carefully.
“Nah. That was them shootin’ at me, not the other way around. My guy didn’t know anythin’ yet, an’ I was just leavin’ when those two assholes showed up.”
“They seemed a little testy.” I took a deep breath and tried to stop trembling. It didn’t work. My entire body vibrated.
“Yeah.”
“So now what?” I asked. “Do you have any more ideas about how we can find Nichele? All we need to do is find out where James is holding her. Then we can pass it on to Spider and let them take care of it.”
Dave leaned forward over the seat. “You mean we’re not going to rescue her?”
“I think that’s better left to the professionals,” I said. “We’re just a bunch of dumb civilians, remember? We’d probably put her in more danger than ever if we went charging in.”
“But… you’re not… you’ve got a gun. We’ve got two guns between us. We could…”
“Ya been watchin’ too many movies, Dave,” Hellhound interrupted. “That ain’t the way it works in real life. In real life, the dumb civilians interfere an’ everybody ends up dead.”
“But…”
We all froze at the sound of rapidly approaching sirens, but they didn’t slow as they passed the alley.
“Pull in under that carport,” Hellhound instructed. “They’ll have their bird up in a few minutes. We’re far enough away they won’t find us in a ground search, but we don’t wanna get seen from the air. We can just lie low ‘til they give up.”
I eased the car cautiously under the sagging roof of the abandoned building and parked.
Hellhound exhaled tiredly and turned to me. “We gotta kill time until tonight. I’m set up to meet my guy again then. Different place this time,” he added as I opened my mouth to protest. “Maybe ya should see if ya can talk to Webb again, see if they got anythin’ new.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I agreed slowly. “I don’t want you to have to take a chance if Spider’s already got the information. But I can’t get in touch with him during the day. He’ll be at work. He wouldn’t be playing World of Warcraft.”
“Shit.”
We sat in silence for a few moments. Tension coiled up in my belly like a poisonous snake.
“This is stupid,” I burst out finally. “What the hell are we doing? We’re living out of a fucking car, for chrissakes. And why? You guys haven’t done anything wrong. Arnie, I’m taking you home, and Dave, you’re going to the hospital for a checkup. Then you can both get on with your lives.”
Arnie’s hand closed over mine as I reached for the shifter. “We had this conversation, darlin’. Dave’s in trouble with the law, an’ I got a contract out on me. An’ neither of us is gonna leave ya. So fuck that.”
“I really don’t think Kane will press charges against Dave,” I argued. “Not after he has a chance to explain. And we don’t know for sure there’s a contract out on you.”
“Yeah, an’ by the time we find out for sure, Dave gets arrested an’ I get dead. I ain’t likin’ that scenario,” Hellhound growled. “If I gotta die, fine, but I ain’t gonna die of bein’ stupid.”
My tension exploded into violent irritation, and I threw up my hands. “Well, that’s just fucking fine! If you refuse to show any fucking sense of self-preservation, anybody got any ideas about where we should go today? Maybe a nice trip to the zoo? Calaway Park? Or we could all get ice cream and sing fucking campfire songs. That’d be fun.”
“Uh, Calaway Park’s closed for the season,” Dave said nervously.
“Well, I guess it’s the zoo, then,” I snarled. “Everybody hold hands and stay together.”
Arnie broke the short silence. “Ya okay, Aydan?”
I clenched my hands around the steering wheel to prevent myself from punching something else with my already aching fists. “Fine,” I grated.
Most men would have wisely shut up at that point.
“Bullshit,” Hellhound said.
I loosened my grip on the wheel, one finger at a time. “I’m going for a walk,” I said very quietly, and got out of the car.
Chapter 29
I’d only taken a few strides when I he
ard the car door open and close behind me. Seconds later, Hellhound caught up to walk beside me. Overhead, the sound of the police helicopter swelled, but it passed over us without pausing and its rhythmic roar began to wax and wane as it flew circles near the railroad track.
After a few dozen paces, Hellhound spoke. “What’s wrong?”
“Where do I start?” I growled.
“Why’re ya mad at us for tryin’ to help?”
“I’m not mad at you.”
He caught my arm and swung me to face him. “Ya told me I could treat ya like my guy friends. So don’t gimme this ‘nothin’s wrong’ chick bullshit. What the hell’s wrong?”
I bit down my first response. Then my second. On the third try, I managed speech about the same time I managed to unclench my fists. “I didn’t say nothing’s wrong,” I said evenly. “I said I’m not mad at you, and I’m not. I just want you to be safe. I’m upset because you won’t cooperate.”
“I told ya, darlin’, I ain’t leavin’ when ya need me.”
Frustration burst out of me. “I don’t need you! For chrissake, go away and be safe!”
I should have known better than to hope he’d get mad and leave. Instead, he eyed me soberly. “Ya keep sayin’ that. Why’s it such a big deal for ya to not need anybody?”
I scowled. “I didn’t say it’s a big deal, and I don’t keep saying that, I just said-”
“Back in March,” he interrupted. “Ya said, ‘I don’t need you or anybody else to babysit me. I can take care of myself. I always have. I always will.’” He frowned down at me. “Why’s it such a big thing for ya?”
“You and your goddamn photographic memory.”
He said nothing, watching me.
I blew out a breath between my teeth. “Look, every single person I ever needed is dead. The part of me that needs people died with them. I’m not trying to hurt you, I’m just saying, I don’t need you, or anybody. I’m not capable of it anymore.”
He took my hand in a gentle grip. “Aydan, ya know I don’t want ya to need me, an’ I ain’t askin’ ya for that. I just want ya to trust me enough to let me help ya.”
I took a deep breath and met his eyes. “You know I trust you.”
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