Spud lay on his side, his busted knee resting on the ground. He wanted to reach out to Pip, but he couldn’t. He had failed. He ran a gentle finger across where his kneecap should have been and felt the hole, the nerves coming alive with even that little bit of touch.

“Spud’s a liability. You know what that word means?”

Pip’s chest shook as he fought to hold in the cry.

“It means that he causes more problems than he’s worth.”

“He’s… hurt,” Pip said, pushing the words out between hard sobs.

“Listen to me!” Reed shouted. “There’re two men chasing us. They’re hunting us, and it’s Spud’s fault.”

Spud wanted to call out to Pip, but his throat had seized shut.

“We need to get away from here,” Reed said. “Go someplace where it’ll be just you and me, a family. You want that, don’t you? But we can’t take Spud with us. He’s the reason those men are chasing us. And if they catch us, we can’t be a family. You’ll be all alone. So the question is… what do we do with Spud?”

Reed walked to Spud and took a knee at his side. “A man has to be smart about stuff like this,” Reed said more gently. “I want you to be smart, like me. I want you to think with your head. So tell me… should we kill Spud?”

“No!” Pip yelled.

Spud closed his eyes. Reed was putting this burden on the shoulders of a child. He swallowed hard and tried to speak. “This isn’t your doing, Pip.” The grunted words barely made it past his lips. “Remember that. Whatever happens, it’s not you.”

Reed jabbed a knuckle into Spud’s shattered knee. Spud choked on the pain.

Reed said, “Because of you, I’ve got men on my tail, so you can shut the hell up.” He returned his attention to Pip. “You’re right, Pip. We shouldn’t kill him. Do you know why?”

Pip didn’t answer.

“If we kill Spud, those men who are chasing us will keep chasing us. But if we wound him… well, maybe they’ll stop and help him. One of the men might even stay behind. Either way, we stand a better chance of getting to Loon Falls if Spud here stays alive. The question remains, how much alive should we leave him?”

Reed brought the gun up to his chest where Spud could see it. “Now, if you were to tell me how to get at that cryptocurrency…”

Spud thought about the knife in his pocket. Reed was close enough, but there was no way to get it out without Reed stopping him. Reed was offering a deal that Spud knew would never be honored. Whatever Reed had in mind for him was going to happen regardless of the money.

“Tell me how to get it and I’ll let you go with a bum knee. That’s not so bad.”

Spud tried to control his breathing enough to speak. “Password… Fuck you Reed… all caps.”