I slipped the biker’s knife between his ribs. He grimaced, moaned, and went limp. I cut off his head, shook his ashes from his shackles, and carried them to the living room.

Edgar was lying on the couch. He sat up when I came in. He was a big man, bigger than Jesse, and looked old enough to be his father. He asked me who I was.

“None of your business,” I replied.

“He’s simple,” Jesse said. “Ignore him.”

“You’re rovers too?” I said.

“I’m the man that saved your life,” Jesse said, “and this is my brother.”

He bent and pulled my knife out of Beaumont. I asked what he was up to.

“He double-crossed me,” Jesse said. “I want him to see my face before I dust him.”

“I can’t let you kill him,” I said.

“Try and stop me.”

I pointed the .45.

“I’m taking him with me,” I said.

“What for?”

“To hunt with.”

“Hunt?”

“Rovers.”

Jesse smirked. “And I should let you?” he said.

“You owe me,” I said. “Your brother’d be dead if I hadn’t shot those two when I came in.”

Jesse thought this over, then dropped my knife. “Go on,” he said.

I told him I’d need help getting the man to my truck.

“You’ll have to haul me up,” he said. “I took a bullet to the gut, and I’m not quite right yet.”

He grabbed my arm when I reached out, yanked me off balance, and snatched the .45 out of my hand. Pointing it at me, he stood on his own and said, “Any other weapons you’ve got, drop them too.”

“I don’t have anything else,” I said, feeling like a fool for letting him get the jump on me.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said. “I mean to wipe out the rest of those bastards. I can do it myself, but it’d be quicker and easier with two. Fight with me, and you can have Beaumont once they’re dusted.”

“How much help do you think I’d be?” I said. “It took you all of two seconds to get my gun off me.”

“You handled yourself okay up to then.”

“And if I say no?”

“I’ll kill you and Beaumont right now.”

I’d lost a lot of blood from the cut on my head, and the adrenaline was wearing off, so, truthfully, at that moment I didn’t give a damn about Beaumont. I was only thinking about getting out of that house alive.

“What do you want me to do?” I said.

Jesse pointed at Sally’s chains. “Put those on Beaumont before he comes to.”

I had him all trussed up by the time he fluttered back to life a few minutes later.

“What happened here?” he said.

“Not what you planned,” Jesse said.

“You have me wrong.”