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Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. Acknowledgments
  40. Discover More
  41. About the Author
  42. Also by Richard Lange

Jesse smacked him in the face with the .45 and ordered me to gag him with a biker’s bandana. Then Jesse and I walked up the road to get the truck. I parked in the driveway, and we carried Beaumont out to the camper and locked him in the crate.

Back in the house, Jesse got a blanket out of one of the bedrooms and took it to the patio. He wrapped up the body of a girl whose throat had been cut and told me and Edgar to take her out. He was holding Czarnecki’s .45 on me, but his gun hand shook as we laid her in the camper next to the box.

“Where to?” I said when we were all in the cab of the truck.

“Just drive,” he said.

I’m going to quit for now, baby, hopefully get to the rest later. It’s 2 p.m. Beaumont’s in the camper, and the brothers and I are in my room. Jesse’s guarding me from the table with the .45, Edgar’s asleep on one of the beds, and I’m on the other, feeling like Daniel in the lions’ den.

If I die helping this kid go after the bikers, you’ll never see what I’m about to write next, but I want to set it down anyway, say it in my mind, and send it out into the universe: I love you, baby. You’ve always been better than me, smarter than me, stronger than me. Remember the good times, that’s all I ask. Because that’s what I’ll be doing, seeing your sweet smile as I take my last breath.

24

24

W​HEN ANTONIA RETURNS BEAUMONT’S PHONE CALL, SHE’S thinking he has another job for them. People come to him for help, and if it’s a problem the Fiends can solve, he acts as go-between for ten percent of whatever they get for handling it. This call isn’t about a hit or a robbery, though. It’s about something better.

Unaware of Beaumont’s connection to the Fiends, the rover who dusted Bob asked him to contact them to see if there was some way to make amends. What the fool didn’t know is that Beaumont has been harboring his own grudge against him for years, something about a woman they both knew in the past. He’s coming to Vegas to meet with Beaumont, and Beaumont suggests the Fiends travel to Vegas, too, where he and they will settle both their scores at once.