“Yeah, I do.” The edge was off now that Rick was in the picture.
“Okay. I will call in my guys to case the perimeter. They got semi-automatics. I have some camera gear as well, right in my car. Will take me a couple of hours to test and set up.”
“We already have a camera.”
Rick pointed to the inside. “You need a camera for the inside panel so you can see out the front who is coming in. I can set it up on the computer and wire it. You also need a camera around the back. All sides.”
“Okay. I gotta call Ryder too. I need him to check negotiations between Palo and us. He needs to know now.” I let the last of the beer slide down. I kept repeating myself about Ryder. But first I wanted to tell Misty...
“Looks like things are getting pretty real, huh?”
“Doesn’t get much realer. I didn’t come here for this, but we gotta defend our territory.”
Rick pointed to the banner on the side of the wall. “That’s the code. I guess I’m putting it to the test now.”
“You sure are. Welcome to being an Outlaw.”
“Proud to be in. Let’s do this.”
EIGHTEEN
MISTY
My hair sat on top of my head like a bird’s nest and I hadn’t been to class for the last two days. My nerves were shot and now my own brother was looking at me like the enemy.
“So you heading to class today?” he asked innocently as I made my morning coffee.
“I’m not feeling too good today, so I think I’m going to just stay home.”
“Uh-huh. Are you coming down with something?”
“Yeah, I might be.” I averted my eyes from his and moved past him with my coffee to the bedroom. I didn’t have any major tests, but Shauna was texting me like crazy.
“Girl where have you been? I missed you yesterday. You good?”
“I’m fine, I'm just not feeling good.”
“Really? Want me to bring you some chicken soup?"
“No I’m ok thank you see you tomorrow”
“Ok well get better xx”
The guilt ate at me a little. I knew ultimately I could talk to Shauna, but something made me pull back. I texted Diego so Palo, the sneaky bastard wouldn’t hear me on the phone. I let my fingers do the typing.
“Hey are you ok. I’m worried.”
“Call you later gotta handle some things.”
I frowned and lay back on the bed with my hands over my chest. My heart was ka-booming out of it. My central nervous system felt like it was about to explode. I tried to get up and clean my room. I tried to sit and say a prayer to Santa Maria. It didn’t work. Nothing was working. Thirty agonizing minutes passed.
“Hey, baby.” A flat-sounding Diego had finally called.
“Hey, honey. I don’t know why I had this bad feeling. I might be paranoid.” I kept my panicked voice low.
“You’re not.”
“I’m not what?” I was confused.
