“Alright, alright.”
He almost sounded disappointed that it wasn’t Axle.
“Do you have beef with him besides this?”
Lane shook his head vigorously.
“I have beef with there being a fucking rat, period,” he said. “If it’s not him, then I suppose that should make me happy we’ve narrowed it down, but instead, all it makes me is frustrated that we haven’t caught said spy.”
He kicked the ground and sighed.
“We can’t assume that Axle is totally clean, but I’ll admit that tonight gives him some major points,” Lane said. “That would leave Father Marcellus, Butch, and Red Raven. I didn’t see anything from them tonight. I had Marc and Red Raven flank me on the drive over, and nothing happened. Couldn’t tell in battle, either, because we only covered for you before we pulled back. It’s just... fuck.”
“I know, man. I didn’t see Butch do anything either.”
Then a thought dawned on me.
“The Saints will probably do something to the rat because of this,” I said. “You have to think that they’re not going to take too kindly to being genuinely ambushed like so.”
“Which means we need to be on high alert.”
But I wasn’t about to get locked down for a situation that, honestly, was barely worse today than it was yesterday. The Saints were certainly likely to strike back at us... at some point. Even if they worked around the clock to get their tires repaired, it would be tomorrow before that happened, and when the Saints struck, they liked to do so with aggression, not with small groups.
And even if they attacked within twelve hours, I didn’t like my life being lived on the basis of “potential danger.”
“That’s good, but I do have plans tonight,” I said. “I’m already going to be a little late. Do I have—”
“With the nurse?”
Lane’s eyes finally lit up a bit. I think he was just happy to have something to discuss that wasn’t as heavy as the Reapers’ rat.
“What if it is, man?”
Lane smirked.
“If it is, I hope it works out great,” he said.
I smiled back... for a moment.
“Works out that she starts working out for us, or starts working out for me and her?”
Lane just shrugged and started laughing. I laughed too, even though I knew his non-answer gave me his honest reply.
“Just be careful, brother,” Lane said. “If they slashed your tires at Brewskis, after our little stunt, they’re going to be a lot more aggressive. I wouldn’t go there without another member of the Black Reapers for a spell.”
“You think that they’ll really turn that bar into a war zone, man?”
We all hated the idea. I think even the Fallen Saints hated the idea. I didn’t want to overstate its importance or make it sound like it was holy ground, but there was something genuinely important about having a shared space in which neither attacked the other. Call me crazy for a soldier, but...
Well, maybe I wanted to believe that there might finally be peace at some point.
Did I actually think it would happen? No, never. Lucius hated our guts too much. We hated his too much.
But the hope for a belief could go a long way. At some point, at some time... maybe there’d be peace. Just.
Maybe.
“After tonight, I’m not going to assume anything,” Lane said. “If you were going by yourself... well, look, think of it like this. You’ve got a civilian with you. Don’t do anything that’s going to imperil her. We don’t need the bad PR, and I don’t want that on my conscience.”
