I follow Caterpillar down the side road until we reach the end. There’s a house, but we pull off to the side of it, heading out into the open field toward the trees. Once we have cover, he turns off his bike, jumping off to push it. I do the same.
“This doesn’t feel right,” I mumble.
“It’s only your what, fifth run? It happens from time to time,” he snaps back.
He’s one of the ones who don’t trust me. I think it’s why he volunteered to be a runner with me.
Now it makes me wonder if there might have been another reason.
“Give me the rest of the guns. We need to split up, and I don’t trust you,” he orders after several minutes of maneuvering rough terrain.
“I don’t think so. We stay together, or I take them. Panther trusted me with this. Unless he orders me, I’m not giving it up,” I spit back.
“Why? So you can take them to your pig buddies? No way.”
I snort. “Then we stick together.”
He doesn’t say anything, but I can see the tension in his shoulders.
We continue through the woods in silence for another thirty minutes. I’m sweating and my arms are aching by the time we get close to another road.
Caterpillar stops.
“Wait here. I’ll check it out,” he tells me.
I don’t say anything, but I don’t move to follow him as he leaves his bike, walking closer to the road. I can barely see him as he disappears onto the other side of the trees. He stands there for several minutes without a word.
As he does, I take the items from his bike and put them in mine. I’m ready to run should I need to. It’s quiet for another five minutes before he comes back.
“It’s clear.”
I nod. “I have your half. You can have it back.”
He glares at me. “Why would you touch my shit?”
“In case you ran into trouble. I could still get away. It’s for the best of the club.”
“One you aren’t part of,” he growls.
“You seem so sure I won’t be. Panther seems to want me in. What is holding you back?” I ask.
“You are a filthy pig. You played on the other side of the law. I can’t trust that you aren’t undercover all over again. After all, you played a demon for many months before you turned coat. I’m sure they had no idea who you were. At least we do.”
“Fair enough. I don’t need you to blindly give me your trust, but I do need you to follow orders. Panther wanted me here, so I’m here. Now let’s get going before they think something happened to us.”
“Whatever, man.”
Caterpillar takes his half back before we push our bikes out of the woods. As soon as we are on the road, we turn our bikes on and take off. The rendezvous point is fifteen minutes from where we ended up, and we don’t stop for anything. We are careful to follow the speed limit, not wanting to take any chances.
When we finally pull in, Talon is waiting with Eagle and Panther.
“What happened?” Panther asks as soon as we are off the bikes.
Caterpillar speaks up. “Nothing once we split off. It was a long trek in the woods, but no one showed up.”
Panther looks at me. I nod, telling him it’s the truth, but I give him a look. He clocks it and nods back. I know we will talk about it later.
“Switch off with Eagle and Talon. They will deliver the goods. You two head back to the clubhouse,” Panther says.
