“No one has even remotely suggested you have dementia,” Byte said. “Ever.”
“Now that I think about it. You’ve been a pain in the ass all week. What gives, old man?” I asked.
Ranger huffed. “You’re right. I’ve been irritating the hell out of you all week. You remember that the next time you forget to send me to a haunted castle for a week. I could’ve been scaring the hell out of Dice and Ink forseven days!”
“All you had to do was say you wanted to go,” I told him.
“That’s rude,” Ranger grumbled. “Inviting yourself on other people’s vacations.”
“You’ll have to save your grievances for later,” I told him. “They should be here soon.”
“Why didn’tone of y’all mention this on the phone?” I demanded.
“We were going to, but we forgot about it after we saw the flashing lights,” Dash said.
“I’ve already called Walter,” Ranger said. “He’s on his way.”
I stepped closer and extended my hand. “What happens if you?—?”
Diablo showed his teeth and growled long and low, causing me to instinctively drop my hand and step away.
“I thought he’d let go by now,” Shaker added. “He clamped onto him as soon as they carried Ink away. He released him long enough for us to get him in the truck, but he wouldn’t let go when we got here.”
“We don’t have time for this shit.”
Thankfully, Walter arrived within a few minutes and quickly took in the situation. “Diablo,” he said firmly. “Release.”
Diablo snarled.
“Drop it,” Walter tried.
Diablo growled and shook No Nuts’s leg, causing him to groan—the first sound we’d heard from him.
“Drop it!” Walter repeated.
“Grrrrr!” Diablo replied.
Walter threw his hands in the air, bewildered. “I can keep trying or call Daphne, but I’ve never had to give him a command more than once.”
“I got this,” Ranger said confidently, raising a pistol.
Diablo looked at Ranger, released the leg, and backed away. Ranger promptly put a bullet in No Nuts’s head.
“Before y’all start,” Ranger said. “Diablo wasn’t going to let go for good unless that sack of shit was dead. As Prez said—we don’t have time for this. Problem solved.”
I wanted to be pissed, but he was right. We needed to get rid of No Nuts’s body and clean up anything indicating he’d ever been at the clubhouse so I could call the police about Elsie—if they didn’t show up before then.
“Dash and Duke, wrap him up and take him to the pond across the street. Use the dirt road. Roll him down the hill and make sure he’s out of sight. Use the same truck you brought him here in. Then, I want one of you to drive it to the farm and the other one to come back here.”
“Shaker, grab whoever’s around and start cleaning. Byte, wipe the camera feed.”
“Already done,” he said. “Can I get his phone?”
“Right,” Shaker said and pulled the phone from his pocket, sliding it across the table to Byte. “Sorry about that.”
“Fuck,” I breathed. I felt like I was forgetting something. Or someone.
“You need a board like the coaches use for football plays to keep up with everybody,” Ranger said.
