A weary nod tipped my head forward. “Something like that.”
Cam dropped a heavy hand on my arm. “Protecting people from the truth is hard fucking work, eh?”
It really was.
“You’ve done the right thing, though,” Cam went on, “keeping it close. My sister is a Rottweiler. She’d want her own gun if she knew this cunt was still out there.”
“She has her own gun,” I reminded him. “Alexei gave it to her, remember?”
Cam snorted. “All right. She’d want to know where her own gun currentlyis, and I can’t allow that. Do you understand?”
He was telling me in no uncertain terms that I had to keep this shit to myself even more than I already had. That if I didn’t, Orla was at risk. Of course I fucking understood. “You and me. Saint, Alexei, Ranger. No one else.”
“Rubes knows some.”
“He knowsenough. Let’s clean this shit up and leave it where it belongs.”
Cam nodded. “Agreed.”
He poured more rum. I drank it, letting the harsh booze burn my raw stomach. Latching onto it. I wasn’t much of a masochist, but this shit felt right.
Necessary.
A phone buzzed. There were three on the table.
Cam picked one up and read the incoming message meant for me, a grimace deepening his frown. “Alexei. The vans and bikes from tonight haven’t come up on ANPR.”
Meaning they’d stuck to the countryside back roads. For better or worse, we’d lost them.
I wet my dry lips. “There’s something else.”
Cam lit a cigarette and passed it to me, a habit he’d picked up from Alexei. As if that one toke would ever be enough. “Same subject?” My face said it all, and he braced himself. “Go on.”
“That room tonight. Some of that blood was fresh and there were drag marks on the floor.”
“As if they’d moved someone out recently?”
I nodded, smoking hard. “Dead or alive, we couldn’t tell.”
“Jesusfuck.” Cam sparked another cigarette. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
I cringed. “No. I can’t. I’ve got no fucking bandwidth left. I’m at capacity.”
“I hear you, brother. You should get some rest. We can talk more later.”
“About what?”
Cam leaned back in his seat. “About that arsehole mechanic you battered. He’s come to me with something we can’t ignore or get around by beating the shit out of him.”
I digested that, crushing my smoke in an ashtray that was as old as we were. But try as I might, I couldn’t imagine Bear the Dumbfuck Mechanic having a real conversation with anyone, least of all Cam. “It can wait till church?”
Cam’s face did something complicated. “I’m not bringing this to the council. It’s gonna kill me to bring it to you, but it’s how it’s gotta be.”
It was the way of it sometimes. Him and me. How many times had we sat at this table and faced down the world alone? Too many to count, and I had no regrets. I’d signed up for this with my eyes wide open. “I’m riding out tonight and every fucking night until this Crow bullshit is settled. If you need me beforehand, you’ll have to find me.”
“I will,” Cam promised, rising with me as I dragged myself from my chair. “Can I give you some advice before you knock out?”
“If you have to.”
