“Um, sorta.Well, yeah, but—”
“That’s kinda cool,” she said, her eyes widening.
“Yeah, I…I guess so.”
“Maybe you can show me your motorcycle some time,” Mia said.
“Uh…uh…yeah, sure. I mean, that could be cool.”
“Well, here’s your food,” Mia said, handing Train two large paper bags, which he passed back to us. “I guess I’ll see you at school, Kier—I mean Jester.”
As soon as we pulled away, our young passenger lit up like a pinball machine.
“Holy shit! Did you guys see that? She knew who I was. Mia Foster knew my name, and she wants me to show her my bike. Oh, shit. I need a bike. Holy shit, she smiled at me. Mia Foster smiled at me and she thinks I’m cool. I’m gonna have a heart attack.”
“You’re welcome,” Train said as we headed for the clinic.
“Yo, seriously though. Thank you guys for food and stuff,” Kieren said, his voice turning serious. “It’s not my mom’s fault that I miss meals sometimes, ya know? She’s just really sick and sometimes her meds make her feel even worse and the only thing she can do is sleep. Sometimes I gotta take care of her and I guess I don’t always take care of me or whatever.”
“No one here is judging you or your mom,” I said. “And you’re right, you’re not a kid. It takes a man to step up like you do. Taking care of your mom like that. I’m sure she’s proud as shit ofyou.”
Kieren smiled for the first time, and I felt a strange sense of pride in him. I didn’t know why but this scrappy little pup had wormed his way into my heart over the course of a single car ride. Of course, I had no idea at the time just how much Jester would come to mean to me and my family in the time to come.
Rooster
“HEY,” I BARKED as Train and Jester inhaled the contents of the greasy paper sacks. “Hands off the Flingers.”
I knew that Katie’s clinic closed early on Saturdays but that she always worked for a few hours after closing to catch up on office administration work. I also happened to know that Katie’s favorite guilty pleasure was Derby’s Onion Flingers and since I’d grabbed two large orders, I was hoping she’d appreciate the gesture. Let’s face it, I was looking to score points withher any way I could.
As soon as we pulled into the clinic parking lot, I knew something was wrong. Katie’s car was parked in the lot, but the entire building was blacked out.
“Why are the lights off?” I asked out loud.
“I thought you said they’d be closed,” Train said.
“They are, but the sign out front and the external flood lights should still be on. Somethin’s not right.”
“I’m gonna pull around to the back,” Train said.
“Good idea.”
As we reached the rear entrance of the building, we saw two bikes parked near the door.
“Hey, that’s Ratcatcher’s chopper,” Jester said.
“You recognize those bikes?”
“Yeah. They’re Ratcatcher and Ripper’s bikes. Those guys are fucking assholes.”
“You heavy?” I asked.
Train opened the glovebox and pulled out a .38. “Yup,” he replied.
“Stay put,” I said to Jester, pulling my Beretta 92 from my waistband.
We climbed out of the van and just as our boots hit the ground, Ratcatcher came out the back door. He had a pistol in his hand and he wasn’t alone. With him was a Spider I knew fromthe old days named Ripper, and with him was Katie, whom he held at knifepoint.
“Take one more step and I cut your girlfriend’s throat,” Ripper ordered.
