“No, my bud Marcus grows those. Want some?”
“I want you to get to the stealing the guns part,” Huck said, tone surprisingly contained. I could see the frustration in the ticking of his jaw. But he was a dad. I bet this wasn’t his first attempt to get information out of unwilling people.
“Well, we got us some…ayahuasca.” He whispered the last word like it could summon the devil or something.
“And?”
“And we communed with nature, man. It was wild. And you see, He talked to me.”
“He? He who? The shaman?” Huck asked.
“No, no. God, man. I talked to God.”
“Jesus,” Huck mumbled under his breath.
“Nah, man. Not that god. This was different. This was… Frog God.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Huck, reaching his breaking point, blurted out.
“Frog God, man. It was him. He talked to me. Told me all about my childhood and the world. And my place in it. And he said that we can’t be involved with guns. So we had to come back and get them.”
“Let me get this straight. You took drugs, hallucinated talking to a fucking frog, and suddenly had to renege on the gun deal?”
“It’s what He would want,” the guy said.
“Holy fucking shit. I can’t,” Huck said, throwing up a hand, then moving back a step.
“If you wanted to take the guns back, why did you make a deal with someone else?” I asked.
“We didn’t. Scout’s honor,” he insisted, but he gave us a military salute.
“Then who has been trying to kill Noa? Who kidnapped her?”
“Someone tried to kill Noa?” Dwayne asked, pressing his hand to his heart. “No way. We love Noa.”
“She told me she can teach me how to pick a lock. I keep locking myself out of my car,” the dark-haired guy said.
“Someone kidnapped her?” the blond asked. “That’s so wrong, man. Consent is important.”
The back screen door snapped against the frame, and in walked York.
“We got ‘em,” he said, looking at Huck. “Zayn and Daniyal are loading them up now.”
“Loading up what?” the blond asked.
“Wildflowers,” Kylo said.
“Yeah? Love wildflowers. Super important for the bees. And, you know, if we don’t have bees… we all starve to death. Gnarly shit.”
“Alright. Someone call Velle. Send his ass over here to talk to these fucks,” Huck said, gesturing toward the stoners.
It was a good call.
Out of all of us, Velle had the most patience. He would be able to get through all the stoner language and side quest conversations and make sure these guys weren’t bullshitting us.
“You and Kylo hang here and wait for him,” Huck said, talking to York. “You, come back to Arty’s with me. Take Kylo’s bike. He can have Seeley come scoop him up in the car.”
With that, we were on our way back to Miami.
