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When I pressed the rifle’s muzzle to his head, he went silent.

His angry gaze turned to me before he spat out, “They’re going to kill you.”

“I don’t care,” I replied. “Where’s the girl?”

“We took turns with her, then dumped her out there. Go enjoy our sloppy seconds.”

“Don’t waste time baiting me into killing you quickly,” I said and dug my boot’s heel into his belly. “I’m in no hurry.”

Vinny’s hollering sounded exceptionally loud in the quiet night. I kicked away the gun he tried to pull on me.

“I can make you scream more,” I said, standing over him. “Or I can make your exit quick.”

“I’m waiting for my family. They're going to kill you and the bitch.”

“Did she do this?” I asked, smiling coldly. “I assume she took out Aaron. But Greg in the back seat was your doing, right?”

“My dad’s going to kill you.”

Kneeling, I smacked away his hands holding his wound. My fingers dug into the bloody mess. Vinny screamed and grabbed at me.

“Tell me where the girl is, and I’ll leave you to wait for your daddy.”

Vinny glared at me and shoved away my hand. “I don’t know where the cunt went. She ran off like a dumb bitch.”

Shoving Vinny onto his stomach, I opened the back passenger door and yanked Greg’s body. The falling corpse pinned Vinny to the ground.

As he whined, I flipped the light on my rifle and searched for signs of where Goldie might have headed. I noticed blood on the ground next to a ditch. If I were Goldie, I would have aimed for this location where the drop offered temporary cover.

Scanning the ditch with my light, I spotted signs that she had dragged herself through the mud. Before following her trail, I called Zodiac.

“Vinny seems to think his daddy is coming to save him,” I said after explaining the situation.

“Our snitch reported his dad and brother, along with another former Black Rainbow member, left in a rush around the time you did.”

“What’s the call here? Do we alert the police and let them handle it?”

“Will Vinny survive?”

“If he gets to the hospital right away, he might live.”

“No reason to let that happen. Find Goldie and stay put. Clint and his people are flying toward you now. Arkansas is their backyard. Let them figure out the legal situation. You just stay alive. I’m not interested in choosing a new road captain.”

With Zodiac getting soft and sentimental, I hung up and began tracking Goldie. Before I got too far, I considered she might be armed and trigger-happy.

I decided to play a band on my phone that she mentioned liking. As the B-52s warned her of my approach, I moved along the muddy ground. Goldie’s size allowed her to access areas I couldn’t fit through. I was forced to climb out of the ditch and search for another way to follow her tracks.

I shoved my way through overgrown trees with branches woven together enough to nearly block my path. Breaking through the mess of vegetation, I ducked down and listened.

“Goldie?” I said in a hushed voice. “It’s York. Can you hear me?”

The silence lingered. I inched deeper into the brush, still playing the music as I searched for Goldie through my rifle’s night scope. I spotted a form that might be her pressed to a tree.

“If you shoot me, I’m never going down on you again,” I muttered and moved forward.

“Will you still lick my clit if I only graze you?” Goldie asked in a weak, rough tone.

Following her voice, I found Goldie next to a different tree. I knelt in front of her and handed her a thermos of water.