Page 13 of Gage

Havoc took the gate control. Smoke stayed near Preacher, and I put one prospect inside the clubhouse with clear instructions to keep the rear corridor open. The terms were simple enough that nobody needed them twice.

The first black SUV appeared at one fifty-eight. A dark pickup followed and both stopped outside until I gave the signal. Havoc opened the gate far enough to admit them, then shut it again before anyone got out.

Four men came into the yard in plain clothes with visible sidearms. Javier Mora stepped from the SUV in a dark button-down and boots too clean for the dust. He had the build of a man who left physical work to other people and expected that to be mistaken for authority.

Vega got out of the passenger side.

I remembered him from the motel restaurant and the freight operation. His left hand stayed close to his body; the wrist Preacher had damaged was either stiff or still painful. He saw Preacher near the clubhouse door, then found me between Elena and the vehicles.

“Five minutes,” Preacher said. “Use them well.”

Vega stopped several feet away. “Tomas wants his daughter returned. She left while arrangements were being completed and took property that belongs to her father.”

Then Javier's attention traveled from Elena's face to her boots and back without apology. “You caused a great deal of trouble.”

“Then leaving me here should solve your problem.”

He shifted closer. “Your father and I reached an agreement.”

“I wasn't part of it.”

“But you were the point of it though.”

Javier used the measured tone of a man presenting terms. “You would have a house outside Deming and whatever you needed. You wouldn't have to work. Your father would know you're protected, and our families would have a reason to keep faith with each other.”

“I've got a home. I like my work, and I'm not interested in becoming proof that two men kept a deal.”

“This isn't about what you find interesting.”

“Then you've explained the problem better than I could.”

I watched his hands. Both hung loose beside him, but his weight had shifted onto the front of his boots and he kept taking space from Elena a few inches at a time.

Preacher didn't move. “You heard her.”

Vega addressed him instead. “You understand what keeping her means. Tomas offered an alliance. By interfering, you're making the Mora outfit part of your dispute.”

“They were part of it when they took the offer,” Smoke said.

Javier ignored him and held out one hand to Elena. “We're leaving.”

She looked at his open palm, then at his face. “No.”

“You've embarrassed your father enough.”

“I'm not discussing my father. I'm telling you I won't marry you.”

His hand dropped. “You think hiding behind these men changes anything?”

“I'm standing in front of them.”

For the first time since he arrived, Javier looked directly at me. His attention paused on my cut, then returned to the space between Elena and me before he stepped toward her.

I moved half a pace, enough that he saw it.

“Careful,” I said.

He smiled without humor and turned back to her. “Come here.”