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We slow down, and Jeffco runs out, quickly turning it off and on three times.
A team of seven men come down from the rocks.
“Who are you and why did you give the sign?” one man asks.
“Jeffco. I come with one of the High Priests from down south. I used to roll with the Hangmen. Get your leader, Iago,” he says. “Quick. The Hunters are on our tail.”
The man steps into the light and nods toward Jeffco. “Yeah, I remember you. Where’s your partner?” he asks, looking into the distance.
The Hunters have stopped and turned off their engines.
“Shot dead,” he says. “Kaine. The fucking Hunters.”
“Come through,” he says, pointing to the right at an opening of rocks near us. “You’ve got our protection for now.”
“You just saved our lives,” Jeffco says. “I owe you something big.”
We drive through to a small settlement. I still have the gun in my hand, and I’m trembling. Rowan glances at me, and I can see in his eyes just how distraught he is over everything.
“I’m proud of you,” he says. “But I never wanted to get you involved.”
It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m already in this for good now. I’ve seen too much. I’ve done too much, too fast.
I killed two Hunters. I’m a part of their dark world.
I’m totally fucked, and not in the way I wanted to be.
21
Rowan
I step into the compound, surrounded by men with familiar faces. “I’m sorry to put you up like this, Iago,” I say.
Iago, a short man of about forty, twists his mustache. “I heard what happened to you. And then I heard about Ash. Those bastards deserve to pay. It’s time for your retribution, my friend.”
“I just want things to go back to the way they were,” I say. “I want my crew back. I want my home. We were all doing well. Making money. I’m tired of this bloodshed.”
But things won’t ever be the same, and that’s the big fucking elephant in the room. Iago knows it, I know it, Jeffco knows it.
I know for a fact Caroline knows it, more than any of us. She shot some Hunters tonight. That takes transformation.
Jeffco sighs and takes off his vest. “It’s been a long fucking day. Too long,” he says.
He looks over at Caroline. “Who the hell are you?”
Around her wrists are the light markings from her chains. There aren’t any shackles around here to keep her down. She’s not running.
Surprisingly, she stands up and faces Jeffco.
“I’m the woman you underestimated,” she says.
Jeffco laughs harder than I’ve ever seen anybody laugh before. It’s contagious. Iago starts laughing, too. “What’s so funny?” he asks.
“This woman was our hostage,” Jeffco says.
“She saw some things,” I interrupt.
“He thought I might tell on them. But I’m not a snitch,” she says.
