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He comes to a dead stop, glaring at me. “The hell I will, Jax. And take the fall for all of it? Those two guards are dead. There’s no coming back from that or talking our way out of it. It’s the death penalty as I’m sure you know.”
“Staying with the Renegade Knights is too,” I snap at him, but he shakes his head.
“I can make myself useful to them,” he says. “I know my way around computers and Snake tells me they need someone like that. And you’re already useful to them, aren’t you?”
I shrug since he’s expecting an answer.
“They can’t be trusted,” I add.
“We don’t have a choice, now do we?” he says, sounding more confident than I’ve ever heard him. And kind of like the Renegades are growing on him. He might not even want to come with me when I make a run for it.
“What are you two whispering about back there?” Snake shouts as he wades back towards us.
“He needs to rest his leg,” I shout back and get a nasty look from Gene.
“I’m good,” he announces and starts moving again.
“No stopping until we get to the mine,” Snake commands.
“Among other things, a mine is a good place to hide bodies you don’t want found,” I whisper once Snake turns and starts making lots of noise as he stomps through the under bush.
Gene gasps and turns to me sharply, almost losing his balance in the process. “You think they will kill us. But your father—”
“Doesn’t have a lot of say in what happens and I’m not sure he’d stick up for me if push came to shove. He never was much of a father to me.”
Gene gives me a look that’s part pity and part annoyance that I’m whining.
I think I can hear the sounds of cars whooshing by at high speed somewhere to my left. That could only mean a highway. And if I can hear it, I can find it.
A plan starts unfolding in my head on its own. Reach the highway. Find a truck stop along it, which can’t be further away than 20 miles. Wait until nightfall, then steal some clothes and money from one of the truckers. Maybe even a gun. Steal a car. Head for Seattle. Find Harper. Make sure she’s safe. Make sure she knows how much I love her. Make sure she knows I’ll never leave her again. Make sure she takes me back.
A loud blast of a truck’s horn cuts through the fantasy of reuniting with Harper, which already started playing in my mind.
It is a highway I’m hearing and we’re close to it. I might not get a better chance to make a run for it.
Gene is lagging behind again and I stop to wait for him.
“I’m breaking away,” I tell him, still wondering if I should. But he’s been a good friend to me so far and I gotta at least ask if he wants to join me.
He looks at me with eyes so wide I’m almost expecting them to pop out and dangle off thin wires.
“Why?” he says after a couple of seconds of trying to formulate that question, which made him look constipated and shocked at the same time.
I had told him about Harper, or rather, the girl I had to leave behind, but that was way in the beginning of my sentence and if he’s staying, I’m not about to remind him of that.
“I don’t trust the Renegades,” I say instead.
“But you promised them help chasing down that other club, the Devil something or other,” he wheezes.
That club can’t be chased down, I could say. Or,those are my brothers. But not if he’s staying.
“You should come with me,” I say instead of that.
He shakes his head without even thinking about it. “A cripple like me needs the safety of numbers, I think. Especially if he’s also a convict on the run.”
“They might kill you once they realize I’m gone,” I warn him.
He shrugs. “I’m very close to getting killed any way you look at it. But I talk a good game and can sell myself and my skills. Besides, I’ll just slow you down.”
