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Brian gave Jimmy the directions to where Jace had told Brian that he had to ride with Beck. Even telling Jimmy that made the bile rise to the back of his throat. He swallowed and said, “She and I will ride there. She won’t think anything of it until we get off our bikes and she’ll wonder why we’re at the ass end of nowhere.” Jimmy laughed. Brian could imagine him rubbing his hands together anticipating the day.
When Brian had asked why Cruz or someone else couldn’t ride out into the desert with Beck, rather than himself, Jace had told him, “Someone like Jimmy would never believe that a Joker would be stupid enough to ride to an isolated place in the desert at the request of someone he’d met days earlier.”
“OK, yeah, I get that,” Brian said. “So, maybe I should tell Jimmy to meet somewhere else. Somewhere where Cruz might ride alone with Eden.”
“No! You don’t tell us how to do shit like this, Brian. We know how motherfuckers like Jimmy think. It’s because we know that, that this will work. Any other way and he’ll know we’re onto him. We get one chance for it to work, and this is it.” Brian nodded reluctantly. “You tell Jimmy that Eden has only just met Cruz, and Jimmy will think she will still be green and do like you tell her.”
“OK,” he said. And that’s what he did…telling Jimmy exactly what he was told to say.
The next day they all rode to Amarillo, but not before throwing Jimmy into confusion by sending some of them in one direction when they left the resort, and some in the other. They didn’t want Jimmy to see Eden on Cruz’s bike. She didn’t look like Beck. Beck and Eden were about the same height, at 5'6" and 5'7", but Beck had wild, curly, light-blonde hair and Eden’s was long, wavy, and brunette. They didn’t have time to do anything about that, so this was a simpler option. Jimmy didn’t really know what Cruz looked like and he couldn’t tell his bike from the others.
Brian felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as soon as they did that, so he pulled over to the side of the road and called Jimmy back.
“What the fuck’s happening?”
“Nothing, Jimmy. Why?” Brian had answered quickly to keep Jimmy happy, and he knew what the call was about, but made it seem like it wasn’t a problem.
“They left in different directions,” Jimmy said.
“Yeah, they do that. Some of them like to look at different places along the way.”
“So, who the fuck do I follow?” Jimmy asked.
“Doesn’t matter. We will all be in Amarillo this afternoon.”
“You sure?”
“Sure, I’m sure. They know nothing. They always meet up. It’s no different today.”
“You better be fucking right.”
“You’ll see that I am. Just head to Amarillo and I will text where we’re staying when I find out.” Jimmy ended the call and Brian chased the slow-riding group he was told to follow till he caught back up.
Jace and Beck were already there when they arrived in Amarillo. Brian was introduced to them, then he texted Jimmy the name of the campground they were staying at. Soon after he saw Jimmy’s F150 cruise by. Brian gave him a thumbs up and went back to the group. They’d be taking turns that night watching out for Jimmy in case he had other plans for them while they were sleeping.
* * *
“So that’s the plan…everyonehappy with it?” Jace asked. They all nodded in agreement. “And you’re sure you can follow this through?” he asked Brian.
Brian nodded his head, but Jace wanted him to say so. “Well? You can do this?” he asked Brian once again.
Brian nodded again. He was shaking all over, and Jace wasn’t so sure he could handle the stress, so he needed to hear him say it. “Say it.”
“I can do this,” Brian said in a meek voice. Jace didn’t break eye contact until Brian repeated “I can do this” once again.
“Good, because if anything goes wrong, I’ll kill ya.”
Brian eyes were wide, and his face was as white as a ghost. He looked like he was having trouble breathing. He grabbed his stomach and doubled over emptying his breakfast at Jace’s feet.
Jace shook his head and said, “You’ve got twenty minutes to settle down and then you will ring Jimmy. You will follow Beck and you will do exactly what she tells you, no matter what that is. Do that and you will see tomorrow. Got it?”
Brian was still doubled over. “Yes…I’ve got it. I can do this…I can.”
They had no choice. They knew Jimmy would only deal with Brian, and Jimmy had to believe that Brian was helping him out.
Twenty minutes later Brian texted Jimmy, “We’re coming,” and he and Beck rode to the desert where Jimmy would be waiting.
Jace and the other Skulls, and the Jokers, rode further behind, after hearing back from Collin that he’d seen Jimmy’s truck en route to the destination.
