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Swerve seemed reasonable, not nice or friendly, but matter of fact. Though she didn’t trust him with their lives, she trusted he’d follow Silvio’s instruction.
It wasn’t like they had anything in common to talk about and the weather seemed a ridiculous topic. Time passed. Road. Distance. And not a word was spoken.
“You surprise me,” Swerve said suddenly.
The echo of his voice startled her. “Surprise?”
“Not you. Dunn. Dunn surprises me.” The gun bounced against her neck when they hit a pothole. “You put yourself in the line of fire for her.”
“Not something you’d know about,” Jagg said. “Valuing another life.”
“I barely value mine,” Swerve said. “You’ve got all this time and not a single question?”
“Gave up asking about you long ago,” Jagg said. “You bullshit better than the best of them.”
“Thanks. I take that as a compliment.”
“Talking surprises, you’ve dealt one of your own,” Jagg said. “You’d really go to this trouble, put yourself on the line for a stupid newspaper story? You must owe Silvio big.”
“Had nothing better to do this week.”
To Swerve, threatening lives and intimidating people were just a way to pass the time, like a regular person might read a book or go for a walk.
“Yeah, but you’ve gotta worry about your own skin.”
“My life—”
“Your skin,” Jagg said, his voice deep. “Your kin.”
“This where you threaten me?”
“This is where I remind you they you just insulted Ford and threatened his sister.” A beat passed. Then another. “Don’t guess that’s fun. But I wouldn’t know, I don’t have a sister… You ever been in that boat? Someone ever threatened yours? Guess you don’t know if you haven’t spoken to her recently. Last I heard, she was giving her daddy the run around. What flunky’s on her tail now?”
“Now I see where you get your funny from, Funny.” Swerve did not sound amused. “I don’t give a fuck about that bitch, and she doesn’t give a shit about me. Want to do me a favor, Dunn? Find her and kill her.”
“No one is killing anyone else,” she said. “There’s been too much killing. What is the point of this meeting? What does Silvio want? If you’re taking me here to hurt me—”
“Hurting you would be easy, then we risk your paper taking on a mission. This is your last chance to be reasonable. If you don’t come to an agreement, bodies will start dropping.”
“Why do you still do it?” Jagg asked like he honestly wanted to know. “Run around after the asshole who’s given you nothing?”
“That’s where you and me are different, Dunn. I don’t want anything from anyone.”
“No one gave me shit, and I’m not running around after a dictator.”
“You’re still one of his favorites, he’ll be upset to know you talk about him like this.”
“You forgetting who I am? We ran together back in the day. I know what you think of that man.”
“You don’t know dick.”
Why was Jagg riling the guy? So far the day had been fraught enough, they didn’t need to go inviting trouble.
“Is Silvio alone?” she asked, trying to cut the tension.
“Need to wait and find out, Funny.”
Keeping them on the back foot gave the other side the advantage. Jagg. Her own safety came second to his. He’d stood up for her, put himself in front of her.
