Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(105)
“Are you okay?”
He laughed. “Yeah. No danger today. Just a ride. Didn’t want you to go to sleep without me telling you I love you one more time.”
“I love you. I love you so much.” There were tears in her words, and he didn’t want her sad.
“How was your day?”
“Okay. Boring, really. We just sat around, made food, ate food, talked, watched the kids. Tried to stay busy. We put a movie in and everybody watched that.”
“What movie?”
“We started to watch Harry Potter, but Gia thought it was boring, and you know how she gets, so pretty soon Bo thought it was boring, too, and they were both being drama queens. We ended up watching The Matrix.”
“With Gia and Bo?”
She laughed—he liked that sound much better than the tears. “They loved it. I know they couldn’t have understood it, but they were transfixed. The scene when Neo and Trinity go through the metal detectors to rescue Morpheus? Gia was literally jumping up and down and clapping her hands. That little girl is something else. She looks like a china doll, but she’s all tiger underneath.”
“Like her mom.”
Again, she laughed. “Yeah. Exactly.” She yawned. He was glad to hear it—a normal sound. Peaceful.
“You sound tired, babe. Get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow night.” With everything he had, he hoped he hadn’t just told her a lie.
“Okay. You, too. Rest. I love you, Badge. Come home to me.”
oOo
They made the three hundred and fifty miles or so to Amarillo in just about four hours. Traffic was light, law was absent, and they booked. But when Isaac dismounted at their meet-up with the Scorps, it took him three tries to get his leg over the seat. Badger caught Len’s eye; they said all they needed to in that look. Riding hard two days in a row was difficult but possible for Isaac when the end of that second day was home. This time, it was the beginning of the fight of their lives.
None of them was surprised by this. They’d had it all out in the Keep. Isaac would have to find deeper reserves of strength and endurance to get through this day. But no one had expected him to stay home. He was their President. They were fighting their worst enemy. Isaac was the vanguard. No question. But they would need to be right at his side.
Isaac stood still at his bike for a few minutes, but by the time the men were gathering up, and Bart was walking toward them with his men, he had buried all signs of pain or weakness. He met Bart in the center of the cluster of men, and they hugged long and hard, a weighty, almost violent embrace. Then Bart clasped the rest of the Horde likewise. When he backed away from Badger, he gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Damn, kid. You filled the f*ck out!”
Badger shrugged. He’d never be the behemoth of muscle that Isaac and Show were—or even Len or Bart or Tommy. He was built lean. But he worked hard, and through pain, to build all the mass that he could. He smiled a little, thinking of Adrienne’s fascination with the muscles that ran at an angle from his hips to his cock. She’d often lie on him, just tracing the line of one of those ridges over and over until he couldn’t take it anymore and rolled on top of her.
Bart gave him an odd look, and Badger realized that he’d been daydreaming. He grinned and shrugged again.
Bart introduced the men he’d brought with him: Connor, Lakota, Sherlock, Demon, Diaz, and Jesse.
They already knew P.B. “We are at your service, Isaac. Boss. Tell us what you need. We are in for it all.” He stepped closer, limiting his next words to the audience of the Horde. “And I’d like to join you when you face Santaveria. I know I don’t have a claim, because I’m not Horde…now. But Hav…I’d like to be in on that.”
Isaac glanced at the Horde. Badger knew none of them had any qualms about Bart joining them, and not just because they could use another gun. Isaac dropped his hand on Bart’s shoulder. “Of course, Bartholomew. Wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Bart blinked a few times and nodded. “Thank you. When we’re done—when we come through this, I need to talk.” He gestured at the Scorpions behind him. “We all need to talk to the Horde.”
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Trouble?”
“Not at all. But it’s not for now. Now we kick some cartel ass.”
Eight Scorpions. Six Bulls. Six Horde. Twenty men. Against a drug cartel.
Well, Badger thought, at least it’ll be epic.
oOo
The fight at the pickup went exactly as planned. The Perros were, as Vega had promised, unaware of any trouble, and though they had hair triggers all of them, it was quickly apparent that routine had dulled their edges. Isaac, Len, Show, and Badger were able to sneak up behind the second line of men and kill them. Zeke and Tommy were at the ready behind them, but were unnecessary. Badger sliced open his guy’s throat—his first premeditated human kill, and he didn’t even blink. Adrenaline was making his heart sing and soar, but it wasn’t that keeping qualms at bay.
He didn’t really think a Perro counted as a human kill.
Len shoved his vicious hunting blade vertically through his target’s chin and twisted. Isaac and Show both simply snapped necks with their huge, bare hands. Before the remaining four Perros, who’d been engaged in the business of the exchange, knew what was going on, the Bulls were on them, and then all the Perros on site were dead.