Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(48)

“It’s because of the way his parents acted afterward. Here’s not the place, babe. But tonight. I promise.”

“I don’t mean to be nosy. I hate that we saw that. But everything in town seems to be tangled up with the Horde in some way, and I feel like I need to understand better.”

“Tonight. For sure. Right now, let’s just eat, okay?”

She nodded, and he pulled her under his arm and led her to lunch.



oOo



He was just standing up to throw away their trash when two shots rang out nearby. Without bothering to think, he shoved Adrienne under the picnic table. “Stay down! Stay there!”

She didn’t fight him at all, not until he didn’t join her. When he stood, pulling his piece from under his kutte, she cried, “Badge, no!”

“Stay there, babe. Do not move. I gotta go.” He trotted in the direction of the shots, trying to see in three-hundred-sixty degrees.

When he cleared a row of booths and ended up in the fairway, he stopped short and backed up to cover.

The sight that had greeted him needed time before it would make sense. He looked around the corner of the booth he’d taken cover at. Yeah, he’d seen what he’d thought.

At the Horde booth was Havoc’s father, holding a revolver. Isaac, holding his arm, blood oozing through his fingers. Lilli, holding a 9mm, aimed at Mr. Mariano’s head. And the whole scene circled by Horde, all of them aiming at Mr. Mariano. Shannon and Cory corralling the kids, both women hunched over the little ones. And Cory was also holding fast to Nolan, refusing to let him go.

So much for the goodwill campaign.

He did a head count. Len wasn’t there—he hoped that meant he was elsewhere and not lying on the ground in the booth. There had been two shots.

“Lilli, stand down.” Isaac’s voice was strained but strong. It looked like he’d only been shot in the arm, but he was bleeding heavily. Badger thought the bullet might have hit an artery or something.

“Fuck you, Isaac. I have had it with people shooting you.” She stepped between her husband and Havoc’s father, her gun still raised. “You put the f*cking gun down now, old man. Or I absolutely will put a bullet in your head.”

Instead, Mr. Mariano straightened his arms, shifting his aim purposefully to Lilli. But his hands shook; Badger could see that from where he stood. That might account for Isaac not being dead right now.

“Lilli! Fuck!” Isaac reached for her, but she shook him off easily, her eyes not leaving Mr. Mariano. Too easily. Yeah, he was losing too much blood. As if to confirm Badger’s conjecture, Isaac dropped to his knees.

Intent on Mr. Mariano, Lilli reacted to Isaac’s fall but didn’t turn. Badger realized that the whole scene was frozen. As long as Havoc’s crazy old man wouldn’t back down, nobody could do anything. But he was outside the scene. With no sign of Len, and Isaac maybe bleeding out in front of the whole town, Badger made a call.

Trust, right? It was all about trust. Trust in himself first of all. So Badger put his gun away, and stepped out into the fairway.

“Mr. Mariano!” Badger yelled it, keeping his voice as friendly as he could, as though he were hailing a friend across the street. He spread his arms out, to show he was not a threat.

The only person of note who turned to his voice was the person he’d called to. In that second of Don’s inattention, Lilli did one of her fancy Bruce Lee moves. She spun and put her boot—a heavy, black Doc Martens—in Havoc’s father’s face. He went down, the gun falling from his suddenly drooping hands.

In the chaos that followed, Show and Tommy jumped onto Mr. Mariano, keeping him subdued. Zeke, Dom, the Prospects, Double A and Thumper (Davey’s new road name) worked on crowd control. Knowing Adrienne was safe and away, Badger ran over to check on the women and children. Once he was sure they were okay, too, he went to the focus of the crisis: Isaac.

Lilli had pulled off her shirt, leaving herself in no top but a tight white beater, and was winding the shirt around Isaac’s arm. The blood soaked the fabric as fast as she could wrap it around his arm. Isaac was conscious and coherent, but going pale. They needed Tasha.

“Where’s Tasha? Where’s Len?”

Show looked up from where he’d bound Havoc’s father’s hands with a bungee cord. “She went back to the clinic. She got a call about a sick kid. Len took the van to pick up more ice.”

“We don’t have the van?”

Show shook his head.

“Fuck the van!” Lilli yelled. She tossed Double A her keys. “Just drive mine up the fairway. Now!”

Double A ran off.

Isaac was fading, leaning on Lilli. Show squatted down in front of him. “Hang in there, boss. What do you want to do with Don?”

“Let him go.” Show’s head swiveled sharply at Badger’s words, and Badger couldn’t believe he’d said them out loud—said those words, out loud, while Isaac might be dying. Again.

“You shut up, *. Didn’t ask you.”

“No, Show. Talk, little brother. Why?” Though his voice had weakened, Isaac’s eyes were clear.

He trusted himself to say what he was thinking. “Because he lost both his kids. He’s an *, but he lost them and he blames us, and he’s right to. Because he’s a broken, bitter old man. Because we lost sight of being the good guys and we need to find it again. Because it’s mercy.” His heart was beating so hard his ribs felt bruised, but the words came smoothly out, with the ease of rightness. Maybe even righteousness.