Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(93)

Badger nodded. He could be cool. He had an icy fist around his heart.

“On the ground NOW!” The lead deputy cocked his piece. And four Horde lay down on the shoulder of the interstate.



oOo



At first, Badger was alone in an interrogation room, his hands cuffed behind his back, sitting awkwardly in a metal chair at a metal table. No one asked him anything or talked to him almost at all. He’d only spoken to say he wanted a lawyer; he’d been ignored. Then one of the deputies came in and grabbed him roughly by an arm, dragging him to his feet and out of the room. He pushed him into another room and locked him in.

“What the f*ck is going on?”

Badger turned at Isaac’s voice and saw that Isaac, Show, and Len were in the room already, all of them still cuffed.

In addition to a table and two chairs, this room had a bench bolted to the wall on two sides. But no one was sitting.

“Boss?” All of this was new to Badger. All of it confused him, so he didn’t know what might have provoked Isaac’s outburst.

“They’ve never put us in a room together before. Something’s up. Something’s wrong.” Isaac kicked the table. “Fuck! If he’s got—”

“Isaac!” Show cut him off. “Take a beat, boss. Watch your words.”

Isaac nodded, blanching a little, and they all stayed quiet. Badger had more questions than he could put in any kind of order, so he kept his mouth quiet and decided to go along for whatever ride was ahead. He’d follow his brothers’ lead. He was scared, but he’d known much greater fear than this. Nothing that would happen in the Sheriff’s office could even approach horrors he’d survived.

They stood silently in that room for what seemed like hours, and then the door opened. Sheriff Leon Seaver, crew cut and sharply pressed uniform, walked in. He smiled.

“Hello, boys. Have a seat.”

Still they stood.

“Suit yourself. You know, it’s been a hell of a time getting you together. Seems like an age now we’ve been looking for you four to be on the road together. I can tell you I was getting damn tired of waiting.”

Badger watched Isaac. He could see his jaw twitching, the tendons in his neck rising into ropes under his skin.

But the Horde stayed silent.

“Still not much of a conversationalist. Not a problem. It had to be you four, and now it is. Good.

There’s somebody I want you to meet.” He went out the door.

A couple of minutes later, the door opened, and another man came in. Latino, with salt and pepper hair and a scruffy beard. He wore jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and a brown leather jacket. Badger had no idea who he was.

His brothers, however, did. All three reacted strongly and audibly. Isaac, his hands still cuffed behind his back, shouted something like a warrior’s cry and charged. The guy deflected his armless attack, but Isaac was much larger, and they both went down. And then there were three uniformed goons in the room.

Two dragged a still-fighting, shouting Isaac off, and one held the other three Horde back with his baton, cracking Len hard to get him to back off from trying to help their President. The two on Isaac kicked him until the stranger stood and said, “Enough! Get out. We’re good.”

Isaac was still on the floor when they were alone with the man who’d made him so crazy and had Len and Show visibly shaking with rage. The man squatted near Isaac. “I’m going to uncuff you all, as soon as you tell me you’ll be calm and listen. We need to talk. I think we can make a deal.” His words had the inflected cadence of a bilingual speaker.

Isaac just shouted incoherently.

“You’re law?” Len’s voice quavered. Badger had never heard anything like that—a tremble in Len’s throat. “You’re law?”

The man looked up and nodded. “Special Agent David Vega.”

“You killed our brother,” Isaac growled from the floor. “You pulled his guts out and dropped them on the f*cking floor.”

For a few seconds, Badger was sure he was going to be sick. He hadn’t known. He’d stood in this room confused about his brothers’ reaction to this man. This man had killed Havoc. While the others watched. He himself had been there, but he’d been unconscious. He hadn’t known. He hated that he hadn’t known. He fought down his gorge and found strength now.

“I’m sorry for that. I had no choice. I’m in deep.” Vega held out his hand to Isaac. “Will you listen?”

From the floor, Isaac turned to his brothers. Then he turned back to the man who’d killed Havoc. “We’ll listen. You can uncuff us. But don’t you f*cking touch us.”

Vega nodded and, moving slowly, his eyes on Isaac, uncuffed him. Isaac spit blood and came to his feet, clearly hurt but mobile.

After Vega uncuffed the others, he turned to Isaac. “Will you sit, Isaac?”

“No.”

“Isaac.” That name was the first thing Show had said since Vega had entered the room. Isaac glared at his best friend and then yanked a chair from under the table and sat. Vega sat across from him. Show, Len, and Badger took seats on the bench behind their President.

“I know you don’t want to be in the same room with me, so I’m going to be quick, say my piece. This room is clean. You are not being watched or recorded. Neither am I.”