Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1)(15)

A loud cough to my right. Enough to break the tension. Longarm blinks. Lets go the breath he was holding and moves away from me and my promise of violence.

Irritated, I turn my neck to find Kai watching us. His mouth is set in a friendly grin, but his eyes are wary, careful, like he’s approaching a wild animal. And I’m not sure if that look is for me or Longarm.

“Time to go, Maggie,” he says. “Got to get to Crownpoint.”

I exhale K’aahanáanii, suddenly back in my own skin, in my own head. That was close. And stupid. I could have done something that would have landed me on the wrong side of the law, monsterslayer or not.

“Who the hell are you?” Longarm sneers. “You Hoskie’s new girlfriend?”

Kai frowns, confused.

“Longarm thinks you’re pretty,” I explain.

The light dawns on Kai’s face over the Law Dog’s attempt at an insult. To someone like Longarm, nothing could be worse than being called a girl. But Kai doesn’t seem to mind. He grins and offers Longarm his hand. “My name is—”

“Step back!” Longarm draws his gun. Points it at Kai. And just like that, things go from worse to totally fucked.



A moment of chaos, where time seems to slow and speed up simultaneously.

My hand is on my B?ker.

I hear Longarm’s partner, still standing in the bed of my truck, scramble to release his firearm.

And it looks like I’m not getting out of Tse Bonito today without someone trying to kill me after all.

“I didn’t—” Kai starts.

“I said hands up and step back!” Longarm shouts. He looks a little crazy now, eyes too wide.

With exaggerated slowness, Kai puts his hands in the air and takes a big step back toward the hogan and away from Longarm.

“You’re making a mis—” I start, but Longarm cuts me off with a sharp turn, pointing the gun at me now.

“One of you assholes better start talking about that dead body in your truck, quick. Or I’m hauling you all down to the jail, where I’ll be happy to beat the both of you like a pi?ata until the truth falls out of your mouth like goddamn candy.”

The man does have a way with words, I can’t fault him that. But the head is now a full-on body. And I know that there is no way we are getting out of this without someone getting hurt.

Kai answers him first. “If you could put your gun away, officer, we could talk. I would be happy to explain.” I look over, and Kai flashes me a thousand-watt smile. Actually gives me a wink.

Longarm keeps the gun up. But he doesn’t make a move to cut Kai off like I thought he would. He’s listening.

“Longarm, wasn’t it?” Kai says. “Are you the Longarm? You’re quite famous in the Burque.”

“What are you talking about?” Longarm asks, voice suspicious.

“?‘Long Arm of the Law.’ The ‘Law and Order of Dinétah.’ The cacique of the Familia Urioste speaks highly of you.”

Longarm blinks a few times, surprised, but clearly flattered. “The Familia Urioste?”

I doubt Longarm even knows who the Familia Urioste is. Hell, I don’t know who the Familia Urioste is, but it sounds impressive the way Kai says it. Important. Longarm puffs up a little, chest forward like a prairie chicken.

Kai nods, voice smooth as hot lard, as if he and Longarm are at a dinner party and there’s not a gun pointed at his face. “My father works for the cacique back in the Burque. His name is Juan Cruz. I’ve heard stories about you.”

I have no idea what Kai is talking about, and Tah never said anything about having some important in-law in the Burque, but the knowledge seems to relax Longarm. No, it’s Kai who seems to have a calming presence on the Law Dog. He gives Tah’s grandson a long appraising look, and Kai stands there, his face guileless. Tie on. Shoes shiny. All charm. And what do you know, the Law Dog puts his gun away. I don’t turn to look, but I can feel his partner relax too.

Kai lowers his hands and keeps talking. “It’s really something that we met. I’ll be sure to mention it to the folks back home.”

He sticks his hand out, palm open.

Longarm grunts. I can see the wheels in his limited brain turning, wondering how connected Kai might be outside Dinétah, and what that might mean for him. The Wall might keep us safe inside, but that doesn’t mean there are no benefits to contacts on the other side. Sugar. Coffee. Fancy sunglasses.

At last the Law Dog gives an abrupt nod, holsters his gun, and reaches forward to shake Kai’s hand.

Sonofabitch.

“Get the hell out of my town, Hoskie,” he mutters as he backs up to let Kai pass. “Both of you. I see you again and you’re going to jail.”

Good enough for me.

His partner hops out of the back of the truck. “What about the head?”

Longarm waves him away, mutters something I can’t quite hear.

Kai murmurs a thank-you and I waste no time. I open the driver’s door and climb in. Punch the key in the ignition. Kai slips in on the passenger’s side as the engine roars to life. I slam the truck into gear and pull out.

The street’s packed with foot traffic, but I force my truck through the crowd, making generous use of my horn to move people. The pitted dirt road jostles us around in the cab. Kai keeps one hand braced against the roof until I make it back to the highway. As soon as I have room, I gun the truck. I hold my breath until Tse Bonito fades from the rearview.