Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1)(43)

“Longarm,” I whisper.

“Damn.” Kai’s voice is tight, and for once, he sounds completely serious. He’s recognized the Law Dog too, yesterday’s confrontation probably as fresh on his mind as it is on mine. Longarm’s wearing his cowboy hat and dark sunglasses, so I can’t get a good look at his face, but I have a feeling that he’s scanning the crowd looking for me.

I make myself drive until I’m maybe a quarter mile past the barricade. To my left, Tse Bonito proper gives way to the dusty dirt fields of the fairgrounds, abandoned and fallow this time of year. To my right are rows and rows of empty sheep stalls—metal, rusted, and temporarily deserted, the community herds out grazing at this hour. I pull the truck over near the stalls. Another truck won’t be out of place here, and it will be hours before the sheep are brought in for the night.

I throw the truck into park and turn off the engine. The damp grassy smell of sheep wafts through my open window, but overpowering that sweet familiar scent is the odor of burning wood and hot metal.

We sit there for a moment, both of us watching the billowing smoke, until Kai says, “I’ll go find out what happened.”

I reach behind me to pull the shotgun down. Only then do my hands steady and the voice in my mind starts to calm.

He pauses with his hand on the door. His eyebrows knit together in a frown. “What are you doing?”

“Same as you. Going to get some answers.”

“With a shotgun?”

“You got a better idea?”

“Yes. About a dozen.”

I open my mouth to tell him what I think of his ideas when the dull black casing of the Glock catches my eye. I hesitate. I prefer my shotgun—range, familiarity, and no one has ever called me subtle—but stealth has its merits. I remember the cops at the blockade. I put the shotgun back and palm the Glock into the pocket of my leather coat.

Kai watches me. “At least let me go first. Try to talk to them before you get all aggro.”

“No,” I spit, sharp and dismissive. “I let you talk yesterday, and look what happened.” I open the driver’s side door and slide out. The smell of burning things is even stronger outside. The ground under my feet is solid, but it feels like at any moment it could crack open and suck me down.

“Yes, look what happened yesterday.” He’s angry now too. “I got us out of there and nobody got hurt.”

“Nobody? You call this fucking nobody?”

I curse myself for leaving Tah there by himself. An old man who doesn’t even own a gun. I was so intent on my feud with Longarm, so convinced I was the one he was after. So willing to let Kai take over and talk our way out of things.

“Maggie.”

I round on Kai. “I know you made some kind of deal with Longarm yesterday. What was it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean no way the Dog just lets us walk away like that. Longarm was gunning for us and the next minute you’re telling me he’s just letting us walk? What was it?”

He licks his lips. “It wasn’t like that.”

“The hell it wasn’t. I was there. What did you tell him? Was it Tah? Did you trade our freedom for Tah’s?” I’m shouting the words, hand gripping the Glock in my pocket without even thinking about it. I know I sound crazy, but all I can think about is Tah. Alone. Scared. Maybe . . . oh God.

“What? No. That doesn’t even make sense. You saw me talk to him. You were there the whole time. Why would he even want Tah?”

“You tell me.”

“Hey, we’re on the same side. I’m on your side. What kind of monster do you think I am?”

My voice is cold when I answer him. “I don’t know what flavor of monster you are yet, Kai. But I have a feeling I’m going to find out.”

“Jesus Christ,” he hisses. “Listen to yourself. I didn’t do anything to hurt my own grandfather.”

“Then how the hell did—?”

“I have a way with words, okay? People listen to me. Like your friend back there, Hastiin. And I got Longarm to listen to me. It’s nothing as nefarious as you’re making it out to be. He wanted a story, so I gave him a story. Juan Cruz and all that. That’s it. Believe me. That. Is. It!”

I hear him, and I know he’s right. The Dogs don’t care a thing about Grandpa Tah. I know Kai’s making sense. But I also feel like he’s lying to me about something, only I can’t quite figure out what.

My hands are jittery again, and the adrenaline’s starting to demand action, but I keep staring at that burning hogan, trying to remember how I’m supposed to breathe.

“We don’t know he’s dead,” Kai says quietly. He’s come up beside me now. Close enough to touch me. Brave man. “Let me at least go talk to them, find out what happened. I can do this. Make them listen. Please.”

It’s not the “please” that makes the difference. It’s the thought that maybe Tah is still alive. Hope that dangerous hadn’t even occurred to me.

Images flood my mind, unbidden, and I try to shake them off. But all I can see is Tah trapped in his hogan as the flames rise around him, engulfing his kitchen, the peeling Formica table, the blue tin coffee cups. I remember the ridiculous dance he did when he surprised me with the sugar. The way he called me shí daughter.