Page 11 of Cash’s Trouble

“It was.”

Her eyes warm instead of hardening. “Come back before I decide whether to obey it.”

I kiss her once, quick and hard enough to carry with me, then head for the yard before I forget Kane is waiting. Tank and I take the river road west. The heat sits heavily over the trees, thick with the smell of mud and approaching rain, and our engines tear through it. Doran has a trailer outside Ransom, but men who know they’re being hunted rarely go home. One of our brothers saw his truck behind the Switchback, a roadhouse near the county line where the beer is cheap and questions cost extra.

We park beside half a dozen pickups and enter through the front. Conversation dips when the Kingdom Come patches cross the room, then resumes with less enthusiasm. The bartender glances toward a narrow hall beside the restrooms. I slide a twenty across the bar.

“Keep it. We were never here.”

He palms the bill without pretending he believes that. The back room holds a card table, four men and enough smoke to turn the overhead light yellow. Doran sits with his bruised face swollen from the punch I gave him outside the bank. He sees me and reaches for the waistband beneath his shirt.

Tank closes the door behind us. “Bad idea.”

Doran’s hand stops. The other players decide their evening has reached a natural end and leave without collecting their money. I take the empty chair opposite him and set both hands on the table.

“You look terrible, Mick.”

“You broke my goddamn cheek.”

“I hit you once. You should be grateful I was being merciful.”

His eyes flick toward Tank. “What do you want?”

“A deal.”

Doran laughs, then winces because his face can’t manage it. “Corbin’s putting you away. There’s no deal left.”

That tells me more than he meant to. I lean back. “Wade Corbin told you he could make the kidnapping disappear by calling it a rescue, didn’t he?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You and your friend gave matching statements. I attacked without cause, forced Lilly-Rose onto my bike and took her to the compound. Then the sheriff looks dirty and in Kingdom Come’s pocket because he won’t order a recovery.” I watch the lie settle across his face. “That sound familiar?”

Doran tries for confidence. “Maybe that’s what happened.”

“You used Corbin’s name to get her into the SUV. How are you going to explain that?”

“I didn’t.”

“Lilly-Rose says you did.”

“She’s confused.”

The chair legs scrape backward as I stand, but Doran moves too late. I catch the back of his neck and drive his face into the card table, scattering chips and beer. Tank stays by the door while I twist Doran’s arm high behind him until his shoulder strains.

“You made a mistake in that parking lot,” I tell him. “You thought she’d scare easily.”

Doran grunts as I raise his arm another inch. “Corbin said nobody would believe her over us.”

There it is.

I ease the pressure slightly. “Keep talking.”

“He needed Sheriff Miller off the old files. Said the sheriff was getting outside people involved and had to be reminded what he could lose.”

“So you take his daughter.”

“We were only supposed to hold her. Wade was going to make the sheriff close the cases, then she’d go home.”