Page 105 of Three-Inch Teeth

“Don’t do it, Nate,” Joe said.

“Ah, go ahead and do it,” Cates said, slurring his words. “Get it over with.”

Joe said, “Let me cut him down before he bleeds out. He’ll go back to prison for the rest of his life, unless they execute him.”

“Like that will ever happen,” Cates said with a grin. “When’s the last time Wyoming executed anyone?”

“You’re not helping your case,” Joe said with annoyance.

“I ain’t trying to,” Cates said.

Joe turned back to Nate. He said, “Not like this, Nate. Not in cold blood.”

“He killed Liv in cold blood,” Nate said in a tight whisper. “Then he used a tool with bear claws on it to mutilate her body.”

“I know,” Joe said. “It was brutal and she didn’t deserve it. He’s a monster, but you don’t have to be one.”

“Axel Soledad was with him,” Nate said.

Joe was shocked. “What?”

“Soledad didn’t die in Portland and he still wants revenge.”

Joe turned to Cates. “Is he kidding? Was Axel Soledad with you when you killed all these people?”

Cates nodded his head. “Right up until the end. Then he bugged out on me.”

“Where is he now?” Joe asked.

Cates made a bitter face. “In the wind, I guess. Plotting his next move. The guy is a stone-cold killer and I can’t say I miss him much.” Then: “Come on, get on with it. You people wiped my family off the planet and sold our property. Then you bring me out here to rub salt in the wound. So you might as well finish the job. That’s what you do, isn’t it? You make sure the people you consider white trash stay beneath you?”

Nate didn’t respond and Joe wasn’t sure what to say to either of them.

“There’s two bodies inside that house,” Cates said, chinning toward his old home. “The interlopers. Axel gets the credit for that, too. Plus that middle school girl in town.”

Nate turned his head to Joe. His face was still a white mask. “What if he gets out of prison, Joe? What if he escapes?”

“He won’t,” Joe said without conviction.

“We can’t take that chance,” Nate said. “Soledad is still out there and he’ll be coming for Geronimo, you, and me. And he’s probably got some of his true believers out there ready to deploy.”

Joe felt a chill wash through him.

Nate said, “I’ve got to find him before he comes back, and I don’t want to worry about Dallas here joining up with him again or getting in the way.”

“What about Kestrel?” Joe said. “You can’t just leave her.”

“She’s in good hands,” Nate said. “Better hands than mine. I can’t put her life in danger like I did with Liv.”

“No,” Joe said, shaking his head. “You can’t blame yourself.”

“I can blame myself for leaving my cell phone at the grocery store and not getting calls from you, Marybeth, or Liv tonight,” he said.

“I didn’t know about that,” Joe confessed.

“I made a mistake getting back on the grid,” Nate said. “I’m not you, Joe.”

“Nate …”

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