Page 104 of Idaho

Butcher smiled, grabbed Krier's body and stuffed it into the trunk with Alex. The panicked screams were muffled once Butcher closed the trunk.

"Let's get out of here," I said, sliding into the driver's seat. "Static. Pull up a map for this area."

"Give me a minute," he muttered. He was already tapping away on his phone. It was just like the old days, where we'd be out on a mission and he'd anticipate my orders before I even had to give them. "Take a left here," he told me. "We're going about five miles and it's going to get fucking bumpy."

"What are you going to do with the kid?" Toxic asked.

"I figure you're right, a ride with the corpse of the man who hired him is a good deterrent," I replied.

"He could go to the cops," Butcher said. He said it without conviction though, more like listing off possibilities for thoroughness.

I looked at the man in the rearview mirror. He was staring out the window into the darkness beyond. I'd seen a lot during the war, but I knew that Butcher had seen more than the entirety of the club put together. His task force had delved into some of the worst crimes against humanity. They'd helped a lot of people, both directly and indirectly, but that didn't take away the ghosts of the men you killed. Those followed you around.

There were a few ways to deal with it. We all saw how Butcher chose to. He closed himself off. Convinced himself, and others, that he had no emotions. Fuck. Maybe he didn't. Then I thought about him with the club kids. It was all a coping mechanism. His love for others shone through on occasion. That was the reason my brother kept him around. We hadn't talked about it, but I knew that was the case. And Butcher really did need people, or he wouldn't stay. He needed other men who were like himself. Or as close as we could get, because we understood. And we accepted him for what he was.

We made the rest of the drive in silence. Every once in a while pounding from the trunk could be heard over the rattling of the car over unpaved roads, but otherwise there were no other sounds.

"Stop," Static said, breaking the silence. "We're here."

I stopped the car and looked out at the desert before us. There wasn't anything out here for miles except cacti and dried up shrubs. "Where's here?"

"Three hundred feet off to the right. Old abandoned mine shaft. There are quite a few out here in the Sonoran Desert."

"Perfect." I got out of the car again, the guys on my heels.

"I'll get it," Butcher muttered when I went to open the trunk to pull Krier out. His shirt had blood soaked into it.

We watched as he manhandled the dead body from the trunk, waiting to see if Alex would be stupid enough to pull anything. He just laid there quietly, his eyes screwed tightly shut. As much as I wanted to watch Krier's body disappear into the darkness, it was better this way. No need for the two of us to be soaked in blood.

Butcher came back, and silently, I shut the trunk once more and we got into the car and drove back toward the main road. Once we were a good five miles away, I pulled over. "Wait here."

I went back to the trunk and pulled Alex out. I studied him as he swayed on his feet before me. "What are you going to do if you ever see Eva again?"

"I won't. I'm leaving Tucson," he replied, voice shaky.

"Good answer." I studied him. His face was bone white. He was scared shitless. And there was a wet spot down the front of his pants. "You saw what I did to Krier, right?"

He nodded, but remained silent.

"I'll do so much worse to you if you tell anyone about this," I warned. "And I'll know, because I've hired a man whose only purpose in life is to keep an eye on you."

"I won't. I won't. I swear I won't," he mumbled, staring down at the ground.

"Good. Tucson is that way," I said, pointing toward the city lights glowing in the distance. "Have a nice walk." He turned and started in the opposite direction of our car. He was a fast learner.

Getting back into the vehicle once more, I started making our way back to the party.

"Wasn't much of a fight," Butcher said with a sigh of disappointment.

"Did you really expect it to be?" I asked.

"A man can hope," Butcher grumbled.

Shaking my head with bemusement, I wondered how I'd gone so long without knowing these men. It was a mistake I was rectifying now. Never again would I be simply a businessman. Being here in the club had rekindled the urges of the monster I'd tucked away once I'd gotten out of the military. Never again.

CHAPTER 36

Eva

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