Page 109 of Soulless Saint

“Step right up,” he called, his voice deep with a definite accent. “Let’s have a look at you, shall we?”

Once my eyes finally adjusted to the brightness, I made out what looked like a parked truck; a man stood in the raised bed, no more than a silhouette against the lights behind him.

But where was everyone else?

A crew of four men stood in front of the back bumper of the truck, rifles held across their chests, at the ready.

Four?

This lunatic brought four men as backup to the meet? I wasn’t buying it. I whistled low to Dad and the others, making a circular motion with my finger to indicate that they needed to watch our surroundings.

We had a small team of sharp shooters on their way up the canyon wall to watch our backs, and we’d checked all roads before moving to the holding location, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have driven up behind us, trying to box us in.

We’d anticipated something like that could happen, which was why we’d rolled spikes across three of the four entry point roads and covered them over with sand.

It would slow them down, but it wouldn’t stop them.

“Are the lights necessary?” Dad bellowed across the divide of sand between our rival gangs.

“Paul,” the man on the truck bed said, and the massive rectangular light panels set up on either side of the truck dimmed enough to make out the bastard’s features.

A twisted smile curved his lips upward, mismatched eyes, one lightest blue and the other darkest brown stared with cruel glee down at our gathering. As if we were all guests at a surprise party he was throwing for himself.

“Who am I speaking to?” Dad asked as Mom took her place beside him. Kaleb and I boxed them in on either side, me next to Ma, him next to Dad.

“Where are my manners?”

The man tossed the megaphone down into the bed of the truck behind him and jumped down, crossing the gap between his group and ours with his hand outstretched.

Twin pistols strapped over his chest moved with each one of his long strides.

“Name’s Séamas ó Súilleabháin.”

Kaleb and I stepped in front of Dad before he could get any closer.

His malicious gaze caught on first my brother and then me before settling on our father behind us. “I see,” he said, looking down his nose at Dad.

The fucker was tall and built wide through the shoulders, but a well-placed bullet could end him now. My finger twitched near the trigger of my rifle, but I wouldn’t make the move until Dad gave the order. Or until there was no other choice.

“I’d been hoping to keep things civil between us given that we’ll be seeing quite a lot of each other from now on,” the Irishman said, and I spat at his feet, thinking of Jimmy Boy’s head on the spike in my front lawn.

He looked down at the darkened dirt and back up at me. “Your son, I presume. Charming.”

“Hardin, stand down,” Dad said, and I took a step back but didn’t take my eyes off him for a second.

Dad adjusted his stance, rolling his shoulders back. “I think the time for civil conversation has passed, don’t you?”

Séamas’ eyes narrowed to slits, but the smile never left his lips, as if he’d been expecting that response. Waiting for it. I recognized the glint of insanity in his eyes. It was the same look my father gave me right before he butted a cigar out on my back. Or as he stalked toward me with a knife, ready to take an inch of flesh in payment for a perceived slight against him.

We weren’t dealing with the regular type, here. This wasn’t some cocky idiot jacked up on a power trip. This was a loose cannon and we were standing under fire.

“Very well.” Séamas dipped his head. “Then let’s get right down to it, shall we?”

“You killed one of my—”

“Uh,” Séamas cut him off, lifting his finger to silence Dad as if I wasn’t considering cutting it clean off his hand with one strong arc of my blade. “Wasn’t finished. Me first, then you, yes?”

The Irishman took a long breath, cocking his head at Dad as he threaded his fingers together behind his back as if he were having a chat with an old friend instead of a man who wanted to see his head swiftly removed from his shoulders.

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