Never hurting a child. Never something so fucked in the head.
I need answers. Real answers.
“I can’t imagine why I ran,” Oske says. “You and your gang of thugs are all responding so rationally.”
“How do you tolerate the mouth on this bitch?” Steel grunts, grabbing one of Oske’s braids and yanking on it hard. She tries to bite his forearm like a rabid coyote as he laughs and stumbles back.
“Fuck you, you racist piece of shit,” she says. Condom lunges forward to hit her across the face, but I step between them.
“Enough. All of you. Oske. If you insist on causing trouble, I will leave you down here without food until you speak. If you give me a good reason for what you did, I will give you the benefit of the doubt…”
“Why?” Condom grunts.
Steel and I make brief eye contact. He knows the Shaw family secret because his brother is my best friend, but I’m not close enough with Magnum Sinclair that I spilled my family’s dirty secrets out to him.
“Because… if she lies to me, she knows we can track her down and kill her.”
“White people,” Oske spits with genuine disdain. “You think violence solves everything.”
I glare at her.
“Fine,” she says. “Although I should stay quiet and let you assholes figure it out.”
“Oske…”
“I sent Tamiya to kidnap Juliette’s daughter because I knew she would never hurt the baby, and it would create a diversion long enough to distract them.”
“Distract who?!”
“I don’t know,” Oske says. “Something happened at The Fire Spot during my girlfriend’s shift. She recorded the conversation and sent it to me, but we couldn’t make out all the details. But you dumbasses have enemies. Lots of enemies.”
“Elaborate.”
“Mackenzie’s kidnapping pulled in all the senior members of the Rebel Barbarians. I think some or all of you are going to be targets of some kind of attack or assassination.”
“Who would want to kill us?” Magnum asks.
Oske glares at him. “I can think of a few people who might want to.”
It doesn’t take long for her to turn her anger back to me. She’s right about the club having enemies and the way she looks at me causes me to twist up with guilt that shouldn’t be mine to bear.
Why should I have to pay for what white men did long before I was born? As much as I believe that, I can’t look into Oske’s eyes, know her story is true, and toss her into the Wild West with nothing. She might be trouble, but that girl is my trouble… Anna would never forgive me for abandoning her. Or for unjustly punishing her.
“Do you still have the recording?” I ask her.
“Right,” Steel says. “Make sure the bitch ain’t lying.”
“I’m not lying,” Oske says. “Someone is after you and I can prove it.”
“Who?” Condom asks. “You keep saying this shit, but you can’t say who.”
“Don’t you think I know that, asshole?” Oske says. “I can’t help not having answers. All I know is that I stopped half of you from getting your asses shot at or blown up.”
“Fine,” I tell her. “Then prove it…”
Ten
QUIN