Page 75 of Ruthless

Chapter 28

Rebel

Son of a bitch!

Daryl wasn't at his uncle's garage, and there was no uncle there, either. The only worker in the tiny, run-down garage was a bony old coot who was missing half of his teeth, wearing faded, greasy overalls and a t-shirt that might have been white at one time. Ace and I found him bent over the engine of an old station wagon, a long, thin braid running down his back, and a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth. He must have been half-deaf, because he didn't acknowledge the sound of our bikes or realize that we were approaching until we were upon him. Ace flanked one side, while I flanked the other. I put my hand on the old man's shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, old man."

He jumped back with a grunt, losing the cigarette. "What the fuck?! You trying to give an old man a heart attack?" he snarled, bending to pick up his still burning smoke. "What do you want?"

The first thing I noticed was the shiner he was sporting. His tone wasn't too friendly either, and I had a feeling that we weren't going to get much out of him.

"Some information," Ace answered.

The old man jumped, swinging around. "Christ. How many of you are there?"

"Just the two of us. We're friends, looking for Daryl." An immediate frown creased his brow. "You seen him?"

I didn't expect to get an honest answer out of him, but he surprised me by admitting, "Yeah, earlier. He ain't here now."

"You the only one working?"

He looked back at Ace. "Yeah. So? I been working at this garage since it opened forty years ago. I know what I'm doing."

I grinned. "Calm down, old man, we don't mean any disrespect." I gauged his age to be around seventy. "Do you know where Daryl went? We were supposed to meet him."

He narrowed his grey eyes and stared at me long and hard. He was making up his mind as to whether or not we could be trusted. If he'd worked that long for Daryl's uncle, he owed loyalty to the family at the very least.

"Nope. Left here ‘bout an hour ago, right before the other two bikers showed up."

That interested me. I doubted that it was anyone from the Sentinels since Ace was with me. I took a chance. "The Kings?"

"Yeah, that was them," he confirmed. "Two ugly motherfuckers." He paused. "Out for trouble, just like you two." He puffed on his cigarette until it was down to the filter. I had to give the old man credit, he wasn't afraid to say what he felt. "I gave them the same thing I'm giving you--nothin'."

Well, that explained his black eye. The Kings obviously hadn't taken his age into consideration when they'd questioned him. I wondered how Daryl had known that they were coming, unless his absence was pure coincidence.

"You two gonna blacken my other eye?" There was a challenge in his cigarette-roughened voice.

Ace snorted and turned toward our bikes, clearly making the call that we weren't going to get anything useful from the old man. I decided to give it one last shot. "Have any idea when Daryl will be back?"

"Nope." He dropped his butt and ground it beneath his shoes. Buying time, I thought. "If you and Daryl are such good friends, why don't you call him?"

I grinned, deciding that Ace was right. "I just might do that," I replied, turning away.

Ace was sitting on his bike, smoking a cigarette. "What now? Back to Jack’s?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The fucker gave us the uncle. I'd let him piss on my boots again for another lead." We both grinned. "And I doubt Daryl will be back here, now that he knows the Kings have found him." I ran my hands through my hair, releasing a frustrated breath. "Fuck, man, I just want to find the asshole and end him."

"I know where you're coming from," Ace said, but he didn't elaborate. He tossed his cigarette, and we started our bikes and tore out of the gravel drive back onto A1A.

It took us twenty minutes to get back to where Jack lived. As we drove toward the back of the complex where his apartment was located, I noticed that his Camaro wasn't where it had been when we'd come earlier. Shit! Ace pulled up next to me and we exchanged a look.

"You think he ran?"

I searched the area around us, until my eyes lit on what I'd been looking for. A faded Chevy s10, blue, with gray primer on the passenger side door, Ginger had said. "Son of a bitch!" I swore, looking back at Ace. "He's with Daryl." I nodded in the direction of the truck. "That's his vehicle."

"Fuck, now he knows we're looking for him, too."

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