Page 109 of Knox

“I’m heading to Vegas. The NBR-X has an event at the end of the week, and the band is flying in, meeting there for rehearsal, then the gig.”

Silence, and yes, they’d heard him right.

“They’re going to perform? After…how’s Glo?”

“She says she’ll be fine.” Tate leaned against the wall, glancing down the hall. “She’s tough. No broken bones, but she’s pretty bruised and hurting. Honestly,”—he ran a hand through his hair—“I think she’s just trying to stay out of her mother’s clutches. Senator Jackson is…she’s a real piece of work.”

“Why would this group be after the senator?” Reuben asked.

“She’s progressive. She wants peace and global connections and alliances…all which the Bryant League translates into America’s illicit activity in foreign countries. Add to that she’s a member of the Armed Services Committee and is probably solely responsible for deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, if you ask them.”

“And Glo and Kelsey are involved, how?”

“Proxy. Pressure. In other words, collateral damage.”

“I’ll do my homework,” Ruby Jane said. “And ask around.”

“I should be there,” Knox said darkly. His sigh of frustration blew through the phone line. “I knew there was more to the bombing than just Arnie Gibbs.”

“Any trace of the shooter?” Tate asked.

“Nothing,” Reuben said. “We searched the yard, found some tracks that led to the lower pasture. We figure he parked there and approached from the southeast. Fired the barn to get our attention, then went after the girls—no, Glo.”

“How’s Kelsey?” Gilly asked.

Tate hadn’t known she was in the room. “Seems okay. Quiet.”

He heard the muffled sounds of the phone going off speaker, then Knox’s voice, closer. “Are you sure about this, Tate? It’s Vegas and…should we be worried for you?”

Huh. Tate hadn’t figured that Knox knew anything about his past, of what went down in Vegas, of the Malovich takedown.

Of Tate’s own collection of death threats.

“No. I’ll keep my head down. Besides, what was it that you said—I have the skills of a mafia thug?”

He got a slight chuckle.

“Listen. We’ll be okay. Nothing is going to happen to Glo, Dixie, or Kelsey on my watch. I promise, bro. How are things going with Ma’s party?”

“You’re missing some serious barbecue. And the barn isn’t as bad as we thought—mostly surface damage.”

“Tell Ma I’m sorry.”

“She gets it, Tate. And…”

He trailed off, and Tate wasn’t sure if he wanted to give Kelsey a message or maybe offer to help or…

“Stay safe, Tate.”

Oh. He shrugged away the tightness in his throat. “Of course. It’s me. I make trouble, not the other way around.”

Knox harrumphed but hung up.

Tate slipped the phone into his pocket and was just turning when he spotted Glo and Kelsey emerging from the room. A nurse pushed Glo in a wheelchair.

He headed down the hallway. “I got this,” he said to the nurse and took the handles as the nurse walked with them to the elevator.

“No wheelies, Andretti,” Glo said, glancing up at him, offering a tentative smile.

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