Page 43 of Rio's Release

“This the place?” I ask Zig, dipping to look. It’s a nice house in a well-to-do neighborhood.

“Yep.”

“Let’s roll,” I order, and we all exit the vehicles. Blue goes up to the door just like we planned, and the rest of us hide out of sight.

The sheriff comes to the door, the buttons of his uniform shirt undone and its tails pulled out. He leaves the glass storm door shut.

“What do you want?” he barks.

“Have you seen this girl? My little girl was selling cookies in the neighborhood, and she hasn’t come home.” Blue holds up a photo of a little girl who’s actually his niece.

When the sheriff opens the storm door to get a better look, Blue yanks it open, and we all rush up, driving the man into his home and tackling him to the ground.

Zig slams the front door, and I motion for Mauler to search the house for anyone else.

We get the sheriff in a chair, and I lean in his face. “You home alone?”

“Yeah,” he spits. “Who the fuck are you? Do you know who the hell I am?”

“You’re Sheriff Torres, and your wife, Margaret is at bible study.”

He frowns. “What do you want?”

“I’ve come to tell you there’s a new balance of power in town, starting tonight.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

We peel our hoodies off, revealing our cuts underneath.

“Saint’s Outlaws? Who the fuck are they?”

“Your worst nightmare,” Zig says with a grin.

“From now on,werun this town, and you don’t touch us,” I growl.

The man laughs in my face. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”

I jerk my head to Zig, and he digs out his phone and scrolls to a video, turning to let the man see.

It’s the fat sheriff banging his mistress on her king size bed.

His face pales. “Where did you get that, you son-of-a-bitch?”

“We wired your mistress’s house. You know, the one you visit twice a week down in San Pablo.” I turn to Zig. “What was her name again?”

“Suzanne. Sweet Suzanne Newcastle. He likes to call her Peaches.”

“Right. Peaches.” I grin in the sheriff’s sweating face. “I bet it would break Margaret’s heart if she saw that video of you banging Peaches’ brains out. Bet she’d divorce you so fast it would make your head spin.”

“And take her money with her,” Zig adds.

The sheriff’s face turns boiling red. “What do you want?”

“From now on, we’re golden. You don’t pull us over, you don’t concern yourself with us, and you leave the townsfolk alone. No more collecting protection payments. No more letting your vile deputies pull over teenage girls to get their kicks. No more harassments. None. Got it?”

His jaw locks tight.

“I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering how you’re going to get your force to go along with it. Well, we can help you out with that.”

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