Page 11 of Ride with the Devil

Bang.

Bang.

Fuck!

The night just exploded with a trio of gunshots. Maybe if it was July, I could play if off like they were fireworks. It’s December. Thunder’s out, too. That was gunfire, and the poor girl is staring in terror over the roof of the car.

I don’t know what else to do. Hurrying her on before she gets mixed up in Sinners business seems like the best plan. Before I can even realize what I’m doing, I pop open the door, giving it just enough of a shove that she instinctively takes a few steps away from the town car.

That was an even bigger mistake.

She stumbles closer to the front of the car, eyes still drawn in the direction where the deafening pops just sounded. From that point, it’s easy for her to see over the hood right as Devil comes stalking out from behind the empty store, his Sig Sauer still in hand.

“Pop the trunk, Luca,” he commands, voice ringing out in the wake of the gunshots’ echoes. “Let’s get the vice mayor’s corpse in the trunk before he makes an even bigger mess on the asphalt.”

He didn’t see the girl yet. Checking his weapon, barking out orders like usual, he didn’t look up the entire time he was telling me what he wants me to do. If anything, he caught the silhouette against the shadows and thought it was me… but I’m still standing near the open door.

And the girl?

Shebooksit.

I don’t blame her. Whether she recognizes the boss as the Devil of Springfield or not, he’s still a big man in a dark suit, wielding a gun while talking about a corpse. She heard the gunshots. She has to know that Devil just killed someone.

That she runs just tells me that she’s not as stupid as she thinks she is. She’s pretty fucking smart, actually, even if she doesn’t have a chance of getting away.

Especially when Devil’s head shoots up at the sudden motion. It takes two seconds for it to click, that I wasn’t alone, that we have awitnessbefore he snaps at me, “Get her!”

I’d expected as much. Whether because I’ve been working for Devil for so long that I know how he thinks, or because something about the girl has me unwilling to let her escape me so easily, I don’t know. Still, I was already chasing after her before Devil gave me the order to do so.

She’s quick, but not quick enough. I run her down, grabbing one hand and tugging her backward so that she slams into my chest.

“No, no, no. Let me go. I… I didn’t see anything. You have to let me go!”

I wish I could. Glancing over at the boss, seeing the flat expression on his rugged face as he meets us on the sidewalk, I know that that won’t be happening.

A muscle tics in his cheek. “Who is she?”

I wait a beat to see if she’ll answer. Give a name or try to continue to talk her way out of what all three of us expect to happen next.

When she doesn’t, I shake my head. “Dunno, boss. She said she was lost. Came this way to meet a friend, but got confused. She was asking me for directions when the shots rang out.”

“I got as much from Collins as I could,” rumbles Devil, face growing ever darker in the shadows. “He was no good for more so I finished him off.”

Ducking her head, trying to hide from us, the girl whimpers.

Moving toward her, Devil grips her chin, jerking her up so that she can’t look away.

My stomach flips. Her eyes are big. Wide.Terrified.

I want to slap his hand off of her. I don’t know where that sudden urge comes from, and I only just manage to keep my hands pinning her arms in place.

Devil runs his dark gaze over her face. Then, without another comment, he marches over to the back of the town car. He finds the unlatch button beneath the trunk, popping it, then shoving it open.

The liner meant for the vice mayor is already laid out. Cross didn’t have a tarp on hand, but he gave me four industrial-sized trash bags to protect the car. I’d gotten that ready as soon as Collins appeared, then sat in the driver’s seat, waiting for Devil’s sign that it was time to go.

The trunk’s open. Instead of ordering me to help him heft the vice mayor’s dead body into the back, he nods at the girl in my grip.

“Put her in.”

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