Page 9 of Vicious Savage

“Do you know how long we’ve been looking for you, sweetheart?”

I don’t reply. Instead, I calculate the steps I need to take to turn, unlock my truck, put the key in the ignition and fire up my baby before I kick up dirt and leave this shanty town. Too many steps, and I don’t even include producing my car key. So I do the only thing I know to do and I start to run.

9

ATTILA

It was all I could do to hold The Jekyll back from involving himself in this littletête-à-tête. But the minute that bullet hit the man’s temple, I knew we were in trouble. I don’t know what kind of trouble the bartender is in, but it couldn’t be good if she had that many grown men after her.

I watch as she starts to run; she does a good job of outrunning them, but there’s only so far she’ll get on foot. The men turn back to their SUV and climb in just as the bartender rounds the corner of the bar. I turn our headlights on and pull forward to charge at the SUV before they can move, swiping the side of the car, catching them off guard. I reverse then head to the back of the bar, easily catching up to the girl in my now battered up car.

She looks back only once as our lights fall across the ground in front of her, then continues to run before I pull up alongside her and demand that she gets into the car. She doesn’t stop. I roll along with her, trying to talk sense into her.

“There’s four of them,” I remind her. “And only one of you. Get in before they put a bullet inyourhead, too.”

A look of confusion crosses her face, only fleeting, but it’s there nonetheless. She starts to slow, her muscles obviously aching from her impromptu exercise regimen. She seems to think for a moment, considering the possibilities, before she curses and climbs into the car behind The Jekyll and we drive away into the night.

* * *

“They’re not dead, are they?”she asks, after we tell her how we held off her would be attackers.

“No. Just out of commission for a little while,” The Jekyll tells her. “Looks like they meant business, though.”

Her sigh is painful. She sits back into her seat and settles a hand to her forehead, as though trying to catch her breath and think at the same time. There is a slight tremor in her hand. I turn away when her eyes meet mine in the rear view mirror.

“Who were those men and what are we facing here?” The Jekyll asks.

The bartender is quiet, but the edge of her lip is caught between her teeth. Something has spooked her. And I don’t know whether she’s more afraid of us or the men in the SUV bound to catch up to us momentarily.

“You’renot facing anything,” she says. “This is my problem and I’ll take care of it.”

“You sure about that, Wonderwoman?” He scoffs. “Because the way it looked to me back there, you were about to get mauled. You may have some moves on you, but I’m in no way deluded enough to think you can dodge a bullet.”

* * *

Coyin Castillo’sdaughter falls into our laps like a gift from the skies. We don’t even have to work for it. We drive on for a while, no one speaking, with no direction in mind. We’d thought out our carefully laid plan down to the letter, but now that we had her, our plans seemed a little outdated. So we drove aimlessly through the night until we reached the motel. This would have to do for a while as we regrouped and found our feet.

“What are we doing here?” She asks, her hands crossing against her chest defensively. The bartender has a vulnerable side, even though she hates to show it.

“Collecting our things before we clear out of here,” I tell her, turning in my seat to face her after we come to a stop. “I have no desire to stick around waiting for your posse to come looking for us.”

“No. I wouldn’t wait around either.”

She speaks softly, a far away look in her eyes. Whatever those men wanted from her, it was enough to have her all sorts of riled. She still doesn’t know that she is effectively our prisoner; she’s traded one monster for another, but I’m interested to see how this plays out and what conclusion she draws. Thankfully, The Jekyll has caught on and he decides to contribute to the conversation.

“You leaving?” he asks, and she shrugs.

“Where will you go?” I’m curious to know where her next stop will be.

“I’ll get on a bus and just keep going until I find someplace safe.”

She catches herself immediately, recognizing that she’s already said too much.

“Safe,” I whisper. She has secrets. Secrets she means to keep. If only I could crack her open just a little bit.

“What are you running from?” The Jekyll asks.

“You know, for two guys who have been following me around like lost puppies for the past few days, you sure do have a lot of questions. Who are you, anyway?”

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