Page 55 of Justice for Radar

I started filming their interaction just in time. Hope rearing back and looking like he’d said something crazy or wildly inappropriate to her. He grinned and laughed whatever it was off and tried again. I could hear her say strongly, “Dude, I’m just not interested!” He pushed again, only this time he put his hand on her waist.

“Dude! Don’t fucking touch me!” she snarled. I thought for a second that some kid was gonna get in the way trying to white knight for her but Hope said, “I got it! He ain’t shit!”

The guy trying to rescue ranger her sweet ass put up his hands and walked away, and the guy turned back to her and said something I couldn’t catch.

She popped off with something likewise lost to the bar crowd and she turned to walk away. He grabbed her wrist and lightning fast Hope had his ass on the ground in a joint lock begging for mercy.

The bouncers showed up then and showed dude’s ass out once Hope explained what was up and her white knight vouched for her.

I cut footage and spotted Atlas in the crowd. He nodded.

We waited a while, and I slipped out to find Cutter who was outside in an alley across the street. I took the long way around and when I stopped next to him, he sucked in a breath.

“Man, these citizens,” he muttered. “They need to control their fuck trophies. If they did a better job of it, there would be a lot fewer fuckers like this one.” He thrust his chin out where this yahoo waited about half a block up likewise tucked in watching the door to the bar with nothing but spite and malice sitting on his face like a Halloween mask.

“This motherfucker’s fixin’ to get his ass kicked,” I said, and I was trying not to laugh.

“Shit, think we should just let Hope handle it?” he asked.

“Nah, he’s been giving my kid grief, I want a piece of his ass.”

“Wouldn’t give him anything to trace back to little Mari,” Cutter said, and I looked up at him likeno fucking shit.

Atlas left the bar first and walked right past the dude, paying him no mind before ducking into an alley halfway down the block past him to, what looked like, take a piss.

Hope came out a few minutes later, the white knight still shooting his shot. She laughed and shook her head, and the guy took the hint with hands raised and a sheepish grin and maybe a few smooth words that had Hope laughing before she turned up the sidewalk to head right past our boy, looking at Cutter’s text to head that way.

We left our alley and started pacing her just behind paying her no mind, trying to make it look like we were having our own conversation. Our target ghosted down the way and into the alley to lie in wait and Hope let herself be pulled in. Atlas got into the alley first and we came up short at his back. The kid was holding something, and Hope had her hands up a wicked gleam in her eyes.

Dumb shit had the mouth of the alley and the three of us at his back and didn’t even fucking realize it.

“He’s got a knife,” she said calmly, voice tinged with amusement.

He whirled on us, and I reached out and gave shit a twist. He dropped the knife; Hope standing back while we dropped him. Atlas watched out for us at the mouth of the alley, paying attention to the street while Cutter and I beat the fucking brakes off this piece of wet lettuce.

“Should have stayed a fuckin’ stain in your daddy’s gym sock, you arrogant piece of shit,” Hope said, putting one of her heels against his hip and pushing him over onto his back.

“You’re lucky, you won’t choke to death on your own blood,” Cutter grated. “Bet there are a lot of ladies out there that wouldn’t mind if you did.”

I resisted the urge to spit on him. Why leave DNA if he did fuckin’ die?

We left, and whatever would be would be. Personally, I hoped he fuckin’ died. His survival left a good chance he’d just be a Rodney for some poor other Justice out there.

The thought almost had me turning around to put a cap in his fuckin’ ass.

* * *

“He’s in ICU.Nobody’s crying about it. His jaw could be wired shut for six months,” Mariposa said, and she was doing a good job of sounding sad about it on the phone but I knew my kid, and if you listened between the words, you could totally hear her fucking smile.

“Aw, geeze baby, that’s too bad. I’m sorry to hear that,” I told her and tried to sound like a sympathetic dad to anyone that might be listening. Paranoia before anything else. It kept your ass outta jail and off the radar for people like… well…me.

“Anyway, that’s what’s going on up here. The big news of the day so-to-speak. Lucia says you’re going out of town on a bounty?”

“Yep, Atlas and I are packing up now.”

“Taking the bike or the Escalade?” she asked.

“Taking the bikes, no sense in taking the Escalade. We’ll just take him to a local lockup and let the courts extradite this one.”

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