Page 34 of Desert Loyalties
Then she reaches out. Finds my hand. Her fingers slip between mine, interlocking them.
It’s small. But it brings me back from the edge.
“This is bad, right?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
Grim’s crouched over Locke’s body, looking like a demon waiting to drag the dead to hell.
He answers without looking up. “Yes. Very bad.”
Ranger runs a hand down his face. “The cops are never gonna buy that their informant killed himself.”
I finish it for him. “We’re fucked.”
Grim stands then, rising to his full height. No emotion. Nothing in his eyes. Just cold efficiency. “I could get rid of the body,” he says, like he’s offering to take out the trash.
I shake my head. “Won’t work. They’ll keep coming.”
“Then we redirect them,” Ranger cuts in, his eyes already calculating. “No one suspected Locke. Not even us. We just have to convince everyone that he ran.”
That could work. “We need to find out how he contacted the DEA, find his contact. We’ll send a message from him, something like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ Make it look like guilt pushed him to run.”
Ranger nods. “There’s no way he used his own phone. Probably a burner. We need to bring the brothers in, only the patched ones.”
He glances at Grim. “You handle the body. His cut’s soaked in blood anyway.”
“All right,” Grim says with a grin.
Ranger leads Skye and me up through the hatch that opens straight into his office, bypassing the common room. Mickey’s already in the office, leaning against the frame of the joining door like he’s been waiting.
“I saw everything,” he says, nodding towards Skye, handing her, her phone. “Already told Caine to sweep Locke’s room. Discreet. He wasn’t an officer. We’ve got some wiggle room.”
He looks at me. “We’ll need someone to ride out. Make it look like Locke bailed.”
“Joker,” I say immediately. “He’s loyal. Built similar. Rough enough to pass. We send him to Locke’s place. Pack a bag, grab all the cash and ride off into the desert. We’ll follow. Stash the bike. Burn what we don’t need.”
Skye speaks up, voice still raw. “What about his neighbours? Won’t they know it’s not him?”
“We wait till dark,” Ranger says. “Hoodie. Bandana. Keep the helmet on. The point isn’t foolproof. it’s momentum. Once we start the lie, we keep running with it.”
He leans forward, both hands on the desk. “We have to move fast. I trust the brothers. But hangarounds? The girls? Too many mouths. Too many eyes.”
I offer the next piece. “Let’s have a party.”
Mickey raises a brow. “What?”
Ranger gets it instantly. “He’s right. Claiming party. Loud. Drunk. Once everyone’s blitzed, no one’s gonna notice who’s on the bike.
Skye furrows her brow. “Claiming party?”
Ranger meets her gaze. “I know this isn’t ideal—”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m fine with it. Just… don’t you need the ceremony first?”
Ranger nods slowly, looking at me. “We’ll discuss it later. With everything you’ve done for us… no one will ever question your loyalty.”
She gives him a tired smile, and I can’t help tugging her hand gently. She laughs, warm and soft despite everything. That sound settles something ragged in me.
Ranger watches us with a wry look. “Why don’t you two head to Skye’s guesthouse? Clean up. I’ll deal with this mess.”
