Page 11 of Clear Skies (Stormcloud Station)

Daisy could imagine. She’d only been to Tommy’s place once; the place was a dive, where River went to play Xbox games and smoke drugs. River still officially lived at home with their parents, but he spent most of his time crashing on friend’s floors or couches, so they hardly ever saw him.

“Anyway, Ralphie and Kyron came around, looking all hyped up, you know?”

No, she didn’t know, but she nodded for him to continue.

“They asked if we wanted to join in a bit of fun. There might even be some money in it.”

Daisy wondered what Ralphie and Kyron considered a bit of fun. Daisy hadn’t met these two—she was loath to call them thugs, but that seemed like the right word—but she’d heard about them from River. They had a loose connection to a street gang by the name of The Black Lords. River swore blind that he wasn’t part of this gang, but Daisy had never been truly sure.

“Me and Tommy said why the hell not? And so we hopped in their car and they drove us into Northbridge.”

A chill of premonition ran down Daisy’s spine. Already, she didn’t like the sound of this.

“It was only around nine o’clock, not late or anything. Ralphie said if we helped him get this job done, then he’d pay us a thousand large each.” River’s tone became animated as he recounted this part of the story. The thought of easy money always excited him.

“He parked the car around the back of some bar, I don’t know which one, but they must’ve had a live band, I could hear the music pumping. We all went into some alley way behind the bar and stood around…just waiting. Then finally this guy appears. I recognized him straight away. It was Daniel. And all of a sudden, I knew what they’d come here for. I was scared.”

River was right to be alarmed. A few weeks ago, he’d recounted a story where Daniel had reneged on a deal with The Black Kings, and owed them a lot of money. The Black Kings were mad; they didn’t like to be double-crossed.

“They got him on the ground and began kicking him so hard. I swear, sis, I tried to stop them. I yelled at them and told them to get the hell outta there.” River’s voice broke into a sob. “But they wouldn’t listen, and in the end I just ran away. I had to get away. You understand, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do,” she soothed. “You did the right thing. The only thing you could do.”

River went on, almost as if she hadn’t spoken. “Now I realize, they always meant to beat him up. Make an example of him. Tommy told me afterwards they lured him in by offering to sell him a KG of coke. That’s how they got him to come to the alley in the first place. The sound of the live band covered any commotion we made. But I don’t think they meant to kill him, things got out of control, that was all.”

Daisy very much doubted that, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

“Did Tommy know where you were going?”

River merely shrugged.

Not that it mattered now, because Tommy was in custody, awaiting trial for murder. As was Kyron.

But Ralphie had gone to ground on the same night as the beating. Ralphie was smart. Smarter than the rest of them. But rumor had it that Ralphie was blaming River for turning them all in to the police.

And that was the main reason driving Daisy to protect her brother.

Because now, it wasn’t just that the police who wanted to question him as a person of interest in the crime.

The Black Kings were coming for him because they thought he was a traitor. Someone had accused him of taking photos at the scene and they were scared he’d turn them over to the police. That he would betray them. River swore black and blue that he hadn’t done that.

River told Daisy the cops would charge him with murder, or at the very least, accessory to murder. He knew he wouldn’t survive in prison.

But that was the least of his worries, now. If The Black Kings caught up to him, he was as good as dead. And that was why she’d helped him to escape. Daisy was a good girl, she followed the rules and trusted in the justice system. She would’ve probably let River take his chances with the law; let them arrest him and have the trial by jury play out the way it should.

But when it came to gangland justice. Daisy couldn’t let her brother be killed in cold blood.

So, she’d agreed to take him on the run.

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