Page 37 of Back in the Saddle

Tito hesitated.

“Promise,” I said.

Tito nodded once, but I could tell he didn’t like it even if I couldn’t see his eyes, before he went in the back door.

Once it closed, I returned my attention to Homer and the General.

“You can tell her,” Homer urged the General.

“Gotta get back to Mary,” the General stated.

“We’ll go back, once you tell her,” Homer replied.

“Mary’s all alone,” the General returned.

“Mary?” I whispered to Homer.

“She’s new,” Homer whispered back. “General Grant looks after the new ones.”

Of course he did.

“Boomer’s looking after Mary,” Homer reminded the General. “But you’re right. We gotta head back so you can look in on her, which means now, you gotta talk to Jessie.”

The General moved foot to foot then his body jolted, and he looked behind him.

I looked behind him.

At nothing.

God, this guy was killing me.

“General,” Homer called him back to us.

The General turned to me. “Street Warrior.”

That was all he said.

Therefore, I asked, “Sorry?”

“Street Warrior,” the General repeated. “He’s one of ’em. Keeps the darkness back. Keeps it back.”

I wasn’t liking this—at all—even if I didn’t get it.

At all.

I looked to Homer to see if he could offer any illumination.

Homer’s whiskered lips were pressed tight.

“What’s a street warrior?” I asked him.

He didn’t answer because the General was moving quickly toward the side of the building.

Homer followed.

I followed.

The General checked the side of the building, then he looked at Homer and said, “Mary.”

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