Page 100 of Back in the Saddle

I exchanged glances with my chicks.

“They got trouble,” Jinx remarked. “The cops don’t like Mountain and his boys showin’ ’em up.”

“Mm-hmm,” Divinity again hummed around her straw.

“They gotta be like, more shadowy than their normal shadows,” Skyla put in.

“Is there a way to get word to them?” Raye asked.

Jinx shook her head. “They be where they be,gringa. And you never know where that’s gonna be.”

“Isn’t there like, an underground communication system?” Harlow inquired.

All the girls looked to Harlow, clearly trying not to laugh.

But only Jinx spoke. “She so cute.”

That was a no on the underground communication system.

“What’s this about trouble from the police?” Luna asked.

“Tryin’ to round ’em up,” Jinx told her. “Like maybe they should focus on the dealers and car thieves and gangbangers.”

“Yeah, they should focus on them,” Divinity said, then blew bubbles in her soda.

Oh shit.

“Like, arresting them?” I asked.

“The Soldiers mean business, you hear?” Persia asked. “I mean, there’s a law to bein’ on the street, but theyarethe law on the street.”

“And they don’t carry handcuffs,” Skyla put in. “If they tell you to do something, and you don’t do it, they deliver the message another way. One you got a lot of time to contemplate during your hospital stay.”

I was pretty sure I was cruising to a panic attack that only a bacon double cheeseburger could contain (but barely, thus I was glad I ordered the tots), so I craned my neck to look for our server.

“He tight, Natalie,” Jinx said to me, watching me closely. “Mountain, I mean. He looks out for his crew.”

“I’m sure it means a lot for my brother to be a part of this kind of thing.” It took a great deal out of me to say my next, instead of what I wanted to say. That I wanted Jeff out of this mess. “I just want to talk to him. See him. Make sure he’s all right.”

“Well, if we see him or one of the boys, we’ll get that message to them,” Skyla said as the server put down our drinks, but the food wasn’t up yet, which would be a miracle if it was in that time, but it was still a bummer.

“I’d appreciate it,” I replied, grabbing my DC.

I took a hit of it and noticed Jinx, Raye and Luna giving each other looks.

“What?” I asked into this.

“Nothin’,” Jinx said.

“Really, please tell me,” I replied quietly, not to mention desperately.

Jinx looked at Raye and Luna again, and when she got nods from both, she turned to me.

“Not sure you’re seein’ the whole picture,” Jinx said. “The cops don’t like the Shadows, but the bad guys don’t like ’em a whole lot more.”

God damn it.

I sucked anxiously on my straw.

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