Page 222 of Back in the Saddle

The Nightingale crew found Raye’s sister who had been dead for nineteen years,andher killer.

They’d find Homer and the rest of them.

I took in another breath. It was a whole lot calmer.

Then I said, “Let’s go.”

We climbed in the Sportage, and we went.

* * *

When we hit the diner,the girls weren’t inside.

They were loitering outside, all of them wearing non-sex worker outfits of jeans and sweaters or tees and jackets with the addition of sneakers.

Though, Divinity’s sneakers were wedges.

And they were all there, that whole crew: Jinx, Persia, Divinity, Skyla, Lotus, Cameo and Genesis.

And standing with them were Bambi and Bambi’s mom, Betsy.

Bambi’s name wasn’t Bambi, it was Christina. And Bambi wasn’t a sex worker anymore. Bambi had been trafficked, saved by the Angels and the Hottie Squad, and then she spent a lot of time in counseling and attending support groups (and, the last I heard, she was still doing both).

Now Bambi was no longer Bambi unless she was in this environment, an occurrence, considering her history, that was rare and only happened so she could keep in touch with the crew, both ours and Jinx’s. This happened over burgers at the diner.

Outside this environment, she was Christina and she was in beauty school.

But now, for some reason, she was here.

We got out and headed to them.

“Sucks you didn’t bring the Merc,” Skyla muttered, eyeing the Sportage.

“We don’t have a lot of time, and we don’t have a lot of resources,” Raye declared. “So anything you got that we can go on would be appreciated.”

It hit me then that Jinx and her chicks had somehow been fully briefed somewhere along the way. That meant one of my chicks briefed them.

God, totally worth a repeat at this point. I loved my girls.

“We know that, that’s why we’re goin’ with you,” Jinx stated.

Yeah, they’d been briefed.

“I don’t—” Raye started.

“Listen, no denyin’ you bitches get the job done,” Jinx declared. “But you don’t just roll up on these kinds of guys. You hear me? They see a familiar face, they won’t blow it off. The other way around?” She shrugged.

This was good advice. I was freaked for Homer, but I didn’t want my face blown off in the hunt for him, or any of my chicks’ faces for that matter.

Jinx motioned to Bambi. “When she was in the game, Bambi here was dealers’ choice.”

That explained why Bambi was there.

And that really sucked for Bambi, and as much as I wanted all the help I could get, I wasn’t sure about her state of mind wading back into this world.

“I knew Clown. I don’t know who Clown is working for now,” Bambi said. “But I know his old crew and where to find them.”

Luna had the same thoughts as I did. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

---