Page 55 of Paladin's Hell

Chapter 19

Paladin

I feel unsettled. Don’t like not seeing Jay. It’s been my job to take care of her for years, and now I’m feeling restless. I text her the next morning.

Pal: You okay? Settling in? How’s your head?

I wait for the response, but there’s none. The idea that I might be losing her hits me, followed by the thought if she doesn’t want me here, there’s nothing to stop me from returning to Tucson. A longing to shoot the shit or play pool with Shooter and Road comes over me. Shooter, when he was known as Spider, and me still going by my real name Marsh, prospected together. We’d worked side by side through some shit, a bond that’s hard to break, and which I’m unlikely to find here.

It’s like being a new boy at school, viewed with mistrust. I walk into the kitchen for breakfast, it’s even worse than the day before. Yesterday I was a mystery, the stranger. Then, when everything went to shit, someone looked on as at the very least, responsible for bringing bad luck to the club.

I take a plate of breakfast from Jeannie. It smells and looks fine, but I eat mechanically, feeling eyes upon me. Nobody would miss me if I upped and left. Least of all, it seems, Jayden. It’s all become fucked up. Our new start together. I haven’t even seen her since we arrived.

“Want a word.”

With a mouth full of bacon, I acknowledge Demon and hastily swallow. “Sure VP.”

“Finish up. Then come find me.”

Having handed my empty plate to Jeannie, I go off in search of the VP. He’s sitting at a table at the end of the bar, an open bottle of beer in front of him even though it’s early, and papers spread out around.

“VP?”

“Pal. Sit.” He waves toward a chair.

“What can I do for you?”

“Wanted to pick your brain.” He puts down the pen he’d been holding, and leans forward, his elbows on the table, his chin lightly resting on his clasped hands. “The trouble you had in Tucson, that brought you and the girl here. Could it have followed you?”

I don’t have to give it more than a moment’s thought. I shake my head and say adamantly, “No.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”

“Logistics,” I reply. “No one outside the club knew we were coming here. Well, not unless there were leaks from this end.”

He sits up straight again and jots something down. “Doubt it. But I’ll have a word around. We haven’t got brothers known for running their mouths. I trust them.”

“And I trust my brothers in Tucson.” More than I trust the ones here. “Jayden’s safety depends on no one knowing where she is.”

He half stands, getting into my face. “Reading an undercurrent there, Brother. What the fuck do you think has gone down? They might not have known the details, but we don’t fuckin’ advertise when someone’s comin’ for protection. You think a brother here blurted it out? Who would they fuckin’ tell? Who, in Pueblo, would be interested?”

I start to shake my head. Put like that, it does sound ridiculous. I open my mouth, but he hasn’t finished, though he has sat back down.

“You don’t like that you’ve got to earn trust. Works both ways, Brother. Seems you need to start giving some to receive it.”

I hear what he’s saying. As hard as it is for me to get the measure of my new brothers, if they’re feeling the same, I need to cut them some slack. I return to his earlier question, this time offering in a more reasonable tone, “If we’d picked up a tail, then it would be too fast to get a team together. One man, perhaps, but it seems there were disturbances at all your businesses the night before last. That would take manpower. Smacks of something local to me.”

Demon nods. “We’ve got street gangs, ‘course we have. Pimply faced kids for the most part who have difficulty finding their noses to pick, let alone getting organised and coming after us.” He pauses. “Could the Herreras have links to any of them?”

Again, I reply in the negative. “Herreras are a Tucson based crime family. If we were in Arizona, maybe, but I don’t think they’d cross state lines to step on somebody’s toes. They’re not known for getting into bed with other people. They keep themselves to themselves.”

As he thinks for a moment, I slide out my phone and glance at it.

“That there,” he points to the device in my hand. “Taser says you’re always on the phone to somebody.”

I roll my eyes. “Right now I’m checking the time. Need to get to the police station to get my fingerprints taken. Not that I’m particularly happy about them going into the system, but neither do I want to be caught for a murder I didn’t commit.” My eyes narrow. “I presume Taser is going to back me up when I say I jumped into the dumpster not knowing what to expect?”

Demon rears back, then comes forward, again up close to my face. “Taser may have taken a dislike to you, but we put brothers before cops any day.”

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