Page 5 of Deuce

I expected to see another corpse.

Wrong.Must have been a warning shot.

Rattler and the second perp were in a standoff, yards apart with weapons pointed at each other.A stone rolled from under my foot, alerting the asshole to my presence behind him.He pivoted to target me with the weapon, and his head swung wildly back and forth between me and Rattler.If he knew his buddy was dead, it didn’t seem to faze him.

“The bitch belongs to us.Give her back, and you don’t get hurt.”The idiot spat on the ground and took a step toward me.

Not only ugly, but stupid.

“I don’t think so.”Rattler stood with his legs planted solidly on the ground, the picture of a Capone era gangster as he pointed his favorite short-barreled shotgun at the asshole’s head.

“She’s not worth fighting over.”The gun wavered just a bit as the asshole switched his attention to Rattler.“You don’t want to do that.”

Rattler’s smile was devoid of humor.“Yeah, I think I do.”His aim held steady as he made a point of moving his finger just a hair on the trigger.

“She’s not worth it.”The idiot repeated his statement as if it might be more persuasive the second time.

“Then maybe you should call it a day and move on.”

The asshole narrowed his eyes.“You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”He took a step backward so he could see both of us without constantly swiveling his head.

Rattler shrugged, drawing the motherfucker’s attention back to himself.“Don’t care.You pulled a gun on me.Can’t let that shit go.”His eyes shone with a wicked light.“Maybe you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

With a frustrated grunt, the idiot gave it one last, desperate try.“Just give us the girl, and we all leave happy.”

Dead quiet descended as the last of the train’s cars cleared the crossing and disappeared around a bend in the tracks.

Rattler didn’t take his eyes off the asshole as he raised his voice, not giving away the woman’s hiding spot.“You want to go with this guy, lady?”

“No.”

The jackass raked the area with his eyes, trying to determine the woman’s location.

“You heard the lady,” Rattler snarled.“She doesn’t want to go with you.Now why don’t you just hop back into that piece of shit and disappear into whatever hellhole you came from?”

“I could shoot you right now and take her.”The gun wavered between me and Rattler.

“You might want to be real sure of your aim.”Rattler grinned menacingly.“Because one shot is all you’re going to get with that little peashooter before I blow you into pieces so small they’ll need dental records to identify you.”

The kidnapper hesitated, as if deciding how serious Rattler was.

“Well?”Rattler dropped the muzzle and sent another round into the ground just in front of the idiot to drive his point home.

“Fine!”The asshole jumped back, glaring furiously at Rattler.He lowered his gun and reached for the van’s door handle.Hauling himself back into the van, he hurled one last threat.“You’re gonna regret this!”

He slammed the door shut, and moments later the van peeled across the tracks with a squeal of tires.My eyes darted down to the van’s license plate, committing the number to memory.Shadow should be able to trace it.He was a magician with a computer.I swear that guy could trace a single ghost hiding in a graveyard.

I relaxed, grinning at Rattler as I holstered my weapon.“You are a crazy son of a bitch.”

Rattler stalked back to his bike and settled the shotgun into its sheath.His mouth quirked up in a grin.“Not really.We had him outnumbered two to one, and you were the one he had in his sights.If he planned to smoke me, he should have done it before you joined the party.”

“Good point.”

But I knew he meant it in jest.Rattler had my back.Always.Just as I had his.

I nudged the dead thug with the toe of my boot.“I’ll call Beast and have him send a crew to clean up the garbage.”

“We should probably get him off the road in case anyone comes by before Beast and the team get here.Grab his legs.”Rattler spat on the ground.“One less waste of oxygen on the planet.”

---