Page 86 of Constantly Cotton
“I shall tell him,” Jai said. “He will be surprised. He thinks he is very ordinary.”
But Ace knew better. George had spent a lot of his own time in the past two months helping Alba’s community, being someone they could turn to for their medical needs and who wouldn’t call ICE, staying completely off the radar. It wasn’t like criminality was arequirementfor a life partner if you knew Ace and Sonny, but Ace was beginning to see how it could be a perk.
Together they rumbled through the night, pulling up to rest at the big casino just inside the Nevada border, the one with the scary clowns.
Although it was “family themed,” the place was almost deserted, and Ace pulled around toward the back where nobody was parked, and the only thing that could see them was acres of desert. They broke out the sandwiches they’d bought for the trip and ate and drank lots of water, rolling down the windows of the RV and opening the door to let the hot desert wind cool them off.
“What is the plan?” Jai asked.
“Well, Burton was going to try to get the address of the place where this thing was going. We need to scope the place out, make sure the bad guys are bad guys, and, I don’t know. Return their RV I guess.”
Jai raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? Return the RV?”
Ace looked at him levelly. “I did text Burton to bring us some C-4 and a detonator,” he said. “I mean, we don’thaveto return it the same way we found it.”
“You mean,” Jai said slowly, “that you would like to kill it with fire.”
Ace’s mouth twitched. “Can you think of a better way to kill it?”
“Christ no,” Jai said thickly. “Do we mind if it takes out some bad people when we do?”
“Idon’t,” Ace said, truth at the forefront. “But,” he added loyally, “we do have to see if Burton has a plan.”
“Heh heh heh…”
“What are you laughing about?”
“I don’t think Burton ever has a plan for us, Ace. I think you have turned Burton’s life into a life without a strategy.”
That was ridiculous. “I don’t see why you’re blaming me for that and not Ernie.” Ace sniffed. “I mean, you gotta admit, Ernie does send plans to shit.”
Jai shook his head. “Ernie is like a weather app. He’s very good for plans. He’s very bad for surprises.”
“Mm…”
“Or very good for surprises,” Jai corrected. “It depends on if you like surprises.”
“Not with my C-4 and human trafficking sleazeballs,” Ace assured him.
“Well, then he’s bad for them. But he does come with surprises. There is no arguing that.”
There was not, and they turned to other topics, eventually settling down to sleep.
The last thing Ace did before he closed his eyes was take a picture of the night sky, where you could see the demarcation from the light pollution from Vegas, which was nearly thirty miles away, and the clean desert that he and Sonny were used to. He sent the picture to Sonny without a caption, but Sonny sent back,Missing you too.
Well, nobody said Sonny Daye was stupid.
THE NEXTmorning, they were saved from dying of heatstroke in the RV by a knock on the window.
Lee Burton, dressed in motorcycle leathers and a shiny black helmet, was standing right outside, two giant iced coffees in his hand.
“Ooh!” Ace said, giving one to Jai. “I love these. They’re like morning dessert.”
“Yeah, Ace.” Burton always sounded like he was dryly laughing. “That’s what they’re called. Morning dessert.”
“Don’t be shitty,” Ace told him, sharpness in his voice. “Do you have any idea how horrible it is in here?”
Burton grimaced. “Sorry, Ace. I was just… you know.”
