Dead Six

“Is it true that you pulled me out after I went down? In the fort, I mean.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Why did you do that?” he asked.

“I . . . I don’t know. You don’t sound very grateful.”

“I’m not,” he said harshly. “Call me when you get here.”

The line went dead.

LORENZO

Quagmire, Nevada

Quagmire was a typical, pissant desert town. The only things that looked new were the McDonald’s and the slot machines. Nothing interesting ever happened in towns like this. It wasn’t the kind of place that attracted rogue government operators, that was for sure. This should have been a great place to disappear.

You would think.

Valentine had given me directions to a small ranch on the outskirts of town. Even in the middle of the day, the roads were mostly deserted. If this was a setup, I was walking right into it.

The house was far enough out of town and away from any neighbors that there could be a ton of gunfire and nobody would notice. It was rather isolated on its own gravel road, surrounded by barbed wire and trees. Some horses studied me stupidly. I hate horses.

The weight of the STI on my belt was comforting, but if this was a professional trap, it wouldn’t do me a bit of good. Somebody would snipe me from the trees or a SWAT team would toss flash-bangs and then swarm around every corner. I walked up the porch, knocked, and waited. If I was the hitter in this situation, this is when I would just shoot them through the door.

There was a noise as the door was unlocked. Then it creaked open.

Valentine.

This was the first time I’d seen him in person without immediate violence. He was just over six foot. Dark hair, a face that made him look too young, muscular, but he really didn’t look like much. Yet I had already gotten my ass kicked once by this guy, so I knew that looks could be deceiving. His face was still healing from where I had cut him, and that wasn’t the only scar visible. Valentine looked older now than when I had met him before, tired and run down. Zubara had taken a lot from him. His eyes were different colors. I’d never noticed that before. It was weird. It made it a little unsettling to look him in the eye. It kind of pissed me off.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” He leaned his head out of the doorway and looked around the gravel driveway. I don’t know what he was expecting to see. It wasn’t like I would need to bring friends if I was going to waste him. Valentine regarded me warily, like most people would look at an unfamiliar dog. Finally he turned into the entry, nodding his head for me to follow.

The living room was vaguely rustic, with antlers mounted on the walls and a few pictures over the fireplace. It didn’t feel like his place. It was an awkward moment. Neither one of us offered to shake hands. I stepped inside and he gestured toward a chair.

“No thanks. I’ll stand.” It was slower to draw from a hip holster while seated and I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

“Suit yourself.” He closed the door.

“Anything new on Jill?”

“Nothing. There’s not much to Quagmire, so she’s probably not here. I don’t know where they’ve taken her. We didn’t get the authorities involved. Hawk called her boss at the diner and said she had to leave for a family emergency, so no one in town is suspicious.”

“The cops can’t do anything I can’t,” I said. The FBI handles all kidnapping cases, and I really didn’t want them involved in this. Especially not my brother.

“Like I said, they must’ve grabbed her on the way to work. I found her purse, her phone, and her gun lying on the ground. She didn’t get a shot off or anything. I have no idea who would’ve taken her.”

“Maybe they were looking for you,” I snapped. “What the hell are you doing here anyway?” It infuriated me that Jill might’ve gotten caught up in Valentine’s mess. I swear this kid destroys and ruins everything he comes into contact with. He was the bane of my existence, and it was all I could do to not punch him in his stupid face then shoot him between his stupid mismatched eyes.

“Maybe they were looking for you,” he retorted. “Or did it never occur to you that hanging out with a guy like you could be bad for your friends’ health?”

My muscles tightened. My fists clenched. A vein bulged in my forehead. Valentine didn’t know about Carl or Train, but that was about the worst possible thing he could’ve said to me. I was very close to pulling out my STI and putting a bullet in this asshole.

He must’ve read my body language. The expression on his face subtly changed. “Go ahead,” he said, staring me down. “Pull it. You better be quick, motherfucker.”

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” I growled, tensing up.

“Because you know what will really help you find Jill? Shooting me. Assuming you’re faster than me, which you’re not. And then if you do get her back alive, you can explain to her how you murdered me in a tantrum because I said something that made you mad. After she’s spent days telling me what a great guy you are, I’m sure she’ll understand.”

I grudgingly had to admit to myself that he had a point. This pissing contest was getting us nowhere. Jill’s life was in our hands. I exhaled heavily and tried to force myself to relax. Valentine did the same. “Sorry . . . I’ve been driving all day.” I relented and sat in down in a chair. “Why did you call me, Valentine?”

“Jill’s a nice girl. She told me her story, you know. She was doing fine until she got caught up in the crap that we got caught up in. You and I, and the people we associate with, came into that girl’s life and screwed it up royally. And now, either because she knows me or because she knows you, her life is in danger. Again. She deserves better than that. I don’t want to see anything happen to her. And I didn’t know who else to call. What are the cops gonna do? The people that might be after us are more than the sheriff can handle. Also . . .” Valentine trailed off for a moment. “Jill told me you saved my life. There’ve been times when I wish you’d have just left me there, too. But debts have to be repaid all the same. We owe her a debt, too. We brought this on her. So you and I, we need to make this right.” He was quiet for a moment. What he’d just told me had obviously been hard for him to say. “You know, I honestly don’t know what she sees in you.”

“Hell, me either,” I said, but really I was just trying to be agreeable. I happen to think I’m a pretty amazing guy.

In all of my life, no matter how bad things got, I never once wished I was dead. My survival instinct is too strong. I know I’m not going to live forever, but damn if I’m not going to try. I don’t give up. I don’t quit. And I’d kind of assumed Valentine was much the same. I’d seen him in action, after all. He was a hardened killer, the man that had thwarted me at every turn, my nemesis, but all I saw was a broken young man who’d watched his girlfriend get shot to death right before his eyes. He couldn’t have been much more than twenty-five, and he acted as if his life was over. They’d taken everything from him. That’s when it hit me, slapped me right in the face. I finally understood why I had dragged him out of Fort Saradia.

I’d felt sorry for him.

I hadn’t known that I was capable of pity. I shook my head, and then it was gone. Men like us didn’t need pity, just a balancing of the scales. As far as I could see, what Valentine needed was a cleansing vengeance, but there wasn’t time to ponder on his questionable mental state. We had work to do. “Do you know how they found her?

“I don’t know. She’s been here longer than me. She works at a little diner in town called Shifty’s, but lives under an assumed name, Peaches.”

“Right.”

“It seems we have a mutual friend here. Everyone in town thinks . . . well, thinks Jill is Hawk’s illegitimate daughter that he was reunited with. Hawk didn’t try to dispel the rumors. Thinking she was Hawk’s daughter kept