Joe didn’t know why, but he slipped his hand into Flix’s. He didn’t care who saw. “Guys?”
Navarro swallowed. Lil spoke. “Where are Devin and Peter?”
“I don’t...” Joe glanced at Flix and saw his own fear mirrored in Flix’s eyes.
Lil’s face was grim. “I have a list of everyone in this town. I’ve spent all night checking them off. Only two are missing. Peter and Devin.”
THIRTEEN
This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t lose Devin. Joe paced the length of the living room and tried to think. How could he have been so stupid as to slip away with Navarro, let his guard down? Devin and Peter weren’t welcome in Purcell. They’d never been safe here. For God’s sake, they had bounty posters trailing them from Austin. And Joe had dismissed it all, left them alone, to sit up on a roof with Navarro and get drunk. He had to find them.
He needed a plan.
A body brushed his elbow, and Flix slipped past him, wearing his own, faster, path on the floor. At the end of the room, Flix whirled and crashed into Joe.
“Why are we waiting?” Flix asked, his eyes wild. “We know that bastard Sanders and his creepy Sons took them.”
Joe growled. “For the fiftieth time, we need a plan. We can’t run off half-cocked.”
“We have guns! We hunt down that...that asshole and take our boys back!”
“I told you, all that’ll accomplish is getting you and me killed.”
Flix jammed his hands in his hair. “Well then do something, jackass. You’re supposed to be the one with all the brains.”
Joe had never wanted to slap someone more. “I can’t think because you won’t stop talking. Shut the hell up.”
But of course, Flix didn’t. He got right in Joe’s face, opened his mouth, and — wham! Lil grabbed a fistful of each of their shirts, and not gently, either. She dragged them to the empty couch and shoved. “Sit. Mouths shut.”
Joe took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Of course Sanders had taken Devin and Peter. Who else would? Joe didn’t think it’d be to kill them. More likely, they’d be a commodity, something to be traded. Had Sanders or one of the Sons seen the flyers? Or did they think they’d get a reward for bringing Devin and Peter north? Speculation, all of it. All Joe had to go on, though, was the hope that Sanders’s greed outweighed his hatred.
“Where would he keep them?” That was the place to start.
“They have a compound about three miles to the east,” Lil said.
Joe leaned forward, but Sadie spoke before he had the chance.
“It burned two days ago. The drones bombed there first.”
“How do you know that, little girl?” Lil snapped. “And why didn’t you tell us?”
Sadie stared at the floor and mumbled, “I thought it was over.”
“We could have been warned! If we’d known someone was carrying out bombing raids, we wouldn’t have had the bonfire!”
“Aria said it was over, that the Americans were mad ’cause of, you know, the stealing the Sons were doing, but the Sons weren’t there, except for a couple people who got killed. She said they’d lie low for a while, and it’d all blow over.”
Lil tugged at her wild red hair with both hands. “You have a lot of nerve, Saradora Harmony Benitez Ramirez, sneaking around this town, spending time with Aria like she didn’t beat Navi and ruin his leg!”
Navarro, who’d been sitting silently with his head in his hands since they’d left the destruction of the bonfire, looked at Lil through blood-shot eyes. Joe wanted to worry about Navarro’s health, how long he’d been awake, how much work he’d had to do, but sympathy was in short supply. And he didn’t have time to listen to their family drama.
He nudged Flix. “Let’s go.”
Flix grabbed Joe’s wrist. “What? I thought you had to think of a plan.”
Joe pulled Flix to his feet and addressed the others. “Do any of you know where Devin and Peter are?”
Navarro shook his head. “Nuevecito, don’t —”
“Don’t tell me what to do, Navarro. Unless you have some idea how I can get him back or you’re coming along to help, let me handle this.” Joe jerked his head toward the bedroom he and Devin shared. “Flix, go get a couple pairs of vision shields.”
“Get three,” Marcus said.
Flix, halfway toward the hall, turned. “Absolutely not.”
“I don’t need your protection.” Marcus staggered upright and held himself steady, but he couldn’t disguise the wince that stole over his face.
Flix glared and jabbed his finger earthward. Marcus swore and sat back down.
“Navi and I will see what we can find out while we’re on rounds this morning,” Lil said. “Be safe.”
Joe nodded, even though “safe” only mattered if Devin was with him. The night had been so long. His shoulders and calves ached, and his chest felt so heavy it hurt to draw breath. But he had to focus on what mattered. “Sadie and Marcus, would you please pack up our gear while Flix and I are gone? Once we get Devin and Peter back, we’ll probably need to leave right away.”
Flix returned, carrying the two long guns.
Joe jerked them out of Flix’s hands and propped them against the couch. “Do you have the things I asked you to get?”
“Yes, but...” Flix gestured to the guns.
Joe grabbed Flix by the arm and ushered him out of the house. He shoved Flix into the little shed Devin had been working in and tried not to think about how much time Devin had spent in there, waiting for Joe to make up his mind about heading north. “We’re going to ask questions. We don’t need guns for that. It’ll just put people on higher alert.”
“But —”
“Shut up. We’re going to start with Aria, even though I don’t think she’ll tell us anything. Then we’ll find the one that called me boss last night. We’ll talk to every one of them
