I watched as they parked their bikes next to mine, looking around. I could practically smell their fear as they pulled out their weapons and got off their bikes.
They walked over to my bike and began to rifle through my saddlebags. They must have assumed I was hiding in the bathrooms or inside the main building, which was stupid.
I wasn’t hiding at all.
My heart was hammering in my chest, excitement running through me. I always felt the most alive when death was nearest.
I cocked my gun. One guy looked up.
I put a bullet through his skull.
My gun made a screaming boom, like lightning made real. The man barely grunted as he fell over, his head caved in, blood everywhere.
The other guy raised his gun, but I was already ready. I put a bullet in his chest, but he didn’t stop. He fired back, missing. I put another bullet in his chest, and another, and another, until finally he dropped, blood spreading out around him.
And just like that, it was over.
I got up from my hiding place at the corner of the building and slowly advanced on the guys. I got up close and kicked away their guns before putting my own away.
I grabbed the second man’s body and rolled him over. Sure enough, he was wearing the Snake Spit patch. I didn’t bother to check the other guy, since the less I touched him the better.
I knocked on the bathroom door, and Janine slowly opened it. “What was that?” she asked softly.
“Killed two men,” I said, “but we’re safe.”
She looked past me and saw their bodies lying in the dust next to the bike.
“Don’t look,” I said to her. “Just don’t.”
But she couldn’t help herself. She was staring, wide-eyed and shocked, at the two men, at the blood spreading out. She’d clearly never been so close to dead men before, and I didn’t blame her for having this reaction. It wasn’t an easy thing to see.
“Come on.” I took her hand and pulled her along behind me. I got her on the back of the bike and then started the engine. I rode it slowly to the front of the building and then stopped. “Wait here,” I said to her.
I quickly grabbed a wad of cash that I kept in my saddlebag and went inside the store.
The old guy who worked there was sitting behind the counter. He smiled as I came up to him.
“Help you?” he asked.
I put the wad of cash on the counter. “This is two grand,” I said. “Can you make sure any security tape disappears?”
“Seems like it was on the fritz today,” he said, nodding.
“And you never saw me.”
He just smiled and looked back at his book.
I turned and left. Good old man, understood how these things worked. I was sure he’d wait until I was gone before calling the cops and reporting what had happened. He wouldn’t snitch, because he’d definitely recognized the Demons patch on my vest.
I got back outside and took Janine by the shoulders. “You’re okay,” I said to her.
She nodded, still in shock.
“Come on. I need to gas up. Then we’ll get you home.”
She just nodded again. She looked completely numb.
I rode the bike over to the pumps and filled the gas tank. Janine kept looking over her shoulder back toward where the two bodies were lying in the darkness. I didn’t say anything to her, just put as much gas in as fast as I could. When my tank was full, I got back on and the bike roared to life.
We sped out of there, back the opposite way we had come, back down the highway.
I didn’t know what the girl was thinking, but it couldn’t be good. She’d just witnessed her first gang murder, or at least heard it. She’d been around us for a long time, but she’d never had to see what we did close up before. I couldn’t begin to guess what she was feeling.
We sped back, and suddenly I felt her press herself up against me harder. She gripped me like that, holding my body hard, and I could feel her begin to shake.
Crying, probably.
I clenched my jaw. I wanted to stop and hold her, help her, but I couldn’t. I had to keep going, just in case the cops were looking for us or just happened to ride by. We couldn’t slow down.
So I let her hold me like that as I rode fast back toward her apartment.
19
Janine
They were the first murdered men I had ever seen in my life.
When Clutch rode out of town and eventually got onto that desert highway, I’d had a feeling that we were running from someone. I couldn’t tell who exactly, since I didn’t want to look back, but I figured it was bad. Clutch wasn’t the type to do something rash without a reason.
When we got to the gas station and he told me to get into the bathroom, I understood what was happening, but some stupid part of me thought maybe he’d just fight the guys, beat them up, and then we’d run away.
It never occurred to me that he was about to kill them.