Glancing at Pic for confirmation, I hit the callback number, setting the phone down in the center of the table. It rang twice, then Talia answered, her voice husky.
“You there?”
“We’re all here,” I said. “You have one minute. Talk.”
“Give it to me,” a man said, his voice muffled in the background. “Is Picnic Hayes there?”
“That would be me,” my president said. “What do you want?”
“We want to make amends,” the man replied. “We know Marsh Jackson is out of the picture. We don’t want to end up like him. Tell us how we can make this right.”
“You disrupted our alliances and went behind our backs,” Pic said. “Once a snake, always a snake. I don’t think we can help you.”
“Wait,” he said quickly. “Things are changing north of the border. You want us on your side, because if we go under, the southern cartels will take over and then you’ll be fighting a war on two fronts. That’s bad for all of us. All we want is to talk. Truce.”
Pic and Hunter shared a look, and Hunter nodded slowly.
“Okay, we’ll talk, but you’ll be coming to us, not the other way around. It’ll be completely on our terms. Where are you right now?”
There was silence on the other side.
“We’re in Crownover,” he finally said, naming a small town about thirty miles north of Hallies Falls. “There’s really only one place to meet, though. Bar called Jay’s Place.”
“Okay, stand by. We’ll call with instructions,” Pic said, then leaned over and turned off the phone.
“Fuckwits,” I muttered. “There’s maybe two hundred people in that town. That means they’ve got least a hundred sets of eyes on them right now, wondering what they’re doing there.”
Hunter pulled out his phone, searching for something.
“Looks like there’s a county dump station about ten miles north of Hallies Falls. We could ride up, position ourselves, then have them come down to meet us. We hang back in the woods near the road. Too many show up or things don’t look right, we bail. We could send Taz up a tree with a rifle—he was a sniper, you know.”
“Fuck you,” Taz replied. “No more trees. Setting up a lookout with a rifle makes sense, though.”
“All in favor?” Pic asked. We all four raised our hands, then I pulled out my phone and shot Tinker a quick text.
ME: Got an errand to run. See you later today. Stay safe.
Seconds later the phone buzzed back.
TINKER: You too. I’ll be at the house all day. Want to keep close to dad. Also canceling our appointment in Seattle tomorrow. FYI—just because we had crazy monkey sex in the pantry doesn’t mean you’re my boyfriend.
I grinned, then looked up to find the others smirking at me.
“You all suck.”
“Not me,” Taz pointed out. “You guys might be pussy-whipped, but I’m not. Live free or die.”
“Enough,” Pic said. “Let’s go and get this done.”
“Give me a sec,” I told them, grabbing my phone. “I want to message BB, make sure he stays close to Tinker. Just in case Talia’s playing some fucked up game, you know? I want full coverage.”
“You sure a prospect’s good enough?” Hunter asked. “Can he be trusted?”
“Yes, he can,” Pic replied. “Only reason BB hasn’t patched in yet is that he needed a medical leave—family stuff. It’s just a formality at this point. I’d trust him to keep Em or London safe.”
Hitting send on the message, we stood and left the building, locking the door behind us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TINKER
The level-two evacuation warning came through just after noon.
First there was an emergency alert on my phone, followed seconds later by Carrie’s phone call.
“Did you see that Hallies Falls is now level two?” she asked, then continued without waiting for an answer. “Can you go pick up the girls at the high school? I’m freaking out here and they’re shutting down the highway.”
“On my way,” I said, grabbing my keys. “Dad! We have to go to the high school. Carrie’s kids need to get picked up.”
Dad nodded, although there wasn’t much urgency in his face. Damn, he was really checked out today. I opened the door to find Mrs. Webbly standing on the porch, a suitcase clutched tight in one of her hands.
“I saw the evacuation notice,” she announced serenely. “Either I’m sticking with you or I need a ride to the police station. I’d prefer to stay with you.”
“You’ll stay with us,” I told her. “We aren’t leaving town just yet, but I need to pick up Carrie’s girls at the high school. Not sure how we’ll all fit in the Mustang, but it’s not a good idea to leave you here without a car.”
“I appreciate that,” she said, patting my hand. “And don’t worry, honey. I know this is stressful, but Hallies Falls has been evacuated because of fires four times in my lifetime. The town has never burned, or even come close. I’m not worried, just cautious.”
“Let me take that suitcase for you.”
She handed it over and I carried it out to the curb, popping the trunk to set it inside next to ours, officially filling the Mustang’s storage to capacity. Dad climbed into the backseat, leaving the front for Mrs. Webbly. Then the engine roared to life and we were off to the high school, which was across town.
It made for a surreal trip.
The sky was getting darker as more smoke covered the sun, and the air made my eyes water. Everywhere we saw people loading cars, and most of the businesses had their “Closed” signs up. I couldn’t even see across the valley—that’s how bad the visibility had gotten.
At least the twins were easy to spot outside the school. They looked just like Carrie, but they had Darren’s height. I waved them over and they came running, engulfing me in their hugs.
“Thanks for coming to get us,” Rebecca said. Her sister, Anna, nodded in agreement.
“This is super creepy,” she added. “Can we stop by the house to grab some of our things?”
“If you go fast,” I told them. “But there isn’t much room in the trunk. It’ll have to be small enough to hold on your lap, and you’ll be squeezed in the back with my dad.”