CHAPTER TEN
“Stalls are done.”
Standing in the middle of the corral, longe line in one hand and longeing whip in the other, Badger glanced over to see Nolan with his feet on the bottom rail of the fence, leaning over. Spirit was finally in a good rhythm, circling Badger at a slow trot, so he took a second to answer Nolan.
“Good. Got their feed buckets clean, too?”
“Yeah. My mom’s not gonna be here for almost an hour. Can I watch you do whatever you’re doing?”
“Working on getting Spirit under saddle is what I’m doing.” He made the clucking sound he used to cue his horses, and gave the longe a light tug. Spirit picked up his pace. He was a smart colt. Headstrong, but smart. He’d have been great on barrels. But that was women’s riding, the kind of riding Havoc’s sister had done—and had intended to do with Spirit. There wasn’t anybody to ride him like that now. So Badger figured he’d get him on the trail when he was old enough.
“How does him running around in circles help?”
Badger pulled differently on the longe and said, “Whoa, boy. Whoa.” Spirit took about half a turn before he slowed up, but he did, coming to a walk and then stopping as Badger pulled up on the line and walked to him. Then, coiling the longe over his shoulder, he led the colt to Nolan.
“You really want to learn, or are you just pesterin’ me cuz you’re bored?” He rubbed Spirit’s nose, and the colt gave him an affectionate push.
Though his ten-day school suspension was up, Nolan had asked to stay on at the B&B, doing the same grunt work, but now for pay. Badger had cleared it with Shannon, and she was paying him a good rate. Everybody was keeping watch, making sure Cory and her kids were solid. They were paying Havoc’s cut of the weed run to her and would continue to do so as long as that run was on, but she wouldn’t get cut in on any new business. She was back managing Valhalla Vin, and Havoc had saved his take better than anybody—who’d have thought he’d have been so careful with money, considering his profligate ways in most other respects—so she’d be okay.
The Horde took care of their own and would step in to shore her up if and when she needed it, but she wasn’t one who’d come asking. So they paid attention, and they helped where they could. Nolan needed work not for the money, but for a host of other reasons. To keep his mind and body busy. To stay connected with people who cared about him. To figure out a way to move forward in his life again.
He seemed to have cast off what Badger and Len had figured was a problem with booze. Though he’d told Badger that he’d been putting back about half a quart of vodka a day for months, once he’d been caught, he just stopped, and seemed to have experienced no effects of withdrawal. Maybe he’d been pacing himself sufficiently.
Badger was kind of jealous. He was still fighting every single day the need to get high. Some days, the only thing keeping him clean was geography. In Signal Bend, there was no dealer. Drug abuse did not happen in this town. Period. Except for Badger, who’d had to travel all the way to St. Louis to get his fix.
Some days, he almost went on ahead and did that. A couple of times, he’d made it to his bike with that intention. But Adrienne was right there for him when he needed her. He was gentler with her now than he’d been at first, and the need was on him less often, and less emphatically, than it had been at first. He knew he was trading one addiction for another, but he didn’t think being addicted to loving her was such a bad thing.
Nolan, once he started spending his afternoons and weekends at the B&B, didn’t seem to have a need for booze. If he was trading booze for work, that didn’t seem such a bad bargain, either. Still, Badger took a hit off everything Nolan drank unless he saw the kid unseal it. It had gotten to the point that Nolan just handed his bottle or can over when Badger came by. He minded, but he didn’t fight it.
“I really want to know.”
“Okay. The way I train a horse—the right way to train a horse—is about trust more than control. I want the horse to want to do what I ask, not be afraid not to do what I say. A horse that obeys out of fear is unpredictable. Also, people who make horses afraid are dicks. So the first thing I do is let the horse know I’m not a dick.”
“Why are you holding a giant whip, then?”
Feeling a little smart and superior, Badger smirked. “I’ve never whipped a horse in my life. I use it for a different kind of touch cue, and for a sound cue. Watch and learn, kid.”
“Don’t call me that.”
In the act of turning to the colt, Badger stopped and looked back at Nolan. Havoc had called him that; Badger had said it without thinking. “Sorry.”
Nolan shrugged halfheartedly. Now Badger turned; Spirit stuck his nose under his arm, snuffling at his kutte pocket—where he kept the sugar cubes. “Not yet, buddy. Gotta work for your pay.” He grabbed the longe line at the hook, right under Spirit’s chin, and gave it a little pull. Then he turned the whip down, the lash folded against the shaft in his grasp, and tapped Spirit’s foreleg. “Back, boy.” Spirit snorted a little protest and then stepped back, one step for every tap. “Whoa. Good boy.”
As Spirit lipped the sugar cube he’d held out on the palm of his hand, Badger looked over his shoulder at Nolan. “That’s the only way I’ll touch him with the whip. Here’s the other way I use it.”
He played out the longe line and clucked twice, “Gid’up, boy. Let’s go.” Loath to abandon the chance at another cube, Spirit resisted at first, and Badger released the lash and snapped the whip on the ground. The noise it made was thicker than it was sharp, the dusty ground of the corral absorbing most of the impact. But it had Spirit’s attention. With another snort, he took off in the direction of Badger’s leading arm, walking quickly until he had the lunge pulled out to near tautness.
“If I wanted him to step it up to the next gait, I’d cluck again, and he’d trot. But I want him to gallop right now, rather than go through the paces. So I do this.” He snapped the whip in the air, and it made a whistle-crack sound. Spirit nearly leapt into a gallop, shaking his head with abandon.
The colt’s enthusiasm was infectious, and Badger grinned, feeling good. He let him run for a bit, keeping alert, and called out to Nolan. “He loves this. I need to work on him restraining himself more before he can really take a rider. Easy to lose the saddle when a horse is happy dancing like this. But he’s just learned that the crack means all out, so we’ll work on restraint next. Then I’ll replace the crack with a voice cue.”
“He’s fast.”
“Yeah, he is. He’s gonna be great. Not a novice-level horse, but young ones rarely are. He’ll be wasted on the trail line, though.” He pulled Spirit up, and when the horse slowed to a halt, he gave him more sugar cubes. “That’s enough for today.”
“Can I come in there?”
“Sure. Just come up slowly. I’m working with him on standing pat, but he can still be a little skittish.”
Nolan jumped the fence and walked over. Spirit immediately began checking him out for goodies, and he laughed and rubbed his ears. “He’s two years old, right?”
Coming up empty on Nolan, the colt came back to nibble on Badger. “That’s enough sugar, buddy. Your teeth are gonna rot out of your head. I’ll get you a carrot in a minute…Not quite two. I probably won’t put a saddle on him until next spring. He’s not done growing, and he’s still full of piss. But he’s smart, and he likes doing this. He thinks he’s playing.”
“Havoc was gonna teach me to ride. He was gonna teach me to shoot and fight and ride horses and bikes. He only taught me to shoot.”
Badger looked at Havoc’s kid. He was tall—taller than Badger—and thin, but not scrawny. He looked older than his seventeen years, looked like a guy who’d already had a shitty life. Badger guessed he already had. “I can teach you to ride—horses or bikes. I could teach you to fight, too, but Len is a great teacher, and he’d do it. He taught me.”
Nolan shrugged again.
“I know it’s not the same, Nolan. But you know…if you want to learn, just say the word.” He walked Spirit out of the corral and into the barn; Nolan followed them in. Changing out the longe line for a regular lead, he tied the colt off in the aisle. “Hang out with him for a second, will ya? I’m gonna get him a couple carrots and then brush him down.”
“Can I brush him?”
“Sure. Brushes are on that shelf. Use the one that looks like a scrub brush, but don’t go hard. And he likes the mitt at the end. Don’t go against the lay of his coat.”
“I know. I’ve been paying attention.”
“Good.” Badger left him to it and went back to the fridge for carrots. On his way back, he stopped in the doorway and watched Nolan and Spirit talking to each other as Nolan brushed. They both seemed calmer together than they normally were.
He brought two carrots up and handed them to Nolan, who took them, snapped one in two, and laid half on his outstretched palm. Spirit lipped it carefully and then chewed happily.
“I want to learn all those things. I want to prospect. When can I?”
Badger wasn’t surprised, but he felt cautious. He had no idea how Cory would react. Rumor had it that she hadn’t been thrilled at the thought of Nolan patching into the Horde before Havoc had been killed. So he answered the other part of the question. “I can start teaching you to ride today, if you want.”
“I meant when can I prospect.”
“Not so simple as that. Technically, you can prospect when you’re eighteen. But with everything that’s been going on, we’re leery of bringing men in too young.”
“You were young, though, right?”
“I was nineteen when I got my Prospect patch.”
“That turned out okay.”
Badger laughed sourly. “I guess.”
“You regret it?”
“No. But it’s not an easy life. You know that. Everything’s on the line, all the time. It was like that when I was a Prospect, and it’s been like that over and over again since. Sometimes it’s quiet, but I almost hate those times, because you forget what it is you’ve put on the line. And then the quiet ends, and you lose what you forgot was at risk.” He shook his head, feeling embarrassed. “I don’t even know if that made any sense.”
“It did. Hav said something like it when he told me I should try college first.”
“Then maybe you should do what he said.”
“No. I’m never leaving my family. Badge, I mean it. I am never leaving my family. Here is the only place I want to be. The Horde is the only family my mom and I have ever really had. It’s what I want.”
“What about your mom? She lost a lot because of us. You did, too. You think she’s willing to risk you, too?”
“It’s not for her to decide. It’s for me. I want a patch.”
He stared hard at Nolan, and thought harder, before he spoke. “I’ll talk to the officers. If that’s what you want, you definitely need to learn to fight and ride before you’re eighteen. And you need a bike.”
Nolan went still, staring at the floor. Then he looked up. “Do you think they’d let me have his bike?”
Badger’s supposed he shouldn’t have been shocked. It made sense, really. Havoc’s custom Softail was under cover in the clubhouse bays, the property of the Horde, and they would keep it and tend it as long as the club existed. “It’s not a bike to learn on, Nolan. You don’t want to lay that bike down. But I’ll talk to the officers about that, too. Maybe if you get your patch.”
“That’s the bike I want to ride.”
“You learn on one of our loaners. Or on your own. Not on Hav’s bike.”
“My bike is in pieces in our garage. Hav was helping me restore it.”
“I could help you work on it. I’m not as good as Hav. He was a fuckin’ genius. But I know most of it and we could learn the rest.”
Nolan didn’t answer.
“Well, if you want. Or not. It’s cool.”
“That was our thing. We were doing it together.”
“I know. I get it.”
“No, you don’t. I’m gonna wait for my mom on the porch. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He walked down the aisle and out of the barn.
~oOo~
Though the Midsummer Fair they held at the end of July was a typical fair, with carnival rides and games, music and fireworks, the Spring Fest had a different vibe. All the food booths were still there—in fact, even more food booths were there—but the only rides they had were for the little kids. It wasn’t a carnival so much as a big block party. The Signal Bend Spring Fest was a celebration of the beginning of the farming season. People ate and drank heavily. Their kids played in the corner where the few games and rides were set up. And the women of the town and its environs sold crafts on card tables. Despite the comparative lack of color and flash, the Spring Fest had had a reputation in its first incarnation for rowdiness by the end of the evening. Since it had been back underway, it continued to earn that rep.
Which meant that the Horde was on alert. Even though the town sentiment toward the club had chilled, their duty to keep order was unchanged. They’d taken on that responsibility long ago, when the police department had folded for lack of funding. The mayor continued to look to them to do that work, and the town business owners paid them to do it. That their days of universal respect and esteem seemed to have come to an end did not change their responsibility.
But it sure didn’t make it easier.
Today was a “goodwill” day for the Horde. They were out in force, manning their usual barbecue stand and walking through the crowd, making a concerted effort to be warm and friendly. Not that they weren’t usually. But it was a lot harder to be friendly when it was one-sided, and they were all noticing the chill.
The Horde with families brought their families. Isaac had Lilli and the kids along. Show and Shannon were, as usual, hand in hand—Shannon was about five months pregnant or so and looked twice that size. They were having twins, something they’d only found out recently. Show had started wearing a permanent expression that was lost in limbo somewhere between ecstatic, bewildered, and terrified.
Cory had come with Nolan and Loki. Len and Tasha had ridden their bikes in together, which always caused a stir. She was the only old lady who rode. Lilli apparently knew how, and had once owned a pretty badass sportbike, but as far as Badger was aware, she only rode bitch now.
Badger had brought Adrienne and was enjoying walking through the stalls and the crowd with her, their fingers linked together. She was beautiful, dressed on this warm Saturday a lot like she’d been the day he’d met her: little denim cutoffs, a filmy top that showed a little slice of belly, her cowboy boots, and her jewelry. She wore a lot less jewelry these days than she had back then. Then, she’d had bracelets practically up to both elbows and rings on all ten fingers. Now, she wore a few bracelets on both arms and three rings on each hand. She said she’d gotten out of the habit of accessorizing so heavily when she was teaching in Asia.
In the past, when she’d visited in the summer and the weather was even warmer, she’d worn a silver bracelet that snaked around her upper arm. He hoped she’d still wear that—that thing was hot as the sun. And these days, when she turned him on, he could do something about it.
She’d been subdued since she’d talked to her father last, when he’d told her she had to come home. Obviously, she hadn’t left, and he had, so far, done as he’d threatened, refusing even to take her calls. She stopped trying after about a week. That was a few days ago, and, honestly, she was doing better now. Calling, leaving increasingly sad voice mails, and waiting to hear back and been clawing hard at her. Giving up was making things a little easier, he thought.
She talked to her brothers, but they wouldn’t talk about their father. So Adrienne, it seemed, had really lost her father.
Badger couldn’t believe it was true. He was sorely tempted to ride all the way to New York state and convince that asshole how bad a mistake he was making. But there was another part of him that was, he was ashamed to admit even to himself, glad. He liked that there was less pulling on her, drawing her away from Signal Bend, away from him. For years, he’d been her friend mainly from afar. Now she was his girl, and he wanted her to stay put.
But she was sad, and he didn’t like that. Even if it did help him to feel strong, after he’d been so weak and pathetic, strung out and violent. She’d taken care of him. Now he was taking care of her, and he liked that very much.
She roamed the grounds with her camera while he did his turn in the barbecue booth. As soon as he was free, he went looking for her. He found her at the St. John’s booth, where church ladies were selling quilts and other old lady stuff. It looked like she was taking close-ups of a quilt hanging on the side of the booth. Or something. He walked up behind her and laid his hand on her back. Not startled at all, she turned and smiled. “Hi.”
“Hey. I got sprung. You hungry?”
“I could eat.”
As he pulled her away toward the food area, Badger saw that Havoc’s mother was working the booth. Havoc’s parents—well, his father, really—had been active in turning people against the Horde, speaking out several times, at town meetings, at Marie’s, even at Havoc’s funeral. Seeing Havoc’s mother, Badger didn’t know what he should do, but he decided on politeness. Politeness came easily to him.
“Hi, Mrs. Mariano.”
She smiled sweetly, genuinely. “Hello, Justin. And Adrienne, right? You’re Shannon’s girl.”
Adrienne held out her hand. “Yes, ma’am. Adrienne Renard.”
“Nice to meet you, honey. I’m June.” Then she seemed to see something behind them, and her face took on an aspect of shock and sadness. Also something like…hunger. “Oh,” she whispered. She glanced around her as if she was about to get caught doing something bad.
Badger looked, too, and saw Cory and Lilli walking down the path, their brood with them. Cory was holding Loki, who was ten months old and starting to walk. He was pitching a minor fit now, obviously not into being held.
Loki was Havoc’s son, born two months before he died. Thus, Loki was Mrs. Mariano’s grandson. Badger didn’t know much about what was going on between Havoc’s wife and his parents, but he knew that Mrs. Mariano didn’t get much chance to see her grandchild. Mr. Mariano wouldn’t allow it.
“Cory? Honey?” she called out.
Badger pulled Adrienne out of the way, but he didn’t go far, just in case the situation went south. Because Cory looked over, and about one thousand different expressions hit her face simultaneously, none of them friendly.
“Cory? Please?”
Lilli put her hand on Cory’s arm and said something; after a couple of seconds, Cory nodded. When she turned and came toward the booth, Lilli hung back, but she gave Badger a look. Badger and Lilli had been through some real shit together, and he knew how she thought. He knew that look meant You and me, we’re keeping this cool.
He bent his head close to Adrienne’s ear. “Babe, step back a bit.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ll explain later, but there’s something happening that could get a little hot. Not big, but some drama.”
She nodded and did what he asked.
Although Loki had been yelling and squirming, something must have changed in the way Cory held him, or the vibe she gave off, because he’d gone still. He was a cute kid, with Havoc’s light olive complexion and black eyes. He had dark, curly hair. Badger had no idea whether Havoc had had curly hair; he’d shaved his head for all the time he’d known him. But he was a loud, rambunctious kid, definitely taking after his old man in that regard and already giving Princess Gia a run for her money in the attention-seeking department.
When Cory got up to the booth, she said, her voice flat and calm, “Hello, June.”
Mrs. Mariano started to cry. “Can I hold him? Oh, hi, sweetie. You are the spittin’ image of your daddy. Cory, please. Can I hold him? Please?”
They were drawing a crowd. The other church ladies, three of them—horrible gossips all, with sharp, nasty tongues—were lined up behind Havoc’s mother, watching avidly, without any compunction about intruding into this scene.
Other people around were stopping to watch, too. Although a lot of people from out of town were at the Fest, and they moved on unconcerned, the townspeople knew all the business there was to know, and they were all interested. Badger caught Lilli’s eyes again, and she gave a subtle shrug. There was nothing they could do about the looky-loos. This scene was playing out in public.
Cory nodded and handed Loki over the booth’s counter. June took the boy and clutched him to her chest. Loki fought immediately for freedom, but his grandmother wasn’t letting him go. She held him close and sobbed.
Having collapsed completely following Havoc’s death, even trying to kill herself, Cory had taken a long time to come back to life. Havoc had died in September; now it was May. She was working again, and she was out in the world again, but she was different. Maybe she always would be. A light had gone out, maybe forever. She watched Mrs. Mariano hold Loki and weep, and she could just as easily have been watching grass grow. Her face showed no emotion or interest at all.
Lilli walked up to the booth, leading her own son, Bo, by the hand; Gia followed behind, looking both curious and bored. Lilli put her other hand on Cory’s back. “I’m sorry to intrude, but a crowd is drawing up. If you want, I can take you someplace where you’ll have some privacy?”
Cory turned to her friend. “No.”
At almost the same time, Mrs. Mariano said, “No, I can’t. But thank you, honey. For letting me hold him for a minute. He’s beautiful. So like his daddy.” Sniffling, she handed him over. “Bye, Luke. Be a good boy.”
“Loki. He’s called Loki.” With that, Cory turned and walked away. Lilli cast Badger a reassuring look and followed.
The crowd dispersed. Havoc’s mother turned and was swallowed up by a ring of hugging church ladies. Adrienne pulled on Badger’s arm.
“I feel gross that we stood and watched that. Like all those vultures. Why didn’t we go?”
“I’ll tell you as much as I can later. The reason we stayed is to diffuse it if it got too hot. The Horde doesn’t need a scene like that.”
“Is that because Havoc died?”
“It’s because of the way his parents acted afterward. Here’s not the place, babe. But tonight. I promise.”
“I don’t mean to be nosy. I hate that we saw that. But everything in town seems to be tangled up with the Horde in some way, and I feel like I need to understand better.”
“Tonight. For sure. Right now, let’s just eat, okay?”
She nodded, and he pulled her under his arm and led her to lunch.
~oOo~
He was just standing up to throw away their trash when two shots rang out nearby. Without bothering to think, he shoved Adrienne under the picnic table. “Stay down! Stay there!”
She didn’t fight him at all, not until he didn’t join her. When he stood, pulling his piece from under his kutte, she cried, “Badge, no!”
“Stay there, babe. Do not move. I gotta go.” He trotted in the direction of the shots, trying to see in three-hundred-sixty degrees.
When he cleared a row of booths and ended up in the fairway, he stopped short and backed up to cover. The sight that had greeted him needed time before it would make sense. He looked around the corner of the booth he’d taken cover at. Yeah, he’d seen what he’d thought.
At the Horde booth was Havoc’s father, holding a revolver. Isaac, holding his arm, blood oozing through his fingers. Lilli, holding a 9mm, aimed at Mr. Mariano’s head. And the whole scene circled by Horde, all of them aiming at Mr. Mariano. Shannon and Cory corralling the kids, both women hunched over the little ones. And Cory was also holding fast to Nolan, refusing to let him go.
So much for the goodwill campaign.
He did a head count. Len wasn’t there—he hoped that meant he was elsewhere and not lying on the ground in the booth. There had been two shots.
“Lilli, stand down.” Isaac’s voice was strained but strong. It looked like he’d only been shot in the arm, but he was bleeding heavily. Badger thought the bullet might have hit an artery or something.
“Fuck you, Isaac. I have had it with people shooting you.” She stepped between her husband and Havoc’s father, her gun still raised. “You put the fucking gun down now, old man. Or I absolutely will put a bullet in your head.”
Instead, Mr. Mariano straightened his arms, shifting his aim purposefully to Lilli. But his hands shook; Badger could see that from where he stood. That might account for Isaac not being dead right now.
“Lilli! Fuck!” Isaac reached for her, but she shook him off easily, her eyes not leaving Mr. Mariano. Too easily. Yeah, he was losing too much blood. As if to confirm Badger’s conjecture, Isaac dropped to his knees.
Intent on Mr. Mariano, Lilli reacted to Isaac’s fall but didn’t turn. Badger realized that the whole scene was frozen. As long as Havoc’s crazy old man wouldn’t back down, nobody could do anything. But he was outside the scene. With no sign of Len, and Isaac maybe bleeding out in front of the whole town, Badger made a call.
Trust, right? It was all about trust. Trust in himself first of all. So Badger put his gun away, and stepped out into the fairway.
“Mr. Mariano!” Badger yelled it, keeping his voice as friendly as he could, as though he were hailing a friend across the street. He spread his arms out, to show he was not a threat.
The only person of note who turned to his voice was the person he’d called to. In that second of Don’s inattention, Lilli did one of her fancy Bruce Lee moves. She spun and put her boot—a heavy, black Doc Martens—in Havoc’s father’s face. He went down, the gun falling from his suddenly drooping hands.
In the chaos that followed, Show and Tommy jumped onto Mr. Mariano, keeping him subdued. Zeke, Dom, the Prospects, Double A and Thumper (Davey’s new road name) worked on crowd control. Knowing Adrienne was safe and away, Badger ran over to check on the women and children. Once he was sure they were okay, too, he went to the focus of the crisis: Isaac.
Lilli had pulled off her shirt, leaving herself in no top but a tight white beater, and was winding the shirt around Isaac’s arm. The blood soaked the fabric as fast as she could wrap it around his arm. Isaac was conscious and coherent, but going pale. They needed Tasha.
“Where’s Tasha? Where’s Len?”
Show looked up from where he’d bound Havoc’s father’s hands with a bungee cord. “She went back to the clinic. She got a call about a sick kid. Len took the van to pick up more ice.”
“We don’t have the van?”
Show shook his head.
“Fuck the van!” Lilli yelled. She tossed Double A her keys. “Just drive mine up the fairway. Now!” Double A ran off.
Isaac was fading, leaning on Lilli. Show squatted down in front of him. “Hang in there, boss. What do you want to do with Don?”
“Let him go.” Show’s head swiveled sharply at Badger’s words, and Badger couldn’t believe he’d said them out loud—said those words, out loud, while Isaac might be dying. Again.
“You shut up, asshole. Didn’t ask you.”
“No, Show. Talk, little brother. Why?” Though his voice had weakened, Isaac’s eyes were clear.
He trusted himself to say what he was thinking. “Because he lost both his kids. He’s an asshole, but he lost them and he blames us, and he’s right to. Because he’s a broken, bitter old man. Because we lost sight of being the good guys and we need to find it again. Because it’s mercy.” His heart was beating so hard his ribs felt bruised, but the words came smoothly out, with the ease of rightness. Maybe even righteousness.
“Fuck that.” That was Lilli. She had a death grip with both hands around Isaac’s wounded arm, but she was paying keen attention to their discussion.
Isaac gave her leg a flaccid pat with his good arm. “Not your call, Sport.”
Though she gave her old man the kind of look that should be registered as a deadly weapon, she shut up.
“Show?” Isaac looked at his VP.
Show regarded Badger with narrowed eyes, then sighed. “Yeah. He’s right. I’ll talk to him—warn the fuck out of him—and we’ll take him home.”
“Okay. Wise man, Badge. This gettin’ shot business sucks ass.” Isaac closed his eyes just as Dom drove up with Lilli’s SUV.
They got Isaac in the truck with Lilli, Dom, and Double A. The rest of the Horde watched them hurry down the fairway, the crowd making way. Badger turned then, on his way to Adrienne, but Show blocked his path, towering over him. Badger looked up and said nothing. Show virtually never talked to him or acknowledged him at all anymore, even at the table. This interaction between them in the past fifteen minutes or so was more talking than they’d done since Show had thrown a table across the Hall to get to him.
“If Isaac dies, Mariano dies, too. Your ‘mercy’ ends there.”
Badger nodded.
Show continued to stare, and Badger continued to hold himself steady.
Then, with a single, abrupt nod, Show muttered, “Okay,” and turned in the direction of the women and children, where his pregnant old lady was waiting.
Not sure what was ‘okay,’ Badger turned in the other direction and went to Adrienne.