I never thought I’d find myself driving a truck for any real long distance, but there I was sinking into the thick padded seat, working the clutch, and snaking my way along the Georgia highway.

I knew where Hartley’s family lived. She hadn’t exactly told me, but I’d looked her up as soon as I had some basic information about her. The Baker family farm was in Dade County, about three hours from Knoxville through some shitty fucking backwoods roads.

Which of course were awful for a big rig. But I had no other way of getting there, and I needed to bring her ass home as soon as possible. Hopefully the mafia hadn’t even noticed yet, but that wouldn’t last long. I suspected they knew already, and it was a race to see who could get to her first.

If I got there, I just hoped that I could play this off as a mistake. Otherwise, there’d be violence.

On my way, I shot a message out to Gage and Flynn, letting them know to meet us at the Baker farm instead of at Hartley’s apartment. I wanted them on hand in case something went down.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I had to imagine the worst. I had to imagine that Culver had killed everyone already and I was next on the list. If he had so much as hurt a hair on Hartley’s head, I was going to bring so much fire down on his organization’s head that they’d beg me to let Janey’s people take over their shit. I’d kill every last one of them, though, and I wouldn’t stop until the whole damn Knoxville area was swimming in Dixie Mafia blood.

I had to hope that it didn’t come to that sort of war. I may have been skilled, but I was definitely outnumbered. My ideal outcome was to grab Hartley and get her back to Knoxville without anyone complaining. We’d pretend this whole little mistake had never happened.

Dade County was a pretty little backwoods place, a lot like Knoxville except with more farms. There weren’t any rich, developed areas out this way, either. These were serious farmers, commercial farmers. These people made their living on the land. I had to admit, I envied that a little bit. Sometimes I missed being so close to the dirt, though I could get dirty in my line of work.

It was slow going as soon as I was off the highway and deep in Dade County proper. I passed through a small little downtown area, cute, but clearly it hadn’t been updated since the fucking fifties. The truck just tore on, grinding down the road.

It felt like it took hours as I went slow as molasses down the small country roads. Eventually, though, I spotted it. The Baker’s farm was on a ten-acre plot with peach trees stretching back into the distance. The only path leading up to the house was a small gravel drive, and that was way too small for my big rig.

I pulled off the side of the road and parked it in a field. I was probably going to leave tire marks in the dirt, but I couldn’t worry about that. I climbed out and walked fast toward the house, cutting across the field.

The place looked quiet. If I were visiting under better circumstances, I might have noticed how beautiful the farm was. Low rows of peach trees stretched out into the distance. Chickens were pecking off to the side of the house. A low barn with a new red paint job sat in the middle of the field. I heard a dog barking not too far away.

As I got closer to the house, I spotted my car. Hartley had parked it next to an old Ford pickup. There were a few other cars, another old truck and an SUV, parked around there. I paused, though, when I saw the last car.

It was a black BMW, parked on the other side of the drive. I stared at it for a second and couldn’t help but wonder how farmers could afford a new BMW, let alone why they would need one.

Instantly, something in my gut told me to be careful. I touched the gun in the holster at my side, reassuring myself with its steel. I moved up toward the house, my eyes on high alert, breathing deeply.

The house itself was large with a wraparound porch and beautiful green shutters. The flowers planted around the front looked well cared for. Clearly someone in the family was a gardener on top of a farmer.

I climbed the steps and knocked on the door. There was no sound from inside.

I knocked again, my nerves on high alert. The door slowly opened.

I recognized the man who grinned out at me. It was the same man who had tried to rape Hartley to start all this.

“Hey there, Travis,” he said. “Welcome.”

I cocked my head. “What’s your name again?”

That annoyed him. “Guff. You know my damn name.”

“Sorry. I don’t keep track of every asshole’s name.”

“Cocky asshole. You won’t be so cocky when you see what we got inside.”

“Let me guess. You have Hartley and her family tied up in the kitchen.”

That pissed him off more.

“Just get the fuck inside,” he said. He threw the door open.

I stepped inside. “Nice place.”

“Yeah,” he grunted. “Now, give me your gun.”

I laughed. “You’re not touching my fucking weapon, Guff.”

He stepped forward, holding his own weapon up. “You sure about that?”

“You reach for my gun and you will die here.”

“I’m holding a gun to your face. You really want to play this game?”

I stared him down, fucking daring him to make a move.

“Enough.”

I knew that voice.

Guff looked back over his shoulder. “He hasn’t given up his gun.”

“No need for that, Guff. Bring him in.”

Guff reluctantly turned away, and I followed him down a short hallway. We walked into the kitchen, and I clenched my jaw at what I saw in there.

Tied up to a chair each were Hartley and an older version of Hartley, probably her mother. They both had gags in their mouths, and I could see the fear and the anger in Hartley’s eyes.

Culver sat at the table, smiling at me. Like before, he had his gun on the table in front of him.

“Hello, Travis,” he said. “Looks like your girl here broke a rule.”

I did a quick scan of the room. The two women were tied in chairs, Culver was sitting at the table to their left, the gun thug named Pate was standing behind the girls, and Guff was slightly behind me and to the right. Guff had his gun down for the time being, fortunately.

“This was a mistake,” I said. “You scared the girl, like you meant to, but you scared her a little too much.”

“So she said.”

“I don’t know why she ran home, but I came here to fetch her.”

He smiled and nodded. “I believe that.”

“It doesn’t have to go any further than this,” I said. “Let me take her back and we’ll be done.”

“Now, I’m not so sure I can do that, Travis. You already broke one of our rules. That means the trust is shattered, and what can we do if we can’t trust each other?”

“It was a mistake,” I repeated.

“She said she called here and nobody answered. She thought I already went ahead and hurt her family. Can you believe that?”

“Yes, I can,” I said, glancing at her. I hated the pain I saw in her eyes.

“I’m a reasonable man, Travis. When I do business, I try to keep things simple. But this is no longer simple.”

“What’s your play here then? You going to kill the girls? I won’t help you if you do.”

“Do we need your help?” Culver stroked his chin. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe I can just torture you for what you know and I can follow through with your plan myself.”

I smirked at him, keeping my breathing calm. “You sure that’s what you want?”

“Seems like a good plan to me.”

“Like I said, it doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Truth is, Travis, I feel like it’s better if I just get rid of the lot of you. Then we can take this farm, take the shipment back from the Caldwells, and maybe even my bosses will toss something in for the lot of us.” He smirked at me. “I think that’s what I’ll do.”

He was fast. He reached for his gun and had it up almost as fast as I drew mine.

But instead of firing, I stepped back and grabbed Guff. He was surprised and stumbled off balance. When Culver fired his shots, they tore into Guff’s body.

Blood splattered onto the kitchen floor. I raised my gun and put two bullets into the gun thug standing behind the women. I grabbed Guff before he could fall, yanking him back toward me as Culver fired off a few more shots.

The bullets tore into Guff but didn’t hit me. I took aim over his shoulder and put a bullet right through Culver’s eyes. His head snapped back as blood splattered onto the window behind him. He tipped back and fell onto the floor.

I let Guff drop to the ground then. He stared up at me with shock in his eyes as he bled out on the floor.

It had happened in less than ten seconds. That was how it happened with close-quarters gunplay. Things went down quick, and you had to know what you were doing if you wanted to survive it.

Three men lay dead in that kitchen, blood sprayed across the clean surfaces. I quickly went over to Hartley.

Her eyes were wide with shock as I pulled off her gag. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” she said.

I took the gag from her mother. “And you?”

“Okay,” she said.

I untied the two of them. They stood and stared at the bodies, but they weren’t really seeing anything.

“Listen to me,” I said to her mother. “My name is Travis Rock. I’m working with your daughter to help clear your family of debt to the mafia. I’m sorry this happened.”

“Culver told me,” she said dully.

“Please, look at me.” She turned to me slowly, obviously in shock, but we didn’t have time. “I need you to bury these bodies. Are there people who can help?”

“My boys and my husband are coming home soon,” she said.

“Tell them what happened. Clean this up and bury the bodies.”

“What about us?” Hartley asked.

“We’re going back to Knoxville.”

“What?” She looked shocked. “After you just killed Culver?”

“Listen, that’s exactly why we have to go back. We need to enact our plan and we need to do it tonight. Otherwise, we’re fucked, and your family is dead. Do you understand me?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Okay. We’ll go back.” She looked at her mom. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry.”

“I know, honey. I know.” They hugged as I walked away.

Outside, I heard a car pull up into the driveway.

“Fuck,” I said. “What now?”

I went to the front door, gun ready, and slowly peeked out.

Gage and Flynn climbed out of a black truck and came walking toward me. I lowered my gun, feeling relieved. “You’re too late for the fun,” I called out.

Flynn laughed. “What’d you do, Travis?”

“Killed three guys. Nothing special.”

“Shit, really?” Gage asked. They stopped on the porch. “Mob guys?”

“Dixie Mafia,” I said.

“Need help with cleanup?” Flynn asked.

“The locals got it. I need you two to come back to Knoxville with us. We have some work to do.”

“Roger that,” Flynn said.

“Gage, can you take my car? I have the big rig parked out by the road.”

“I was wondering about that,” Gage said. “You drove that shit all the way here?”

“Trucking is in my blood,” I said.

“Of course it is. Sure. I’ll drive the car.”

“Okay. You two get going. We’ll be right behind.”

“Roger that.” The two guys stepped off the porch. I went inside, grabbed the car keys from Hartley, and then tossed them out to Gage. The two guys got into their cars and headed out.

That was done with. Now that I had backup, I was beginning to feel more confident. I went back inside. Hartley’s mom was sitting at the table, staring off into the distance.

“She’s not taking this well,” Hartley said softly to me.

“We can’t wait around,” I said. “When are your brothers coming back?”

“Any minute now.”

I walked past Hartley and stood in front of her mother. “Listen, Mrs. Baker.”

“Lucy. You might as well call me Lucy, after this.”

“Lucy. Can you go upstairs? You don’t need to sit down in this.”

She stood up and nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

“Wait for your family to get back. Do not come downstairs for anything. Do you understand me?”

“Wait, Travis. We’re not leaving her,” Hartley said.

“I’m sorry, Lucy. We have to leave. We need to finish this, and we can’t waste a single second.”

“I understand,” she said, and looked at Hartley. “Go with him.”

“Mom—”

“Go with him,” she said again. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’ve come this far. We’ll clean this mess up.”

“Mom,” Hartley said softly.

“This isn’t the first bit of death I’ve seen,” Lucy said. “I’ve been a farm girl my whole life. I’ve seen it all. You two go, do what needs doing.”

I was surprised by that little speech. I figured she was too shocked to say anything, but suddenly I saw where Hartley got her strength.

Hartley hugged her mom again before Lucy walked upstairs. I watched her go and then looked back at Hartley. “Come on.”

I walked out the front door and Hartley followed me. We walked down the drive and cut across the field. We walked in silence, though what had happened was hanging heavy between us.

I had never wanted her to see me do something like that. Death was my job, but Hartley didn’t need to see it. She knew enough on her own terms and didn’t need to see me pull the trigger and end a man’s life.

That hadn’t been my choice, though. Culver could have walked away, maybe forced us to act faster or something. Instead, he got greedy. Probably thought I was all talk.

But as he quickly learned, I was far from all talk.

As we climbed up onto the truck, I paused and looked out across the fields at Hartley’s farm.

It was a damn shame I had to meet her mother like this, and a damn shame this was how I was first seeing her farm.

Because the place was beautiful. Real fucking beautiful. I could see myself living on a farm like this one day.

I got into the driver’s seat, shut the door, and woke the big rig up.