Melancholy

“You piece of shit!” Santana cries.

I turn, shooting her a glare so deadly her mouth closes and her big brown eyes widen. Smart girl keeps her mouth shut as I turn back to the man.

“I don’t have a lot of patience. You either tell me what I want to know, or I’ll end shit for you right now.”

“End it then,” he dares me. “I don’t care!”

I drop down in a flash, my gun pressed to his temple.

“Fine by me. I don’t need scum like you around.”

“Maddox,” Krypt warns. “We need this one alive.”

Krypt knows me too well; he knows how to scare the fuck out of the bad guy when I need him to.

“Last man you killed had valid information. Don't lose your temper on this one.”

“I don’t care about this one,” I sneer, baring my teeth. “He’s a waste of my space.”

I flick the safety off my gun. It’s all it takes.

“Don’t,” the man pleads. “I’ll tell you, fuck, just let me go.”

“You tell me what you told them, I’ll let you go. I find out you’re lying, I’ll come back and I’ll make it fuckin’ burn.”

“I-I-I got the girl off Kennedy. He owed me serious cash, she was his payment. I didn’t need her, had enough pussy to last me a lifetime with all the drug-fucked whores about.”

I hit him, so hard his temple splits open and a piercing scream leaves his throat. Santana gasps behind me, but she says nothing.

“Why the fuck did you do that?” he cries, squirming.

“I’ll do worse if you disrespect women like that again.”

“Fuck, dude,” he grunts. “If you’d let me finish, I could tell you what you clearly want to know.”

“Hurry it up.”

He glares at me, but continues. “I had the girl, but I had no use for her. Sure, I could sell her as a prostitute, but I wasn’t interested, and she was too young. That would cause too much shit. I had contacts, people that brought strays to work overseas. I got a good buck for her, being young. Not as good as I would have got if she was a male, but it covered Kennedy’s drug debt.”

I glance at Santana, whose fists are tight. Her face is white and she’s trembling slightly. I give her a slow nod, letting her knows it’s okay.

“Who did you sell her to?”

“Atreau James. He buys slaves and divides them out between farms, making a profit off them. Powerful man, deadly, too.”

“How long ago did you share this information with the other club?”

“Y-y-y-yesterday.”

“And where can I find Atreau?”

“Outside of Mexico. He runs a business on the side, called Trea’s Tilts—it’s not for money, it’s just a cover-up.”

“That it?”

“Yeah,” he mutters. “I don’t know what happened to her. I don’t check up on the people I get rid of.”

I grin at him again. “No matter; you won’t be doing it again.”

I point my gun at him.

“You said . . . you said you wouldn’t kill me!” he squeals.

“You sold someone important to the girl I love, you use women, you’re a dirty scumbag the world will be better without—let’s call it an act for humanity, shall we?”

“No,” he screams, squirming. “Don’t.”

I turn to Santana. “Turn away, baby.”

She shakes her head. “No. I want to watch him die for what he’s done.”

Her face is determined and steely.

“Turn, Santana,” I warn.

Mack lets go of the man, leaving Krypt to hold him down. He takes Santana and forcefully presses his hand over her eyes.

“Let me go!” she cries.

He nods at me.

I turn and pull the trigger, one clean shot through the forehead. The man’s squealing stops and he slumps to the ground, lifeless.

“Deal with that. I’m organizing flights for tonight. We don’t have time to wait. If Howard’s guys found out before, they’re likely on their way.”

“On it,” Krypt says.

I turn and Mack spins Santana around, letting go of her eyes but holding her shoulders so she can’t turn. I take her, pushing her forward. She don’t need to see that shit.

“They’re after her too,” she whispers. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“Wasn’t sure, Tana,” I mutter, pushing her towards the bikes. “But I am now. Chances are they’re trying to organizing a way to get to her. We’re goin’ to leave tonight. I have contacts, luckily for me.”

“Contacts?”

“I’ve got a man that owns a plane. For the right price, he’ll take us.”

“You know a man that’s got a plane?” She gasps.

I grin at her. “Baby, I’m a biker. I know everyone.”

She nods. “What if they’ve already left? Why didn’t they kill him, Maddox? They left him open for you to find and get information from . . .”

“Could be a set up, could be that they want us to chase them overseas, could be as simple as them thinkin’ we didn’t know about him.”

“Two of those are dangerous . . .”

“Riskin’ it, babe. Don’t think we’ve got any other choice.”

I pull a helmet over her head, nodding to Mack.