“Miami?” I leaned back, my arm going slack.
“Yeah.” His voice was fading, he looked incredibly tired. “We do most of our business from out in the Glades on—” He screwed up his face, brow wrinkling. I hovered closer, terrified he would slip away before he could finish. I breathed out when he squinted at me again, but had to bend my ear to his cheek hear him. “Greenway... and Brent Fields road. We call it The Palace. Most of the girls get sold and shipped off. Easier to hide them overseas.”
This opened a new line of terror for me. Claudine might not be there anymore. But, there was still a chance. That was all I needed.
Thrilling with what I'd just learned, I swelled with joy for the first time since breakfast. This is it. I know where I need to go. How long would it take me to drive to Miami? I had Roach's car keys, but those motorcycles, they'd be faster—easier to take down the winding back roads of the Everglades and—
Lunging forward, the wounded biker—a man I was so sure was inches from death—grabbed for my wrist and the pistol. He was on me, eyes like bloated boiled eggs, teeth orange behind his snarl.
I'd been so sure I had the upper hand.
I hadn't counted on him faking being frailer than he was.
Without thinking, I started to scream, thrashing to keep the gun in my possession. I knew if he turned it on me, I'd be done for. Maybe he could fight through multiple wounds, but me? How could I live through a bullet in the skull?
The way Roach had shuddered on top of me when he'd died rumbled through my mind.
“Gonna fucking get you, bitch,” the man panted. Sweat joined the blood staining his face. In the pits of his skull, his eyes were dying stars. “Gonna... fucking...”
Ronin's foot came down, crunching against my attacker's jaw. That was all that was needed to drop him. And I knew, this time, he wouldn't be getting up.
With wild-fire burning in his hazel eyes, Ronin stared me down. “You know, there are easier ways to get yourself killed. This was literally the only place I told you not to come into. What the hell are you doing?”
The distress in his hard features was clear. I was too relieved to let him fill me with shame. Jumping up, I shoved the gun into my back pocket. “Thank you,” I said, finding my voice. “I... just thank you. You saved me again.”
Running a hand over his scalp, the biker fixed me with a side-eye. “Yeah, not a habit we should get used to. Again, what were you doing?”
Nodding down at the man who'd tried to slay me, I said, “Getting information.”
Ronin's palm slid down to his mouth, staying there. His tone was muffled and hollow. “What information?”
“Claudine.” Blood thumped through my ears. I was eager to tell him. “I know where they're keeping her.”
“Oh wonderful,” he chuckled sourly. Casually, he waved an arm in a swath over the chaos of the kitchen. “So you're going to load up in that car out there with your brand new gun and white-hot determination, driving up on those who wronged you as some kind of glorious, vigilante movie hero?”
In the face of his sarcasm, I did the only thing I could.
I nodded.
“Yeah,” I said thoughtfully. “I guess I am.”
His eyebrows touched his hairline, and though I couldn't see his mouth behind his hand, I thought he sounded... proud. “Of course you are.”
Thinking about the photo upstairs, I said, “I'm going to grab some things, like you suggested, then I'm heading out. It's a long drive to Miami.”
Considering me, Ronin scratched his jaw. “Miami, huh?” He was looking elsewhere, seeing things I didn't. For a moment he was lost in thought. I ached to crack open his head and glimpse those cryptic thoughts.
Crouching, he began searching the bodies of the three men. With my belly tight, I didn't ask him what he was doing until he was on the second man. “What are you...?”
Lifting up a wallet, he pocketed the cash. “There are a lot of tolls between here and Florida, and I don't think my EZ pass is up to date.”
Hope flared within me, sparking behind my eyelids. As he glanced back at me, I knew the answer—didn't dare voice the question.
Squinting severely, Ronin finished his search, stepping back to me with a husky sigh. “Go ahead, what is it?”
Shit, my heart was too loud. “Are you... are we both...?”
Placing his hands on my shoulders, he turned me, giving me a firm push. “Grab whatever valuables you can find. I'll place an anonymous tip with the organized crime unit, make it sound like Roach wasn't paying for protection and they killed him for it. The extra heat will keep the Knights too busy to harass us. Well, at least for a little while.”