“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.
Chapter 23
Hartley
I knew what Travis could do. He showed me that first day we met. I knew he was deadly and had some skills.
But seeing it up close like that was something else. He moved so damn fast and seemed to just know what everyone else was about to do. He didn’t hesitate to kill those men, and he didn’t seem to mind letting that sick fuck Guff take a bunch of bullets for him.
I wasn’t going to mourn those deaths, but I was shocked by how Travis had handled it all. The man was a professional killer, and I shouldn’t forget it.