“Stop,” Travis said. “You grab that gun and I’ll fucking kill you, King.”
“You have some nerve showing up here like this,” he said.
“I’m here for Janey, not you.”
“Motherfucker. I should gun you down.”
“I still have business with her. You really want to do this?”
Travis stared King down for a second, and slowly King brought his hands up to the top of the counter. “She’s around back,” he said. “Working with a group. Go make yourself known.”
“Thanks,” Travis grunted.
I smiled at King as we walked by. He just stared at us, a blank expression on his face.
We went out the back door and onto the back porch. Brock and Janey were working with a little ATV tour group, probably the last group of the day. They were giving them the quick safety rundown. We stood and watched, waiting for them to finish.
Once the speech was over and the group was heading out, Janey slowly walked over to us, smiling.
“There you are,” Janey said. “I was wondering when I’d see you again.”
“I need to steal from you tonight, Janey,” Travis said.
She laughed. “Uh oh. Not sure I like the sound of that.”
Travis grinned. “Listen, it’s on. We need to do it tonight.”
“That’s too soon,” she said. “We’re not ready.”
“It’s now or never. Something happened and now we need to rush.”
“Killed one of their boys? Fucked something up?”
“Something like that,” Travis said.
Janey looked at me. “What did you do?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said, surprised.
Janey narrowed her eyes and then laughed again. “I’m just teasing.” She looked back at Travis. “Okay then. What’s the deal?”
“I have a big rig. You hide some men in the back. I made a deal with the mafia that I’ll only meet with their head guy. You all come out, kill the mafia people, and pay us our money. That’s it.”
She nodded slowly. “So you’re giving me the infamous Merton.”
“Best I can do.”
“You said you’d give me the whole Dixie Mafia.”
Travis clenched his jaw. “This is short notice, Janey. Without Merton, they’ll be disorganized, ready for the taking. Can you get some men together?”
“I can,” she admitted.
“Merton is worth fifty grand, plus whoever else he brings.”
She stared at Travis for a second, thinking hard. Slowly she nodded. “All right then, Travis. Fifty grand, but only if Merton is there and dead.”
“One more thing. You remember Hoyt?”
“Ray’s old friend?”
“That guy, yeah. He’ll be there tonight. I want you to spare him.”
She cocked her head. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“Because he’ll flip for you. Use him to secure what you need.”
She nodded once. “I can see the value in that.”
“Good. So we have a deal?”
She held out her hand. “We do.”
Travis shook with her. She turned to me and held out her hand. I shook it. Her grip was firm and warm, though her eyes were cold and serious.
“Come on, Hartley,” Travis said.
“One more thing, Travis,” Janey called out over the sound of the ATV group pulling out. “Fuck me over and I’ll make sure this girl dies. You understand that? I know where she lives. I’ll burn her farm to the ground.”
“You wouldn’t be the only one,” I grumbled.
Travis grinned. “Sure thing, Janey. I’ll pick you guys up around one tonight. Then we’ll head over to the old shoe factory. Be ready.”
“Got it.”
We turned and left, skirting around the building to avoid having to go through that bullshit dance with King again.
That had gone surprisingly well. I didn’t know what I had expected, but Janey had seemed quick to agree. Travis said Janey was a businesswoman, and business always came first, but I couldn’t help but worry anyway. Something seemed so strange about her, so cold and uncaring. It was almost as if she didn’t give a shit one way or the other how this played out.
But I cared. I needed this to work. Travis was taking a huge risk by turning on the mafia like this, and he was gambling our lives. But I couldn’t help but trust him anyway.
We climbed into the car and pulled out slowly.“What do you think?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“About Janey. Think we can trust her?”
“We don’t have much choice.”
“No, we don’t, but I want to hear what you think anyway.”
I bit my lip. “It doesn’t matter what I think, Travis. I haven’t exactly made good decisions.”