“Oh. Damn.”
“Yeah, it’s hard. I know. But you can’t give up just because the enemy is too big, alright? The Club has tangled with the feds before, and we came out of it relatively unscathed. Except for… you know, Henry. But that’s the reason we can’t give up. We fight for the ones who can’t anymore, to remind those guys that we still remember what they did, and we refuse to let them off the hook for it. Any time we let them cow us with their scare tactics and threats, they get a little stronger. Even if they take us down, even when they win, we can’t afford to retreat,” Leon explains softly, kissing the top of my head.
“Why are they getting involved, anyway? The feds have never given a crap about Bayonne before,” I mumble bitterly.
“Those incompetent local cops let something slip during the interrogation,” Leon begins. “Turns out the reason the feds are here is because they’re chummy with the crotchety old slimeball who owns the docks, Marty Chandler.”
“So what the hell are we gonna do next?” I ask, feeling discouraged.
Leon shoots me a twinkling glance. “Well, first of all, we’re gonna collect my bike from the impound lot. Then we’re going somewhere.”
“Where?” He takes my hand and starts pulling me along behind him.
“Somewhere. I have an idea.”
37
Leon
“Leon, we’re headed away from the docks, where are we going?”
“Not to the docks, obviously!”
Cherry gives me a punch on the arm, and I can hear her laughing over the roar of my engine as I speed us around a twisting road that leads through some woods and rocky ground. I’ve driven us south of the docks to a wooded area, guided by the moonlight alone.
After a few minutes more, Cherry settles down as she realizes we’re moving upward and back around toward the water. Before long, I start slowing my bike down as we get close to the destination I have in mind.
There’s a hilltop that overlooks the water, and with a tree clearing for tourists during the daytime, it offers a crystal-clear vantage point to the docks on the north side of the bay. We come to a stop, and I get out a pair of binoculars from the bike’s seat compartment before leading Cherry towards the ledge.
“I remember this place,” Cherry whispers, her eyes drinking in the scenery around her as walk. “I used to come here when I’d slip out at night as a teenager.”
“You too?” I laugh. “I admit, I saw this place a lot more during the daytime. They uh, had a hard time keeping me in school when I was younger. This was a good place to come hang out on weekdays.”
“Now look at you, you hoodlum,” Cherry teases, nudging me with her elbow as we laugh quietly, careful not to risk drawing attention. “Anyway, this place is good, but there’s somewhere a little higher up where we can see things even better.”
Before I know it, she grabs me by the wrist and guides me off the trail a little ways. I follow, a smile on my face as we duck through some brush to climb up to a smaller hill that offers slightly better cover. I don’t suspect anyone’s going to give us trouble up here anyway, but this place feels more secluded.
I catch myself almost forgetting what we’re here to do; I’m not a teenager out on a date, we’re here to do some investigation. Running around with Cherry, though, it’s easy to lose myself in the rush of things. She has a way of making me forget all the troubles that have been keeping us from really living for so long.
“Here,” she says once we’re in position, “this is the spot.” We find a fallen log that I suspect people have been using here for a long time, and we take a seat to get comfortable.
For a while, the two of us just sit there, looking out over the still, cold waters and watching the moonlight cast a white path over its surface for miles and miles. I don’t look over to see if her eyes are as transfixed on the sight as mine are. I can feel a peace between us that I can’t really explain.
“Damn,” I hear myself saying. “Everything is so still up here.”
“Right?” Cherry says softly, leaning back and propping herself up by her hands. “The city almost looks kind of peaceful from here.” That brings a smile to my lips.
It’s funny, Cherry’s reappearance in town should be just another hurdle to work through the storm of the past few days, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like she’s at once an anchor and a motivation to keep going.
I finally glance over at her, and her eyes are on me. They look away quickly, but I keep mine on her. In the moonlight, her flowing gray blouse and tight dark jeans would almost make her meld into the wooded shadows if not for that flaming red hair of hers.