Chapter 11
Vin didn’t like it.
In fact, he was morally opposed to this entire ridiculous idea.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Vin said, shaking his head slowly back and forth as he and Sean rode their horses side by side into Chain Gang territory.
It seemed as though the remnant soldiers hadn’t made it into this area yet, and Sean seemed to think it was because Chainz and his criminals were holding them off.
Vin rolled his eyes at the absurdity of this plan. They were riding into a section of the city controlled by the most notorious crime boss on this side of the Mississippi River with the hope that he would help them.
“Why in the name of hell would you do this?” Vin said, for probably the hundredth time since Sean had revealed his temporary alliance with the criminal underworld.
Sean had deflected most of these questions, seemingly choosing to treat them as rhetorical, and Vin never pushed the issue.
This time, however, Sean seemed ready to respond.
“Because it was this or death,” Sean said matter-of-factly, the edge of irritation in his voice.
“It was this or watch Deb and Jimmy die on the streets while we try to figure out how to get the fuck out of here.”
“Chainz is just as likely to kill them as the remnant is,” Vin snapped back, gesturing to the desolate street around them. “Hell, he’s probably more likely to kill them.”
“He ain’t gonna kill them,” Sean replied, sounding entirely sure of himself at the moment.
“And what makes you so sure of that?” Vin asked accusingly.
“Because he gave me his word,” Sean said simply, and Vin openly scoffed at this.
“The word of a drug dealer? The word of a criminal? The word of a murderer?” Vin said, rolling his eyes while simultaneously clenching his teeth together so hard it felt like they might shatter. “That’s the word we’re trusting with Deb’s life? With Jimmy’s?”
“What other choice do we have, Vin?” Sean snapped. “I had to do what I had to do.”
“What you had to do?” Vin asked incredulously.
“Yes!” Sean screamed, his voice echoing through the empty street as he rounded Buttercup in a circle to look directly at Vin. “I did what I had to do to protect my family, Vin! My family! Not yours! You gave up the right to call them that when you walked out!”
“I still provide for them,” Vin roared back, and Bolt took a step forward at his urging. “I still send them whatever I earn to make sure they have an easier life!”
“You think sending money is all it takes?” Sean scoffed at him, rolling his eyes. “I still catch Deb crying herself to sleep at night sometimes, and I know it’s because of you! My own wife…and she lies there at night next to me, thinking about you.”
“I never asked for that,” Vin said, suddenly feeling the emotional weight of the moment settle onto his shoulders. “I never asked for any of it, and you know that.”
“Yeah, well, you still got it,” Sean said, his voice low and quaking but sad at the same time.
“So yeah, Vin, keep sending that money. What good does that do for them in this world? This world we both knew was coming one day. What matters is a strong pair of arms and a determination to stand between the people you love and danger, no matter the cost. I thought you knew that.”
“I’m here, ain’t I?” Vin asked, gesturing around at the barren street. “I came here for them.”
“Yeah, well, too little too late,” Sean said, his voice dripping with disgust and contempt as he turned back around and continued moving through the street. Vin felt every word Sean shot at him as though they were needles piercing his skin.
Everything Sean had said, Vin had thought about over the last few years.
Every day he spent by himself, communicating only with the bounties he hunted and the clients who hired him, brought these thoughts to his mind.
He had wanted to be there for Deb, to watch Jimmy grow.
But he was a broken-down old soldier and felt the edge of a psychotic break pushing on the boundaries of his mind day in and day out.
He still felt it, though far less often now.
He’d made some progress over the years, thrown himself into his work, and found ways to cope with the things he had seen and done.
But by the time he had come to feel like a human being again, Deb had moved on.
She had a new husband, and he respected the decision.
He wasn’t going to go sniffing around the ranch and disrupt their lives.
It was respect for Sean, respect for Deb, and a belief that Jimmy would be better off without a screw-up like him in his life.
“We’re here,” Sean called back to him in a short tone.
He didn’t blame Sean for the tone one bit. He had to make the hard decisions for Deb and Jimmy now, and Vin had blown in here, involving himself for the first time in over a year, and the first thing he had done was try to lecture Sean about what he was doing.
Honestly, Vin was shocked Sean hadn’t punched him in the face. If the roles were reversed, he might have. They approached a destination that Vin had always given a wide berth. The Pit Bull’s Ear.
The place was likely swarming with low-life scum, many of whom carried bounties on their heads.
That meant Vin had them in his crosshairs, and they knew it.
He wasn’t popular with the Chain Gang for obvious reasons.
He had busted a number, and he was fixing to bust a lot more of them before he was dead and buried.
The ground around the bar was littered with corpses. The shot-up bodies of soldiers were lying throughout the street at random. They weren’t positioned like this. They were just left to rot wherever they fell.
It was a warning, Vin knew. It was Chainz making a declaration to the remnant and to anyone else who might try to challenge his authority as the world changed.
Vin knew Chainz had ambitions. It was what helped the head of a biker gang rise through the criminal underworld to become the undisputed kingpin.
Those kinds of things didn’t happen by accident.
“All right,” Sean said, looking back at him with trepidation now falling over his face. “Just let me do the talking in there. And don’t antagonize anyone.”
“Yeah,” Vin said, pulling Bolt off to the side and hitching him to one of the parking meters. “I’ll follow your lead.”
Sean gave him a nod and dismounted, hitching Buttercup nearby. Together, they walked over the bodies of remnant soldiers and moved for the heavy steel door that marked the entrance to this den of thieves and murderers.
Sean knocked, the sound echoing out. A slot opened up in the door, and a pair of mean-looking eyes peered out, narrow with suspicion.
“Oh, it’s you,” the eyes said, looking at Sean. Suddenly, though, they turned toward Vin. “What the fuck?”
“It’s all right,” Sean insisted, holding his hands up.
Vin felt his heart rushing, and he was ready to spring into action should this turn into an attempted assault.
“Just tell Chainz I need to talk to him.”
The door sentry didn’t respond to this. He simply slammed the view slot closed, and Vin could vaguely hear a commotion coming from behind the door.
“This ain’t good,” Vin said, his apprehension apparent in his voice.
“Just stay calm,” Sean said, trying to sound confident that he’d be able to make this alliance work.
However, Vin could tell that even Sean was unconvinced. There was a lot of noise coming from behind the huge door, but Vin couldn’t make out anything specific.
After a few minutes, the door opened, and the sentry was waiting for them on the other side, a rifle in his arms, though not pointed at either one of them.
“He says he wants to talk to you,” the sentry sneered, a glare of scorching hatred aimed in Vin’s direction. “Don’t you dare try nothin’.”
“I ain’t here to cause problems for anyone,” Vin said, with a shake of his head.
“You already caused enough problems here,” the man responded, his voice so low and full of rage that Vin was positive he’d busted someone close to this person.
He wasn’t going to stand there and argue with this hostile entity. Instead, Vin simply nodded, took his hands away from the handles of his guns, and followed Sean as they walked inside the bar.
Within the dingy interior, it was clear that everyone was aware of the situation, and everyone knew who Vin was.
Every member of the Chain Gang within the structure was standing.
Cards were left on tables, drinks were ignored, and the eyes of every leather-clad criminal within the establishment were fixed on Vin.
Not only that, but they all had guns drawn, and many of them looked as though they were praying he would make a sudden movement.
Vin was determined not to provoke them. He walked slowly and evenly, staying just behind Sean.
He even held up his hands as if to show the entire room that he meant no harm.
No one spoke. The silence was absolutely deafening at the moment, and Vin could feel the slow trickle of sweat against his temple as he fought to maintain composure.
All it would take was one of the dozens of thugs in this room to get an itchy trigger finger or decide revenge was worth whatever consequences might befall them.
One person deciding that he needed to go and this room would erupt in a hail of bullets that would ultimately leave both him and Sean bleeding and dying on the floor.
However, no one moved. Vin knew it wasn’t out of any fear of him or a lack of wanting.
Rather, Vin understood the true motive behind their restraint.
It was Chainz. The crime lord was so respected, so feared, that his word was absolute among his followers.
If someone opened fire on them within the Pit Bull’s Ear without the direct consent of their leader, there would be a deep, dark hell to pay.
Vin knew it, and every member of the gang seemed to know it, too.