Flanked Page 17

  On the fifth or sixth trip, Joe passed a slightly built boy of about his height. He finished carrying the wounded person and bolted for the boy, who had stopped and crouched over a body.

  Joe touched the boy’s shoulder, and he turned. Blood covered one side of his face, dripped in his eye. Flix.

  Joe let out a sound that must have been a cry and pulled Flix to his chest. Despite the blood, Flix wrapped his arms around Joe and held tight. Flix was strong enough to hug, strong enough to help others. Thank you, God.

  Blood slicked Joe’s cheek and down his shirt. He pulled back and saw that it was coming from a long cut that ran from Flix’s forehead to his jaw. It looked bad, but no bone showed through.

  “Devin? Marcus?” Joe said, making his words slow so Flix could read his lips.

  “Okay, both. We moved Marcus, then came to help.”

  Joe drew a shivery breath and choked back a sob. Thank God. He gestured to the cut on Flix’s face. “Go see Navarro.”

  “Help me first.” Flix pointed to the body at his feet.

  Together they carried the person to a long line of still, quiet forms.

  Joe moved the wounded and moved the dead. It took hours. His hearing returned slowly, but he seemed better off than everyone except Navarro. Midway through the night, he found Sadie sitting on a lawn chair just beyond Navarro’s makeshift triage unit.

  Her dazed eyes wandered, and she listed slightly to the left.

  Joe knelt in front of her. “Where’s Peter?”

  Sadie shook her head. “We snuck off a bit to make out. That’s the last thing I remember.”

  Joe wanted to press, to jog Sadie’s memory, but couldn’t make himself cause her more distress. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Who does this?” She gestured to the row of the dead. “There are kids younger than me in that pile. Babies. I don’t understand why someone would hurt babies.”

  “I don’t know, sweetheart.” But he could guess. The Sons were playing a dangerous game, raiding northern towns. That injured man whom Sanders had brought into Navarro’s office a week ago. The way the Sons had returned the other night, hollering like they’d done something big. These bombs were retaliation, but he couldn’t say that to Sadie, couldn’t tell her that her own sister had helped bring death to the town. Instead, he kissed her forehead and headed for Navarro, intending to ask if he’d seen Devin recently or Peter at all.

  Navarro didn’t give him the chance. “Run back to the house and get all the thread and Antisep you can hold. Pain pills, too. You know where I keep the key.”

  “Navi,” Aria said. Her thin hands never stopped working on the stitches she was placing on a man’s thigh. “I can go. It’d be —”

  “Joe’s going. I need you here.” Navarro didn’t glance in Aria’s direction; his eyes bored into Joe’s.

  Joe didn’t stick around. He sprinted back to the house, where he found Marcus asleep on the sofa. The key to the medicine closet was hidden in an empty bottle of foot powder, and Navarro obviously didn’t trust Aria to protect something so important as the town’s entire supply of drugs. Her eyes had been so empty, so alone, the second before Joe bolted, when her hands finished their work and she had no reason to avoid eye contact.

  When they’d lived in Austin, Navarro had doted on her the same way he did Sadie. When Joe visited their house after Navarro stopped working at Flights of Fantasy, he pretended his own father would someday look at him the way Navarro looked at Sadie and Aria. Lil was the disciplinarian; Navarro would do anything for his girls. Navarro’s treatment of them, and how much Joe wished he had someone who loved him like that, was what had made him fork over his whole first year’s pay to help them buy the glasses Sadie needed desperately.

  And now Navarro and Aria stood next to each other like strangers. Somehow, seeing Navarro not trust her, that felt even worse than knowing how Aria had hurt and betrayed her family.

  This wasn’t the time to dwell on it, though. He had to find Devin and Peter, and people still needed help. Joe hurried back and handed over the supplies.

  Navarro grunted his thanks and jerked his head toward where Aria had moved a few feet away. “Go help her.”

  She was bent over with a flashlight between her teeth, stitching the cut on Flix’s face.

  “Can I help?”

  Aria waggled the flashlight.

  Joe pulled the light out of her mouth and shone it on Flix’s wound. The smooth cut dripped blood, and Joe wondered what had hit Flix. Not that it mattered, he supposed. Flix’s skin had paled, and his eyes had grown glassy. Even though it made the flashlight angle awkward, Joe sat and wrapped an arm around Flix’s narrow back. Flix sighed and pressed his uninjured cheek to Joe’s shoulder.

  “He’s okay,” Aria said. “Worn out, probably. Maybe a little shock, but that’s all of us. Navi has to save the body glue for the people with more serious injuries or this kid wouldn’t even end up with a scar once he’s healed.”

  “What about you?” Joe asked.

  “What about me?”

  “How are you?”

  Aria stopped tending to Flix. She pushed the back of her hand over her forehead, like she’d forgotten her hair was short now and she didn’t have any to push back. She’d shoved her hair off her face a million times when they were young. Her eyes skittered over Joe and then away. “It’s good to see you, Joe.”

  “It’s good to see you, too.” Joe reached for her arm, but she pulled away.

  “You heard what I did.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, judge for yourself how I am.” Her voice shook.

  “He’d forgive you. He’s not —”

  Aria snorted. “Don’t tell me about my own... Navi. You think I don’t know? It’s not him; it’s her. Besides, I don’t want back in.”

  “I think you do.”

  She leaned in, which brought her closer to Joe, and worked quickly on Flix’s face. “You don’t know everything. You never did. You and Navi both think you’re the only ones born with a brain.”

  Joe didn’t realize he’d tightened his grip until Flix squirmed and muttered, “Back off, lady.”

  Joe shook his head. “Why are you so angry?”

  Aria’s brows rose, and her voice came out as a growl. “Why aren’t you? After all the things that’ve been stolen from us?” She patted Flix’s knee. “You’re done, kid.”

  She stomped away, and Joe watched her go, not sure what to think. Aria had always had her head in the clouds, nose buried in a book. She’d been a dreamer, but she’d always been kind. He remembered sitting with her in her room (Navarro would never have let them sit together on the bed, no matter how innocent it might have been), talking about William Shakespeare and sharing a candy bar one of his clients had given him for being “such a good boy.” He’d been fifteen or so. It made Joe sick now to think about how that man had thought candy could make up for how he’d touched a child, but at the time, Joe’d been more concerned about enjoying the treat. He’d sat on Aria’s floor, with her little plushie koala bear in his lap, talking about sonnets and trying to give Aria some candy because no one had talked literature with him in a long time. He had to practically force the sweets on her, though. She didn’t want to profit, she said, off of his degradation.

  Joe knew what people thought of how he made a living, and Aria sat there on her bed like a princess, with her long hair and her clean hands and Navarro and Lil to keep her safe. Joe wanted to seem like he didn’t care. “It’s not like the guy jizzed on it, Aria. It’s just candy.”

  Aria covered her mouth and burst into tears, and Joe was so sorry.

  He stood on his knees and shuffled to the edge of her bed. This time, he kept his voice soft. “Here.” He held out the treat. “You can have the whole thing. Please stop crying.”

  Aria took the candy bar with shaking hands and tore open the wrapper. It was chocolate, with little individual squares in a long row. She broke it evenly in half and handed one side back to Joe.
She took a bite. One last fat teardrop had fallen down her cheeks, and she had said, “I don’t judge you. I judge those men.”

  “Hey. Where are you?” Flix jolted Joe out of the memory.

  “You okay?” Joe asked.

  Flix nodded. A little color seemed to have returned to his cheeks.

  “You are so strong, Flix, heart and soul and body and mind.” As mad as he’d been at Flix earlier in the night, Joe couldn’t help the tenderness now, not after remembering what he’d been through as a teen, knowing Flix had been through it, too.

  Flix’s smile was small, but it was there. “You and me, we survive.”

  “Warrior brothers.” Joe held up his pinky, and Flix crooked his own around it.

  “I’m still mad you didn’t tell me about this chip garbage.”

  “That’s okay.” At the moment, Joe was just grateful to have one of his group safe.

  “I know once we ran away from Boggs, Marc and I couldn’t go back, but you should have told us what we’d gotten ourselves into.” Flix untangled himself from Joe and stood. “I’m gonna go back to the house, check on him.”

  “I’ll go with you. Peter and Devin are probably already back there. Looks like everyone that can go home has.”

  Flix squinted. “I haven’t seen Petey.”

  “Me neither, but he was with Sadie, and she’s fine, so...” Right? But no, Sadie really was fine. Seemed like she maybe had a concussion, but if Peter had been injured, he would have been brought to Navarro with Sadie, and Joe hadn’t seen him there or in the too-big line of the dead. He’d checked. Still... “Let’s talk to Navarro and see if he sent Peter to help someone get back to their house or something.”

  The moment they turned toward Navarro, Joe knew something was wrong. Lil had a clipboard, and she and Navarro were staring at it and arguing. They never argued. Lil shoved the clipboard at Navarro’s chest and swore.

  Joe didn’t know why, but he slipped his hand into Flix’s. He didn’t care who saw. “Guys?”

  Navarro swallowed. Lil spoke. “Where are Devin and Peter?”

  “I don’t...” Joe glanced at Flix and saw his own fear mirrored in Flix’s eyes.

  Lil’s face was grim. “I have a list of everyone in this town. I’ve spent all night checking them off. Only two are missing. Peter and Devin.”

  THIRTEEN

  This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t lose Devin. Joe paced the length of the living room and tried to think. How could he have been so stupid as to slip away with Navarro, let his guard down? Devin and Peter weren’t welcome in Purcell. They’d never been safe here. For God’s sake, they had bounty posters trailing them from Austin. And Joe had dismissed it all, left them alone, to sit up on a roof with Navarro and get drunk. He had to find them.

  He needed a plan.

  A body brushed his elbow, and Flix slipped past him, wearing his own, faster, path on the floor. At the end of the room, Flix whirled and crashed into Joe.

  “Why are we waiting?” Flix asked, his eyes wild. “We know that bastard Sanders and his creepy Sons took them.”

  Joe growled. “For the fiftieth time, we need a plan. We can’t run off half-cocked.”

  “We have guns! We hunt down that...that asshole and take our boys back!”

  “I told you, all that’ll accomplish is getting you and me killed.”

  Flix jammed his hands in his hair. “Well then do something, jackass. You’re supposed to be the one with all the brains.”

  Joe had never wanted to slap someone more. “I can’t think because you won’t stop talking. Shut the hell up.”

  But of course, Flix didn’t. He got right in Joe’s face, opened his mouth, and — wham! Lil grabbed a fistful of each of their shirts, and not gently, either. She dragged them to the empty couch and shoved. “Sit. Mouths shut.”

  Joe took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Of course Sanders had taken Devin and Peter. Who else would? Joe didn’t think it’d be to kill them. More likely, they’d be a commodity, something to be traded. Had Sanders or one of the Sons seen the flyers? Or did they think they’d get a reward for bringing Devin and Peter north? Speculation, all of it. All Joe had to go on, though, was the hope that Sanders’s greed outweighed his hatred.

  “Where would he keep them?” That was the place to start.

  “They have a compound about three miles to the east,” Lil said.

  Joe leaned forward, but Sadie spoke before he had the chance.

  “It burned two days ago. The drones bombed there first.”

  “How do you know that, little girl?” Lil snapped. “And why didn’t you tell us?”

  Sadie stared at the floor and mumbled, “I thought it was over.”

  “We could have been warned! If we’d known someone was carrying out bombing raids, we wouldn’t have had the bonfire!”

  “Aria said it was over, that the Americans were mad ’cause of, you know, the stealing the Sons were doing, but the Sons weren’t there, except for a couple people who got killed. She said they’d lie low for a while, and it’d all blow over.”

  Lil tugged at her wild red hair with both hands. “You have a lot of nerve, Saradora Harmony Benitez Ramirez, sneaking around this town, spending time with Aria like she didn’t beat Navi and ruin his leg!”

  Navarro, who’d been sitting silently with his head in his hands since they’d left the destruction of the bonfire, looked at Lil through blood-shot eyes. Joe wanted to worry about Navarro’s health, how long he’d been awake, how much work he’d had to do, but sympathy was in short supply. And he didn’t have time to listen to their family drama.

  He nudged Flix. “Let’s go.”

  Flix grabbed Joe’s wrist. “What? I thought you had to think of a plan.”

  Joe pulled Flix to his feet and addressed the others. “Do any of you know where Devin and Peter are?”

  Navarro shook his head. “Nuevecito, don’t —”

  “Don’t tell me what to do, Navarro. Unless you have some idea how I can get him back or you’re coming along to help, let me handle this.” Joe jerked his head toward the bedroom he and Devin shared. “Flix, go get a couple pairs of vision shields.”

  “Get three,” Marcus said.

  Flix, halfway toward the hall, turned. “Absolutely not.”

  “I don’t need your protection.” Marcus staggered upright and held himself steady, but he couldn’t disguise the wince that stole over his face.

  Flix glared and jabbed his finger earthward. Marcus swore and sat back down.

  “Navi and I will see what we can find out while we’re on rounds this morning,” Lil said. “Be safe.”

  Joe nodded, even though “safe” only mattered if Devin was with him. The night had been so long. His shoulders and calves ached, and his chest felt so heavy it hurt to draw breath. But he had to focus on what mattered. “Sadie and Marcus, would you please pack up our gear while Flix and I are gone? Once we get Devin and Peter back, we’ll probably need to leave right away.”

  Flix returned, carrying the two long guns.

  Joe jerked them out of Flix’s hands and propped them against the couch. “Do you have the things I asked you to get?”

  “Yes, but...” Flix gestured to the guns.

  Joe grabbed Flix by the arm and ushered him out of the house. He shoved Flix into the little shed Devin had been working in and tried not to think about how much time Devin had spent in there, waiting for Joe to make up his mind about heading north. “We’re going to ask questions. We don’t need guns for that. It’ll just put people on higher alert.”

  “But —”

  “Shut up. We’re going to start with Aria, even though I don’t think she’ll tell us anything. Then we’ll find the one that called me boss last night. We’ll talk to every one of them if we have to. Someone will slip. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut and listen for any little sign that someone knows more than they’re saying. Can you do that?”

  “Sí, jefe asshole.” Flix sighed
. In a softer voice, he said, “Warrior brothers.”

  “Warrior brothers,” Joe repeated. “Let’s go.”

  It took half of the morning to locate Aria. They found her and a dozen other Sons in the southeast, digging graves. Shovel in the dirt, she looked up as they approached. Sweat beaded her brow, and dirt covered her boots. Her closely cropped hair glinted auburn in the sun. She didn’t smile.

  “Coming to help the town? We’ve got sixty-three graves to go.” She patted the back of the man next to her. “Sanchez could use a break.”

  Joe took the offered shovel and sank it into the red earth. He’d dug plenty of graves. “Flix can help, too, if you have something for him to use.”

  Aria shook her head. “He’ll tear out those stitches.” She addressed Flix. “How’s the face, kid?”

  Joe slammed the shovel deep. He wanted to rail at Aria for pretending to care about Flix when she’d hurt Navarro, when she’d no doubt played a part in taking Devin and Peter, but he bit his tongue.

  The packed clay made for slow going, heavier than the dirt and rock at home but easier to push through. Joe dug in silence until the hole was a foot deep. Every once in a while, he’d glance up to find Flix, who’d sat on the ground at the foot of the grave, watching him. The other Sons, too, seemed to be sneaking a peek in Joe’s direction. He felt their eyes on him.

  “Heard your traveling companions went missing last night,” Aria said quietly as she twisted around to throw her shovelful of dirt behind her. “Tough break.”

  Joe grunted but kept his head down. “Any idea where they might be?”

  “No clue.”

  “Aria...”

  Aria straightened and wiped her hand on her forehead, leaving behind a streak of red clay. “Your little friend’s looking a bit peaked. I think it’s time he got some rest, maybe some food.”

  Joe’s traitorous stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten, hadn’t slept, and neither had Flix, who really did not look healthy. His skin, normally a lovely deep gold, had turned a bit sallow, and his eyes were drooping. Joe needed to get the boy home. It was bad enough he’d failed Devin and Peter, and even Marcus before them; he wasn’t about to add Flix to the total.