not. “Poker, hm? Who’s winning?”
Evan pointed soundlessly to Carter.
Boomer stared at his cards, his breathing quick and shallow.
Tenny’s hand shifted on Boomer’s shoulder, knuckles white as he gripped. He smiled, then, all teeth and malicious intent. “What’s the matter, Boomer?” Disdain coated the name like oil. “Suddenly shy? I thought you were interesting in putting things–”
The front door opened, to Carter’s immense relief. A momentary relief – the boards creaked, but there were no audible footfalls, and when he turned, it was Reese standing there, tense and ready, his gaze going straight to Tenny.
Carter considered sliding down under the table.
But Reese said, “There’s an intruder on the property.”
~*~
They found the back gate standing open, its chain cut, and a boat tied up at their pier. It was a small ski boat, and its sides were striped with a custom paint job, some obnoxiously flashy decals of shark fins and skier silhouettes. There was no logo, but Carter had no doubt who’d done the paint work.
He stepped down off the dock, gun in his hand – he hadn’t changed clothes, but he’d thought to go and arm himself. It was cool down here by the water, but that wasn’t the reason he shivered a little.
He surveyed the three prospects standing in front of him, looking to him, as the only fully-patched member present. Reese and Tenny had slunk off, melted into the shadows with promises of finding the boater – and Carter had no doubt they would, God help the poor bastard once he was caught – but Boomer, Deacon, and Evan had turned to him automatically for orders.
It was a bit of a headrush, to be honest. A novel situation, for sure.
“Okay,” Carter said. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure this is that little rat Jimmy Connors.” Stranger though the kid may have been, he was starting to hate the bastard. “Which means he’s a teenager, and a shit one at that, but we don’t want to kill the kid.”
He earned three nods.
“They could be anywhere on the property at this point.” And doing all sorts of harm. “They can’t run on foot worth a damn, so they’ll come back for the boat. Evan, stay here and yell if they turn up.”
“Right.”
“You two” – Boomer and Deacon – “head toward the bike shop and make sure they didn’t go for any of the businesses down that way. If you see a light on, guard the exits, and call me. Do not move in on your own.” The last had been stern – maybe too stern, a bad impression of Ghost – but both of them nodded.
Carter headed back toward the scrap yard. He had a feeling Jimmy, and whichever stupid friend he’d brought, would have designs on the clubhouse itself, and sneaking up on them through the tangled, metal jungle of the scrap yard would be the best way to get the drop on them. Carter wanted them caught, and questioned; maybe even hauled down to the precinct by Fielding for trespassing on private property, have their little cages rattled. A few years ago, he would have wanted to shoo them away like flies; tonight, for a variety of reasons, he wanted more than that.
He was sliding between two old stripped-down pickups when he heard a shriek. The chain on the gate here was cut, too, and he stepped through into the concrete backyard of the clubhouse to find two dark shapes crouched over two felled ones, and a third boy, still on his feet, running for dear life. In the glow of the security light, Carter registered Reese belting one guy’s hands behind his back, standing, a boot braced between his shoulder blades.
Tenny smacked the other one’s head off the pavement, rendering him limp, and sprang lightly to his feet.
“Jesus, don’t kill him,” Carter admonished, storming toward them. “I want them conscious.”
Tenny turned to him with a mild expression, not even winded, and lifted a single brow. “You’ll be wanting that one to run away, then?”
Carter glanced at the kid’s retreating back, the hood of his jacket slapping as he sprinted for the grass, and the gate, and the river.
There was a rock at Carter’s feet, small, ping-pong ball size.
With a sigh, he bent, picked it up, and drew a bead on the retreating teenager. Felt his body settle automatically into the old stance, the one he’d revived and been exercising during his workouts with Elijah.
Tenny snorted. “And you worried about me killing this one, hypocrite.”
Carter threw. The rock disappeared into