Page 18 of Gray’s Surrender

“Get some sleep,” he says.

“Another order?”

“No, just a request.”

“Needs some work.”

“Meg.”

“There it is.”

The corner of his mouth moves before he leaves for the room across the hall. His door closes a moment later. Only a few steps separate us. Neither of us believes they’ll hold for long.

CHAPTER 5

GRAY

Kane calls church at eight Sunday morning.

I leave Ruby eating breakfast with Tessa in the protected room. Meg is awake in her room across from mine, but her door remains closed. The clinic gave her painkillers that made her sleep, and I’ve checked the corridor twice without knocking.

The church table holds a map of the old river road, Bishop’s number and photographs Cash pulled from a fuel-stop camera. One shows the dark truck that passed my house. The cracked left taillight is clear. Another catches Bishop on a Perdition bike three miles north of Ransom. Kane stands at the head of the table.

“They want the route,” he says. “We give them the route.”

Flat morning light comes through the high windows. Every patched man is in the room except Tank, who covers the north road with two brothers. Griz studies the map. “We ready for Cyrus’s answer after we take his cargo?”

“Yeah,” Kane says.

Griz nods. “Then put me at the bridge.” No argument after the answer. He asks about the cost, hears Kane’s answer and takes his place.

Chains leans back. “Old agreement kept Perdition on our side.” One quiet sentence.

Kane looks at him. “Old agreement gave another club a road through our territory. You want Cyrus deciding what crosses Ransom?”

Chains’s jaw shifts. “No.”

“Then we’re done.”

He gives one restrained nod. Griz glances toward him before returning to the map. Kane puts a phone in the middle of the table. “Call Bishop, give him what he wants.”

I dial, put it on speaker, and Bishop answers after three rings. “Gray.”

“Your boys made the point.”

Silence sharpens down the line.

“What point is that?”

“My house is wrecked. The people in it are behind Kingdom Come gates. I want this finished.”

“You should have said yes the first time.”

“Monday. Ten at the old landing. North watch changes at nine forty. I can hold the road open twenty minutes.”

Bishop waits long enough to pretend he’s considering it, but he already believes. Men rarely question an answer shaped exactly like their expectation.

“No Kane,” he says. “One truck. We pass and this is over.”