Page 152 of After the Burn

“Sorry, once I claim them, they’re mine forever.” She winked at us.

God, I loved this woman.

“Is it fucked up that I was turned on by that?” Beck asked no one in particular.

“Yes,” Lucas answered anyway.

Wren stood from her and Colson’s hiding spot. “They’re headed toward Baxter's.”

Taryn stepped onto the road. “Then so are we.”

Beck frowned, following right behind her. “You think they’re meeting them?”

No need to clarify which ‘them’ he meant. “Yes.”

Wren nodded in agreement. “Gideon never brought the fuel men into town unless they were picking up women.”

Taryn’s jaw tightened. “Bastards.”

We followed in the direction the trucks had taken. Far enough back that their enhanced hearing couldn’t pick us up.

Enhanced senses changed the rules. It wasn’t enough to stay out of sight; we had to stay out of range.

Colson tracked the vehicles when the road curved beyond what we could see. His skills rather impressive. I noticed Taryn looking at him in approval.

Wren stayed right beside him, for once not speaking.

Twenty minutes later, Colson raised one hand, and we stopped. Voices carried through the trees.

Men.

Several of them.

We moved closer slowly. The smell had reached us a while ago; now, this close, it was nearly unbearable.

Gasoline and diesel. Possibly propane, too. Enough fuel to make my head hurt.

Taryn held her hand over her nose. “That’s strong.”

We crawled the last several yards through the brush, and below us lay an old roadside service yard. It didn’t look like their main compound. It was much too small.

A gravel clearing surrounded by trees with an abandoned maintenance shed on one side. Two fuel trucks were parked near the middle, and Gideon’s vehicles faced them from the opposite side.

Neutral ground.

Five men stood near the fuel trucks, looking in much better shape than Gideon’s did, and much better armed.

One of the men smoked a cigarette ten feet from enough fuel to vaporize all of us. Apparently, survival didn’t require intelligence.

Wren shifted beside Colson. “That’s them.”

I looked at her. “The ones that usually collect the women?”

She pointed toward a broad man in a canvas jacket. “I’ve seen him several times.”

Taryn followed her gaze. “He came to town?”

Wren nodded. “Twice.”