Zubair didn’t flinch as he stared down the man with the Saints Eater patch on his vest. "What does he think he’s due?"
"Respect." Rigo shrugged like it wasn’t that big of a deal. But everyone there knew differently. If they were chasing them down this much, clearly Harrow wasn’t willing to let things drop. "And tribute. Fuel. Clean water. Ammunition. Won. He’s not picky which one you start with."
Alexei made a low sound. "He’s fishing."
"He’s reminding," Rigo corrected. He shifted his weight and jerked his chin toward the four trapped Saints still circling behind him. "And he’s busy. Marrow keeps throwing pups at the wrong people. Sobody’s got to clean it up."
"That’s not your job," Elias pointed out. "That’s the General’s fight."
"It is now." Rigo smiled again, humorless. "Harrow says the General is occupied. So he gave the flag to keep this corridor clean."
That tracked too well for Zubair’s liking. Harrow went where the General didn’t want to spend personal capital. He maintained order because disorder cost money.
Sera watched the circling Saints like she was watching a fountain. "Are you going to shoot them?"
Rigo glanced back. "I was. Why?"
"Just curious," she replied, unbothered.
Zubair lifted his chin a fraction. "You delivered the ssage. Anything else?"
"Yeah." Rigo’s gaze narrowed, not aggressive, just asuring. "He told to tell you this part exactly, so don’t shoot the ssenger."
"I won’t if you don’t earn it," replied Zubair, his face expressionless.
Rigo chuckled. "He said, ’Tell the captain he owes three things: the girl, the gunman, and a week without trouble.’"
The Humr’s interior shifted, just a fraction. Lachlan’s smile vanished. Alexei’s eyes went pale. Elias’s fingers curled.
Sera didn’t move at all. Her creature must have heard the word girl and dismissed it, because her expression didn’t even harden. She just watched Zubair to see how entertained he was going to be.
Zubair kept his tone level. "He can keep waiting."
"That what you want to tell him?" Rigo asked.
"That’s what I want you to tell him."
Rigo rolled his shoulders like it was no skin off him. "All right. I’ll tell him you’re still rude."
"You do that."
The four Saints behind him chose that mont to get loud. One revved his engine and shouted sothing about traitors and lines. He took his eyes off the Saint Eater truck to gesture.
Rigo didn’t even look back. He lifted his hand. One of his riders behind him raised a rifle and dropped the loud Saint in the dirt with a single pop.
The other three froze.
Rigo turned back to the Humr. "You see the problem we’re dealing with."
"You fed it," Zubair replied. "Now it bites."
"Exactly." Rigo sounded almost pleased that soone understood. "So here’s the deal from Harrow. You stay out of his way while he cleans up Marrow’s backlash. You don’t touch his riders. You don’t strip his wrecks. And when he sends for paynt, you don’t make him send twice."
"You co to us like this again," Lachlan growled, "and I might forget my manners."
Rigo finally let his gaze slide to Lachlan, taking in the loose, dangerous way he sat in the back seat. "You look like you forget a lot of things."
Sera laughed, bright and sudden. "He does. It’s part of his charm."
That laugh changed the feel of the air. Rigo heard it.
His eyes flicked over her again, slower this ti. He didn’t leer. He just looked like a man trying to work out why four apex predators were orbiting a woman who was, apparently, delighted by all of this.
He dropped it.
Smart choice.
"We’re done," Rigo concluded. "Harrow will expect you to be smarter than Marrow."
Zubair dipped his head once. "Then he’ll be happy."
"Hope so." Rigo slapped the door of his truck twice. "Clear the lane."
Zubair eased the Humr forward, not hurried. He gave the Saint Eater truck room to swing back onto the road. The Eaters ford up quick — efficient, practiced — and pulled past them in a thin line.
As they went by, Rigo tapped two fingers against his helt in a rough salute toward Sera. She lifted her hand in a lazy mirror of it.
Then they were gone — a clean column moving toward the smoke of the compound to finish off what Marrow’s pride had started.
Only when the dust settled did Lachlan blow out a breath. "I really hate middlen."
"They’re useful," Elias countered. "They tell us what the hand wants before the hand cos down."
Alexei watched the van get smaller. "Harrow is asuring us."
"He asured us back at the mall," Zubair reminded them. "He just didn’t get to run the numbers."
Sera turned in her seat, eyes bright. "So. We paying him?"
Zubair t her look. "We’re not handing you over."
She rolled her eyes like that part was obvious. "No, I ant fuel or ammo or sothing boring."
"We’ll decide when he asks himself," Zubair told her. "I don’t pay ssengers."
Her creature must have liked that answer, because he felt the ripple through the cab — a small, warm approval, nothing dramatic.
Lachlan leaned back and finally let his grin return. "You know what I heard in there?"
"What," Zubair prompted.
"That even the General’s people know the Saints got smacked." Lachlan nodded at the road behind them, where the dust still hung. "Word seems to travel fast, even without cellphones and internet. We kicked their door and everyone heard."
"Good," Alexei murmured. "I was beginning to think no one listened anymore."
Elias checked the gauge again, reliable as ever. "Fuel’s still south of half. If we’re going to keep making friends, we need to top off sowhere that isn’t under Harrow’s eye."
"We will," Zubair assured him. He put the Humr back to cruising speed. "But first we get out of their corridor."
Sera propped her elbow on the window and watched the Saint Eaters disappear into heat. "I like Harrow’s dogs," she decided. "They’re neat."
"They bite whoever he points at," Zubair replied. "So don’t be surprised if, next ti, he points at us."
She looked over at him, amused again. "Then we’ll bite harder."
He couldn’t help it — his mouth twitched. "That we can do."
Behind him, Luci huffed once from the cargo bay, settling as the road smoothed.
The basin opened up ahead, wide and empty again. The Saints had tried once. Their betters had co to scold them. Everyone in the region now knew one thing: chasing this Humr ant trouble.
Zubair let the engine run and the plan turn over in his head. Harrow was on the board now. That was fine. People on the board could be tracked.
He kept driving.
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