“No! No guns around my granddaughter,” Mya said.
“Mya, we have people looking for us. Those people have guns,” Ike said.
“That’s why you need to get going and bring your ass back. We’ll be here. Go,” Mya said. Ike looked at Buddy Lee. Buddy Lee shrugged his shoulders. He was not stepping between a man and his wife. Better to step between a hungry wolf and a rabid dog.
“Mya, I’m leaving the gun with Buddy Lee. I trust him,” Ike said. He went to the truck and grabbed the MAC-10. When he handed it to Buddy Lee they locked eyes. Buddy Lee nodded.
“This all we got. That .45 is empty. You pulled on that thing until it went click. Give me the keys,” Ike said.
“There’s a spare under the visor. I’ll keep my regular ones so I can lock the door,” Buddy Lee said.
“Let’s go, Tangerine,” Ike said. Ike got in the truck. Tangerine got in the passenger side.
“Bye, pretty lady!” Arianna said. Tangerine smiled and waved at Arianna.
“Bye, sugar button,” she said.
“Hurry back now. Don’t pick up no stray hookers or wooden nickels,” Buddy Lee said.
“Watch your mouth,” Mya said.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Buddy Lee said.
“Thirty minutes,” Ike said. He started the truck and backed out of Buddy Lee’s truncated driveway.
As the taillights receded down the road, Buddy Lee, Mya, and Arianna went back inside the trailer.
Buddy Lee gripped the MAC-10 with one hand and locked the door with the other.
THIRTY-FOUR
Ike dialed Jazzy’s number as he headed for the northern end of Red Hill County. She picked up after three rings.
“Hey, Ike, what’s up?” Jazzy said.
“Jazz, I need a favor.” Ike said. Jazzy must’ve picked up something in his tone because instead of “sure” or “no problem” she said:
“What is it?”
“I got a friend who needs a place to crash for a few days. She’s been hurt and she got a bandage that she gonna need help changing. I know you was a CNA before you came on with us at the shop,” Ike said. Ike thought he heard the line hum, but he knew that was his imagination. Cell phones didn’t have landlines that could hum.
“Ike, I was a CNA for three weeks. Lord, I don’t know. I gotta ask Marcus.”
“I’ll give you two extra weeks on your last check,” Ike said.
“Two extra weeks? Really?”
“Really,” Ike said. Jazzy sucked her teeth.
“That got to do with them biker boys from the other day?” Jazzy asked. Ike almost lied.
“Yes, but you’ll be alright. No one knows where you live and no one is following me.” Ike said. He was doing his best to make sure that wasn’t a lie. He took the long way down back roads that made it hard for someone to hide a tail.
“I don’t know, Ike,” Jazzy said.
“Three weeks. Three extra weeks. Please, Jazzy. She needs help. If you don’t want to do it for me, do it for Isiah,” Ike said.
“Them biker boys got something to do with what happened to Zay?” Jazzy asked.
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure they did,” Ike said. More silence. It floated between them, deep and oppressive. Finally Jazzy spoke again.
“Okay. Bring her over. How long you say she need to be here?”
“Just a couple days. Thank you, Jazzy,” Ike said.
“I’m gonna have to buy Marcus two new PlayStation games with my check to keep him from running his mouth,” Jazzy said.
“See you in a bit,” Ike said. He hung up.
“You didn’t tell her,” Tangerine said.
“I don’t think it’s my place to tell her anything,” Ike said.
“You sure my mama is dead?” Tangerine asked. The question almost made Ike run off the road. He chose his next words carefully.
“I don’t know. Everything was happening so fast. But I don’t think she made it,” Ike said, his voice hoarse. Tangerine leaned her head on the window. Cool air filled the cab of the truck through the shattered rear window. Tangerine’s hair danced and cavorted around her head like dark fairies.
“She only let me come home after I gave her half the money Tariq had fronted me. Twenty-five hundred dollars, and she still kept calling me by my dead name,” Tangerine said.
“Did you tell her you was running for your life?” Ike asked.
“Yeah. That’s why she didn’t take all of it,” Tangerine said.