Page 75 of Devil's Marker

“I do.”

“I’ll be there before midnight.”

“I’ll be waiting in the lobby downstairs. And, Win, I…”

“Yeah?”

“See you soon.”

“Okay.”

Win sat down at the bar with his whiskey snifter and told the gathering the entire story from beginning to end.

When he was finished, no one spoke except for Brant who, predictably, said, “Jesus.”

“Can’t say I got out clean.”

“How’s that?”

“Well, this girl…”

“R.C.,” they all said almost in unison.

He grinned. “Yeah. Arcy. So much for the plan to just sneak away and never have it found out I was a mole. The prez’s daughter…”

“We get it,” Brant said. “I’ll get in touch with this Bolivar Greer, when he’s outta jail, and come to an understanding with him.”

Win looked hopeful. “Yeah? You can do that?”

“Not much he can’t do,” Arnold said.

“Good to know. Now I…”

Again everyone spoke, almost in unison, “Want to go see R.C.” They all laughed.

Win smiled boyishly, almost like he was embarrassed about it. “Yeah. Wanna go see Arcy. I’m gonna take a shower first.”

“Good plan. How much you want to spend to get your new friends outta jail?” Brant asked.

“Whatever it takes,” Win said without hesitation.

Brant pulled him aside. “You sure you got that kind of scratch? We could be talkin’…”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I got it.”

Brant cocked his head to the side. “Okay. We’ll get to work on it tonight.”

Win happened to glance up at the big screen in time to see the camera zoom in on Catcher’s face. He was sitting down against a wall with his hands cuffed behind his back, but he winked and grinned at the camera.

Win blinked a few times, not being able to believe he’d done that.

CHAPTER Fourteen

R.C. was pacing in the lobby, as she’d said she would be, when he arrived at eleven forty-five. The night man let him in and he walked straight into her arms. She squeezed him so tight he thought she was trying to crawl inside him. He let her take her time, gave her what she needed.

Upstairs in her place he reassured her that her dad and his friends wouldn’t be in jail long. That was the easy part.

The hard part was telling her that he was playing at being a Marauders recruit to pay off a debt for the Austin SSMC.