Page 85 of Edge

“We can help protect the families,” Walter said.

“Are you sure? I don’t know how long this will take. It could be anywhere from several hours to a few days.”

Walter shrugged. “We don’t have anywhere to be.”

“Thank you. We appreciate the help. Stick with Byte and Edge. They’ll show you where to go and what to do.”

“What about me?” Gary asked.

Phoenix rubbed his chin. “Yeah, I don’t know what the fuck to do with you.”

“Come on, man. I told you everything you wanted to know.”

“And there’s nothing stopping you from going back and telling the Mad Dogs about everything that happened here today. I think you’re going to have to hang out with us until this is over.”

“No!” Gary shouted and started flailing in his seat. “You can’t hang me from the ceiling for days!”

Phoenix crossed his arms over his stomach and doubled over with laughter. “For fuck’s sake. I didn’t mean it literally.”

“What was I supposed to think? I’ve got fishing hooks in my fingers!” Gary held up his hand to show us, as if we’d all forgotten.

“Byte, can you arrange for Patch to take those hooks out?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“All right. Let’s get him set up in one of the holding rooms. Then I want the officers to meet me in the conference room on the first floor for church. I’ll have the prospects start calling the families to let them know they need to head to the bunker. Byte and Edge, Walter and Buck can help you get Ranger, Irene, and Evie over to the bunker. Take Flint with you and send Dice and Ink to the conference room.”

“What do you want us to tell them when they ask what’s going on?” I asked.

“Tell them the truth. I want everyone to be aware so that no one is caught off guard. Let’s get moving. I want to be ready and waiting long before they arrive.”

Byte and I rode back to the house in Walter’s truck. “I hope someone’s called Irene by now. I don’t want to be the one to break the news to her.”

“I can do it,” Buck volunteered. “She’ll know something’s wrong as soon as she sees us.”

When we walked into the house, it was clear that they had already heard the news. Evie and Irene were sitting on the couch with their arms wrapped around each other, though I wasn’t sure who was comforting who.

Irene looked up and her eyes immediately went to Walter and Buck. “What are you two doing here?”

“Do you know what happened?” Walter returned.

“Yes,” Irene said slowly. “How do you know what happened?”

“We caught the son of a bitch who did it,” Buck said proudly.

“You what?”

“We saw the smoke when we were driving by and pulled into the back parking lot to see what was going on and call nine-one-one. As Walter was parking, this jackass comes walking out the back door carrying a can of gas. Turns out, it was that bozo with the bad manners from a few weeks ago.”

“They didn’t say anything about a suspect when they called to tell me about the fire.”

“That’s because they don’t know about him,” Walter explained.

“What’s going on?” Evie asked.

“It’s a long story, which I will tell you, but I’m going to give you the short version right now for the sake of time. The Mad Dogs hired someone to set fire to the diner, hoping to draw us out. Walter and Buck were in the right place at the right time and caught the guy, which is how we know the Mad Dogs were behind the fire. It looks like they’re headed in our direction, so we need to get everyone moved to a safer location,” I explained.

“Where is this safer location?”