Page 42 of The Last True Hero

"What about us?" Jake asked, his boots crunching on dry gravel as he turned on McClain.

"You and I are cousins," McClain said, peering toward Rust City. "We're both bounty hunters—it's easier to keep it simple, then we don't have to worry too much about slipping up. Except the pair of us realized there could be some of the finer things to be had in life. We want gold." He curled his lip. "Mia, you're not really a fighter, but you're training to ride along at my side. Sorry to be old-fashioned, but you're basically my woman."

"Do you want me to flutter my eyelashes at you a few times?" she drawled.

"No, but if I slap you on the ass once or twice, try not to jump out of your skin."

"You slap me on the ass, and I will personally grab a handful of your balls."

McClain smiled. "That's the reiver spirit."

"Are we buying or selling?" Jake asked. “Because I don’t think we should bluff when it comes to Ellie.”

"Buying," McClain said firmly. "Ellie doesn't leave our sight. We work in pairs at all times, and don't go anywhere by ourselves. Ellie's a girl who did you wrong, so you took your revenge on her. But we also heard that we can fetch good coin buying up here, and selling to the south. So we're looking for slaves, preferably women. Maybe a boy or two. If need be, then we buy your wife back."

"And the other girls," Mia hastened to point out. "Sara, Sonya, Bethany, and Thea. Plus the Hannaway kid. He's about fourteen."

"Do we have enough coin?" Jake asked bluntly.

There was a lump in her throat the size of the Wastelands. What would she do if the choice came down to Sage and Thea, or the others? "I don't care if we have enough," she told him firmly. "We're not leaving any of our people there."

A jingle sounded as McClain dumped a small pouch of coin on the rock in front of her. He opened it up, coins dripping through his fingers. "I've been hunting an old friend of mine, but along the way I took the time to do a few jobs. One of them paid big."

Jake tossed another leather purse next to it. "Twenty gold. It's all I've got on me. Thwaites gave it to me when we were saying good-bye."

"And I've got this," Ellie said, untying the gold locket around her neck. "It was my mother's."

Mia hadn't even thought about bringing extra money. All she'd grabbed was her duffle, a few spare clothes, her medical kit, and her gun.

"What happens if they don't want to sell?" Mia asked, staring at the haze in the desert and the glittering scrap city in the distance.

"Plan B," McClain said, pocketing the money. "Shoot everyone, burn the joint, and get the hell out of there with our friends."

Mia couldn't stop a faint smile from forming. “I like that idea.” Slavers needed to know that their kind couldn’t be tolerated.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Jake added grimly, dropping the cigarette he'd been smoking, and grinding it under his heel. "I don't think I've got enough ammo."

"And I'm a terrible shot," Ellie added. "We'll deal with that when we get there and sound the place out," McClain replied. "Let's go shave that head, then roll. The sun's starting to set. I'd like to be in there before the gates close for the night."

"To keep the wargs out," Jake said, and the two men looked at each other for a humorless moment.

"To keep the wargs out," McClain gently echoed, then hauled his ammo belt over his shoulder and headed for his motorbike to fetch his shaving kit.

"Yeah," Jake muttered, rising and dusting off his jeans.

"Anything you want to tell me?" she asked, regarding the sudden hostility between the two men.

He hesitated, glancing behind him at Ellie and McClain, as they started for the river. "Just be careful. I've got your back."

Their rescue party had dwindled down to four, and she had to hope that was enough.

Especially when two of them were barely speaking to each other.

* * *

Adam'sfirst glimpse of Rust City soured his stomach.

Riding directly for the gates in the barbed wire fencing, he examined the place. There were gun turrets on top of the towers on either side of the main gates, with several guns mounted at odd spots along the walls. The walls looked like they were hewn out of solid rock and the city nestled in a small canyon, with sheer cliff faces rising above it.