The Cover-Up ...

M_ moved to the front of the Winnebago, so I moved toward the rear where the bedroom was.  I saw movement and the short barrel of a sawed-off twelve gauge sticking out from behind the half closed accordion door.

“Drop it!” I said, aiming at the thin vinyl of the retractable door where I knew I’d get a piece of him, “Come out slow and drop it.”

There was a silence, then;

“Okay.  Coming out slowly.” the second biker said, his rough voice deep and calm, “Just don’t shoot.”

He eased himself out from behind the door, holding the butt of the sawed-off and pointing the barrels at the roof.

“I don’t know what your beef is friend.” he said, looking me in the eyes.

“Put the gun down.” I said, aiming my Walther at his centre mass.

“Setting it down on the counter.” he smiled, “Nice and sl …”

A sudden violent thud knocked the wind out of me as the tight air in the RV was shocked by thunder.  I actually felt the bullet from M_’s Taurus snap past my right shoulder before it hit the biker in the chest, knocking him back onto the bed in the back.  The shotgun clattered to the floor.

M_ had executed both bikers.

As Lennox and Ruben made it to the door beside M_ I rushed to the biker on the bed.  He was still alive but barely; his sternum was shattered and pulsing blood from dozens of burst veins in pulverized flesh.  He was choking, spitting up specks of blood, quivering.

“Why?” he gurgled.

“You killed D_.” I said, lifting his head.

“Dunno a D_” he gasped, then the light went out of his eyes.  I let his head drop and spun on M_

“Why did you shoot him?” I half shouted at him, covering the distance between us in three strides, wanting to smash him in the face, “He was putting the gun down.”

“They killed D_and Tracy.  They had to go.” M_ said, still holding his Taurus loosely in his hand.

“We could have questioned them.” I said, my anger with M_’s reckless attitude straining my voice, “We don’t even know if they did it.”

“Yeah, we do.” M_ smirked and pointed down at the first biker with the barrel of the Taurus.  I saw it then, tucked behind him in the cushions of the sofa – D_’s Arkansas Toothpick.  I suddenly felt tired and washed out – it finally hit me then that we were truly leaderless, but what hit me harder was that I no longer trusted M_.  The thought came to me that he could have dropped that ugly knife there when I wasn’t watching, and somewhere in there I felt my heart break.

“He was going for it when I shot him.” M_ said.

“We still could have questioned them.” I offered lamely, “Found out if there are others.”

M_slapped me on the back, “There’s always others, B_  It’s the nature of our business.  Right Ruben?”

I looked at Ruben still standing in the narrow stairwell of the Winnebago.  He looked unsettled as well, but whether it was from the lingering shock of losing D_ or if he too had his suspicions about M_, I had no idea.

“Yeah.” Ruben said, “There’s always others.”

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