Cates 05 - The Final Evolution by Jeff Somers Read Free Book Online

said, her voice shaking a little. “People get stabbed in their sleep.”
    Remy raised his eyebrows and I thought it was the closest to a smile I’d ever seen on him. “I don’t sleep,” he said.
    I leaned forward, clenching my teeth. Fucking Remy. It was like hauling a retarded bear around with you—sometimes he got a burr up his ass and you just had to let him dance. But I didn’t like it, and I saw this as a teaching moment. “I apologize for fuckhead over there,” I said pointedly, clasping my hands in front of me to keep them from doing damage. Fucking Remy. “We have a deal.” I held out my hand slowly, unclenching it with effort. I wanted to kick Remy’s chair out from under him and give him a few to the ribs, but would be a better time and place for that.
    She stared at my hand for a moment, then nodded and reached forward to shake. “I am Adora. I will take you to Cristo and you can see the vehicle and discuss a deposit.”
    She tried to take her hand back but I held it tight. “He’s a fuckhead,” I said, jerking my head at Remy. “But he’s my fuckhead. I just apologized for him, but that’s all you get. If he gets stabbed, I will kill you.”
    She went pale for a second, swallowed again, and then firmed up, getting her face back under control. “I accept the apology,” she said slowly. “Shall we go?”
    She stood up, but waited for us to follow suit before walking for the exit. I smiled. I liked anyone who could look into Remy’s eyes and still threaten him.
    Then I looked at Remy and gave him a hard smack to the back of his head. He accepted it silently, wincing and scuttling out of reach, but saying nothing.
    “This way.”
    We followed her through some heroic mud, the kind of dark brown stuff that made walking so much trouble you just wanted to lie down in it and be sucked into the earth. Adora was pretending to be unconcerned as she turned her back on us, but she had a blade tucked up her right sleeve. I figured some of the men she’d done business with weren’t as polite as me, so I gave her a few feet of space and glanced back at Remy, who was lagging, sweat streaming down his face as he carried the battery and collector.
    “Don’t fucking drop it,” I said cheerfully. “I just hocked everything we fucking own for that thing.”
    He grunted, long hair hanging in his face. Remy had wanted to just take it by force—what the hell, we were leaving Potosí anyway—and we could have; the old man running the cart had two fat guys sitting on barrels drinking moonshine for security. Remy and I would have been halfway to Mexico before those two managed to get on their feet. But the old man was just skin and bones, dried up and hanging on, and he’d wanted a fair price. Fair was fair.
    We were heading toward a bleached wooden shed, a sagging collection of slats that looked ready to collapse if we made too much noise on the approach. Adora worked a rusty metal chain and padlock and threw open the warped doors, revealing a shadowy garage in which was parked a military four-wheel vehicle. I’d ridden in something like it a few times; if you didn’t mind your kidneys in your throat and a few lumps on your head, it would get you where you wanted to go.
    I stared at it, listening to Remy grunt and swear his way toward us. Then I looked at Adora.
    “There’s no cousin, is there?”
    She shrugged. “Having a cousin keeps some of the creeps away.” She jerked her chin at Remy. “You bought the battery; I figure you are serious.”
    I nodded. “We are. But serious men can’t be trusted either. I’ve known some really serious men, and most of them were bastards.”
    She shrugged again. I liked the roll of her shoulders. The overalls didn’t give you much clue, and no one was eating well these days, but I had an impression of curves. “If I worried about every potential rapist I came across,” she said, emphasizing potential just enough, “I would never leave the house. You have