Lamp Riders: A Jinn Motorcycle Gang Novella by Augusta Hill Read Free Book Online

coast? To get back up now that he knows we are here?”
    “Sparrow Mine,” Celia said softly, surprising even herself by speaking out loud.
    All eyes turned towards her, and she could feel her skin begin to heat up. The genies seemed to have microwave gazes or something; it was annoying when Abdul looked at her like that, but unbearable when they all joined forces.
    “It’s north of here. Off road, off map, and well out of sight. It’s a good place to get in trouble, as my younger self could attest.” She looked at each of the grim faces staring at her. “Juan Reyes has something of yours, doesn't he? And if he controls it, it would be very bad for everyone?”
    Slow nods met her words. The genies did not attempt to speak or enlighten her as to what would be so important. She remembered the flash from the night before, as the whole bar had fallen apart, and twelve all-powerful genies disappeared. Juan Reyes made normal people disappear all the time, but if he could extrapolate that to taking on demi-god creatures, then Celia knew something had to be done.
    “Then I guess we had better go. I’ll grab my keys,” she said at last, turning back towards the trailer.
    She pushed past the wall of muscle and made her way to the front door. She could feel their microwave eyes on her as she calmly opened the door and reached inside to grab her keys off the hook just inside. She then turned back around and jangled them in the air.
    “Ready to go?”
    Abdul spoke up; his normal seductive tone replaced with appreciation. “You could ride with me, on the back of my bike.”
    Celia smirked and flashed a rare grin. “Nah, I’ve got a sweet ride of my own. Besides, you need me to show you the way. For the price of not messing with my mind with your magic mumbo jumbo.”

6
    C elia’s ‘sweet ride’ was a 1982 Oldsmobile with a musty interior and a chipped, pale blue paint job. It was twice as long as a car should be, and it drove like a tank. However, on this occasion a tank seemed fitting, as she was fairly sure she had just volunteered for war. She was the commander, the Queen Bee, leading the way down the lonely highway with her drones carefully following behind her.
    She wasn’t nearly as calm and cool as she had pretended to be back at the trailer. She didn’t like driving off into the desert to confront a psycho cartel leader who was going to do something so bad that even genies felt worried. How she got wrapped up in this wasn’t even clear. I knew I shouldn’t have danced with a stranger, she thought sullenly.
    For all her worries and doubts, however, she also felt thrilled. She had stuck to her normal routine for so long that she was bored out of her mind; her parents had been right about that, at least. When the chance for adventure had come, she had leapt for it. It remained to be seen if that was going to get her killed or not.
    After an hour of driving, she came to mile marker sixty-seven, and a barely perceptible dirt track that led from the highway off into the desert. She slowed down her car and carefully rolled off onto the rocky, badly maintained service road. It traversed a dusty plain for about two miles, and then dipped down into a gorge where the old mine stood. Putting a mine in a gorge was dangerous business, for flash floods could come anytime it rained. It also made quite the death trap if a bunch of men with guns were waiting at the bottom to ambush newcomers.
    She pulled off to the side of the road and got out of the car. The motorcycles followed her off the highway and swarmed around her. The dust from their wheels made the air thick, and she only avoided coughing with much effort. Eventually, everything calmed down, and the dirt settled, leaving her standing in the middle of the guys.
    “We are walking now. It is only about two miles across this flat plane, then down into a wash,” she said, expecting them to agree readily.
    “Walk? It is really hot out. And what about escape vehicles?”