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SIGs. But this isn t bad.
Gunstruck idiot. You carry that thing, and sometime after he wakes up he ll make sure
you know what a J-frame suppository feels like.
The other boy brought out about a twenty-foot hank of clothesline-weight rope. He s
right, numbnuts. Stop wasting time.
How about I dismantle it and carry a couple of the parts?
Brian rubbed his knuckles. Works for me. Hurry up. He ll be awake in a minute. How
had you guys planned to keep him quiet during the meeting?
With a whopping dose of ketamine.
Fucking A! How did you think you were going to poke a needle in him? Even just
aiming for the muscle? He d break it!
We have a stun gun to quiet him down long enough for the shot to take effect.
The other one nodded. We were to nail him as soon as he got the van parked. Then
we d only have to drive this whale-on-wheels a couple of blocks to the real meeting place.
Fucking A. You got the same action plan for me?
Deuce said you wouldn t need it.
A vote of confidence. How far would -- uh-oh, Joe s lips were moving, like he was
swearing in his sleep. Get the K in him now. He s stirring.
The boys looked at each other. This dose was planned to last through the meeting, not
through the drive there plus the meeting.
Your choice. You can risk him waking up in an empty van, all tied up in a neat
package, sometime after we get there. Or you can sit beside an alert, awake, and angry Joe for
the trip there. While he thinks of what to do with you later.
They popped him the shot, right through his black jeans and into the quadriceps.
Brian maneuvered over the hump to the driver s seat and hitched it forward. Your
mom is the matriarch, isn t she?
The twin with the pistol clambered into the shotgun seat. On the Hillsborough side of
the county line, she is. On your side, Mrs. Lupino s in charge, and she s the one who called
The Huntsmen: Bareback 123
this meeting. Just hope her piles aren t acting up. Even the guardian won t try to stand up
against her when she s blown her O-ring.
What kind of matriarch lets such a private matter go public? Brian gingerly tried the
clutch with his bad leg, and brought the seat up even closer. He guided the big van out of its
parking space with no grace, but with no real jerking either. Give me highway directions, so
I can shift as little as possible.
Okay: I-4 westbound, then take 275 across the bay and south through St. Pete, then
west on 22nd.
You have guardians and matriarchs? How does that work?
Tampa/Clearwater/St. Pete -- the Bay Area -- has a guardian. Out in the sticks we
make do with matriarchs. We think Mrs. Lupino filed an extermination order on you. We
know Mom filed a counterclaim that you belonged to her through Joe. The meeting s to hash
it all out.
Fucking A. Just& Fucking A.
* * * * *
Brian rolled down the window, despite the humidity and the diesel-heavy exhaust
fumes. Most of the traffic was headed in the opposite direction, away from the densely
populated peninsula across the bay.
The wheel felt good in his hand. Steady. Solid. He gripped it in both hands until his
hands ached. Then he steered one-handed, reminding himself here and there to relax the
death grip. He also kept catching himself caressing the wheel with his other hand. Nerves.
Nerves were not his friend. But touching expressed his nervousness. The alternative
would be sweating, and the stink of nervous sweat would follow him into the meeting.
Relax, Jinx.
Yeah, right. Relax. Even if he d had to fight traffic, the van sat him high enough to see
well, and these drivers as a group seemed substantially less reckless than Miami drivers.
Every second or third driver even used a turn signal. He was making good time. He had
incentive. He wanted the van parked, and wanted to be well clear of it, before Joe fought his
way out of the Ketamine fog.
He mentally kicked himself, at least once per block, for not reporting in. A huntsman
moving to a new area was allowed to wait as long as a week before he had to seek out the
matriarch and formally introduce himself, but it was polite to make the ritual visit earlier.
Not to mention safer. If the locals discovered him before he announced himself, they could
assume he d been there longer than his week.
They could blame him for anything that had been going on lately. And plenty had been
going on.
124 Amber Green
Okay, what all could he be blamed for? Talking in front of Joe? They d need to prove it,
and how could they do that without their questions giving Joe more information than was
allowed?
Most huntsmen who had children would adopt girls, raise them to be the future wives
of huntsmen. Joe was a human raised by huntsmen. What does Joe know?
We never asked.
The voice was flat. Okay, the boys had gone distant on him. The one up front had run
his seat all the way back so he practically sat in his brother s lap.
They couldn t accuse him of any link to the hyde, could they? He had the impression
this Red Diamond thing had been going on for a few months at least. A few months ago, he d
been in school in Miami. How long have you known a hyde was loose in the area?
Right after spring break, they --
His twin butted in. Shut up.
Brian watched them in the mirror. They had their heads together, muttering under the
sound of the wind. If even they were distant, what kind of chances did he have with a bunch
of complete strangers? He cleared his throat. If this goes bad, will you call my pop, let him
know?
Their eyes widened. Didn t they think he had folks too? People who cared about him,
who might come asking questions and demanding answers?
The one in the front seat stretched nervously and scowled. It s not like they d kill you,
Bareback. Tell him the good news yourself.
Not going to kill me? Then what does an extermination order do? He d heard of some
places where he might just get the beating of his life. Might take a while to recover, if he
ever fully recovered, but it wasn t dying.
Don t be ugly, the one in back said. You know a lot of them suicide after they re
neutered.
Neutered? Fucking A& Neutered?
Shut up. You didn t exactly have to say that, did you? Take the next right.
He relaxed his double-handed grip on the wheel, and flexed his fingers. Behind the
boys, Joe lay loosely curled on the floor in front of the back bench, his neck at a sharp angle.
Straighten out Joe s head, would you? He doesn t need a stiff neck on top of everything
else.
Joe was born with a stiff neck. But he adjusted the big man s head, and smoothed his
golden hair. I guess it s time to blindfold him.
I forgot the hood. Use your bandana. Watch the road, Bareback.
Kiss my ass. Once you re eighteen, that is. Fucking A. Neutered& What kind of
mindset do people have around here?
The Huntsmen: Bareback 125
The closer boy looked at him through half-closed eyes. I never thought Joe would go
queer. You must really be something else.
I bet they do suicide. Let s go back to shut up.
Right again here, then the first left. Find a sign that says School of Psychology Twin
Testing In Progress and park as close as you can to it. There s supposed to be shade
available.
If there s not, we find shade or one of you stays with him. Or he comes out of the
van.
They looked at one another. Bitten tongues. They had spent the last forty minutes
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