Page 109 of Existential
Crackers emerges from the store with Murphy trailing behind carrying an arm full of hot food. He strides over to where I sit feeling helpless, and slaps me on the back.
“Don’t worry, brother. We’ve got a plan. And if that doesn’t work, well, then we make another one. And another, all until we find her.” He reaches over to Murphy and snags a hotdog from his hold. “First, you need to eat. No point runnin’ on empty, is there?”
He thrusts the food at my chest, and I take it, staring down at the sausage and bun and wondering if I’ll ever feel hungry again. Murphy lays the rest of the food out on the seat of his bike, and then starts into his own hotdog while Crackers stands off to the side with his phone. He lifts it to his ear, and I watch him, curious, as I take a bite of the dog.
“Hey, brother.” His eyes lift to find mine. “We’ve got a bit of a situation down here … Yeah … Who else? … Seems he wanted to hit Hooch where it hurts most … Uh-huh … Well, that’s just it. We’re not sure … He’s sent us an image showing where she is, but with nothing to go off other than that … Nope, no clues. Just the picture … That’s what I was wonderin’ … You think he might be able to? … Sounds good. I’ll forward what we’ve got … Yeah, thanks, brother.”
Crackers disconnects as I stuff the last of the hotdog into my mouth, oblivious to the fact I’ve been devouring it while listening to him talk.
“King’s goin’ to get in touch with Ty.” Of course. “He thinks that he might be able to pull some miracle out of his ass using the image, Digits’ carrier details, and known points of interest.”
Why didn’t I think of that? Digits wasn’t the only tech whiz we know. Only one in the club, sure, but the Butcher Boy, Ty, sure gives him a run for his money.
“How long you think it’d take?”
“How long is a piece of string?” He shrugs.
I ball the empty bag and toss it at the nearby trashcan. “Either of you remember where Digits is from?”
Crackers looks to Murphy, who shrugs. “Nope.”
“I’m pretty sure he mentioned something about Dalhart once.”
“That would make sense,” Murphy says.
I hold out my fingers, counting out the hours. “We got to the safe house in Vernon at roughly one-thirty this afternoon right?”
“Uh-huh.” Crackers slips his hotdog out of the bag.
“And he’d already been there. Beth said Dagne left around nine, right? So that means he would have arrived at the house just before lunch.”
Both men nod, following my train of thought as I tap out the hours on my fingertips.
“Even if he left only half an hour before us, that means he would have been able to make it to Dalhart around four-thirty or five.” I check the time on my phone to confirm my thoughts. “An hour ago.”
“So it’s possible, then,” Crackers says. “He went to his hometown. But why?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. Why would he head back there? Then again, people naturally gravitate to the familiar when they’re feeling overwhelmed. “But if he has, that rules out the possibility that he took that photo of Dagne hours ago to get a head start on us.”
“It’s recent.” Murphy walks to the bin, tossing his wrappers. “But we’re still four or so hours away.”
“Be even less if we get movin’.” Like hell I’m about to sit idle while Dagne’s strung up like a used party favor.
“I’ll call King back,” Crackers says. “He can ask Ty to start lookin’ around Dalhart.”
“Good.”
“I’ll let Jo Jo know where we’re at,” Murphy adds. “He can round up who’s able bodied so they can set off as soon as we have confirmation.”
“Sure.” I nod at each of them, immensely thankful for their level heads.
Now all I have to do is get to Dagne before it’s too late so I can let her know everything I’ve held back the past few weeks. She’s right, she always was. I need to open up, and I needed to trust my brothers.
If this hasn’t proven her right, then what will? They didn’t judge me like I feared when I admitted I didn’t know what to do. They rallied behind me and gave me strength when I had none.
They did what any friends would do. What family should do. What I need to do for my woman.
My woman.
Gonna make sure of that the second I get her home and cared for. Because I will get her home.
Ain’t no other option.