The nomad.
Ranger.
Dead men.
DeadCrows.
Couldn’t say why it was taking me so long to catch up. I fought to clear my head. “How many?”
“Five.”
“Priest?”
“I do not yet know.”
As the words left Alexei’s mouth, Folk and Ranger stepped outside. Folk’s face was cloaked in shadow. Ranger hit a dapple of moonlight, illuminating his features, and in an instant, I had all the answers I needed.
“No Priest?”
Ranger gave a grim headshake. “He ain’t here.”
“Which means he’s outthere.” Folk moved closer, his gaze sharp with an edge I hadn’t seen in him before. “And it’s probably him who shot at us an hour ago, keeping us back while he ran from whatever went down in there. Those bodies are fresh.”
“Still warm,” Ranger confirmed. “But if Priest put ’em down, he didn’t do it alone. He’s a fucking monster, but hand to hand, he’s shit, and those fuckers went out fighting—blades, bullets, and old-fashioned fists.”
I absorbed that, putting myself back together. Then I looked to Saint. “You think he did this? Killed his own men?”
Saint spun in a slow circle, scanning the wilderness around us, the sky, and the dirt beneath our feet before he brought his unfathomable stare back to me. “No.”
That single word shifted the world on its axis. “This was an escape?”
Saint blinked once, taking me back to the dark days when he’d been so fucked up it was the only way he could communicate. Once for yes. Twice for no.
He said yes.A reality that filled my veins with something I hadn’t truly felt in weeks. If Locke had escaped, that meant he was alive. It meant he was still out there somewhere while we talked shit in the dark, and the last fracture in my brain healed over. Responsibility gripped me—hope—and I dug deep for the man, the vice president, I needed to be in this moment.
In the time it took me to find him, Mateo joined us, and I gathered my brothers close—even Alexei.
I jabbed a finger at him. “Take Folk and hunt Priest. Mats, stay here with Ranger and guard the scene.”
“We cleaning it?” Mateo gruffed.
“Not yet.” I checked in with Alexei for confirmation.
He nodded. “Wait for a call. Veles, we ride.”
Folk didn’t need telling twice. They evaporated, leaving me with Ranger, Mateo, and Saint.
Ranger and Mateo had their orders.
I had Saint. “If you’re here, who’s on Willow?”
“Embry.”
“Where’s Cam?”
“On route.” Saint patted me down for cigarettes. Found my box and shoved one in my mouth, lighting it for me.
I took a deep and dirty breath, letting the nicotine flood my system.