[s2e6] Hold What You Got -

"He didn't leave," Miller corrected him. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small, leather-bound pouch. He didn’t open it. He just set it on the ledger with a dull thud . "He just got traded."

"We used to be able to dictate the terms," the old man muttered.

"To the bank. To the state. To whoever's buying up the bottom half of this county this week. Does it matter?" [S2E6] Hold What You Got

He didn't wait for a reply. He pushed through the screen door, letting it slap twice against the frame. Outside, the air smelled of ozone, wet iron, and diesel. Miller popped the collar of his jacket and walked out into the deluge, leaving the old man alone with a pouch of dirty cash and a garage full of dead men's tools.

"We used to have roads that didn't have cameras every two miles," Miller snapped. He stood up, the chair legs scraping hard against the concrete floor. He went to the door and looked out at the dark, falling rain. "The world got small, Holloway. There ain't no more running room. You hold onto the square inch you're standing on, or you get pushed into the ditch. That's the only deal left on the board." "He didn't leave," Miller corrected him

Miller didn’t care about the history. He only cared about the grease-stained ledger sitting on the desk between them.

Holloway finally looked down at the pouch. He knew what was in it. It was the payout from the three-ton haul they’d run across the state line two nights ago—the one where the tires were screaming and the engine block was glowing cherry red in the dark. It was supposed to be the money that cleared the books. "You're short," Holloway stated. He just set it on the ledger with a dull thud

The neon sign above the radiator shop buzzed with a low, steady frequency that vibrated right through Miller’s boots. The sign read Holloway & Son , though the son had been buried in a dry-county cemetery since ninety-four, and Holloway himself couldn't grip a wrench no more without his knuckles locking up like old brakes.