by Barb Shuler
“You think there’ll be anymore problems with the boys trying to recruit him again?” I asked.
“No. Not after he put the last two in the hospital for threatening his Mama.” Wayne chuckled. “The kid has a heart of gold. You know, he’s not going to just let you beat on others, but when it comes to himself, he’s a scared cat in a room full of rockers.”
“He’s no different than some of the others that’ve been in that place. Hell, look at the three of us. We’ve all been through hell, and we came back a little jaded, yet we still function just fine.”
I gave Robert a look. “Well, most days we do.” I wasn’t going to let him say we were all okay. That was obviously a bunch of bull.
“Alright, I admit, I’m still struggling. If it wasn’t for my Lana, I’d be in trouble.”
“Yeah, I get that,” I said. “You remember what you told me after Abbie died?” I met Robert’s gaze and he nodded.
“Sometimes bad shit happens to good people,” he replied. “It was shitty to say then, and it’s still shitty now.”
“No it wasn’t, though I will admit that I wanted to punch you in the face when you said it, but in a way it’s the truth. With everything bad that’s happened, something good still came from it.”
“Like what?” Wayne asked. With a sigh I stood and started to pace. “What good has come from the hurt and pain we’ve all had to deal with the last few years, especially you two?”
“For one, we know our kids are just as tough as we are. There is no way to predict bad shit coming your way. You have to deal with it and move on, adapt to the situation, use your self preservation, and in the end, you have to say a big fuck you to karma and just fucking fight.”
“If Dani Lynn was to hear you now, she’d scold you for letting the F-bomb fly,” Wayne chuckled.
I grinned.
“Hey, I don’t drop them with kids around. I never said I didn’t say them, but I’d prefer my baby girl not swear like a drunken sailor on leave.”
“Yeah, I think she and Stella have the worst mouths. But, Stel grew up on a construction site, so it was bound to happen. Her brothers, well, the older ones anyway, have bad mouths too, unless they’re around the kids. So, she’s just been wrapped in it since she was born. Though, there are days I wish I could zip her lips and stop the craziness.”
“Well, I can say her craziness, as you put it, is entertaining. I mean did you forget the arrest for shooting at a bowl of squid?”
“That video. I would have turned that into America’s Funniest Videos, if I knew she wouldn’t kill me in my sleep,” I said. We all laughed hard enough that I doubled over.
“Only my child,” Wayne laughed harder. “She is a spirited woman, that is for sure. I’m so glad she has Tracey to balance her out.”
“You mean to keep her from shooting up restaurants?” Robert ducked as Wayne through a pinecone at his head.
“Or beating people to death with that damn bat. I swear I want to hide that thing sometimes.” I chuckled.
“Your kid is just as hot tempered. Did you forget?” Wayne challenged.
“Hell, no. there is no way to overlook that. She’s a good girl, but with everything that’s happened, it’s changed something in her. Don’t get me wrong, she definitely has her Mama’s temper, but she is a lot tougher than she used to be. She reminds me so much of Abbie...”
“Abbie was a firecracker,” Robert said, smiling. “She sure kept you on your toes.”
“Grace was too. You know how redheads can be,” Wayne said, a fond look on his face. “Stella may be blonde, but she is her Mama to the bone.”
“I love my daughter, and I always wanted a big family, but it’s the crazy times like we had lately that make me glad we only had one. I can’t keep up with more than that.”
“”Yeah. I’m thankful mine are relatively well behaved. Charlie is my wild card now, temper wise. Anna was until she came back home. She changed when she finally let herself grow up.”
“Thank the heavens our kids aren’t too much like us. We’d all be in trouble, for real.” I sat down on a log I’d pulled over earlier and rested my elbows on my knees.
“Now we get to live it all over again with the grandkids. I think our little men, Robbie and Matthew, are going to be the calm ones of the group.” Wayne snorted.
“I swear, Tyler is already giving me grey hair. Thanks to her Aunt Stella, she carries that damn plastic bat everywhere. I’m just waiting for her to crack one of the others on the head with it.” I scrubbed a hand over my face as we all laughed. “They’re all going to be hell on wheels and we’ll be nothing more than passengers in the back seat.”
“We’re some lucky bastards though, y’all know that right?”
I nodded at Robert and smiled. “That is an understatement, my friend.”
“I second that,” Wayne added in before settling down into the bedroll he’d moved closer to the fire.
“I think we should get some rest.” Robert moved to get settled into his bedroll.
“Go ahead. I’ll get some wood for the fire and then crash,” I said, standing slowly. I stretched my back and looked around. I still felt as if there were eyes on me. I shook it off and moved to my pack and grabbed my flashlight.
It didn’t take long to find an arm full of wood to add to the fire. I added a few pieces then sat on the log and watched the flames dance in the night air. My mind wandered back to the days when Dani Lynn was a young girl. The nights we went camping, her little steps giving her away when she tried to sneak up on me. I smile at the memories.
I move to lay down on my bed roll, that uneasy feeling creeping back up my neck again. I sat up and scanned the treeline, yet in the dark of night, I couldn’t see anything. This was getting to be ridiculous. I was losing it and needed to push the paranoia away. I nestled back into the bedding, but I pulled my Glock to my side, just in case.
5
Hunter or Hunted?
Gabe
With my sights set on the wild boar in the small clearing, I took a deep breath, lined up my shot and fired. The boar hit the ground a second later. That was the easy part of the day. If it had only stayed that way, we wouldn’t have been scattering like ants in a rainstorm.
Three hours earlier…
I hadn’t slept much last night, so my ass was dragging a little. The uneasiness I’d been feeling had my spidey senses, as my grandson Derek would say, tingling. I’d pushed that away again this morning and we set off on our hunt. We trekked up the hillside and came back to the small opening in the trees. It was prime real estate for hunting boar.
We had several blinds setup all over the property. All were regulation, of course, and fairly easy to access. The few we were looking for were so hidden we had to hunt for them, which slowed us down a bit. I started to climb into the one I’d been looking for and prayed the makeshift ladder attached to it hadn’t rotted over the last couple of years. Note to self, check them all for needed repairs. The blind was about twenty feet up, so I would be able to scan the entire area below and out towards the treeline. I watched as Robert moved around to the east of my location, and Wayne went to the west. We had been following some tracks and spotted boar moving along the path ahead of us.
My eyes scanned the area around us and came back to the treeline in front of my hiding spot when a monster of a boar came through them. I lined up my shot up, took in a breath and let it out slowly before I squeezed the trigger. The sound of the shot filled the air in the clearing. The body stopped, then fell over to the ground.
I grinned and let out a long whistle to let the boys know it was clear. I watched as they both skirted out of the trees and moved towards the boar. I was climbing down from my perch when I heard movement to the east of my position.
There were men in the woods.
This was private property, for fuck’s sake. There is no public hunting permitted on this land. I narrowed my eyes as I watched them move closer. Before I could give another whistle there was a
shot fired. I looked in time to see Robert’s body jerk and fall over.
Fucking hell!
I started climbing down the ladder when a familiar face came into view. I missed the next step and slid down the tree a bit before I managed to grab the next rung. There was no way that Buck Jacobs was in these woods. No fucking way at all. He was in jail, or at least he was supposed to be.
I watched two more men move closer to my location. I took advantage of the fact that they had not looked up and noticed me to make a move. As they stepped under me I jumped down on them. We all crashed to the ground in a heap. It took me only a moment to incapacitate one of them. The other, the bigger of the two, hit me in the temple. I shook it off and throat punched him. He wheezed and gasped for breath as he wrapped his hands around his throat. It took me only a second to grab my knife from my boot and move towards where Wayne and Robert were. I skirted the tree line, keeping down, out of the sight of anyone in the small clearing.
As I approached I could hear them talking and I came to a stop. Robert was on the ground, his hand wrapped around his arm.
“Where is the other one?!” one of the men demanded.
Neither Robert nor Wayne said a word. I moved a little closer. The second of the men pointed a Glock at my friends, my family. There were now three men in the clearing surrounding Robert and Wayne. I had a chance if I could catch them by surprise. I stood, my knife in hand and tossed it. It hit the guy with the gun in the hand. His scream of pain and surprise filled the clearing. I charged from the treeline, bull dozing over the third guy.
In the chaos of the moment Wayne had taken the first man down. I grabbed my SAT phone from the pack on my hip and hit the button. I needed to get help up here, now. Robert was bleeding. We had an unknown number of perps… there was a scuffle as I heard Derrick's voice coming through the earpiece. The asshole with my knife in his hand had tackled me. I rolled with the asshole under me, grunting as the phone fell to the ground.
A swift hit to the jaw and he stopped struggling. I grabbed the phone up. I could see two more men coming this way, I only had time to say the one word I knew would get everyone moving, and quickly.
“Mayday.”
The phone fell to the ground. I grabbed the man's arm as he swung up and twisted it. I was getting him under control. Wayne brought one of the other men down hard. We were back on familiar ground until I felt something slam against the side of my head. Instantly, my vision was full of white, which faded to stars right before blackness took over. I should have checked behind me. That was a mistake I hoped I would live to regret.
I felt my body falling, then… nothing.
Waking to men shouting is not the way I had thought this day would turn out. I groaned when I tried to roll over. I couldn’t move. My hands must be tied together or something. I tugged but nothing happened.
“Looky, boys, the maggot is moving.” I felt a kick land in my ribs, pushing the air from my lungs.
“About fucking time. Never had anyone sleep through that shit before.”
Sleep through what?
“Just kill him, already. We have orders, Buck.” Another voice drifted across the space, drowning out the others. I pried my eyes open, or I think they were open. I can hardly make out the shapes of the men around me. I know they’re there, I can feel them. Their shadows finally block the sun, allowing me to make them out a little better.
Buck Jacob’s face looms just above mine.
“What do you want?” My voice sounded off. Strained. My entire body is on fire. Pain is rolling through me, and the more alert I became, the more it screamed at me.
“You and your asshole friends have some amends to make.”
“Buck, stop being a shithead. Abraham said to kill them all!” Another man roared. I knew that voice, but couldn’t quite place it. I groaned when someone gripped my face. Fuck, that hurt.
“He has to pay for what he did. Dad died because of these fuckers.”
“Get a move on then, we have shit to do, man.”
“NO! We deal with them first.”
“What about the other one?”
“Get rid of him,” Buck snarled at the man.
I watched as the shadows moved from around me. I heard grunting then Robert cursing someone. At least he was alive. Where was Wayne? My jaw hurt. It was almost as if I couldn’t open it. The pain was bringing tears to my eyes. I shook it off. I had to see what was happening here. I tried to turn my head, slowly, pushing the pain back I made it work. I saw the men kicking Robert.
“Stop!” I tried to shout. It came out more of a groan. I watched as Robert rolled over, coughing up what looked like blood. We were fucked. I still didn’t see Wayne. What in the hell was happening here? Why were they not in jail? Was this a bad dream?
Although, a nightmare would be a more accurate description.
“Hey! We have people approaching to the south!” Someone shouted. The men grabbed up their guns and started to run towards the approaching people.
I cursed and tried to tug my arms free of their restraints again.
“You- you can’t break free,” Robert panted out. I turned to face him. He was slowly trying to pull himself towards me. I could see the blood dripping from his mouth. His face was swollen, which had me believing that mine looked the same. He looked as bad as I felt so it made sense.
“Get... me... free...” I panted out. My left shoulder burned as I tried once again to tug at the restraints wrapped around my wrists. The wave of pain that burned through me had me fighting to not throw up. I hadn’t been in this kind of pain since I was overseas.
“Working- on- it,” he ground out. He tried to pull at the restraints. The pain tripled as he repeatedly tried to yank at it. Memories flooded back to me. I knew why my arm hurt.
Holy fuck.
“This is the bastard that set them charging into the compound. Him and the old Sheriff. Bastards ruined every fucking thing. Got our women taken away, and they killed Dad.”
“Just kill them already, dammit!”
“No, I have plans for them. Then I’ll go back to town and find Kristol, and those bitches that kept her away from us. I have special plans for them all.”
My stomach turned. He was not going to hurt any of our girls. I wouldn’t allow that.
I was shoved through the tree line and went tumbling down into the bushes. There was a loud clang of metal and the pain that ripped into me had me seeing a fresh wave of black spots. There was uproarious laughter around me as I was drug from the bushes. Another scream of pain left me when they tugged me up.
I was shaken, the teeth of the device digging into my flesh. I got a side look at it and knew I was fucked. A bear trap. They had thrown me into a fucking bear trap. My shoulder and arm were clamped into the metal teeth. Blood ran down to my fingers. I could feel the warmth of it.
They pulled me towards them again, then pulled the pin and released it.
I crumpled to the ground.
6
Move Out
Dani Lynn
We had been walking in relative silence, making our way up the path. Each of us was on high alert for danger. The Men in Black, Walker’s team, had moved out ahead of us. Then the rest of the team, the ones that would be with us, were behind us. We had left Derek and Carter at the fork in the paths. Two of Walker’s men stayed with them, just in case.
As we came upon the cabin, I pulled my Sig from it’s holster and followed Marcus. Someone yelled “clear” and I holstered my gun.
“Where would they go?” Stella asked, looking at the firepit. “This has been cold for at least two days.”
“Maybe they moved up north. They have the hunting area up by the river’s bend.” I shrugged before chugging half a bottle of water. I slid the bottle back in my bag and started walking up the path that led around the cabin and back into the tree line.
“What if they aren’t there?” Marcus asked from behind me. Before I could answer, Stella said what I was thinking.
&n
bsp; “Then we keep fucking looking.”
We kept moving up the small incline, both of us checking the path for footprints. If they were going hunting, then they’d go this way. I knew that much. There was muttering behind me, but I ignored it. I just kept walking, focusing. Stella was on my heels and it wasn’t until we got to the next hill top that the fatigue tried to slow me down.
I dropped my pack, which the men had packed with other supplies we’d need before we headed out. I stretched my arms up over my head and twisted from side to side. Everything was stiff and cracking like I was a hundred years old.
I looked at my watch and sighed. This was taking forever. We had been walking for about five and a half hours. Maybe my mind was just foggy. I took the bottle Stella shoved into my hand and emptied it in a few gulps. With a sigh, I handed the bottle back to Stella, then knelt down to get my bag.
I hefted the pack -which wasn’t really heavy, just awkward - and started off down the path. The clearing, which was close to the river bend, was just up ahead. Stella and I started to jog when we got closer.
There were obvious signs of a struggle. There was also the carcass of a Javelina, that couldn’t have been dead for more than a day. Son of a bitch. There was blood on the grass where we stood. I hit the button on the ear piece in my left ear.
“D, you got us on the map?” A minute passed before I heard a clicking sound, then his voice.
“Yeah, Ma.”
“Eyes in the sky?” I asked.
“Ye-” he cut off. “Yes.” I didn’t like the sound of that.
“What happened here?” Stella asked. I saw her pull her knife from her pocket and poke at the blood on the ground.
“Not sure. Looks like one of them got a boar but, I don’t know what this blood is from.”
“Look how it arcs out here. Like-”
“Beta team, to the west. Charlie team to the east. Bogies coming in hot.” The crackle of the ear piece sent a jolt through me.