by Lilly Wilder
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Culore hissed like a wounded snake, trying to buy himself some time and slither off into the grass.
“Your opinion is worthless here, old man,” Hyde shook his head, exasperated.
Rene allowed herself a smile. She was in awe how Hyde never purposely insulted anyone, even when that person wanted to kill him. His soul was pure, she could feel that.
“I know something you don’t know,” Culore sang.
“What?” Hyde shouted.
“Leave him,” Jesse grabbed him again by the elbow. “Don’t get dragged into playing one of his games. He knows shit.”
Hyde wasn’t sure. There was disbelief on his face. Confusion. Anxiety. He couldn’t tell if Culore was telling the truth or was he really just trying to buy himself some time before his cavalry came and set him free?
“Let me go and I’ll tell you where your son is,” Culore finally revealed the ace up his sleeve.
Upon the mention of his son’s name, Hyde turned pale. His hands just flew at Culore’s throat, squeezing him so hard that mere seconds separated Culore from certain death. Jesse managed to jump in once again, and pulled him off of their prisoner.
“Wait!” He tried to shout some sense into Hyde. “Don’t do this. He’s just trying to get to you. Don’t let him.”
“By all means, don’t believe me,” Culore smirked, “call your wife and you’ll see I’m not lying.”
Hyde’s jaw clenched tightly. All three of them knew that there was no reception here. After all, that was the whole point, to be unavailable to anyone else and just enjoy the weekend, just the three of them.
“But wait,” Culore frowned, “you know, I’d tap my chin with my index finger if I could right now, to be all important, but I guess I’ll have to make this work somehow. There’s no cell phone service up here, am I right? And, poor Isabella has been going crazy, trying to reach you, to tell you that something is wrong, while you’re here, fucking your girlfriend.”
Hyde looked like he’d seen a ghost. Rene gasped, pressing her hand firmly against her lips. Jesse just stood there, motionless. They were all frozen in time and space for a second, processing this piece of information they just received, that threatened to completely destroy their lives.
“Bummer, isn’t it?” Culore laughed out loud now, obviously having fun.
“You son of a bitch!”
Hyde smacked Culore right in the lower jaw with his fist. Blood spattered to the side. Jesse wasn’t even considering stopping him this time. Actually, he wanted to do that himself.
“What have you done to my son?” Hyde hissed, holding Culore up by the collar.
“It’s not what we did to him,” Culore spat out some blood, revealing red stained teeth, “it’s what we are going to do to him if you don’t set me free.”
“Maybe he’s lying,” Rene suddenly interrupted. “I mean, he could be just saying that to save his ass. He came here on his own obviously, so now that you beat him, he needed a backup plan, and what better choice than your son?”
Hyde loosened the grip he had on Culore’s collar.
“You can’t even check if Parker is alright, so he’s counting on you to believe him,” Rene urged.
“What do you think?” Hyde asked Jesse.
“She could be right,” Jesse eyed her, then Hyde. “Why else would he come alone?”
Hyde walked over to Culore, who immediately flinched seeing Hyde’s hand fly up. To his surprise, there was no punch this time. Hyde fumbled in Culore’s pockets, finding a cell phone. He took a quick look. The battery was full, but there was no signal. He checked the numbers, then seemed to find what he was looking for.
“I need you to stay here and watch him for 10 minutes,” Hyde gave Jesse clear instructions.
“What are you going to do?” Jesse asked.
Hyde glanced at Culore. He was listening in to their every word, probably waiting for his moment to try and escape. Hyde knew that keeping him here for much longer was a risk. They needed to transport him somewhere, where the others wouldn’t find him.
“I’ll just step out for a second,” Hyde said vaguely.
Jesse understood this lack of information. In case anything happened, at least Culore wouldn’t know what Hyde was doing while outside.
“What do you want me to do?” Rene asked, standing in the corner of the room, nervously shifting the weight of her body from one leg to the other.
“You’ll come with me,” Hyde told her, with a tone that wouldn’t allow for any disagreement or backtalk.
Rene just nodded and rushed over. Hyde took her by the hand and she could feel how sweaty it was.
Chapter 17
Hyde and Rene walked out of the house and still holding hands, started walking down the road, back the way they came from.
“Where are we going?” she whispered, trying to keep up with his brisk pace.
“Just a bit down the road,” he explained, “I need to make a phone call.”
“Who are you going to call?” she asked. “Your ex-wife?”
The mention of his ex-wife awoke the sleeping jealousy inside of her, despite these crazy circumstances in which they found themselves.
“No, I’m calling Culore’s right hand man,” he shook his head, hastening their pace.
“Do you know his number?” Rene wondered.
“I don’t, but Culore does,” he waved Culore’s phone in his hand.
“But, why isn’t he here?” she suddenly asked.
“Who?”
“Culore’s right hand man.”
“Ozul?” Hyde asked, as if he expected her to know that.
“If that’s his name,” she nodded. “Was that the guy who attacked us at your house? And, why is Culore here alone? Wouldn’t he come with a few of his clansmen, to ensure your death?”
Hyde didn’t answer immediately. Her questions made total sense.
“I don’t know,” Hyde admitted. “I’m guessing that he doesn’t have so many people by his side any longer, they stopped following him. Maybe they realized that a leader who rules by fear is not the kind of a leader they wanted, after all.”
“But, still, why come all alone? Where is Ozul?”
“If Culore is telling the truth, maybe Ozul is watching Parker?” Hyde tried to find an explanation. “That’s why I need to call him, and see.”
“What if someone comes while we’re away and attacks Jesse?”
“You know, it would be really helpful if you stopped with those questions!” he snapped at her, and the moment he did that, she let go of his hand and stopped walking.
He turned around. He regretted behaving like that, she could see it in his eyes. She could also understand why he’d snap. He was about to check if his son had been kidnapped. Which parent wouldn’t be snapping left and right to annoying people asking all sorts of questions?
“Rene…” he started, coming at her with arms outstretched, begging for a hug.
“It’s OK,” she smiled weakly, approaching him and allowing him to wrap his arms around her.
“I didn’t mean to say that,” he admitted.
“I know,” she nodded, “I understand. Let’s just sort this mess out and you can treat me and Jesse to a special dinner as sorry.”
“Deal,” he pushed himself to smile, but she knew it took him a great deal of effort to do that.
Finally, Hyde stopped in the middle of the road, taking out the phone and turning it on. He dialed a number, then pressed the phone to his ear. Seconds passed, but nothing happened. Rene walked over to him and hugged him from behind, encircling his body with her arms and pressing her chest against his back. She could hear his wild heartbeat.
“He’s not picking up,” he hung up the phone.
“What now?” she asked.
A second later, the phone rang. Hyde quickly answered, without even checking called ID.
“Sorry, I had trouble
with the woman, the problem is solved now,” Ozul spoke with the voice of a man who had been smoking for 50 years. “Did you take care of Xenos?”
Hyde swallowed heavily before he spoke. He was fuming on the inside, but there was little he could do right now.
“I’m afraid there were some complications, Ozul,” Hyde spoke as calmly as he could.
“What… Xenos? Is that you!?” Ozul hissed on the other end of the line.
“Long time no see,” Hyde continued, “but I do hope we’ll get to correct that.”
“Where is Culore?”
“He’s fine, for now,” Hyde warned him. “But, he might not be for much longer.”
“What do you want?”
“What I’ve always wanted, to be left alone, but you couldn’t do that. Now, you have my son with you and all Hell is about to break loose,” Hyde growled into the receiver.
“You know how the rules work, Xenos,” Ozul spoke, “for Culore to become leader of your clan, he needs to kill you and your son.”
“I don’t give a fuck about those outdated rules that belong to the fucking Stone Age!” Hyde shouted so loudly, that Rene had to take a step back. “If I wanted to stay and be the leader, don’t you think I would have done that, instead of escaping all that?”
“Running away doesn’t somehow make the rules void,” Ozul hissed.
“Listen,” Hyde exploded, not wanting to prolong this any further, “Hasn’t this gone on long enough?
I have someone you want and you have someone I want. Let’s just peacefully exchange our hostages and disappear from each other’s lives.”
Close enough to hear the whole conversation, Rene looked on anxiously. She admired Hyde trying to solve this peacefully, when she knew how angry he was that his son was in danger. If she were him, she’d beat up Culore so badly, that he wouldn’t know what day it was. But, that was only her. Hyde was a better person, a person who always strived to solve problems in the best way possible, so that no one, not even the bad guys, got hurt.
“I can’t do that, Xenos,” Ozul replied, cautiously.
The tone of his voice revealed to Hyde that he was actually considering it, but he was probably afraid of Culore’s reaction.
“Of course you can,” Hyde continued, slowly, carefully, wanting Ozul to think that he was in control of what would happen, while Hyde guided him exactly in the right direction. “No one needs to get hurt. Not my son, not my ex-wife, and not Culore. You know I can hurt him badly, Ozul.”
Ozul didn’t reply, but Hyde could almost hear the sound of heavy breathing.
“I can hurt him so bad that he’ll wish he was dead, but he won’t be.”
Hearing that, Rene was surprised he could talk so calmly about hurting someone. But, it was probably the anger talking, the fact that the most precious being in the world was in danger and he was unable to do anything about it from here.
“Just let them go, Ozul,” Hyde’s tone of voice became even softer, as if he was pleading. “I give you my word I won’t harm Culore. I’m giving you another chance to end things peacefully. Aren’t you tired of this war that’s been going on for far too long?”
Ozul still wasn’t talking. He was considering the possibility of finally ending this never-ending search for the elusive clan leader who just wanted out, and no one let him. So, he took matters into his own hands and left everything behind, but the past can never really be left behind. That much was now evident to everyone involved.
“Where?” Ozul suddenly asked one word that seemed to end it all.
“Culore knew where we are, so I’m guessing you know, too. Come to the lodge, we’ll be waiting.”
“One hour.”
“I want to talk to them,” Hyde demanded.
Ozul took a deep breath. A second later, some fumbling was heard, then Parker’s voice.
“Dad?” he sounded scared.
“Parker!!” Hyde shouted into the receiver. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m OK,” Parker whined softly. “He just tied us up, but I’m OK.”
“Your mom?”
“She’s next to me….”
“Hyde!” he heard his ex-wife call out to him.
“There,” Ozul grabbed the phone. “One hour.”
He hung up the phone. Hyde felt like smashing the phone against the ground. Rene didn’t dare say a word. She wanted to ask him if he was OK, but that would be stupid. Of course he wasn’t OK. Who would be, in this situation? All she could do was hold his hand and squeeze it tight. Without a word, he squeezed it back.
“Let’s head on back to the lodge,” he told her, and they started walking.
“Do you think he will keep his word?” she asked.
This situation seemed way too complicated to be resolved by simply asking Culore and Ozul never to harm them again. Absolutely ridiculous.
“I doubt it,” Hyde replied.
She wasn’t surprised.
“What do you think might happen?”
“The moment we let Culore go, he’ll attack. I’m almost sure of it.”
“Do you think they’ll let Parker and your ex go?”
“They’ll have to,” he nodded, stepping against the hard gravel, which crunched beneath their feet, “I won’t release Culore before they are safely by my side.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know,” Hyde kept looking forward, into the dark woods around. “I honestly don’t know…”
The rest of the road they covered in silence. Rene was oblivious to the soft sounds of the waking forest all around them. It was still dark, but the birds occasionally chirped, welcoming the morning, as the owls hooted one last time. Rene’s hand was still in Hyde’s, fingers intertwined.
For a second, she wondered if she needed all this. Sure, she had problems in her life, like barely being able to cover her mother’s nursing home, or making enough for herself to live on, but at least, her life was never in danger. With Hyde, that seemed to be an everyday expectance. She lifted her gaze and looked at his masculine profile. His jaw was clenching, she could see the bones protruding much more than usual. His palms were still sweaty, even though it was a bit chilly outside.
Her heart knew, even if her brain was still trying to weigh how reasonable this decision was. The heart knew what it knew, and it knew what it wanted. It was as simple as that. So, Rene kept following Hyde obediently, blindly, even if that meant following him to the very depths of Hell.
Chapter 18
Hyde and Rene cautiously walked into the lodge, listening in for any unusual sounds. The place was silent. Hyde pressed his index finger to his lips, signaling to Rene to be quiet. They tiptoed upstairs, into the bedroom, where Jesse was supposed to be watching Culore. With each step they took, Rene was more and more afraid of what she might find when they opened the door to the bedroom. Was Culore still tied up? Was Jesse OK?
A million frightening thoughts swarmed inside her mind, like ravenous bees, each more dangerous than the other. She just couldn’t get them out of her mind. She walked slowly, following Hyde, when finally, he pressed the door knob and opened the door. It did so noiselessly, allowing Hyde to peer inside, before he was revealed to everyone.
A second later, Hyde released a sigh of relief. Culore was still tied up, his head lowered. The moment he heard footsteps, it popped up. He didn’t seem happy.
Hyde looked around the room and saw Jesse seated in the armchair, in the corner. His eyes were glued to Culore. Hyde knew that he probably hadn’t taken his eyes off of him for a single second.
“So?” Culore was the first one to speak, mockingly. “Did Ozul confirm what I was telling you?”
“He sure did,” Hyde nodded, “and we made a deal.”
“A deal?” Culore didn’t like the sound of that.
“He’ll bring them here, and exchange them for you,” Hyde explained, with a victorious gleam in his eyes.
“What
!?” Culore growled, shaking the chair, trying to set himself free. “No, no!”
“Take it up with him, when he arrives,” Hyde shrugged his shoulders dismissively, which pissed off Culore even more.
“The moment you set me free, Xenos, I’ll fucking kill you!” Culore kept snarling at him, like a rabid dog.
Rene listened to their conversation, frightened. She approached Jesse, and whispered right into his ear.