by Amber Burns
The further we got, the hotter it became. I felt my shirt starting to stick to me, and the bugs started to become annoying. My water was running low, and I began to lose track of how far we had gone. I was starting to get irritable, and I was about to make a complaint until we seemed to walk through a wall. I was hit with a familiar scent that made my stomach turn.
Being a cop has given me the unfortunate opportunity to getting familiar with the stench of death. Being a soldier had given me skills to defend myself and, if necessary, kill a person. I hadn’t ever gotten the opportunity to do the latter, but I had been tapped investigate reports of the occasional corpse being found. Then it was about the scene being secured until the appropriate people could get out there. Now, not so much. I now knew that I was being led out to a corpse.
“Do you smell that?” I asked, watching Ricky carefully.
He stopped and looked back at me, “Smell?”
“So you don’t smell that?” I stopped because he was leading the way.
The surprise was still on his face, “What are you smelling, man?”
I felt uncomfortable as I told him, “Something out here is dead.”
The smell was faint, but it was still distinct enough that I could pick it up. It stood out over the fresh scent of the trees and the musty smell of decaying leaves. The smell of a decaying body is a scent that will twist up your guts and make it an effort to not empty them on your shoes. It hadn’t gotten that bad, yet… but if I could smell it now, I could only imagine how bad it would stink when we got closer to the body.
“You got a sensitive nose?” Ricky chided.
I shrugged, “How can you not smell it? It's like we walked through a fucking wall.”
“I used to be a smoker,” he started us walking again. “You know how many of us still suffer that vice. I started getting some chronic shit, pneumonia and bronchitis. It was annoying the shit out of me because I spent so much money on doctor visits and hospital visits. I figured I’d quit, save myself a little cash and maybe improve my health. That’s how I started hiking. If you’re going to get rid of one vice, you have to replace it with another. Helps if it's not food and I didn’t want to be a gym bum like some of the other guys became.” He gave his stomach a pat. “I make a point of walking on the regular, with the occasional day for some serious long distance hiking.”
“By yourself?”
“You said you were gonna be my hiking partner,” he turned so he could grin at me. “Or did you change your mind?”
“I get the feeling this walk isn’t done,” I heaved a breath as he walked backward to watch me. I immediately regretted it because the stench was starting to get stronger. “And I’m not looking forward to the walk back to the car.”
“We go another mile, bud,” he turned back around and looked at his compass. “Next time I’ll promise I’ll go easy on you, so you’re still interested in doing this with me.” He kept walking, and after about thirty minutes I noticed his expression change. I figured he was starting to smell it, too.
With the way Ricky spoke, I realized he was talking like I was going to be around for a while. I wasn’t sure how to take that. There should have been a relief, but with the knowledge that we were walking to ‘discover’ a body, I was starting to feel apprehensive.
“The smell is getting stronger,” I had the need to inform him. “We must be getting close to whatever it is that died out here.”
“You get used to it,” he said nonchalantly. “Animals die in the woods all the time.”
I didn’t want to make the remark that this wasn’t an animal; that would make shit too obvious.
“And how do you handle it without puking up your breakfast?”
“Have a stomach made of steel, my friend,” he laughed like it was funny. “We’ve got another mile at least before we get to the view I promised you.” Suddenly, he held up a hand, and I noticed he went still. “You weren’t fucking joking,” his voice trembled. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought his surprise was real.
“What?” I stepped forward until I saw what he did.
Among the leaves were two tore up corpses, I couldn’t tell if they were arranged to look this way or if animals had gotten ahold of them. I was expecting one, but two? The faces had long gone unrecognizable, even though I knew I wouldn’t have known them if I had seen them. I couldn’t make out any faces.
“Fuck me.” I didn’t bother to hide my disgust, I groaned and covered my mouth. “I had hoped it was just a buck or something.”
“Ugh,” he put a hand to his gut and walked away from the scene. “I wish smoking had completely killed my sense of smell.”
I pulled my phone out and found myself thanking God for having at least a bar. I didn’t wait for instructions, I did what I thought I was supposed to. I called it into the station. I felt Ricky’s eyes on me as I reported our location, well the best I could. He was kind enough to offer me his compass, the digital screen reported our longitude and latitude. We were commanded to not touch anything, but to stay put until the local sheriff arrived. The stench was choking, and I had to move away, back way off until I could get a breath where I didn’t taste it.
I couldn’t help myself, I ended up hugging a tree and emptying the meager contents of my stomach. It was mostly acid, and my throat burned as I heaved. Luckily, I had followed Ricky’s suggestion of not eating breakfast, but it still couldn’t keep from hurling.
He came after me looking just as green.
“I thought I was fine until I heard you,” he wheezed and leaned heavily on the tree I was braced on. “I figured you’d have a stronger stomach. Why’d I have to be wrong?” He heaved, and I looked away so I wouldn’t have to watch him revisit his breakfast. “How long is it going to be before they get here?”
“I didn’t call 911, I called it into the station,” I groaned. “We’d probably have gotten a quicker response if we had called 911.”
“I want to fucking punch you right now.”
“I’ll remember this for next time!”
“Fuck next time,” he whacked me solidly on the back of the head. “I don’t go for walks in the fucking woods looking for dead bodies,” he held onto the tree again and cupped his face in his hands. “What’re we supposed to do until they get here?”
“I guess,” I sat down onto the grasp and tried to start breathing through my mouth, to see if that helped cope with the smell. “The best thing to do is sit here and watch, in case they get up.”
“You watch too much TV, man.”
We both watched the clocks on our phones, counting down the minutes while we were stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. The higher the sun got, the hotter it got and the stronger the smell of decomposition got. By the time we heard the sound of an ATV growling through the woods, I felt so numb to the fact that we were so close to the dead bodies. The smell didn’t turn my stomach anymore, but it left a film on my skin that made me eager to get home and shower.
Two sheriffs were on the ATV, and as soon as they spotted us, they rolled to a halt. One jumped into action in quartering off the scene, using caution tape to ward off people from getting too close…. in the middle of the woods. I just shook my head, even though I knew it was procedure. The other came at us both with his note book to ask questions.
“Did you know these people?” Was his first question.
“Well, we can’t even tell if they were male or female, so no. We didn’t know them,” I answered.
“What are you two doing out here?” Came next.
“Hiking,” Ricky answered with a gesture to his back pack. “We were going to see the ledge about a mile ahead, my friend here’s never been to see it, and I figured I’d take him out here.”
We were still eyed with clear suspicion, but we both had dressed like hikers. What more could they do?
On the bright side, the trek back to his car was a whole helluva lot easier. The deputy was kind enough to give us a ride on the ATV. As we loaded up, we saw
a group of vans pull onto the shoulder. The real show was starting, but I didn’t have the desire to watch them piece together the remains and cart them out.
“Do we have to stick around?” I sighed in Ricky’s direction. “I am dying to get a shower.”
“That’s a poor choice of words,” Ricky didn’t hide his amusement though. “Yeah, I’ll take you home.”
The ride back to my apartment was as uneventful as the ride out here, though my thoughts weren’t as tied up as they were before. I had figured out what they were doing now. Where the bodies had come from I didn’t know, but I was sure there was probably going to be other things I would conveniently come across in the coming months.
17
A week after “finding” the bodies, and after Tara had gone home for the night, I was settling in when I got a visit from Wilson again. Fortunately for me, they had been kind enough to not bring Cole along, and it was just Ricky and Wilson. When I let them in, Ricky gave my back a pat.
“We have got an easier thing to do than taking a long walk into the woods,” he said like it was a present for me.
“If we let this play out at their leisure, you will be stuck in our midst for longer than I want you to be,” Wilson said with a grimace. “I don’t want anyone else getting suspicious of you.”
“I got no problems with Chase,” Ricky said with a grin. “Have you heard anything about the bodies we found?”
I shook my head, “I wouldn’t hear anything about it. I don’t even hear what they’re looking for from you guys. I just guessed that they’re trying to take down clubs that deal and create violence.” I ran my hands through my hair, the day had caught up with me, and I was looking forward to getting some sleep. “There have been similar takedowns in other cities. They plant cops in the group and once there’s enough evidence to convict the majority of the members. I think the general idea is if they put the mass of the group in jail that the criminal activity that they brought around will stop.”
Wilson snorted. “For small groups maybe. If the group is big enough, they can still run while in prison.” He started to toy with his bread while he considered it. “For us, those not caught up in the cross hairs would go back to the regular lives they left behind in the beginning. It might hurt the ones still shell shocked.”
Ricky hummed in agreement. “I think Jefferies, for example, wouldn’t look forward to it. His old lady’s got a tight leash on him. If he didn’t work the shop, he’d probably get himself stuck in a stock room.” He shrugged then. “You might not realize it, but when people form motorcycle clubs like this, it's out of emotional and mental necessity. Not just for the sake of getting together to commit crimes.”
“You guys do illegal shit, though?” I asked because I couldn’t help myself.
“You’re on a need to know basis, buddy,” he patted my back and looked back at Wilson. “We got a plan we want to go over with you.”
“It’s not finding more bodies, is it?”
Ricky laughed a little before answering. “God no. Once was enough for me, thanks. But we’re going to go for a ride tomorrow night after dinner into enemy territory. We won’t have our cuts on.”
I looked to Wilson and couldn’t hide my confusion, I didn’t have my cut on now. But it felt like a second skin, knowing I was doing something for the club without it on felt unusual.
“Why?”
“I think if we put people through there on motorcycles they’ll probably attack blindly,” Wilson explained as he watched me. “I don’t think they’re smart enough to check first before they start shooting. I want to start doing a regular ride through with two guys to see if they’ll do anything. But,” he shrugged a little, “to be safe, I figured it’d be best to sacrifice you.”
I stood there watching him in return. My mouth had gone dry, and I wasn’t sure how to take this. If the old man wanted me dead why beat around the bush and wait until now to get the job done. Granted, having someone else do it was smarter than leading a trail back to the Boneyard.
“So I get shot, and they get taken down?” I half asked, half accused.
“That’s the idea,” Ricky said and cleared his throat as if he were trying to cut through the tension I felt building up between my shoulders. “But you won’t be alone,” he smiled at me. “I got your back, man. Plus we’ll be taking necessary precautions like we did the last time we went out that way. Now, if they’re pricks run us down with a car or something we’re fucked. But if they start shooting at us we’ll have all the important parts protected.” He gave me a wink. “The reason for our visit is just to be sure that you’re aware of it. The deal with the find in the woods went great, better than I expected. I just figured you’d need a bit more details for what’s to come this time. We’re gonna suit up like we’re going on a pleasure ride, but your people will only hear us talking shit. Ya feel me?”
“What happens if we do get shot at?”
“You’ll be followed at a safe length. I’m thinking ten miles back,” Wilson started. “I wouldn’t suggest you opening fire back. That’ll take away from what we’re trying to do. If they open fire, take cover, make sure your people know that you’re being fired at. If you’re lucky, neither one of you will be hit.”
I nodded, feeling a little bit better now. They weren’t going to send me out there to bait the enemy and accept a bullet. Ricky would be by my side, and we’d both be bait.
I turned to Wilson: “When are we doing this?”
“Tomorrow,” Wilson answered. “You work your regular shift at the garage. Come to the clubhouse for dinner and then Ricky will ask if you want to go for a ride. It’ll be played out like it’s not a planned thing. You’ll come to the office while you talk shit. Figure something to clog up his wire with,” he said to Ricky. “Make this shit seem natural.”
“Don’t worry,” he smirked. “I’ll have everything taken care of.”
“How long are we going to do this?” I asked because I felt tired now. How long would something like this go on?
“As long as it's necessary,” Wilson opened up the door. “We’ll figure out ways to draw the negative attention to them. We’ve played the part of a group of vets learning to cope for this long.” He paused to give me a long, measured look. “We play this so well because that’s what we are. Anything else we do, won’t take away from what we are.”
“I believe it,” I released a breath. “I believe you because I am one of you.”
Wilson didn’t argue, he just nodded like he understood what I said then he stepped out of my apartment. Ricky gave me a nod and went to follow. Then lingered at the door for a beat.
“No matter what happens, we’ll always be brothers,” he stated plainly before closing the door behind him.
I found myself hoping he was right.
18
I was beginning to think that having the foreknowledge of what I was going to be doing later that day was something I’d rather not have. Knowing that I could be shot at still had me on edge. Tara had come by to make surer I was set up with the wire that morning. She woke me up a little before nine running her fingers through my hair.
“Rise and shine, princess,” she murmured in my ear.
I hummed and stretched, staying on my stomach. “What time is it?”
I wanted to stay like this, I felt the length of her pressed against my side as she toyed with my hair and it felt so good. I hadn’t had a chance to talk her into staying lately, and I still owed her. If I wasn’t so tired, I would have considered rectifying that.
“It’s eight thirty,” she pressed a kiss to my cheek. “You have an hour and a half before you got to get to work.”
“It’s been forever,” I grunted as I managed onto to my side and wrapped an around her so she couldn’t wiggle away from me. “Since you and I had any sort of fun.”
“Well,” she gave me a light teasing kiss, just a brush that made me tighten my hold around her. “I might be coerced into staying a little later tonight. I get
real days off, unlike some undercover folks.”
“I’m going on vacation after all this is said and done. I might even take you hostage so I can drag your ass with me,” I teased.
Tara started to pull away, but I didn’t let her get away this time. I caught her mouth, and I put every bit of my feelings for her behind it. She didn’t pull back or make any grumbles at the fact that I had morning breath. If anything, she bit my lip. I twisted around so that I could feel the length of her against me. The longer we kissed, the more awake I became, and I realized it’d been way too long since the last time I had fucked her.