by Tess Oliver
“Oh no. It’s never good when you start with that tone. Oh, why the hell did I start this conversation? Sometimes I don’t know when to shut up.”
He stopped and turned to me. His dark lashes curtained his eyes. “I need to tell you something.”
His expression was grave. My throat tightened. I was hiking up to a ridge to scatter the ashes of one of the few people in my life that I truly loved. I wasn’t ready for what he wanted to tell me. I pressed a finger against his mouth. “Please, no. Let me say good-bye to Gracie first.”
He nodded.
I hopped up on my toes and kissed him. We continued our climb. The compound shrank in size as we hiked over layer upon layer of rock. The sagebrush and drought hardy shrubs were vanishing and being steadily replaced by fresh smelling evergreens.
“Is that rushing water I hear?” Luke asked.
“Yeah. When we get to the ridge you’ll be able to see it better. It’s from the snow melt. It travels along the inside edge of the mountain for several miles and drops off into a decent sized waterfall.”
“It’s hard to think of all that water when your grandfather’s compound is sitting in the center of a dust bowl.”
“That’s the result of being in the rain shadow of the mountains. But the well he had dug for the compound has never run dry. The ridge is this way. Follow me.” I’d climbed up to Angel’s Ridge only three times since the day my mom had jumped. I walked over to the depression in the rock where we’d sat and ate lunch on that horrible day. The sky was a crystal blue. Only the front edge of the compound was visible. I lowered the backpack to the ground. Luke walked up behind me and pulled me against him.
“Awesome view,” he said. “It’s so quiet up here. Even the animals don’t seem to like to make the hike.”
“Well, I sure couldn’t talk any of those lazy buttheads down in the compound into making the trek. It’s not really all that bad, and I think it’s worth the effort.”
“I’m glad no one else came. I prefer to have you all to myself.” Luke lowered his arms and walked closer to the edge.
My stomach lurched up and down like a yoyo. “Don’t get too close. It always makes me dizzy to look down to the valley below. I get the same feeling when someone else gets near the edge.”
“I can see the river you were talking about. It looks as if it winds all the way down and ends near the road.”
“The road is still a good distance away.” He was constantly searching for possible escape routes, and it broke my heart. “It’s about twenty miles of river and then another five to the road. The next town is miles away.”
He stared longingly down at the water.
I pulled the urn with Gracie’s ashes out of my backpack, unwrapped the cloth and walked over to him. “I’ve been thinking, maybe we just need to sit down with my grandfather, preferably when he isn’t completely wasted, and talk to him. After the night at Mickey’s, he seems to trust you when it comes to protecting me.”
“Yeah, not sure about that. And if it doesn’t work then we’ll have put the notion of us leaving in his head. It’ll be even harder to get out.”
“Yeah, I guess I’m crazy for even considering it.” I opened the lid on the urn. I licked my finger and held it up in the air. “Just making sure it’s blowing in the right direction.” I stared into the soft mound of ashes. “Aunt Gracie, I’ll miss you so much.” Tears welled up as they had so often these last few days. “I hope you find that heaven is filled with apple pies, sugar cubes and everything that makes you laugh. Give mom a kiss for me.” I tossed the ashes, and they floated over the edge of the ridge and fell away from view.
It was amazing to think how drastically my life had changed in less than a month. I’d spent the years after my mom’s death just surviving. With the exception of Aunt Gracie, Jericho and my pets, no one had paid much attention to me. Friendships were rare, but now I had someone who had become an integral part of my life. And I would risk anything to keep it that way.
I turned to Luke. His gray eyes always looked metallic in bright sunlight. “Everything is changing.” I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face to his chest. “And as sorry as I am that I pulled you into my grandfather’s creepy world, I’m so glad I found you.”
“Angel, I’d follow you into any creepy world you could offer.”
I peered up at him and laughed.
“You’re right,” he said, “this one is already pretty fucking creepy. But you get my meaning.”
Chapter 14
Luke
It was that sinking feeling you get when you’re not sure why but you know something shitty is about to happen. Or it could have just been because we were back in the compound. After several hours away, hiking through the mountains with Angel, that small taste of freedom had made me even more anxious to leave. Walking thirty or forty miles didn’t seem nearly as impossible now. But I wasn’t sure about Angel. She sensed my urgency to leave but didn’t understand just how volatile the situation had become. I needed to tell her everything, and I planned to do just that once we got back to the cabins.
Jericho, Cash, Gunner and Max were huddled in a circle in front of the kitchen, deep in conversation. Their faces looked grim. My body went rigid. Something was up.
“Wonder what that’s about,” Angel said casually.
Jericho looked up as we approached.
“What’s going on Richo? You guys all look as if someone just ate the last cookie in the cookie jar.” Jericho didn’t smile at her comment. I wasn’t garnering any suspicious glares, which put my mind somewhat at ease. Whatever was going on, it didn’t seem to have anything to do with me.
“Griffin left a message on Dreygon’s phone that there was a truce,” Jericho said.
“That’s good, right?” Angel asked.
Cash shook his head. “He said we were already even. Which means that they must have taken out someone in the club. Dreygon is calling around to find out what’s going on.”
Right then, Dreygon walked out of the kitchen with his phone pressed to his ear. “Yeah, let me know as soon as you hear,” he said before hanging up. He shook his head and came down the steps. “No one has heard anything. Everyone seems accounted for so far. No idea what the hell is going on.” He looked at Angel. “So, you went to the ridge?”
“Yep, she’s floating with her sister now.”
He’d lost both children, but there was only a glimmer of emotion in his hard face. His phone rang. “It’s Griffin.” He answered it. “What the fuck is going on?” he asked sharply. His brow creased, deepening all the wrinkles in his sun-weathered skin, as he listened. “What desert gift? You’ve been snorting too much blow. You’re not making any sense, Griff.”
My body stiffened, and a surge of adrenaline pumped through my veins. Dreygon turned away from us and listened again. His shoulders went rigid and waves of anger seemed to roll off of him. Angel looked questioningly at Jericho. He shrugged in response. He had no idea what Griffin was telling him, but I knew.
My mind raced. I was standing in the middle of Dreygon’s prison with all of his guards standing around me. I was fucked. Angel looked at me. She, no doubt, sensed that something was going on and that it had to do with me.
“Sonavabitch,” Dreygon muttered. He put his phone in his pocket but didn’t face us. His tightly wound posture reminded me of a lion waiting to pounce on its prey. And that prey was me.
“What’s going on?” Cash asked.
Dreygon rubbed his face with his hand and sighed loudly as he turned around. If it had been physically possible, flames would have been shooting from his angry nostrils. He stepped directly in front of me. I didn’t flinch but stared down hard at him as he stuck the barrel of his gun under my chin.
Angel sucked in a breath. “What are you doing?”
Dreygon looked straight at me as he spoke to Gunner and Cash. “Grab him.” They hesitated for only a second and then took hold of my arms.
“Angel knew nothing,” I said
quickly. “She had no idea.” The old man in front of me looked insane with rage. He had already proven himself to be a fucking madman, and I worried that he might take this out on Angel. And I would no longer be around to protect her.
Angel reached for her grandfather’s arm. He lowered the pistol and grabbed roughly ahold of her face. She cried out as his fingers dug into her skin. I struggled to free my arms, but Gunner and Cash had an iron grip on me.
“You brought a fucking DEA agent into my compound? You stupid, spoiled girl. I will never forgive your mother for bringing you home.” He released her, and she stumbled back.“You’re crazy,” she screamed at her grandfather. “He’s not an agent.” Dreygon’s fingerprints were still on her skin. Tears ran down her face. She looked at me. “Tell him, Luke. Tell him you’re not,” she cried.
I looked at her. “I’m sorry.” I’d fucked this up badly, and now I was going to lose her for good. It felt as if someone had punched me square in the chest.
Angel swayed on her feet. Jericho raced over and caught her before she collapsed. I’d done this to her. She’d been nothing but honest and good to me, and this was how I repaid her, with a shocking lie that was going to cost me my life. I’d broken my promise to her. I was leaving this fucking hell hole without her.
Dreygon paced back and forth like an angry animal in a cage trying to figure a way out.
“What the hell does Griffin have to do with this bag of shit?” Gunner asked.
Dreygon skewered me with eyes so cold, they were almost not human.
“You want to tell him or should I?”
“It’s all yours,” I said tersely.
“Bent for Hell found out their couriers were undercover DEA agents. They killed one and left the other for dead . . . at my doorstep.” Dreygon chuckled. “Griffin thought it would be a great practical joke leaving a dead federal agent outside my compound. But what he didn’t realize was that my granddaughter thinks she’s a goddamned saint who has to save every stray she finds.”
Tears streamed down Angel’s face.
My teeth clenched. “You fucking scumbag. Leave her out of this.”
The stale smell of weed circled around him as he came toe to toe with me. My fists rounded, which only made my two captors tighten their grips more. I waited for his knuckles to blow into my face but instead he grabbed my throat. “Anything that happens to her is your fault.” His fingers pushed into my neck and I struggled to breathe. “Just remember that as your brain is being splattered by a bullet.” He let go, and I sucked in air.
“Two of Griffin’s men are being held by the cops.” Dreygon looked around at the others. “One of them is Belkin, who saw this asshole the other night at Mickey’s. Griffin is blackmailing me. They haven’t talked yet. If they had, this place would already be swarming with feds and we’d all be in jail.” He pointed an angry finger at Angel. “Including you.”
Angel’s face was pale. She could barely stand on her own, but she lifted her chin defiantly. “I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
“No, because you’ve got yourself convinced that you are on the side of good and the rest of us are on the side of evil. But you’re part of this club whether you like it or not. And if we all go down then you go down too.” Dreygon sneered at her and continued. “As long as I pay Griffin every penny of profit from my arms deal, his guys will keep quiet.” He turned to me. “Just like you boys with badges, we clubs have a code of honor too. We watch each other’s backs when it comes to the cops.”
“Yeah, our code of honor doesn’t usually include blackmail and illegal arms deals.”
His chuckle grew angrier each time. “Still cocky even when you know your head’s about get a bullet. It’s too bad. If you hadn’t been a fucking narc, you would have been a great addition to the club.”
Angel wrenched free from Jericho’s grasp. “You can’t kill him. It will only make things worse,” she pleaded.
Dreygon’s laugh chilled the warm air.
“You boys tie him up. And tie him up good. You’ve both seen how tough he is.” He stepped toward me again and pretended to throw his fist at me. It was pissing him off that his approach hadn’t made me flinch yet. There was sand and grit in the deep crevices of his leathery skin as he pushed his face up to mine. “I guess this explains why you’re so damn good with a gun and your fists, huh?”
“We feds like to hit whatever we aim at. We’re not make-believe gunslingers like you idiots, just flashing your hardware around with no real talent for using it.”
He pulled his face away and then his fist flew into my jaw. A bone inside my face cracked and sent shockwaves of pain through me. With Gunner and Cash holding onto my arms, my face took the full impact of the hit. The buildings and the people blurred, but Angel’s scream was crystal clear. Cash and Gunner shook me so that I stood up straight.
I stretched my jaw but it only made the pain worse. “Assholes,” I muttered.
Dreygon pointed his gun at me again. “Shut the hell up, Narc, or I’ll shoot your head off right here.”
“Do it then,” I said. “Let’s get it the fuck over with already. Just get Angel out of here first.”
I knew that Angel was still absorbing the significance of my betrayal. She hated me now. She had to. But my love for her was still so strong the only thing that truly bothered me about dying was not being able to hold her in my arms again.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Boy? Have your blood splattered all over my compound. Then they’d finally have me, wouldn’t they?” With his weathered skin, earrings and sinister grin, he resembled a pirate about to send me off the plank. “Gunner, get him tied up and shove him into the truck. Then drive up the river as far as the truck will go. Shoot him in the head and dump him in the water. Hopefully his carcass will get stuck in some rocks and be lost forever.”
“No,” Angel cried. “You’re a monster. I wish you were dead.” Her words seemed to have no effect on him. He was a cold bastard.
“Not going to go to the electric chair for you, Dreygon,” Gunner said.
Dreygon turned to face him. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“I do all your dirty work without question, but I’m not killing a federal agent. That’s like signing my own death warrant.”
Dreygon’s face twisted with anger. He lifted his pistol and aimed it at Gunner. “Why don’t I just sign it for you.” His hand shook as he seemed to be deciding whether or not to kill him.
“I’ll do it,” Cash said. Dreygon pointed the gun at Gunner for a few more tense seconds and then lowered it.
“Max,” Cash said, “go to the dungeon and get some rope.”
“I always thought you were different, Cash,” Angel sobbed. “I was so wrong.”
Cash flinched at her words. I was never quite sure about the guy, but now I knew. He’d volunteered so readily, it was obvious he’d always had it out for me.
Dreygon stared at Gunner with murder in his eyes and then he turned to me. “All this time that you’ve been lying to us, Boy, I guess you were gathering up what you thought was a nice bundle of damning information about this club.”
“You take yourself too seriously, old man. There wasn’t much to gather from this cartoon operation. Up until the load of guns, I didn’t see anything more than an old man sucking in more weed than the audience at a Grateful Dead concert.”
His face twisted at my words.
“I hadn’t really planned to end up here.” I looked at Angel. Her blue eyes were glossy with tears, and the hurt in her face was too much to bear. And I’d caused it. “But I don’t regret one damn minute. I’m just glad I got to spend my last few weeks of life with you, Evangeline. I never knew I could love someone as much as I love you. Every minute has been fucking heaven.” Her tears flowed faster as I spoke, but I would never see her again. I needed for her to know. “I hope you break free from this place and this man. I only wish I could have been the one to save you.”
She ran forward
and threw her arms around me. I ached to hold her but my hands couldn’t move.
“You get out of this place, do you hear me? Angels don’t belong in hell.” Her tears moistened my shirt as she pressed her face against me. “Find a way out. Promise me you’ll find a way out.”
“I can’t do it without you.” Her voice was barely audible. “You were supposed to take me with you. We were meant to be together.”
My throat seized up as she spoke. I’d promised her, and now I’d failed her . . . miserably.
Max shuffled across the yard with two ropes slung over his shoulder. He circled behind me. Gunner yanked my hands back and up at a sharp angle, giving me no freedom to try anything. There wasn’t much to try. I was surrounded, and Dreygon had a gun.
Angel still clung to me like she had when Gunner had chained me up in the dungeon. She’d saved me then from the pain of the whip, but I’d done nothing except cause her heartache. Her entire body trembled, and I couldn’t do anything to comfort her.
Cash double checked the knots and pulled them tight enough that my hands began to tingle. Then he stooped down and hobbled my feet so that one six inch step would send me on my face.
I was going to my execution. Several weeks ago, after the nightmarish reality of Dex’s death had hit me, I would have welcomed a bullet to my head. Now I wasn’t ready for the grave. The girl wrapped around me made leaving this life much harder.
“Let go of him, Angel,” Dreygon scolded.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “Fuck you. I’m never going to talk to you again. Cash is going to have to shoot me too.”
It was obvious Dreygon had to restrain himself. “Jericho, go tie her up in the dungeon. She’s been needing a whipping for a long time.”
“Don’t you fucking lay a hand on her,” I yelled. I struggled against the ropes but it was useless. Anger heated my face. “They will get you for this, Sharpe. They are going to lock you up. You’re going to spend the rest of your life waiting for your execution day. And I’m glad of it.”