by K. J. Dahlen
“You mean I wouldn’t lie for you, or take a punishment that was yours. Your actions caused the most damage, why should I protect you from that?”
“All I ever wanted was for someone to show me that they thought I mattered. I wasn’t just a pale shadow of you. You helped create what I became.” Tucker was angry and didn’t care if Jesse knew it.
“No you did that all by yourself,” Jesse told him quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“You made the choice to kill, not me. You made the choice to steal other people’s lives not me. You’re the one that turned your back on the rest of us, no one else did it for you.”
“I’m going to enjoy killing you tomorrow. We’ll see then who begs for his life.” Tucker snarled at him.
Jesse quietly folded the phone, cutting the call. He didn’t know if he could take anymore of Tucker’s wild rants.
* * * *
Jesse continued to steer the boat toward Hannibal. He wasn’t paying attention to the river behind him or he would have seen the swimmer following in his wake as he passed yet another river island. He didn’t see the houseboat moored behind the island. It was the same houseboat they had been looking for since they left Mississippi. The black color blended so well with the night sky that you could barely see it in the shadow of the island.
Tucker reached for the boat’s ladder and quietly hauled his body out of the water. It only took him seconds to see where everyone was. By pure chance, he had pulled his boat off the water just an hour ago. When he hung up the phone, he realized they were passing right in front of him. He recognized his uncles’ pontoon and he recognized his cousin standing at the helm. Before the boat completely passed his island, Tucker didn’t think about what he was going to do, he just dove into the water. It didn’t take him too long to catch up with the boat and a few minutes later, he boarded it. When he saw that everyone on the boat was sleeping except for Jesse, Tucker smiled.
He reached for the knife on his belt. The ivory handle worked so well before as a club that he walked right up behind Jesse and hit him with it. Jesse groaned and slumped forward. The boat rocked a bit then settled into a nice steady ride. Tucker grabbed his cousin’s hand and sliced it open just enough to bleed profusely. He wanted everyone to think Jesse was hurt. He smeared the blood around the steering wheel and dribbled it along the floor of the boat. Then he shut off the motor and broke off the key. He didn’t want whoever woke up first to catch up to them too quickly. His cousin had made him angry and he would make him pay for what he had said but he wanted to have a little fun with him first too.
Tucker grabbed his cousin by the arms and dragged him to the back of the boat. It would serve him right if he just dumped his body in the water and let him drown, but Tucker wasn’t feeling that generous tonight. Jesse had said some nasty things to him and he wanted him to see death coming. He wanted to bring his cousin pain and a lot of it.
Tucker and Jesse made very little noise as they slipped down off the boat into the water. Tucker grabbed his cousin under the chin and swam him back to the other boat. He was winded and exhausted by the time they got there and when he pulled Jesse out of the water, Tucker slugged him in the face. He knew he wouldn’t feel it but when he woke up his face would hurt. For now, that would have to be enough. Tomorrow would be the real test. It would all depend on who was still alive when the sun went down.
Chapter Twelve
It wasn’t quite daylight when Sebastian woke up. The boat was still moving but it wasn’t moving correctly. He sat up and looked around. Roger and Emily were still sleeping but where was Jesse? That’s when he realized the engine wasn’t running and they were drifting.
Sebastian looked out at the river. They were headed for the bank and it was the current that was carrying them out of the main channel. He jumped up and tried to restart the engine. That’s when he noticed the broken key.
“Damn it!” He swore. He tried trying the steering wheel but that didn’t work either. Looking over at Roger and Emily, he found they were awake and looking back at him. He told Roger, “Someone shut off the engine and broke off the key. Is there any other way to get the engine started again?”
Roger jumped up and joined him. Squatting down, he had a look at the ignition. There was just enough of the key left to try and turn over the engine. After fiddling around with it for a moment, the engine roared to life.
When he made the correction, they were back on track and he began looking around the small craft. His fingers were sticky and when he raised them to see what was on his fingers he saw the blood. He slowed the boat and putting it in neutral, he let the boat drift while he looked a little closer at the boat. That’s when he saw the trail of blood leading to the back of the boat.
He found his phone up on the dash of the boat. Checking the battery, he found a text message. Punching in his code, he read the message. “Damn him. Damn that man to hell!”
Emily had fear and concern in her eyes and Roger was looking around to see where they were.
“Where’s Jesse?” Emily asked afraid she already knew the answer.
“Tucker’s got him,” Sebastian told her.
“What? How did that happen?” Roger blustered. “He was driving the boat last night.”
“I’m not really sure. I didn’t hear a thin.” Sebastian was furious. “All I have to go on is this message.” He handed the phone to Emily and watched as she handed it to Roger.
Her eyes were filled with tears but the fear in her heart prevented them from falling.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Sebastian asked the older man.
Roger gave the phone back to Emily and stood up to have a good look around. He turned back to Sebastian and nodded. “We’re only about fifteen miles south of the farm. We should get there in about forty minutes or so.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “How the hell did Tucker get his hands on Jesse? I thought he was so far in front of us.”
Sebastian shrugged. “I wish I knew. All we can hope for is that Jesse is okay and we meet up with them at the farm.” Sebastian stopped to look at Roger. “Is there a place nearby that will hide a houseboat like the one Tucker’s got and still give him access to land?”
Roger thought for a moment and then nodded. “Sure, other than the dock there is a small inlet near the caves. It’s out of the way and you can’t see it from the river. You have to know where it is in order to get to it, but the boys used to go fishing there when they were younger.”
“Can you get us to the inlet? I have a feeling that’s where we’ll find the boat Tucker is using.” Sebastian stared at him.
Roger started up the engine and steered the pontoon back out into the middle of the river. As they got closer to the farm, he steered the boat over to the right side of the river and up into the backwater. Turning the corner, they found the black houseboat. They also saw another houseboat already moored in the inlet.
Sebastian sat forward and surveyed the scene. “Okay, let’s go back to the dock. We know where they are now but they don’t know where we are. Let’s keep it that way for at least a little while.”
Roger backed the pontoon out of the backwater and back on the main channel of the river. He wasn’t sure Sebastian’s plan would work. Tucker was expecting them, so there was no element of surprise.
They docked the pontoon at the dock for the farm. Roger turned to Sebastian. “What are your plans?”
Sebastian was busy gathering his things together. He looked up at Roger. “I want you to take your wife away from here. If things go wrong, I don’t want Tucker to get either of you. Go, find the nearest police department, and have them call this number and talk to Alex Hunter. He’s my partner in New Orleans and he’ll tell them what they need to know. Don’t come back here. Tell the police to stay away from here as well. Tucker will likely kill anyone he sees and I don’t want any more policemen in his line of fire.”
“How will we know it’s over and who survived?” Emily asked. She was t
errified for Jesse as much as she was for the others.
Sebastian smiled coldly. “I don’t know what today will bring. I’ll have whoever survives give the nearest police station a call. You must promise me that no one will come here until that call comes.”
Emily nodded. “It will be so hard to wait but I can see your point. Please take care of yourself and try to get the others out alive.”
Sebastian smiled. “Don’t worry, that’s the first thing on my list of things to do today.”
He departed the boat and watched as they made their way back out to the river. He turned to the path leading to the barn and the house beyond. He didn’t know where anyone was, so he stayed out of sight as long as he could. The brush he struggled through was dry and scratched at his clothes. He got within fifty feet of the barn before he ran out of cover.
He didn’t have a choice. He broke cover to run across the road. The tall grasses there hid him well almost all the rest of the way. He stopped to see if he could hear any sounds coming from the barn.
Looking around, he noticed that something was lying in the grass just ahead of where he was. Moving in closer to see what it was he found the first dead body. It was Jasper Wiley. Tucker had slit his throat. Sebastian reached out to check if the blood had had a chance to dry yet. That would give him some indication of how long ago Tucker had killed him. ‘So much for friendship.’ Sebastian thought to himself. He couldn’t help but wonder how the other man had gotten out of jail but he didn’t dwell on it too long.
The blood on Jasper’s body was still warm and sticky, so Sebastian concluded that Wiley had just been murdered. He pulled out his weapon and snuck closer to the barn.
Roger and Jesse had thought that this was where Tucker planned to kill his family and Sebastian had no doubt that they were wrong.
Sebastian saw a way to get inside without using the door. There was a broken window. He got closer to the window and peeked inside. The small room was dark and smelled of old leather. This must have been the tack room. He hoisted himself up on the sill and slipped inside. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim surroundings before he moved to the door.
He peeked through the slats of the door and listened for any sounds from outside the room. He saw a young boy lying on the ground on the main floor of the barn. It wasn’t Wyatt and he paused for a moment to squelch the burst of disappointment inside him. The boy was tied up and appeared to be unconscious. Sebastian couldn’t see anyone else from this angle.
He took a chance and slid his hand down the door to find the handle. Carefully turning the old knob, he heard the door protesting the motion of movement after being stationary for so long. Sebastian waited for any movement outside the room but when he didn’t hear anything, he slipped out of the tack room and into the main part of the barn.
He flattened himself against the wall and crept toward the end of the wall. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his gun to firing position and carefully peeked around the corner of the wall. He saw three more bodies lying in the same way as the first. All were tied and unconscious. He checked for signs of them breathing and was glad to see they were.
Sebastian cocked his head and listened for any other signs of where Tucker and Jesse were. He hadn’t yet seen Wyatt or Kelly, so he was hoping that they were with the two cousins. He didn’t hear anything so he moved a little closer.
When he was closer to the man he understood to be Ethan, he saw that Ethan was looking straight at him. Ethan didn’t dare move but he looked upward toward the loft and Sebastian understood what he was trying to tell him. Tucker was up in the loft. Sebastian fished his pocket knife out of his pocket and slid it over to Ethan. Then he put his finger over his mouth and told Ethan to be quiet. Ethan nodded, picked up the knife and began sawing at the ropes around his wrists.
Sebastian found the ladder to the loft and taking one step at a time, made his way up the ladder. Peeking his head over the floor of the loft, he finally saw Jesse and Tucker.
Jesse was on his knees with his hands tied behind his back. He was facing Tucker, so he didn’t even notice Sebastian. Tucker was pushing the hay around Jesse so he didn’t notice Sebastian either. Sebastian looked around the loft again. He couldn’t see any sign of Wyatt or Kelly.
“So what are you going to do now, cousin?” Jesse asked him.
“I have to get ready for your friend, Sebastian.”
Sebastian heard someone sneeze and he recognized the sound. Wyatt was there and he was still alive. Sebastian knew that his son was still alive and he almost jumped right up at that moment, but he knew he couldn’t.
“What are you going to do?” Jesse asked.
Sebastian peeked over the edge of the loft and saw Tucker smile. Jesse had hay around him up to his chest. A path had been cleared in a circle all the way around him. Sebastian feared that when the time came Tucker was going to burn his cousin alive. He caught the sight of someone else laying not too far off and he recognized it to be Kelly. She was lying on her side with her hands behind her back. He couldn’t see her face and he could see her struggle so he knew she was still alive at least, for the moment anyway.
He had to distract him somehow but how? Sebastian looked down at Tucker’s family. Ethan had cut through his ropes and Joyce’s but the boys were still bound. He caught Ethan’s eye and motioned for him to get his family out of the barn.
Ethan nodded and he and Joyce each carried or dragged their sons clear of the barn. Taking a deep breath, Sebastian raised his weapon to his chest and called out Tucker’s name, “Tucker Briggs, you are under arrest.”
Tucker laughed out loud. “Guess who’s here and ready to play out the end of the game.” He peered over to the top of the ladder leading up to the loft. “Why don’t you join us Sebastian,” he called out.
Sebastian climbed up the rest of the way into the loft. There at the edge of the loft, in the middle of the double doors leading to the outside stood Tucker and Wyatt. Sebastian knew that one step backward was all it would take to send them both crashing down a twenty foot drop to the ground outside.
Tucker had an unholy gleam in his black eyes, as he knew it too.
Sebastian could see that Wyatt was scared to death. Who wouldn’t be with the seven inch knife blade at your throat, and being dangled so close to a fall.
Sebastian could see that Wyatt’s hands were tied behind his back. Tucker had a hold of his shirt and was holding him almost off the ground. Wyatt was standing on his tiptoes.
“Well, I see you saved the good people that are supposed to be my family,” Tucker said. “By the way, why don’t you drop your gun? I would hate to have to drop your son out the window.”
Sebastian lowered his weapon slowly to the floor. “Let the boy go Tucker, or you don’t have a chance in hell of getting out of this barn alive.” He watched his son struggle to keep his feet on the ground.
Tucker threw his head back and laughed. “You don’t scare me fool. Don’t you know by this time what I was planning? Hasn’t it sunk in yet why I let you follow me? I explained my reason to you that night out on the river. Didn’t you believe me?”
Sebastian frowned. He wasn’t sure what Tucker meant. He tried to think about what was said that night. He remembered that Tucker had told him that he might be the only one that could stop him. Sebastian decided to stall for more time to figure out what to do. “Tell me one thing, will you? Why did you kill all those people?”
Tucker’s eyes looked sad for a moment, as if he really cared, and then his eyes hardened as he began to finally tell his side of the family saga, “Do you know what it’s like to be a disappointment to your parents, almost from day one of your life? To grow up hearing the words, ‘why can’t you be as clever as your cousin’ or ‘come on Tucker, Jesse walked at thirteen months, why can’t you?’ You know some kids might fight harder to please their parents, but I didn’t. I knew no matter what I did, I could never be as clever or as smart as my cousin Jesse…Jesse knew it too, and while we were younger,
it didn’t seem to matter. Hell, we were more like twins than real twins ever were. Then something happened to change all of that. Jesse betrayed me.” Tucker paused as if just by remembering the incident brought back fresh memories of the betrayal.
“Is this about the bully in school teasing you about your mother being pregnant?” Sebastian asked.
Tucker laughed. “No, but I am surprised he told you about that. Jesse doesn’t like to admit to anyone that he isn’t perfect.” Tucker began pacing back and forth in front of the window, dragging Wyatt with him.
Sebastian’s heart leaped to his throat as he watched his son struggling to keep up with Tucker.
“No, this happened much earlier in our young lives.” Tucker turned to face Jesse. “Do you want to tell him how you betrayed me or shall I continue?” Tucker asked his cousin.
Jesse shrugged and nodded for him to continue.
Tucker sneered at him and continued with his story, “We were about six, I guess, when my Dad said I could have a puppy, if I was the one to take care of it. I was so happy. I was finally going to have something Jesse couldn’t. Jesse’s mother Emily had allergies, and Jesse wasn’t allowed to have pets, but my Dad said I could have a dog. We went to the pet store and I picked out the dog I wanted. It was a golden cocker spaniel and I called her Lady, after Lady and the Tramp. She was everything a young kid could want and I really took care of her the best I could, until the day I came home and found Jesse playing with her.” Tucker’s voice hardened as he remembered that day.
“Somebody had to play with her, you never did,” Jesse interjected.
Tucker snarled. “He always took the glory and I was left with nothing.” Turning to his cousin, he screamed, “You had no business being around her, she was my dog. She was the only thing I could have that you couldn’t, and you managed to steal her love away from me.” Tucker frowned as he thought about the utter sense of betrayal he had felt.