Sixth - Prequel to Oleander: One of Us Series

by Faulks, Kim

  “Just wait one minute.” Shadow fumbled for the door handle. “I gotta make a phone call.”

  He stumbled from the car and slammed the door behind him.

  “What the Hell was that about?” Tex murmured.

  I lifted the bottle to my lips and swallowed, watching Shadow drag a phone from his pocket and swipe the screen. “I have no idea.”

  He paced and talked, and then stilled. There was a nervous glance toward us before he gave a nod and lowered the phone. He didn’t walk toward the car…why didn’t he walk toward the car?

  The answer lay somewhere in the pit of my stomach as his shoulder’s rose with the draw of a breath and he finally headed toward us. His movements were too damn slow as he yanked open the passenger’s door and climbed in.

  He left the door open…like he needed a quick getaway…

  “What?” I growled as he slowly turned his head and stared me in the eyes.

  “Demand…that ring a bell?”

  I glanced at Tex and sifted through the fragments of one-sided conversation. “No, should it?”

  “That’s where our Mr. Pryor is…he only runs the mid-west drug trade, and my brothers work for him.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Tex snarled and glared at me. “Is that where we’re heading?”

  I felt the heat of his gaze…and the frigid sting of Shadow’s. “If that’s where she is, then yeah.”

  Shadow lifted his hands, palm up. “I just want to make sure, is all. ‘Cause if we do this…there’s no fucking undo button, you feel me? If Curtis Pryor is the one who has Oleander, and they know what she can do…then we have to take them out. We have to take them all out. There can be no one left alive.”

  The weight of his words might’ve sat heavy on anyone else.

  But I wasn’t anyone else.

  I turned to the pack on the seat next to me. The pack carry everything I owned. Seemed I’d stepped out of one war, and into another.

  But deep down I’d always known it was coming.

  It was just a matter of when and how hard.

  “Demand it is,” I answered and reached beside me for the burger on the seat. “Who’s turn is it to drive?”

  Shadow gave a nod and yanked the door closed. “We need weapons.”

  Tex started the car and snarled. “We don’t need weapons…we are the damn weapons.”

  “Oh, we’re gonna need weapon’s alright,” Shadow muttered and stared straight ahead as we rolled toward the highway. “We’re gonna need everything we can get.”

  “You said if they know what she can do…” I bit into the burger and chewed. “What do you mean by that?”

  Shadow turned his head. “You remember what she did right? Outside that diner when she was nine. You know what she left behind?”

  The burger was a hard wad in my mouth. I swallowed, and swallowed again and then washed it down with electrolytes. “What did she do?”

  Shadow turned his head as Tex punched the accelerator driving the speedometer higher. “She killed a man, poisoned him and left him to die.”

  I swallowed hard and searched for the truth. “Why?”

  “Now that is the question, isn’t it? What would drive a nine year old girl to kill. Whatever it was…if Mr. Pryor knows about it, then you can bet they’ll use her…”

  And if she doesn’t want to be used?

  I stared out into the night as the Mustang surged forward.

  Hurry…the word was a tremor through my soul…hurry…

  Chapter Seventeen

  We stopped and refueled. I grabbed as many coffee’s as I could carry and climbed back into the Mustang.

  A bottle of pills sat on the dash. I sat the coffee’s in the cupholders and shook two of the tablets free. As hard as they were to swallow, they were working.

  I tested the shoulder. The ache radiated bone deep, spearing along my arm to gather in my elbow, but the heat was almost gone now.

  I could move my arm…and if I could move it, then I could fight.

  And drive.

  Movement inside the gas station drew my gaze. Shadow and Tex piled food onto the counter. They joked and laughed, Shadow playfully punched Tex’s shoulder and pointed through the window, to me.

  There was an easiness about us, like we’d known each other forever—and I guess in a way that was true.

  They were my brother’s in a sense, all without the hate and the fear. They were ready to burn, ready to smother—but were they ready to die?

  The future lay in pieces in my mind. Fragments of laughter, and pain—and blood. They punched through the door and headed for the car, Tex climbed into the backseat, while Shadow slid into the front. Smiles lingered as I turned the key and started the engine.

  “Here.” Shadow tossed a toy gun toward me. “Tex said it was about your style.”

  I shook my head, turned the wheel and found the asphalt once more. Lights splashed against the black and white highway sign. Demand 125 miles.

  We were close…and yet, that emptiness inside my head remained. I tried to reach her, tried to get a sense she was still alive. But there was nothing…nothing but the dark empty sea…

  “She’s still alive,” Shadow murmured and stared out into the night. “She’s weak…but she’s alive”

  I flinched and jerked my gaze toward him. “How do you know that?”

  “Same way as you, that urgency. You think that comes from nowhere? That’s her…she’s calling us, and if she’s calling us…”

  “Then she’s hanging on,” I answered and pressed my foot to the floor.

  The Mustang answered, and the speedometer climbed. Silence settled inside the car as the miles ticked by, until Tex murmured. “What if one of us…you know…”

  I lifted my gaze to the rear-view mirror. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “You’ve seen it? Us all together, I mean?”

  That field of tall grass waited just out of reach. I wanted to lie to him, because lying had always come easy. Instead, I shook my head. “I’ve seen something, a field of grass. It’s important. I know it’s important. I just don’t know why.”

  “A field of grass,” Shadow muttered beside me.

  Lights glinted in the distance.

  “You think this is where we’re meant to be? This field…”

  The dream came back to me, the blonde with a fist full of lightning urging me to hurry. She was there for a reason…and that was the same reason that drove me now. “Yeah, I do.”

  “And you saw us there?” Tex prodded from the back seat.

  What use was having a seer who couldn’t damn well tell the future? Purple hair had been there—and so had they. I had to believe that this wasn’t just a could be…but a glimpse of what was to come. I turned my head, finding Shadow’s gaze. “Oleander was there, and so were the both of you.”

  Electricity hummed inside the car, dancing across my skin.

  We were more powerful together than we ever were apart.

  And as the city lights of Demand crept closer I had to hold onto that.

  I’d saved plenty…I’d killed even more. Now I needed to kill again. “Shadow was right, we need weapons.”

  “Already on it, brother,” he muttered and pushed against the seat. “I told Nico what we know.”

  I shot him a look of concern.

  “He’s my brother. You think he’d betray his own blood?”

  Tex met my gaze in the rear-view mirror. I didn’t have the best track record with family, neither had he, but for now we had to trust…trust Shadow….and trust ourselves.

  “Nico’s contact is meeting us as soon as we hit the city. He’ll give us what he has, and then we’re on our own.”

  I gripped the wheel. “Does he know what we’re doing?”

  “He knows we’re there to collect what’s ours, anything apart from that stays with us. You feel me?”

  I gave a nod as sparkling lights in the distance grew. The city wasn’t as impressive as Valiant. There were no silver sk
yscrapers reaching for the heavens, instead Demand curled around the base of a towering mountain.

  Welcome to Demand.

  The sign was a blur as we whipped by. There was a flash of agony as we past the city limits…like a blade thrust neatly between my ribs before the sensation was gone. I sucked in a breath and gripped the wheel.

  “You good Marine?” Tex growled from the backseat.

  I gave a nod and eased my foot from the accelerator as we sped into the streets of Demand.

  The lights in front of us turned from red to green. Tires screeched, and air brakes hissed as three cars and a semi-trailer pulled up on the opposite side hard.

  One car slipped through before the change, but four vehicles hadn’t made it.

  Something felt off, still I pressed the accelerator and surged forward. The next set of lights was barely six hundred yards away.

  The traffic there was busier…and yet just as before when we neared the lights, they turned from red to green.

  Cars braked, some skidded sideways…others drove recklessly through the blazing red as I eased on through.

  “What the Hell,” Tex muttered and sat a little straighter.

  The third set of lights waited further down the street. I eased the car toward it, watching the lights on our end go from green to amber, and then to red.

  Other cars burned through the intersection just as we coasted near…until the lights suddenly changed once more.

  Green flashed to red, missing amber altogether.

  Someone screamed obscenities out of the window as they skidded to a stop.

  An icy breeze slipped into the car from nowhere. I shuddered, cast a glance to the rolled up windows as Shadow murmured. “Anyone else feel that?”

  “Yeah,” Tex murmured.

  In the distance the next set of green lights waited…only this time there were no cars…not across the intersection—not on the side streets—there was no one.

  And as we neared, the lights above us switched from green to red, missing amber, just like the others.

  Shadow glanced out of the window as I braked and pulled up to the line.

  We waited…and waited. Seconds ticked by until a sleek black Explorer seemed to come from nowhere. I caught movement in the mirror, and watched as it pulled up alongside the Mustang.

  I glanced at the tinted windows and saw nothing. Plumes of white smoke drifted from the exhaust. The four-wheel idled, and then revved the engine.

  Fear slipped into his voice as Tex murmured. “Sixth.”

  “I know.” I watched the lights and then the window.

  Two Explorers couldn’t be a coincidence.

  I gripped the wheel with one hand and the stick shift with the other…waiting for that change of lights. The tachometer climbed as I eased my foot against the pedal.

  Until finally the lights changed from red to green.

  “Go…go,” Tex roared.

  Tires spun and then gripped as I punched it hard, and we sped forward leaving the Explorer behind. I shot glances in the rear view. The damn thing never moved.

  “This is some freaky shit,” Shadow murmured, tuning to glance behind me.

  “It’s the damn Government I tell ya,” Tex mumbled. “You’re brainwashed…just like all the rest.”

  “I’m not fucking brainwashed,” I snarled and turned the wheel, spearing off from the main street.

  Images bombarded me with a frenzy…a uniform with bright brass buttons…an old man with white hair like cotton wool…Joe. His name filled my head…and a shelter with bright lights and steaming coffee where the homeless huddled together to stave away the cold night. “I think this is the place.”

  I turned the wheel again, cutting along a park. In the distance was the bridge…the bridge I’d dreamed about…the bridge where she slept. My heart raced, filling my head with thunder.

  “Easy now,” Shadow murmured and grabbed his phone. “Two blocks and then take a right, my man is waiting for us.”

  I gave a nod and scanned the streets. Still I couldn’t stop looking at that bridge, the knowing as bad as I’d had it in Sangin—Oleander was right here, fighting her own damn war on American soil.

  Shadow pointed to the darkened alleyway. Headlights flashed twice and then darkened. I slowed the Mustang, waiting for our contact to make room, and eased between the two buildings.

  “You still got that piece?” Tex murmured.

  I gave a nod and crept closer, taking my time to scan the alley way. “I do.”

  “Just…no blood okay, Ese? I don’t need to be explain’ that shit to Nico, and neither do you.”

  No blood. That was doable…up to a point.

  I rode the brakes and pulled up in front of a sleek silver Chrysler. Shadow was first through the door, holding his hands up and calling out in Spanish.

  The driver’s door of the Chrysler opened, and the passenger’s followed.

  Three guy’s all carrying pistols climbed out. I gripped my pistol and cracked open the door. They were talking, I caught snatches of words I understood…owed money…not moving in…Nico’s name was mentioned more than once as I stepped close.

  One off them stepped forward, one hand around the grip, the other rising in the air. “That’s far enough.”

  I kept his gaze before I scanned the darkened alley and nodded. “I’m just here for the ride.”

  He nodded as Shadow gave me one nod and followed the man with the goods to the rear of the car.

  Easy…nervous glances cut my way and then turned to the Mustang. I didn’t need to look behind me. The twang of the driver’s seat told me more than enough.

  Tex was ready to rock and roll if this all went to Hell.

  I shifted from one foot to the next. No rifle…no goddamn ammo packs loaded to the hilt. I was goddamn naked out here.

  Shadow stepped around the side of the car, lifted his hand and motioned me forward. I clenched around the grip and strode forward.

  The light in the trunk was weak, but it was enough to see what was on offer.

  Silver shone as I scanned the .300 Winchester Magnum and smiled.

  “This good, homeboy?” Shadow muttered and glanced to me.

  He had no idea how good.

  I shoved the pistol into the waistband of my cammies and reached for the rifle. “Very…very good,” and then lifted my head to our supplier. “You got rounds for this?”

  The guy just smiled and nodded. “All the rounds you can handle, Ese.”

  Headlights washed over us from passing cars, but I just stared at what was in the trunk. “I’ll take them…I’ll take them all.”

  The guy just smiled and motioned at the trunk. “Have at it, bro.”

  I reached inside for the duffle bag and grabbed…everything. Shadow talked with the supplier as I shoved pistols and ammunition into the bag and heaved it free.

  My muscles strained, trembling with the weight, but I was home now. Home with the bitter stench of gunpowder in the air. “Let’s go.”

  I made for the Mustang and said to Tex. “We got it,” I growled as I yanked open the passenger’s door and heaved the bag into the backseat.

  Handshakes were given, shoulders were slapped. I settled next to the bag as Shadow headed our way. He climbed into the open door at the back and gave a nod. “We’re all good. Lied through my goddamn teeth…but we’re all good.” For now…

  He never said the words, but he didn’t need to.

  Headlights splashed against the Chrysler as Tex backed the Mustang out. “Where to?”

  “The shelter.” The words slipped free without a thought. “I’ll give you directions.”

  Faint traces of familiarity leaked through as I mumbled, “Left…two blocks up, left again.” The sense of connection grew.

  Moving shadows became people. A male walked along the darkened path, heading for the bright lights of a building up ahead.

  “That’s it.” I knew the place as soon as I saw it.

  Fragments slipped into place, li
ke a shattered mirror slowly piecing itself back together. The homeless huddled on the pavement outside, and as we pulled up to the curb I saw why.

  There were too many; mothers, and children, the frail and the old laying on sleeping bags inside.

  It was cold in Demand—far too cold to be sleeping on the streets. “Park here, I want to go inside.”

  “What? The place is closed, they’re sleeping,” Shadow muttered and shook his head.

  But it wasn’t the homeless I wanted to see.

  An old man stepped out of a hallway at the edge of the foyer, arms weighed down with heavy blankets, and for a second I couldn’t move.

  He was everything she’d showed me…snow-white hair and shining brass buttons. Joe, his name reverberated as he made for the front doors and pushed through.

  Shadow gripped the door handle and shoved. I climbed out from the backseat after him and into the cold. I could hear the old man murmuring, handing out blanket after blanket to those in need.

  He lifted his head as I neared. His smile was quick and genuine, reaching all the way into the sparkle of his eyes as he glanced at the others behind me and then met my gaze. “You boys lost?”

  The blankets were gone in a heartbeat, snatched from his drooping arms to wrap around the shoulders of those huddled together outside.

  I stepped close keeping my voice low. “I’m looking for someone. A woman, about twenty-three with purple hair. Thought you might be able to help.”

  He flinched with the words, and that smile in his eyes wavered. “Don’t know anyone like that.”

  He turned, cast a careful glance toward the car once more.

  I moved when he did, stepping into his path. “I think you do. I think you know exactly who I’m talking about, Joe. Oleander’s in trouble, and we’re here to get her out.”

  He sized me up. “And you know this how?”

  “Let’s just say we all share the same…qualities.”

  He looked at the front door of the shelter. For a second I thought it was over, that I’d lost the one decent connection I had to her, before he turned back. “Haven’t seen her in over a week. I’m worried about her…and by the looks of it, seems you are too.” The old man shifted nervously from one foot to another before he moved in close. “The last time I saw her was when Maddox came looking for her. He rifled through her things, looked at her diary. I told him she was off-limits. Told him she was a good girl. But he didn’t care about that. He’s a cold bastard, someone you don’t want to be messin’ with on any other occasion. But Ol isn’t any other occasion, is she?”