by K. J. Dahlen
“Why isn’t it going to be that easy?” Phoebe asked.
“Because if whoever placed this bomb is who I think it is, you’re lives are now in danger as well as ours,” Michael explained. “If they know where we are, they also have been watching this place and would have seen you warn us. You are now witnesses that they can’t allow to get away. That’s how they’ve kept in the shadows for so long. I’m afraid we can’t let you go at the moment, not until I know you’re lives are no longer in danger.”
“But that’s ridicules!” Phoebe sputtered.
“We were very careful traveling here.” Gage pointed out. “We didn’t see anyone following us but somebody obviously did or they never would have been able to place a bomb under Michael’s truck. We know of one threat we’re facing but we need confirmation of who it is before we can take any action.”
“What kind of confirmation?” Phoebe asked.
“Was there anything out of the ordinary about these three men?” Judson asked. “Anything she can tell us that might identify them?”
Phoebe turned to Willow and asked, “What can you remember about the tattoo you said they had?”
Willow began shaking her head then she signed something but wouldn’t look at anyone.
Phoebe grabbed her hand with one hand and lifted Willow’s chin with the other. “I know you’re scared right now, but they need to know. Please tell them what you saw tonight. They only want to help.”
Judson reached out and grabbed the motel pad and pen from the table next to the sofa, passing it over to Gage. Gage put it on the table in front of him and pushed it over to Willow. “Can you draw the image for us?”
Willow raised her head and stared at him for a moment then she picked up the pen and began drawing the image that haunted her dreams for most of her life. When she was done, she pushed the paper back over to Gage.
Gage stared down at the paper and gasped out loud. He shoved the paper over to Michael.
Michael studied it and swore as his face paled. “Son of a bitch, they found me. After all this time, they fuckin found me again.”
Chapter Three
Phoebe gasped. “You guys know this symbol?”
Michael ran his fingers down his face. “Yeah, we know this symbol.” Getting to his feet, he began to pace. After a moment or so, he turned to Willow. Slamming his hands down on the table he asked her harshly, “Are you sure this is the symbol you saw?”
She nodded.
“Where was this symbol?” he asked. “Where did you see it on his body?”
Willow lifted her hand from her lap and tapped the inside of his left wrist.
Michael groaned and turned tormented eyes to Gage. “I can’t do this again! I can’t go through this hell again.”
Gage got to his feet and grabbed Michael by the shoulders. “You have to. We have to face this together. You won’t be alone in this. Judson and I are here and we will stand with you.”
Michael shook his head. “Those fuckers took everything I care about and left me nothing but heartache. You can’t make this right again.”
“I’m not saying we can,” Gage insisted. “I’m saying we’ll stand beside you to make right the wrong this POS organization is planning on doing next. We know they’ve been here at least five years, maybe more—”
Willow grabbed Gage’s wrist and when he turned to her, she nodded then flashed all her fingers twice. Pausing she flashed them again.
Gage frowned and looked toward Phoebe. “What is she trying to tell us?”
Phoebe faced Willow. “What was that?”
Willow faced her friend and began to sign.
When she finished, Phoebe gasped and turned toward Michael and Gage. “She said the Vipers have been here for close to twenty years, not five years.”
Gage stared at the girl. “How does she know that?” he asked.
“Never mind that,” Michael growled. “How does she know their name? We never told her the name of the group.”
They all stared at Willow.
She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.
Phoebe sighed. “I’m sorry guys, she isn’t going to say anything else.”
“Dammit!” Michael kicked the table.
Phoebe swung her gaze over to him. “And that right there is why.” Her eyes narrowed at him.
A few hours later, Gage was awakened from his sleep by someone sobbing. He laid in the bed next to Michael and listened to the sounds for a moment and it broke his heart. Slowly turning his head, he noticed first that the sky was getting light. In the light, he could see the other occupants in the room. Michael was still sleeping. As were Phoebe and Judson. When he gazed at Willow, he could see her moving almost as if she were caught up in a nightmare of sorts.
Gage got up and moved over to her side of the bed. Earlier, she and Phoebe had taken Michael’s bed while Michael moved over to his bed. They had decided to get a few more hours sleep, then head out. Phoebe and Willow were going with them despite their objections, until Michael could get the information he needed from Willow.
As Gage knelt down beside the bed, he reached out to shake Willow’s shoulder.
Her eyes opened almost immediately and she wiped away her tears.
When he reached out his hand to help her up, she allowed it.
They moved over to the table and sat down together. Gage scratched his head. Looking over at her he whispered, “I wish I knew your secrets.”
Willow cocked her head and shrugged as if to ask him why.
Gage smiled. “I have a feeling you hold the key to us figuring out this little mystery.” He leaned forward a bit and stared at her for a moment. “How do you know this group have been here for so long? You said twenty years, how do you know that? How the hell do you know about the Vipers? We didn’t even know about them until six years ago.”
Willow shrugged but her hands were still, laying in her lap. They both heard the sounds of doggy feet walking around the far side of the bed Michael slept in. They watched as Snickerdoodles peeked around the edge of the bed then moved over to where Willow sat. He came over to her and sat down beside her, laying his head in her lap.
Willow smiled faintly, raising one hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks and the other hand went to rub Snicker’s ears. The dog groaned and crept a little closer to Willow for more attention. When she seemed to allow it, Snicker moved even closer, he lifted his paws to her lap and laid his head on her shoulder. Willow hugged him close and let her fingers run through the dog’s fur. “The Vipers killed my parents, my brother, my sister and my grandmother, eighteen years ago,” she whispered harshly. Her voice was weak and her words were breathy and broken but she made her meaning clear. “Then two years later, they found us again and murdered my grandfather and my two uncles along with some of his men.”
Gage was stunned when she began speaking. He frowned. “I thought you couldn’t speak.”
Willow shook her head. “I could always speak but chose not to. The last thing my grandpa ever said to me was to be quiet and not make a sound or they would find me.”
“And now that has changed?”
She hesitated then said, “When I was sleeping, my dreams took me back to the day my grandpa and uncles died. Then in my dreams, I heard my grandpa say it was time for me to tell you what happened to him and why. I swear, I could hear his voice as plain as day. He told me the truth had to be told. He said it was time to break the silence.” Willow nodded. “You and your friends said you were going to stop the Vipers. I want them to pay for what they did to my family.”
“So do I little girl,” Michael said softly. “So do I.” He sat up and turned to face them. “They took my family away from me too.” He got up and joined them at the table. When he passed Judson, he slapped the other man on the foot and grabbed Phoebe’s foot in passing. Then he sat down across from Willow. “I need to know something. How do you know this is the same group that killed your family?”
Judson and Phoebe got
up and joined them silently at the table.
Willow gazed at their faces as they sat there and she swallowed hard. Her throat tightened up on her and she didn’t want to bring the bad memories to the front of her mind. She didn’t want to remember that terrible day. She hugged the dog closer to her and her tears dampened his fur. Then her words came in a husky whisper, “When I was six, my grandfather picked me up from school one day shortly after noon. He looked like he’d been in a fight and the school didn’t want to let me go with him but he didn’t listen to them. He just grabbed me and left. He put me on the back of his bike and we drove off. He’d never done that before. My Mom wouldn’t let me ride on the bike with him or my dad. She always said a little girl had no business on a bike that big but that day, I rode with my grandpa. We stopped a few hours later. We met up with my uncles Pony and Declan and maybe ten or twelve of my grandpa’s men. Pony and Declan looked like they’d been in a fight too, they had blood all over their clothes and they had been crying. Grandpa sat me down and told me I had to be brave and that I couldn’t cry. When I asked him, why he told me my Mom, Dad, my grandma and little brother and sister were gone. That morning a deal went bad and some bad people caught them unaware. They wanted to kill everyone that day and the people there around me were the only ones that escaped. He told me we had to go into hiding until they could track down the people responsible and take them out for what they did. He looked me in the eyes and told me the Vipers would rue the day they went after his family. Then he drew that tattoo and had me memorize it. He told me that one day, he would get revenge for what they’d done.”
“What happened then?” Michael asked.
“Two years later, they found us again. We were trapped in a cabin we had been living in and took us by surprise. When the shooting started, my grandpa pushed me into a hidey hole and told me to stay put. I was to be quiet and never say a word. When the shooting stopped, I peeked out and saw these men standing there with guns in their hands. I couldn’t even breathe I was so scared. After they left, I went out and saw my grandpa and uncles. They were all dead. There was blood everywhere. I went back to my hole and stayed there for days. The police came and went. They took my grandpa and my uncles away but I didn’t move. A day or so later, the bad men came back. They seemed to be looking for something but they didn’t find it. Then they set fire to the cabin. I was afraid to move but it got so hot in there, I sneaked out and got away. I hid in the woods for three more days before a game warden found me and turned me over to the police.”
“Is that how you ended up in foster care?” Phoebe asked.
Willow nodded. “Everyone asked me questions but I didn’t answer them. I think the doctor said I was in shock. They didn’t know I was connected to the fire or the shooting that took place a few days before. They didn’t know anything about me. They didn’t even know my name.”
“Where did all this go down?” Gage frowned as he stared at her.
“A small town of Marlborough, Massachusetts.” Willow shrugged. “We moved there after we left Lowell, two years before.”
“How old were you at the time?” Michael asked.
“I was eight when they killed my grandpa.”
“We met when we were nine,” Phoebe explained to the men. “We were living in Boston at the time and we both needed a friend. We found a way to communicate with each other and no matter where we went, we always ended up together again.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Judson frowned.
“That means…” Phoebe shook her head. “In some foster care places, you don’t stay in one place long enough to make friends.”
“Especially if the powers that be end up deeming you special needs.” Willow growled.
“How so?” Gage frowned.
Phoebe reached out to take Willow’s hand. “The social workers labeled her special needs because she didn’t speak. There was nothing wrong with her but because she wouldn’t talk, they put her in special classes at school and they decided she needed specialized care.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “They got so mad when I would run away and find Phoebe, time after time.”
“The last time they separated us, they put her in juvenile hall.” Phoebe laughed. “She caused a riot at the school I was attending at the time. She had escaped Detention and came looking for me again. We were fourteen when that happened.”
Willow smiled. “A year later, I escaped and found her again. She was in a new foster home and it wasn’t a good one, so we went on the run. We managed to get by until we were eighteen and could be free of social services. We’ve been together ever since.”
“What do you girls do anyway?” Judson asked.
“Up until a week ago, we were working in a diner off the interstate near Chicago.” Phoebe replied.
“What happened a week ago?” Michael sounded curious.
Willow stared at Phoebe then turned to Michael. “I had to return to Marlborough and get something I buried when I was eight.”
He frowned. “What was so important that you gave up your job for?”
Willow got up and went outside for a moment, when she returned she pushed a small book at them. The book was very old. They could see that through the plastic bag that covered it. The symbol on the cover was faded and the tops and sides of the pages were yellowed with age.
Michael frowned and picked up the small book. When he saw the symbol etched on the cover, he flashed his eyes back to Willow. “Where the hell did you get this?”
The emblem on the cover of the old book was the same as the emblem of the Bleu Vipers. A dark blue triangle with a hooded Reaper inside and words written in Arabic below the bottom rail.
“The day my grandfather was killed, several men entered the cabin after the shooting stopped. They came in to retrieve one of their own. As they dragged his body outside, this book fell out of his pocket. When I went to check on my family, I picked the book up and took it with me when I went back in to my hiding spot. I didn’t know what it was or what it meant. I still had a hold of it days later when they came back and started the fire. I carried it out of the cabin with me. I buried it before the game warden found me and after I left the area, I forgot it for a long time. I finally remembered it a week ago. I had a dream about that day and I knew I had to go back for it.” She stared at the book and shrugged. “I don’t know what it is or what it means to them but my guess is that they want it back.”
Michael opened the plastic bag and took the book out. Carefully thumbing through the pages, he saw several pages of Arabic writing. Some of the words he knew and he knew what the pages meant but toward the back of the book, he saw more recent writing. Some of the pages even had dates written on them and the dates were from twenty to twenty five years ago. One page had a list of names on it. Before he could get into figuring out what it all meant he got to his feet. “If this is what I think it is yeah, they would want this back. I’m surprised they didn’t track you down for it.”
Willow shook her head. “No one knew who I was. I didn’t tell them my name and when I entered the foster care system, they gave me a new name. They called me Sarah Dunn for the longest time.”
“Why does Phoebe call you Willie?” Gage asked.
Willow shook her head and laughed. “She calls me Willie because that’s who she thinks I am.”
“Well, if Willie isn’t your name, what is?” Phoebe demanded.
“My real name is Willow Connors. Although after we moved to Marlborough, grandpa changed the Connors to Parks, just in case the Vipers were still looking for him.”
Judson gasped. “I know that name,” he whispered. “Jonah Connors AKA Dogwood of the Devil’s Advocate MC were running guns twenty years ago. The police and ATF always figured the shootout in Lowell eighteen years ago was due to a gun deal gone wrong. Twenty one people died that day.”
Willow shrugged. “It could have been. From what little I remember as a six year old kid was my grandfather and Dad moving a truckload of crates arou
nd the property. They would store the crates underground for as long as they were there.”
Judson frowned. “I don’t think AFT ever found any guns or storage areas on the property at the time.”
“No one would know where to look.” Willow grinned. “My grandpa was a wise old man. He had some very clever hiding places and unless you knew where to look, you’d never find them.”
“Your grandfather was likely breaking the law at the time.” Gage growled. “I don’t know if I would be proud of that or not.”
Willow sneered. “I was a six year old kid at the time, what the hell did I know of laws or breaking them? All I knew was that my family was there and we loved each other. That’s all that mattered to me.”
“I hate to interrupt this conversation but what are we going to do about the book?” Judson asked. “If this was something they came back to a crime scene to find it must hold something they didn’t want the rest of the world to know, don’t you think?”
Michael nodded. “That’s exactly what I think.” He looked around. “The only problem is who can we trust to tell us what this is? If we turn it over to Kenn, it might just disappear.”
Judson nodded.
Gage stared at the book for a moment. “I think I may know of someone who could help us. But I think we should turn over only a copy of what’s in the book. We should keep the original.”
“Who would you turn this over too?” Michael asked.
“I’d rather not say at the moment.” Gage shrugged. “But I will tell you this, I trust them with my life.”
Michael stared at his brother in law for a moment then nodded. “I can live with that. How soon can you contact this person?”
“As soon as I can copy the book,” Gage answered.
Michael got to his feet. “Do it.” Looking over at Phoebe and Willow he said, “Ladies, let’s get your things, you are coming with us.”
Before Willow or Phoebe could object, Michael had them both on their feet and he and Judson were escorting them to their car.