by Logan Keys
“All right. All right.” Luckman rolled his eyes and took the pilot’s elbow. He wobbled as German took up the other side to help him stay on his feet.
German and Luckman shared a look over the top of his head and German laughed dryly as they lead the pilot outside.
Greg met them at the truck with a perplexed expression. “Don’t ask,” Luckman said. Then he told Terry, “I hope you have some coffee on that plane.”
“What? Why?” she asked as they got back inside the Ford.
“We need to sober up our new pilot.”
Chapter Two
New York City, New York
Bob studied the empty, snow-filled street as Michelle explained all that had happened between their last seeing of one another. She told him about Jefferey and Herc. She told him about being arrested with Reese. She told him through tears about the police officers who’d been killed.
Bob didn’t say much. He shook his head here and there, and even cursed at the ending, bitterly angry just like she was. But finally, he stood, and hugged Michelle tightly in his strong arms. And with his calloused hands, he rubbed her back and told her that everything was going to be as all right as he could make it. And that only made her cry harder.
Michelle had never had a dad, not like most people had dads. Her parents had divorced early, and her father was always busy or missing or working—basically absent. If she could have traded that man for Bob, she’d have done so in a heartbeat. This was her family now. And she realized that she not only cried for the innocent dead men who’d lain cold and alone out in the streets while she could do nothing but watch, but she also cried because Bob and Carry were now in the same type of danger. Nowhere was safe. Not with the new world of everything going crazy.
“Let it out,” Bob said. “There’s no one around.”
Michelle glanced back anyway, just to be sure. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this. It was a pride thing, but if that was all she had to keep her chin up, so be it.
“Hey,” he said, meeting her gaze. “I’ve broken down too. Does that help? With Carry sick and you turned up missing…I mean, I just came home, dammit. I’ve barely returned to my family, and everything goes to hell…? I’m tired, Michelle. I’m so dang tired of being a fighter. But you and me, that’s what we are. Fighters.”
She wished that she could believe him. She really did. But the truth was that this city was finally taking Michelle apart bit by bit. It had never won before. Not late on the subway, gripping the can of mace in her pocket. Not when she’d gotten what she thought was swine flu from that hole in the wall place everyone said was the very best Thai food. And not when her job had pulled her into a conspiracy that had almost gotten her killed. Not even then.
But suddenly she felt ready to break. Michelle had seen death up close and personal now. It was brutal and scary. She could reach out and touch it as the life bled into the snow. And she’d had to fight for survival, physically, against people who were trying to rob her of the last necessities she’d had. Even with Cameron giving them the bowling alley to use she knew that any moment they could run into those people from before. People like Jefferey and Herc. Or the same people who’d murdered the officer. “They were driving the police car, but I don’t know what they’re in now. You don’t understand,” Michelle said. “They were monsters and they’re just looking for someone like us to hurt.”
Bob nodded. “That’s why Dawson’s coming back with me. And his boys. Donny’s going to help too. We’ll have people for security around the clock. It can be done. Trust me.”
Bob’s son Donny had taken a lot of the responsibility off Bob’s shoulders since Michelle had left, it seemed.
Michelle rubbed her temples. The bump on her head throbbed. “Maybe we should stay on Long Island, after all. Maybe it was a bad idea to try to move everyone.”
Bob sighed. “No. As much as I hate mixing up with these two, you’re right. He has everything we need here and then some. Besides, the same type of people will be everywhere now. The city won’t be the only place that’s dangerous. Some are looking to take advantage, or too hungry to care. The law is gone now. Things will start to get worse. We have to weather the storm, is all.”
She nodded and wiped her eyes. This was it, she thought. Michelle knew she couldn’t break down again, even if it was just to keep that frown off Bob’s face. He had so much to deal with already but at least now, Carry would have her medicine. And he’d started to hope again. Michelle wouldn’t crush that by telling him anymore of the bad.
Side-by-side Michelle and Bob entered the bowling alley and Cameron came over. Reese and he had been speaking together in low voices. Reese had reacted so viscerally when she’d seen him for the first time again. She’d thought he was dead and so it was as if she were seeing a ghost. She’d grown paler than usual, and her eyes had shifted with disbelief.
Even now, her gaze was pinned to Cameron’s back as he approached Bob and Michelle. “What about them?” Cameron asked, motioning to his two hostages. Michelle still got a chill when she looked at Seagerman, but Bob focused his glare on Al.
Al smiled. “Partner,” he said. “I knew you’d turn up again. Missed you. How’s the family?”
“We let them go,” Bob said, ignoring Al and turning away to face Cameron.
Cameron and Michelle answered at the same time. “What!”
“Once Dawson and Donny get here, we let them go. But they go, they don’t linger or return.” Bob turned back toward his partner. “They don’t come back, or we shoot them on sight.” He pinned Al with his gaze who shrunk in his seat.
Michelle shook her head. “That seems…”
“Okay,” Cameron said.
“…irrational,” Michelle finished.
“Irrational…?” Bob gave her a strange glance. “You want me to shoot them or try to keep them prisoner here with everyone once they arrive? Keep them tied up next to the kids?”
Michelle swallowed. She hadn’t thought much about that part. “But we can’t just... I mean what if…” Hadn’t she just told herself to stop bringing up the bad to Bob?
Finally, she nodded. Solidarity. That’s all she needed to be focused on.
Bob was already approaching the two men. He got close and squatted down to eye level. “I know you two were here plotting against your boss, and to be honest, I don’t blame you. A nest of vipers. All of ya. But we’re taking up residence here, and we don’t need any trouble. If I let you go, do I have your word that you’ll leave? I don’t want to see you two ever again. Understand…? If I do this, it’s with a warning. I see either one of you skulking around out here, and I don’t ask, I just shoot. You got me?”
Seagerman nodded and finally, so did Al, although he seemed to beseech Reese who was too busy staring at Cameron. It was like a sick and twisted soap opera, Michelle thought.
Seagerman told Bob, “It’s never been anything personal. Just business.”
Bob’s face turned red and he went close to Seagerman before pointing in his face. “It’s always been personal when it involves my family. Always.”
Bob finally squared up with his partner. “You’re lucky, you know that? That I’m not the kind of guy who seeks revenge.”
Al swallowed, trying to maintain his smile, but it eventually fell. He could tell—everyone could—that Bob wanted to take his revenge right there.
The door opened and in walked Donny. He came to his father’s side and nodded that he was ready to help.
Bob then nodded to Cameron while pulling his gun. Cameron too held a gun, albeit limply in his hand like he’d had little practice. Michelle walked over and gently took it from him. Cameron gave her a look of gratitude, and she trained the weapon on the two men. If Bob was surprised by the maneuver, he didn’t show it.
The two men shot glances at Reese who made no move to stand up for either one of them. She only had eyes for Cameron and that was it. She wanted to stay where the medicine and supplies would be, that was her goal.
She knew she’d watch Cameron walk out just the same if it came down to her survival. Michelle also knew Reese was self-serving as always, but she wasn’t making herself a nuisance, so they couldn’t just kick her out too. Though Michelle wished they could.
Bob wasn’t interested in the woman’s avoidance. “Reese,” he said. “You come untie them and usher them out. These are your men.”
Reese hid her surprise well as she came over. And she did as commanded which surprised Michelle a tad. Reese lifted her chin. “They’re not my men anymore.” Her withering gaze landed on Al to make it clear. This was her vile version of a breakup and Michelle rolled her eyes at the drama. “As you must know by now,” Reese added. “They’ve come here to try to steal my company.”
Michelle huffed. “As if that matters. As if any of that matters.”
Reese gave that same ugly look to Michelle. “Maybe not to you. But if you’d spent your entire life building something as we have…” She softened when she looked at Cameron. The scientist had a funny lopsided almost smile on his face too, that he straightened out when he realized everyone was watching.
Michelle thought she might throw up.
“You two are traitors,” Reese snapped. “I say we shoot them.”
“We?” Bob asked the same time Michelle did.
Bob and Michelle shared a look and not without a tiny bit of panic. How did they become a “we” with Reese Leeward? The end of the world was a strange place, indeed.
Cameron strode forward, and he muttered something too low for Michelle to hear. Reese nodded, her posture changing instantly. He then moved past her and untied the men, backing out of reach quickly.
The two men rubbed their wrists then held their hands up as Michelle and Bob kept the guns trained. “Now, get out of here.” Bob’s words snapped like a whip and together, Michelle and Bob watched them leave.
She breathed out a sigh of relief. But then her body tensed back up right away imagining how many enemies and evil people they had to watch out for now. Michelle noticed Bob nodded at her as if he could read her mind. He knew she was worried, and he hadn’t put away his gun.
She decided to keep this one herself.
Chapter Three
Just Outside of Chicago, Illinois
Brittany felt like she’d died. She was sure that she had. There was no way she was still alive and in this much pain. Hell was the only thing that came to mind. Hell, and torture.
“Please,” she murmured, lifting her hands, striking out palm first. She connected with flesh and someone cursed before telling her in a soothing voice, “Stay still. We’re here to help you.”
Then she felt like she was lifted and moved somewhere else. Floating. But she couldn’t open her eyes. “Am I…” Brittany found it hard to work her jaw. It felt sore, maybe broken. “Am I blind?” She spoke like a drunk person.
“No, Hun. Blood in your eyes. Be patient, we got water here.” He had a deep rumbling voice. An honest and soft voice. Nothing like before. Someone before had been cruel.
She sputtered as something wet dripped across her face. “We have to wipe it. Here. Don’t fight us, Hun.”
He had a slight twang. It reminded her of someone. Colton… but it wasn’t him speaking. She started to struggle. The kids!
She tried to lift her arms, but they were pinned to her sides. “I can’t see!” she screamed.
“Here. Here,” someone else said and more water poured over her.
Brittany wheezed, coughed, and flinched. “That’s your ribs, Hun. Don’t move too much.” He sounded worried. “We thought maybe you weren’t still with us,” he added softly.
Her body felt like she’d been bent into a pretzel. Every part ached.
“You’re safe,” he promised.
His voice was gentle like a breeze on a hot summer day. Immediately she felt calm. Before, she’d been thinking of hell, but his voice, it was the opposite. A guardian angel came to mind. “That’s it,” he encouraged. “Just relax.” It was so soothing that she felt herself drifting off.
“I’m so tired,” she said listlessly, the adrenalin leaving nothing but pain and exhaustion in its wake.
“Stay with me. No sleeping yet. Not with that concussion you got.”
More water and then she felt a scratchy fabric run across her eyelids a few times. Brittany blinked into the morning light framing a head like a halo. “Are you an angel?”
He chuckled. “That would be a stretch. You imagine an angel named Chuck? Silly right? Ah. There you are, pretty eyes. You got a name?”
She squinted as the world came into focus. A tan Stetson on hair that was as gold as straw. Eyes so blue they seemed turquoise were focused on her with concern. He had laugh wrinkles on either side of them like happy little frames of goodness. Kindness radiated in his gaze, same as in his voice. He was probably in his thirties, late thirties if she had to guess. “Brittany,” she croaked. “Why can’t I move?”
“You can. I was holding your arms as we rinsed your eyes. But it’s probably best to stay still. Your ribs seem broken. At least bruised badly.”
“I’ll stay still. You can let my arms go now.”
“Oh!” he pulled his hands away. “Sorry about that. I’m no doctor, but even I know that you shouldn’t move yet.”
“I thought you were an angel,” she said, her thoughts floating now, the pain a deep pool she was swimming through.
“Just a regular person.” He smiled, and it was like the sun came out. “Brittany is my sister-in-law’s name too,” he offered.
Brittany glanced over and gasped when she saw the car in the ravine. She didn’t remember an accident, but she remembered… “I was with someone,” she said, frowning. “I was with…”
But it grew fuzzy. The more she tried to retrieve the information the worse it got. She’d been with the kids in a farm house not far from here. “Colton,” she said, he…was he with her in that car? She was terrified to ask because she knew she had barely survived herself, but Brittany said, “Did you find anyone else?”
“I think someone was with you, but we haven’t found them,” Chuck answered. “Whoa, wait. Don’t try to sit up yet. Cool your heels.” He touched her side. “You think anything is broken?”
Brittany nodded, she was sure of it. Every breath was agony. “Benton and Lily,” she said, not remembering anything else. How she’d gotten into the car. How she’d crashed. She only remembered before, when they’d gone to a farmhouse for the night. Wasn’t there someone else with them?
“Rex!” she coughed, and then winced and cried out in pain. “The dog…” she wheezed.
Chuck seemed to realize she was struggling. “The person you were with…I can tell they got out. They uh…left, we think. There’s a trail of blood that ends next to the road.” His gaze turned sad.
“Left?” Why would Colton and Bart leave her? Where were the kids? She tried to sit up again, but quickly fell back down flat onto her back. The sun caused a throbbing pain to slice through her head and her vision swam.
“Maybe we should look for her friend? Could they have wandered off dazed, you think?” Another person was at her elbow when Brittany dared to open her eyes again. “I’m Paige,” the woman said. She was the opposite to the glowing brightness of Chuck. Dark headed, olive skin tone with the brownest of eyes. Otherwise, she was quite similar to the man. “Chuck’s sister,” Paige offered when she noticed Brittany’s scrutiny.
Paige glanced at Chuck. “I’m not a nurse, but I’ve had some medical training.” The woman moved, and Brittany saw a chain peeking out from underneath her tan shirt. Dog tags. She must be military. It made Brittany’s heart ache to see it, thinking of Colton. Not remembering how they’d gotten separated. If he was all right. Something bad must have happened.
“I can’t….I can’t remember,” she whispered.
Paige’s gaze snapped to hers and she nodded. “That happens sometimes. It’s our body’s way of protecting itself.”
“It does? People fo
rget this much? I feel as though I’ve lost an entire week.”
Paige leaned down further before placing hands on Brittany’s shoulders to squeeze. “You’ve been in quite a wreck. You’re lucky to be alive. Yes, it happens. It might come back to you later.” She gave a soft smile but there was a hint of doubt in her gaze as her eyes roved over Brittany’s forehead.
The blood, Brittany remembered. It had filled her eyes. She reached up to touch her scalp and gasped. She’d felt loose skin. “How bad is it?” Brittany asked, panic rising.
“It needs stitches. Chuck’s going to try to find someone to help you. Hold tight, all right?”
“Don’t…don’t leave me, okay?” Brittany pleaded while tears forced their way out and the pain began to swallow her whole.
Paige gripped her hand tightly. “I won’t”
**
It felt like Brittany laid in that field for an entire day, but it probably had only been a few hours before Chuck brought an older gentleman to her side. There was a group of people who’d mostly stayed away because Paige told them that Brittany needed rest. Though Brittany fought it, she had dozed on and off from exhaustion and blood loss while she waited.
Too soon, Chuck woke her up and apologized for that fact. He then introduced Scott. The older gentleman was a veterinarian and he had things to stitch the wound, but he warned her, “I’ve never stitched a human before. I hope it won’t, but it might leave a scar.” He looked at the wound professionally while Brittany agreed to his ministrations.
“I’m not sure I’m in the position to be picky,” she murmured.
He smiled but it was fleeting. Other than the concussion, her ribs seemed broken, two, by Doctor Scott’s count, but he found no other major injuries while examining her.
“I have nothing to numb the pain,” he said apologetically, and when he cleaned the wound she groaned, trying to stifle her yells, but failing.
Doctor Scott began stitching while she was letting out sharp cries between stitches. “Sorry,” he said. “This part is a bit raw.”