She hoped he showed up on her mountain again, cause this time she’d be ready. And her heart would be surrounded by a wall made of bricks and mortar.
This was her home, her lifeblood. And she would protect it to her last breath.
A little while later Sparrow was nearing the camp, close enough that she could just make out the back of Miss Kay’s house. She crouched down, watched and waited. Most of the camp’s residents were still up, getting ready for the night. She’d have to be real careful to not be seen. Especially since Jimbo’s house was right next to Kay’s.
Sparrow crept out from the safety of the tree line and made her way to Kay’s back door. There wasn’t a porch, just a small set of concrete blocks leading to the entrance. Sparrow briefly contemplated knocking, but decided against it. There was too much of a risk that Jimbo would be inside.
She slowly turned the knob and eased the door open inch by inch. The back room with its polished floorboards came into view. Just beyond that was the kitchen, and then Miss Kay’s bedroom on the end. Sparrow stepped inside and shut the door, stopping to listen as someone moved around inside the house.
She took out her knife, held it at the ready, and entered the kitchen. Miss Kay had her back to the room, and was leaning over the stove, stirring up a pot of something delicious. Sparrow inhaled, her eyes closing at the familiar smell of home. “Beef stew is my favorite.”
Kay spun around, a pistol in her hand and aimed directly at Sparrow’s chest. “I wondered when you’d come slinking back.”
Sparrow steeled herself, knowing it wouldn’t be easy to convince Kay of the truth. “I’ve been trying to get back here for a week.”
“You should’ve stayed gone with your lover. I know you helped that boy escape.” Kay tensed, her broad shoulders squared at Sparrow.
“I didn’t run away with him. He kidnapped me.” Sparrow gripped the knife handle tight, praying she didn’t have to use it.
“Not what Jimbo said. He said he seen you taking him away. Said he tried to stop you too.”
Sparrow snorted and put her free hand on her hip. “Oh yeah, did Jimbo tell you he had Hoyt Crowe tied up in that old shack?” Sparrow watched Miss Kay’s expression for any flicker of recognition, but saw none.
“Hoyt Crowe’s been dead for over a decade. Both them boys are.”
“No, he’s very much alive.”
Kay’s mud brown eyes narrowed. “How do you even know about that boy?”
“Cause I caught Jimbo torturing him for information on the location of the deed to Crowe Mountain.” Sparrow dropped the bomb and sat back to see how it would land. Kay would either believe her or kill her. Either way, Sparrow was ready.
“Nobody owns this mountain but me.” Kay’s voice came out as soft but deadly as a rattle snake.
“I know, I would have warned you sooner, but Jimbo tried to have me killed. And then—” Sparrow toed the floor, forcing the lie to her lips, “—then that man I’d taken captive escaped and kidnapped me. Been trying to get away this entire week.”
Sparrow prayed she looked properly embarrassed. Such a thing would have made her look like a fool in front of everyone on Crowe Mountain. And Kay would have punished her, severely.
“You’re telling me my own flesh and blood son is planning to betray me?”
“Yes. Why else would I risk my neck to come back here and warn you?”
Miss Kay shook her head. “No. Not my Jimbo.”
“You know as well as I he’s greedy and he likes to hurt people.” He preferred to torture and maim and peel the flesh from people.
Miss Kay seemed to shake herself and Sparrow prayed she would lower the gun. Prayed she’d believe her. Her entire world was riding on it. “I’ve got to hear it from him with my own ears.” Miss Kay gestured toward the front door with her gun. “Outside, now.”
Sparrow walked out the front door with her head held high and her knife tucked in her waistband. Everyone stopped and stared as Kay led her down the front porch at the point of her pistol. Kay Crowe didn’t hold her gun on someone unless she planned to pull the trigger. The late afternoon sun cast a low glow over the open dirt courtyard. Small groups of men huddled around tables, gambling, while their evening entertainment perched on their laps. The whores were giving it their best to earn some money for the night.
Kay marched Sparrow to the front of Jimbo’s house next door and hollered, “Jimbo Crowe! Get your ass out here right this minute!”
Floorboards creaked as his footsteps filled the clearing. The front door swung open and Jimbo marched out, buttoning up his pants. Sparrow watched as his aggravated gaze turned fearful. Then infuriated. “I see the little traitor came crawling back begging for scraps.”
Before Sparrow could defend herself, Miss Kay said, “She’s got a pretty interesting story. One that I couldn’t believe, thought you might like to hear it.”
Jimbo dropped his arms to his sides and leaned casually against the door frame, though Sparrow could see every muscle in his body tense. “Now Ma, you know I don’t care about no stories.”
“Oh, but I think you’ll like this one.”
Sparrow felt the barrel of the gun dig into her back and fought back her anxiety. Jimbo was too dumb to think fast on his feet. He’d trip up, and then he’d reveal his true nature. He tried to appear casual, but the worry was clear on his face.
“You want to know how I ran this place for so long? Because I’m always thinking ahead. I got people everywhere. I know everything.”
Jimbo straightened from the door, his meaty hands clenched into fists. “Whatever that little bitch told you is a lie.”
“Seems she knows things she shouldn’t. That she couldn’t possibly know. Things she claimed to see with her own eyes. Girl says you’re planning to betray me.”
Miss Kay’s voice rang loud and clear. Jimbo seethed with hatred and Sparrow squared her shoulders. She wasn’t scared of him, not anymore. “Why don’t you tell her what you had planned, Jimbo? Tell her about the land deed.” It was a gamble, but it paid off when Jimbo’s skin went pale. Still, he was a stupid man and he didn’t know when to quit. “You mean you want me to tell her how I caught you trying to steal it?”
“Me? I wasn’t the one hiding a prisoner in the old shack.”
Jimbo smirked and leaned back against the door frame. Alarm bells went off in Sparrow’s mind. He appeared too confident.
“Ma already knows about what you did, girl. About how you helped your prisoner escape. I told her I tried to stop you, but that fella knocked me out and I got the scar to prove it.” Jimbo pulled a clump of dirty red hair back from his temple, revealing a jagged red wound.
Sweat beaded across her hairline and she scrambled for a better explanation. “Did you tell her about stringing Hoyt Crowe up in that shed?”
Gasps filled the clearing, but Sparrow didn’t dare take her gaze from Miss Kay’s boy.
“Everyone knows the Crowe brothers died a long time ago. If you’re going to lie, you at least need to speak sense.”
“I saw you with my own eyes.” Sparrow felt control slipping from her grasp.
“I would never betray my ma. But I will kill for her.” That familiar hard glint lit Jimbo’s mud brown eyes. Sparrow felt the hard press of steel dig into her back and grief settled heavy on her shoulders.
Miss Kay’s whispered words practically scalded her ear. “I told you, you shoulda stayed away.”
At that moment Geraldine, drunker than Cotter Brown, stumbled out the front door. It took her a minute to realize what was going on. Once she did, she slapped her hand over her chest and nearly fell over sideways. “Oh Lord! Miss Kay, I swear to you I was gonna tell you. I tried to stop him. I swear to God. Please don’t kill me.”
Jimbo turned on her in a flash and knocked her to the ground. “Shut up you filthy whore!”
Geraldine was either too drunk, too stupid, or a shade too much of both. She wailed, crawling on her hands and knees off the porch, and reached out to g
rab the bottom of Kay’s long dress. “I swear I tried to stop him, but he threatened to kill me. I never wanted to betray you.”
Sparrow felt a wave of darkness behind her as Kay pulled the gun from her spine. Sparrow side-stepped out of the line of fire.
“Dammit Ma, you gonna believe that filthy whore? She’s crazy.”
Geraldine’s practiced tears stopped in an instant and she turned on her lover. “You didn’t say that when I was riding you like a lazy horse a minute ago.”
“Shut up.” Kay booted Geraldine, and the rail thin girl went rolling. Jimbo pushed away from the door frame, his hand sliding up to his waist band. Sparrow tensed and reached behind her back to ease the knife from her pants. She held it by the very tip, carrying it low and out of sight.
Kay aimed the pistol at her son. And for the first time in her life, Sparrow saw the woman’s hand shake. “You betrayed your own kin?”
Any semblance of love disappeared from Jimbo’s face and he sneered, “This place needs a man to run it. You don’t let me run the heroin, and you’re costing us a fortune.”
Kay’s eyes bulged and she locked out her elbow, lowering her finger from the side of the gun to hug the trigger. “This is all about drugs and money. You’re too stupid to run this place.”
Sparrow took a small step closer to Kay, trying not to draw Jimbo’s attention and failing miserably. “This is all her fault. Ever since you adopted her, you favored her over your own sons.”
“That’s a lie.” Sparrow gasped. She’d fought tooth and nail for every ounce of respect she’d earned from Miss Kay.
“I always knew you’d turn out to be a coward like your daddy. He was always looking out for himself, rather be fucking some whore than taking care of business,” Kay said. “Only way you’re getting control of this mountain is over my dead body.”
Sparrow flinched as Kay pulled the rigger. The entire courtyard echoed with the sound of a hollow click. Kay pulled the trigger again and again and still nothing happened.
“Now see that’s where you’re wrong, Ma. I’ve been planning this for a long time. You can pull that trigger all you want, but that gun ain’t gonna fire.”
Jimbo lifted his own pistol, aiming at his mother. Sparrow froze, her heart stopping.
“If you’d just listen to me, I’d let you live. But there ain’t room but for one leader. It’s time for you to step aside.”
Jimbo’s finger dropped to the trigger in slow motion. Sparrow lifted her knife and let it fly, diving sideways at the same time. An explosion boomed through the air. Sparrow heard a thud and felt her body jerk backwards and then fall to the ground. Kay stood, her face pale with shock. Stunned, Sparrow followed her gaze to see Jimbo drop to his knees, Sparrow’s knife embedded in his throat.
“Sparrow, hold on. I’ll send Bob for the doctor.” Kay dropped to her knees beside Sparrow and yelled out for Bob Crowe. She ripped a kerchief out of her dress pocket and shoved it against Sparrow’s shoulder. Pain erupted down her arm, making her gasp. But it was nothing next to the satisfaction of seeing her knife protrude from Jimbo’s neck. Her arms and legs felt like they were going numb and black edged around her vision. Sparrow embraced it, silently praying she’d pass out, her mind unable to process the horror.
“Where’s that boy? Bob!” Kay shouted and pushed against Sparrow’s shoulder. She tried to listen for his footsteps, but all she could hear was the blood pounding in her ears.
Then she heard the ominous click of a gun being cocked and saw the nozzle of a pistol press against Kay’s temple. Sparrow met Miss Kay’s eyes and saw the banked fury burning there.
“You’re right, mother. Jimbo was too stupid to run this mountain. I tried to bide my time, but I couldn’t stand back and watch you two run this place into the ground.”
So both my boys have betrayed me,” Miss Kay whispered.
Suddenly Geraldine appeared out of nowhere and landed a vicious kick to Kay’s side. Sparrow watched helplessly as she fell over, gasping for breath. Geraldine spat next to her head and said, “You and Jimbo were so easy to play. Now it’s my turn to be queen of the mountain.” And then Geraldine wrapped her arms around Bob and planted a deep kiss on his lips. So they’d been planning this together all along.
Bob broke free and turned back to face Sparrow. “Have to thank you for taking him out for me. I really wasn’t looking forward to it.”
“Screw you.” Sparrow said and coughed harshly as the burning fire spread across her chest and her vision went blurry.
Geraldine clapped her hands and jumped up and down like a little girl cackling. “Can I kill her? Please?”
Patting her on the back, Bob gave her a benign smile. “Anything for my girl.”
Geraldine bounded up the porch and yanked the knife out of Jimbo’s throat. The realization of what she was about to do made Sparrow’s chest go tight. Geraldine returned to kneel next to her in the dirt. She placed the bloody blade at Sparrow’s jugular. “’Member when you held that knife to my throat? Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?”
Sparrow closed her eyes and tensed, waiting to feel the sharp slice across her flesh. Then she heard a dull thud and she looked up to see that Geraldine had tumbled to the ground—a small bleeding hole in her forehead.
Bob screamed, “Geraldine! Baby!” He swung his gun around wildly as his gaze darted around the clearing. Finding no one, he settled back on the two women at his feet and took aim. “You’ll pay for that.”
Another red dot appeared in his forehead and Sparrow watched the life leave his eyes as he dropped to the ground next to her.
She should have been frightened, but she couldn’t seem to get a firm grasp on reality. She was floating, her vision losing its crispness at the corners.
“Sparrow!” She turned to see Jared running full out from the woods, a rifle raised and ready. “Dammit, Sparrow, answer me.”
Sparrow opened her mouth but couldn’t quite figure out how to say the words. She concentrated, focusing on getting her lips to move, “Jared…”
32
Jared dove to his knees just in time to see her eyes slide shut. Terror gripped him, piercing his heart like a knife as he doubled over her. “Wake up baby, don’t do this to me.”
“She ain’t dead, just passed out.”
Jared ripped his gun from the ground and pointed it straight at Kay Crowe, all of his pent up rage concentrated in his trigger finger. “This is all your fault.”
Jared shook with the effort to regain control. But all he could see was Sparrow’s lifeless body next to him. Although Kay hadn’t pulled the trigger herself, he felt certain she was responsible.
He leaned in, pressing the end of his rifle to Kay’s head, ready to put a bullet into her brain. His need to avenge and protect ripped a guttural cry from his lips. “You tried to kill us! We were just little boys! Why?”
Kay looked at him, her gaze afraid but resigned. He wanted to scream at her for being calm when the things she had done to him had tormented him his entire life. When she didn’t answer his question right away, he pressed harder, bowing her backwards under his fury.
“Jared, stop. I can’t let you do this.” Merc approached, his weapon raised, scanning the crowd that had gathered around them.
“You have no idea what she’s done to me and my family.”
“I know, but you’ll regret it if you kill her. Besides, think of what that would do to Sparrow.” Merc’s no nonsense words penetrated the fog of rage. “Put it down, brother.”
Jared tried to lower his weapon, he tried really hard, but he couldn’t unlock his arms. “Tell me.”
Kay sighed, her gaze skittering to Sparrow before returning to him. “I guess you’re gonna kill me no matter what. There ain’t no big deal about it. I wanted the land, plain and simple. When your ma and pa died, I saw the opportunity and took it.”
Red colored his vision, his muscles bulging with exertion. “You locked us in a closet. Left us to starve to death!”
“Y
eah and you escaped. So, you had it tough growing up. Welcome to the fucking family.” Kay held his gaze even as Jared fought with every ounce of control he possessed not to kill her. Not to finish it.
“Jared, you need to make a choice,” Merc said. “ Save your girl or have your revenge. I’m not so sure you can have both.” He backed up to him, constantly shifting and keeping the crowd in sight. “But you gotta make a choice now cause these hillbillies are getting antsy.”
Jared shook his head, trying to physically get his emotions under control. Blood seeped from Sparrow’s wound, spreading over her shirt in a growing circle of red. Her life was slipping away. He knew then he’d choose her every day for the rest of his life. Jared lowered his gun, slung it over his shoulder, and stood. “Your entire family betrayed you. Now they’re dead. And everyone here knows that the true heirs to Crowe Mountain are alive. Good luck with that.”
Jared gently scooped Sparrow into his arms and walked away. The people in front of him parted to allow him through, everyone but Squirrel, who stood at the very back, a bag thrown over his shoulder and his knife at his hip. “You got room for one more young fella?”
“You’re coming if I have to drag you.” Jared kept walking, heading straight to his waiting truck. He laid her in the back seat and then ran around to the other side to climb in and put her head in his lap. Her skin was only one shade darker than a piece of paper. Blood splatter covered her face and shirt and arms.
“Dammit, Merc. Hurry up!”
Merc climbed into the driver’s seat and Squirrel hopped into the other. When Merc sped out of the compound, Squirrel turned around. “Don’t worry, boy. That girl’s got grit in her veins.”
“Sparrow?” He gentled his voice like a caress. No response. He raised a hand, unable to control its shaking, to touch her face. Still nothing.
Reckless River: Men of Mercy, Book 3 Page 23