by Kuhn, N
“Jones, it ain’t happening. This is ‘The Kelli’,” he says, using those corny finger quotes. All the men sort of nod and ‘Oh’ as he says it.
“What do you mean, ‘The Kelli’?” I ask, mimicking him.
“He may have confessed one drunken night that he’s always been in love with you and you’re the one that got away. We all know who you are. We also know his temper. If anything happens to you, we’re done for. He’d hunt us all down one by one and it wouldn’t be pretty.” A few of the guys laugh nervously. If the situation weren’t so dire, I would have laughed too. But all it does is sit on my shoulders, eating at me, adding to my guilt. Why couldn’t I just tell him I loved him too? Why did I have to be so damn stubborn back in that cave? I felt something special when we made love. But my stupid walls. The stupid walls protecting myself from him hurting me again wouldn’t go down. I couldn’t let him in and now I may lose him forever.
“Well he isn’t here and I’ll do what I want. You’re not going to stop me. Give me the damn bag back. Let’s go. If they have him, he’s probably in the room I was in. Window high up in the room, but ground level from outside. Too small to fit through, you got any C4? We just need a little bit, to blow the window out enough for him to fit through. From what I saw, there’s only one way in and out. That’s the front door. There’s a large picture window in the back, no door. The whole place is basically one open room, with stairs going to a second floor.” Jones smiles, straightening his stance.
“At your service ma’am. I’m the explosives expert here. Sounds like this may be an easy rescue. Nice easy open layout and all, yea, we got this. Mitch is going to owe us some drinks after this. But at least I’ll have some fun! I love blowing shit up.”
“No, no, no. We’re not doing anything. Damn it Kelli, Mitch told me you were stubborn, but hell. If you don’t care about our wellbeing when we find Mitch, then you better damn well care about his and that of our team. You will stick to my side like glue, do you understand me? Do not move more than twelve inches away from me at any time. I can’t protect you if you’re too far away. Got it? That’s the only way I’ll let you do this and not tie you up and throw you in the back of my truck.” Though he was trying to sound intimidating, it just came out as sweet. He’s worried about his friend, but more so, worried about what his friend would go through if he survived and I didn’t. That’s a true friend. Something else I feel like I’ve been lacking in my life. I have a few friends here and there, but no one who would throw their lives on the line for me like this. Mitch was my first and last best friend.
My chest aches at the thought of him. Wondering what is being done to him, if he told them where he left the money, does he know Cameron is in on this? Though there’s animosity between the two brothers, this may break Mitch’s heart. It will definitely hurt their parents. This is one score I’m ready to settle for good. I’m so done with Cameron lurking in the back of my mind and life. Snapping out of my thoughts, I follow the guys to the trucks. Jones pulls out a small black case and begins assembling something the looks like a large belt. As he molds a small piece of C4, he explains to us that he needs three minutes to get this laced around the window, set the timer and get out of the way. I’ll have to get at least five minutes of distraction out of the men that are there.
“How many guys do they have?” Dodge asks me.
“Well when I left, it was Cameron, Don and Paul Gessatti. But someone was pulling up the driveway when I was running to the woods. I don’t know how many people there were. We have to assume one of them was Mitch and one was Ricky. Your guess is as good as mine right now. If you’re saying Ranger Drake is working with them and wasn’t at the outpost, then maybe him too. That would put us at five of them. So, we’ve still got them out numbered. I think we have a great chance at pulling this off. We also have the element of surprise.” Nodding silently, Dodge seems lost in thought.
“Ok, let’s roll out,” he says, walking away, gun in hand.
Hiking through the woods, we stay close to the road. Searching for Gessatti’s guys, we try to make sure they don’t see us, in case they are out searching for me.
“Do you think that with there only being a few of them that they will be looking for me?” I whisper to Dodge.
“At least one or two of them. My money is on Drake. He’s expendable to them. They can’t just let you go. You know too much.” I nod grimly. All men were on alert, trying to walk silently through the brush. The ten men fanned out across the area with me right next to Dodge like he made me promise. I hate to admit it, but I feel a little safer. I’m a good shot, but these Gessatti’s don’t mess around. I have a swollen face to prove it. As we near a bend in the drive, the men one by one all take a knee. They are wearing ear pieces to talk to each other. I’m the odd man out that can’t hear the conversation. Dodge quickly answers with an affirmative, then looks at me.
“Stay put.” He slowly creeps about twenty feet away from me, staying low to the ground. Then I hear it. Heavy footsteps stomping their way through the underbrush. Out of nowhere, Drake appears. My breath catches. Looking back and forth, he scans the trees and bushes around him. Not even trying to be quiet, I smile to myself. He’s so dead. Dodge sits still, like a lion hunting its prey. The moment Drake steps past him, he springs up, wrapping his large arms around Drake’s neck. The park ranger struggles, trying to loosen the grip on his throat. Within a minute, it’s over. Dodge let’s go and allows the man’s body to drop to the ground. Pulling handcuffs from his back pocket, he latches them onto Drake. At least the man is still alive. The way he fell, I thought he was dead. But Dodge is a man of the law, so arresting him must be his main priority.
“He’ll be out for a while, and even if he wakes, he can’t go too far. I may have accidentally broken his leg,” he says, smiling as he returns to me. We continue making our way, knowing that we must be close. Once again, a few minutes later, the men all take a knee.
“They can see the cabin. They are all going to spread out, fanning around the front. Jones will plant the explosive while Benton watches his back. The rest of the guys will watch our backs while we head to the cabin. I’ll be off to the side where they can’t see me, but I can see them. If anything starts to look wrong, hit the floor. You hear me? You dive for the ground so I can have a clear shot.” I nod, trying to calm my fears. I have to walk to the door, knock and try to get five minutes of conversation out of Don without him taking me inside. I can do this. I have to do this. For Mitch.
“Kelli, seriously. You don’t have to do this. I can do it. You can stay in the woods where it’s nice and safe.” Shaking my head, I stare at him.
“I have to do this Dodge. I’m fine. I can handle myself. I have a knife, a gun, and a mean ass Kin Geri.” He smirks at that.
“Nice, well if all else fails Kel, use that Kin Geri and knock his nuts into his throat.” Patting me on the back, he stands and the men all begin to move into position.
Standing at the edge of the tree line, Dodge hands me the bag. I slowly walk to the front porch that just hours ago I had dove off of in a mad rush to freedom. Now I’m back. I must be stupid, but when it comes to Mitch, I always feel dumber. It’s like he fries my brain cells. The moment I emerged from the woods it was Jones signal to get moving. So the slower I move, the more time I eat up. Dodge warned me that they may have surveillance on the property, but that when all eyes are on me, they’ll miss seeing Jones. About a hundred yards from the porch, the door opens. Cameron, Ricky, a limping Paul and Don emerge. All four men looking large and imposing, lined up, arms all crossed except Don. He stands there, a smug smile gracing his lined face. Cameron has fresh blood and a swollen nose, and a deep gash where I sliced him. Paul is holding his cracked ribs. Smiling, I wave at them.
“Changed your mind, did you?” Don asks me, unable to keep the cockiness from his voice.
“Where’s Mitch? Let me see him,” I yell at him, stopping where I stand. There’s no point in getting any closer if I do
n’t have to. Knowing that they are all here, and Jones has a clear shot at the window, gives me a boost to my confidence.
“Give me the money then you can come inside and we’ll discuss Mitch,” Don says.
“Aw, Daddy Gessatti thinks I’m as dumb as his kids,” I laugh. “I don’t think so. Where the hell is Mitch? I want to see him before I give you anything.”
“You calling me dumb, bitch?” Paul shouts at me, raising his gun at me. Don places a hand on his arm, forcing him to lower the gun back down.
“Well you are, but Cameron sure has you beat there. That asshole couldn’t even rape me the two times he tried. Guess girls just don’t do it for you, do they Cam?” His face turns beat red, his fists clenched at his sides.
“I’m going to love fucking you before I kill you, whore.”
“Knock it off, all of you. Girlie, you must have a death wish. I won’t stand in the way of that, I just want my damn money. Give it to me now.”
“Not until I see Mitch,” I say through gritted teeth. From where I stand in the yard, I had a great view of Jones rushing to the side of the cabin. Trying to not let the men on the porch see, I search out of the corner of my eye for him to return. Placing my hands on my hips, I glare at them.
“Cameron, go get her. It’s chilly out here. I am tired of playing games,” Don says. Cam takes a step off the porch as I see Jones diving for the trees.
Chapter 13
Mitch
My whole body aches. My arms are starting to lose all feeling. Groggily I try to snap awake. Who knows how long I’ve been here. It’s still daylight out, so it could only be a few hours or it could have been a whole day. The door creaks open and Cameron enters the room. Jingling keys in front of him, like a toy, he smiles. The sight of him makes me sick to my stomach.
“You rotten bastard. This is how you treat your family?” I shout at him.
“Family? None of you have treated me like family for as long as I can remember. You’re not my family. The Gessatti’s are. Don treats me like a son, and it helps that I’m not a fuck up like his own kids. This right here, this moment, I’ve been waiting years for. I’m going to enjoy it.” He steps closer to me.
“What about mom and dad. You can hate me for whatever made up reason you have, but you’re their son. What have they done to deserve this?” He just looks at me a moment before answering.
“Well Golden boy, why don’t you tell me, what have they done? Besides ignore me because they had to get to your football games. Push you towards Penny. I loved her Mitch. Did you ever stop to think about that? I loved her,” he says, his voice trailing off.
“I never wanted her Cam. Seriously? All this hate over a girl I didn’t even want?”
“That’s just it Mitchell, if you had wanted her and she was happy, then I would have dealt with it. But you made her sad and upset. So she turned to that douchebag Jessup and ignored me. She said seeing me opened her pain all over again. You’ve always gotten everything you wanted, everything. While I had nothing. Now it’s my turn to make you feel a little of what I’ve been through. Then, I’ll take my turn with Kelli. You’ll know what it’s like to lose someone you love. I thought I took care of that with all those letters I stole, but hell, you two managed to find each other again. That’s okay. I’ll fix it this time.”
“Where is she? Let me see her. I’ll tell your boss everything, but he has to let her go.”
“Don’t be stupid Mitchell. You know there’s no way in hell either of you are getting out of here alive,” he says. As if to emphasize his point, he punches me, snapping my head sideways. Glaring at him, I spit, landing the phlegm in his face. As he wipes it from his cheek, his face turning red, he clenches his fat fist again. Bending my legs on the wall, I push my body forward, extending my leg, kicking him in the gut. He bends over, sucking for air. My body slams into the wall, my arms strained. I’ve almost lost all feeling in them, which is a bad sign. Standing back up finally, Cam comes towards me.
“That was pretty stupid little brother,” he laughs. Hit after hit slams into my stomach. He lands a few hits on the stab wound gracing my leg. I can do nothing more than grunt. I refuse to howl with pain and give him that satisfaction. Suddenly he stops and I realize Ricky has come in and stopped him. I hang my head, staring at the ground, gasping to catch my breath. They whisper to each other, then leave the room without a word to me. I can feel Cam staring at me as he retreats, but I refuse to look up and acknowledge him.
After a few moments, a knock on the window draws my attention. Jones. It’s Jones. Oh god, we’ve been saved. Smiling at him, he gives me a thumbs up and gets to work. Hoping they have a plan, I close my eyes, preparing myself for the battle that’s sure to ensue. I try to quickly assess my injuries, so that I can get patched up and back on my feet. I’m going to kill my brother. There’s no way around it. Counting to myself, I wait for the blast that’s sure to come. Jones doesn’t disappoint. The man could blow the cap off a soda bottle in a china shop without damaging anything around it. He’s a genius. The explosion is sure to draw attention to this room, but hopefully he moves fast. It will take whoever comes a moment to unlock the door. A smoke canister flies into the room and I take a deep breath as the room fills up. Through the grey fog a dark shadow of a man nears me. Another thumbs up and Jason reaches up, snapping the cuffs from the chain with a small bolt cutter. As my arms lower for the first time in hours, they throb as the blood rushes back through my limbs. Stumbling, I fall to my knees.
“Come on man, we gotta run,” Jones says to me as gunfire erupts. Footsteps pounding on the floor as someone rushes towards the room pushes me into action. Moving slowly after so long being hung from the ceiling, I make my way to the blown hole in the wall. A pair of arms come through, and I try to raise my arms. Seeing that I’m having trouble moving, Jones wraps his arms around my waist, picking me up. Benton grabs at my shoulders, pulling me through and I cry out in pain. Finally unable to hold it inside. Laying on the ground as Benton helps Jones out, I look around. The smoke coming out of the hole surrounds us. I can’t see anything but I can hear guns being fired and muffled shouts.
“Kelli,” I yell at Jones. “We have to find Kelli. You guys need to get inside and search this place.” Rocking myself to my knees, I try to stand, only to fall again.
“We got her, don’t worry. She’s the one that told us where to find you and how to get you out. Come on man, let’s get out of the way.” Both men help me stand, lifting my sore arms, I wince, gritting my teeth through the pain. Settling my arms around their necks, they practically drag me into the woods. About a hundred yards into the tree line, they set me down. Benton turns, watching our six as Jones looks me over.
“Damn Calhoun. Looks like you were hit with a meat tenderizer.” His fingers probe into my shoulders and I scream out.
“Yep, shoulders are out of socket,” he says moving down to my leg. He rips my pants apart looking at the large gash in my leg. Since I can still move it, there must not be any muscle damage, but it looks pretty rough. Ripping part of his shirt off, he ties it around my leg. Moving around and being drug through the woods has reopened the cut. Trails of blood down my leg show that I’ve already lost quite a bit, and need to stop from losing too much.
“Jones, there are no ladies around here. You didn’t need to take your shirt off,” I laugh, fighting to keep my eyes open. “Where’s Kel?” I ask, as my head keeps nodding down. I don’t even hear a response before I’m out.
Chapter 14
Kelli
As soon as I hear the explosion, I dive to the ground. Cameron stops dead in his tracks and Don shouts for Ricky to go see what’s happening.
“She set us up,” Paul screams. Smoke begins billowing from the side of the house and I can’t see anything. Damn it, I can’t tell if they have him or not. As I begin to stand, a bullet whizzes by me, close enough I could feel the air. I throw myself back on the ground. Crawling with my elbows, I try to make my way back to the trees, draggin
g the bag behind me. Someone behind me grunts and I hear movement. Someone falls, someone yells out. I hope that the guys are okay. I’d never be able to live with myself if Mitch’s friends get hurt because of me. A hand grabs at my shoulder and spins me to my back. Pinning my shoulders to the ground, Cameron straddles on top of me.
“You owe me bitch. He took Penny from me and I’m taking you.” His fist connects with my cheek and my sight goes red. He stands, throwing me over his shoulder. Walking back towards the house, I hear shouting from Dodge. He can’t shoot because he might hit me. Resisting the compulsion to scream, I struggle to throw him off balance and let go of me. But he outweighs me by at least a hundred pounds or more and it doesn’t work. When he walks up the porch, I see Paul, shot in the forehead, eyes wide open. His death gaze is disturbing. Inside, Don and Paul are fighting with a few of the other Rangers. Cameron continues, carrying me up the stairs. Throwing me onto a bed, he climbs on top of me. Combating my wrists, Cameron tries to hold me down beneath him.
My gun must have fallen to the ground when I dove, the bag of money was off to my right. Lifting my leg, Cameron is too busy trying to rip my shirt with one hand to notice. Trying to reach for the knife in my leg holster proves harder than I thought it would be. I just can’t quite get there. Gun shots erupt behind us again and Cameron stills. He looks down at me wide eyed, blood beginning to drip from his mouth. Bucking my body, he slumps to the side. I scramble out from underneath him, looking in the direction the gunshot came from.