by Hunt, Jack
He lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat. “I just lost my brother because of you.”
“GET OFF ME!” she yelled as he squeezed harder.
Suddenly from outside the door there was knocking. “Ray. It’s Sam. Open up.”
“Sam!” Teresa yelled.
Ray continued. “You think anyone will give a shit if you’re dead?” He threw her down on the floor and began choking her while Sam beat on the door. Seconds later, the door burst open, parts of the frame spat across the room like a blast from a shotgun. Sam soared over the desk and yanked Ray back. “Leave it. She’s not worth it.”
“It’s because of her Lee’s dead.”
“Ray. She’ll be dealt with but not this way.”
Ray shoved back, launching Sam across the room into the wall. In that split second of distraction, Teresa got up and was clambering over her desk trying to escape when Ray latched on to her ankle and dragged her back to the floor. “Ray!”
“She’s been communicating with Bennington via the ham radio.”
Sam lunged at Ray and wrapped an arm around his neck and put him in a chokehold just to get him off her. Teresa was coughing and spluttering, her face red. Had he waited any longer she would have passed out. Ray thrashed in Sam’s grasp. A couple of Ray’s guys appeared at the door and looked as if they didn’t know what to do. “We can use her. Listen to me. We can use Teresa!” Sam shouted.
Then as if a light came on in his head, Ray stopped struggling. His body went limp.
“Are we good?” Sam asked. Ray nodded. He released his grip and Ray rubbed his throat. As Sam rose, Ray lashed out and cracked him on the jaw sending him back against the wall. “You ever do that again. I will kill you. You understand?” Ray said.
Sam wiped his lip with the back of his hand. “Listen to me for two damn minutes. We can use this to our advantage. She’s no good to us dead. You want payback, you’ll get it but killing her isn’t going to bring back your brother… but keeping her alive might give you Bennington. I want him as badly as you do.” He wiped his face again and took a seat. “Fuck, you got one hell of a punch,” he said opening his mouth and rubbing his jaw. Ray waved off his men and took a seat across from him, every few seconds he would give Teresa dagger eyes.
Sam turned to Teresa. “What’s Bennington up to?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t bullshit us, Teresa. You’ve been playing both sides since they arrived.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re a bitch,” Ray said. “I swear I should just put a bullet in your head.”
Sam put a hand out. “Relax.” He looked back at Teresa. “You want to see tomorrow then you’ll do exactly as we say. You understand?”
She pursed her lips and scowled at him.
Sam shook his head. “Really? You want him to shoot you?”
Teresa looked at Ray who was one step away from the edge. “What do you want?” she asked.
“Harris. You’re gonna bring him here along with Bennington.”
She snorted and continued rubbing her neck which was bright red. Sam could see the outline of Ray’s fingers on her skin. “He won’t show up, not with Ray here.”
“Then you’ll tell him he’s gone. That after finding out that his brother was dead, he pulled all his men out. You’ll tell Harris that you want Bennington back in his position and that I’ve gone with Ray. All of us have.”
“He won’t believe it,” Ray said.
“Maybe not but it should create enough curiosity for him to send a few guys this way. I imagine Bennington will be one of them. That’s who shot your brother. That’s all I care about. Harris. He’s just a scared puppet.”
“I won’t do it,” Teresa said.
“Then I guess we have no reason to keep you around.” Ray pulled his firearm and Sam was quick to get between them.
“Wait.”
“C’mon, Sam. She’s playing us like fools. You really think she’s going to feed them to us? I say we get rid of her and attack the camp.”
“Yeah, that sounds smart,” Sam said sarcastically as he got up and went over to the ham radio, took the mic and extended it out to Teresa. “Well?”
“I told you, I’m not doing it. You can kill me if you want but I’m not playing both sides.”
“You already have,” Ray said.
“And you haven’t? Sleeping in my bed. What was that about. Love?” she said in a taunting fashion.
Ray shook his head. “Fuck it. I’m done with this cow!”
Sam grabbed his wrist but couldn’t prevent him squeezing the trigger. The gun went off shattering the window behind Teresa’s head. “Enough! We can do this. Just listen.” Once he saw Ray had snapped out of it, he turned to Teresa.
“Get on that ham radio now and tell Bennington that we are having a meeting tonight to discuss leaving. We’ll plant the seed. He’ll at least buy that after what’s happened. From there we’ll figure it out tonight.”
Realizing that Ray wasn’t messing around, Teresa turned and reluctantly picked up the mic.
Max assumed Eddie was taking him on another wild goose chase. He had visions of arriving at some clearing in the sanctuary to once again find him dumbfounded as to where the cache had gone. Except that wasn’t the case this time.
Hiking through the old woods and across rocks lined with thick, verdant moss and carpeted with orange pine needles, Max got a sense that someone was watching them. “Are we getting any closer?”
“Yeah, it’s just over this rise.”
“You said that four times.”
“Geesh. Someone’s impatient,” Eddie replied.
As they came over a rocky stretch, Max could smell a fire, and hear voices. Eddie motioned for him to get low to the ground as they came up to the top of the steep incline and took cover behind a large collection of boulders. “Down there,” he said. Max scrambled up to get a better look. That’s when he saw a fire pit and a group of around twenty. It was hard to tell how old they all were from their position as some of them were hooded, others looked as if they were teenagers though. One of the campers pulled a rope and Max’s gaze shifted up into the tall pine trees. His eyes widened at the sight of wooden catwalks that snaked between the trees and tiny huts.
“Who are they?”
“Well they’re not Ewoks, that’s for sure,” Eddie said cracking a grin. “But those bastards have my weapons.”
“Yours?” Max asked.
“Ours. You know what I mean.”
Max squinted. “Why are they here?”
“Do I look like I know the answers? I don’t care why they’re here. Maybe it’s an orgy. I just want to get my hands on our gear.”
Max grumbled. “Well I don’t see it.”
Eddie pointed. “Over there, do you see that container?” It was a Rubbermaid box with a white X painted on the side. “That’s mine.”
“And you know this because?”
“The X on the side. X marks the spot.”
Max shook his head in disbelief. “X marks the spot? What the hell are you talking about?’
“You know, like hidden treasure. X marks the spot. I marked the container.”
“Oh my God,” Max said in a slow voice before sighing. “Your stupidity knows no end.”
“What?”
“You’re meant to do that on a map, or on a tree nearby, not on the actual thing you’re burying. Uh!” He looked back at the ragtag group who resembled a tribe.
“Well sorry for getting it wrong. Geesh. Anyway, the point is that’s ours.”
Max crawled away.
“Where you going?” Eddie asked.
“You’re not getting those back. We should leave.”
“Leave? But we just got here?”
He shrugged. “I have things to do.”
“Like what? See Beth?”
Max turned and his brow furrowed. “No. But I have better things to do than scour the woods
and risk my ass trying to get back some empty box.”
“We don’t know it’s empty.”
“Oh please. Come on, Eddie. You’re wasting my time. I’m not going down there and risking my life.”
“Oh but you’d risk mine and your life heading up to the FEMA camp. And you say I’m stupid. We’ll you’re not too bright yourself, buddy.” He turned back toward the camp. “You know what? Even though your idea was stupid, I said I would go with you. So thanks. Thanks for nothing.” Max stood there looking at his back. He groaned then trudged back.
“All right. How do you want to do this?”
Eddie raised a brow. “The old-fashioned way. We head in there and call them out on their shit.”
“You are joking, right?” Max replied.
He shrugged. “No.”
Max raised a finger and cleared his throat. “You want us to walk into a group that we don’t know anything about and just ask for the weapons back.”
“I’m not asking for permission. I’m telling them we’re taking them back.”
Max patted him on the back and chuckled. “Well best of luck with that plan, my friend.”
Once again he turned to leave.
“I thought you were gonna help?”
“I thought you had a better plan.”
“I do,” Eddie shot back.
“No you don’t.”
“Do you?”
Max stopped walking. “Yeah, we leave.”
“I’m not leaving until I have those guns.”
Max grit his teeth. “Well then at least sneak in under the cover of darkness.”
Eddie got up from the ground and made his way down the slope, pitching sideways as he came. “Look, if you think sneaking in at night is better than my idea, you are a dumbass. That’s a surefire way to get shot. Whereas if we go in there and speak to them, man to man, I’m sure we can reach some agreement.”
Max stared back at him. He couldn’t believe he was about to agree to his asinine plan. He gave a muted sigh. “Okay.”
“Okay? You’ll do it my way?”
“Yep,” Max said in a nonchalant manner, raising a hand. “Lead the way.”
“Hold on a second. You’re going to do it my way?”
“Yes. And hurry up before I change my mind.”
Eddie grinned, puffed out his chest as if he had won some world champion chess match. They turned and headed down into the unknown.
They didn’t make it far.
Fifty feet from the camp, bodies dropped out of trees all around them, a few areas of the forest floor flipped up and the sound of guns being cocked could be heard all around them. Both of them raised their hands. “Damn it Max, I told you this was not the way to the massage parlor,” Eddie said out loud. None of them cracked a smile.
Within seconds, they were grabbed and thrust forward toward the camp. All eyes were on them as they were shoved through a crowd. “Do you mind?” Eddie muttered.
“Caine!” one of them bellowed.
A lean guy with a buzz cut emerged from a tent. He was wearing a black V-neck T-shirt, tight jeans, combat boots and had a handgun strapped to his thigh. His muscular arms were all tattooed up with Chinese letters that reached his neck. Slung over his shoulder was an AR-15. Following behind him was a female with long dark hair who was dressed in a tight black leather jacket, and yoga pants with boots similar to Caine’s. Eddie leaned into Max and whispered, “I bet you any money that gun is ours.”
“Quiet,” Max whispered.
“What have we got here?” Caine asked, a smile dancing on his lips.
“They were approaching from the west.”
Knowing Eddie was liable to put his foot in his mouth, Max was quick to answer. “We’re from Castine. Sorry to barge in but my friend here says it appears you have something that belongs to us.”
Max looked around the camp and could now tell how old they all were. They couldn’t have been over twenty-one. There were no adults, so to speak, at least from what he could see.
Caine took a step back and grinned. “Is that right?”
“Damn right it is,” Eddie said pointing to the box. “I buried that and hid it well.”
“Obviously not well enough.”
“Anyway, hand it over and we’ll be on our way.”
Caine stared back at him with a blank expression. He looked at a girl beside him and then burst out laughing. “Get a load of this guy. Hand it over and we’ll be on our way,” he repeated Eddie’s line before snorting. The others around joined in laughing. “Man, you two have got some serious kahooners to come waltzing in here.” He walked over, took a large knife from a sheath on his hip and pointed it at Eddie. “And what if I say no. Huh?”
“Well, all is fair in love and war. I had to ask. No problem. You keep them. I was thinking of upgrading anyway.” Eddie turned to leave and was pushed back.
“Upgrading.” Caine burst out laughing. Eddie joined in. Then in as quick as a flash the smile vanished from his face and Caine burst forward bringing the knife up to Eddie’s throat. “You think this is a fucking game?”
Max tried to intervene but was quickly struck in the ribs with the butt of a rifle by another camper. His lugs buckled and he coughed hard. He gazed up at Eddie who looked as a white as a ghost. “Leave him alone,” Max said.
Caine grabbed the back of Eddie’s collar and thrust him toward a group of his guys. “You two just made a serious mistake.”
10
The town hall meeting was set for seven-thirty that evening. Landon had got word of it on his way over to the Manor that morning. They’d crossed paths with a flustered looking Sam who was on horseback with four others telling those in the community. It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t interested in seeing what kind of setup they had in town. From the little he’d gleaned so far it looked organized but appearances could be deceiving.
“I’ll be there,” Landon replied.
Sam took off and they stood there in the middle of the road wondering what the hurry was. It didn’t take long to shift his focus back to his own troubles.
Although Landon was a little hesitant to go back to the manor, he figured if he and Sara couldn’t resolve their differences, he could always return to her mother’s home. Though he hoped they could. He’d come to realize over the course of his marriage that holding grudges, and drawing out conflict for long periods of time never did anyone any good. His mother who’d been religious would often quote some pithy passage from the Bible about not letting the sun go down while you were still angry. Growing up in a family where religion was the center of everything they did, it took him until his late teens to appreciate the wisdom of that line.
“So what did Max say?” Landon asked Beth as they walked on Shore Road. A light breeze blew in off the ocean, bringing with it a few memories of better days.
“He said he would swing by today. That was before you decided to head back. I’m sure he’ll be pleased.”
“Huh,” he said shaking his head.
“What?” Beth asked.
“You continue to surprise me, Beth.”
“I’m sure there was more to it than that,” Dakota added with a smile.
Beth gave her a playful slap on the arm but said nothing.
“Am I missing something?” he asked.
“Oh nothing important,” Dakota said. “Isn’t that right, Beth?”
Beth simply smiled.
“You two are confusing me.” Landon scooped up a stick from the underbrush and tossed it for Grizzly. He bounded away and returned with it in his mouth. Beth took it the next time and ran ahead with Grizzly, getting him to jump by holding the stick at hip level.
Dakota turned to Landon. “You sure about this?”
“About?”
“Returning so soon after leaving. I don’t think I could do it.”
“I’ve been married a long time, Dakota. I have to give Sara the benefit of the doubt. Besides, under the circumstances it’s very possible that cou
ld have been me.”
She shook her head. “Not me. When I get involved, I’m all in 100 percent. I can handle the bad days but if Mike had ever cheated on me that would have been it. No excuse for that.”
“Seems a little black and white, don’t you think?” He reached for a long piece of grass and stuck it between his lips. As a kid he’d enjoyed chewing on blades of grass. Something about the texture. Probably wasn’t good for him but then neither were cigarettes.
“The way I see it. You get into a relationship to be with that person. If you don’t want it anymore, leave them and move on. Only cowards try to play both sides of the fence.”
“Look, I’m not coming to Sara’s defense here but… I think the human heart can be a little more complicated than that.”
Her brow furrowed. “How so?”
Landon looked at her. “You date many people before Mike?”
“No, I knew him since school.”
“That explains a lot then.”
“Like?” He could tell she seemed offended by his remark.
“I mean you have nothing to compare it to and so you see it the way you do. Had Mike cheated on you and you got involved with someone else or had you suddenly felt strong feelings for a co-worker while married, you might grasp it.”
“Grasp it? You did not just say that.”
He smirked. “What?”
“Grasp it? As if I need to grasp something. Like you’re trying to school me.”
He chuckled. “C’mon, you know what I mean.”
She smiled but he could tell she genuinely was pissed at what he said. “No. No I don’t.”
Landon groaned. “Do I need to explain?”
“I think you should,” she shot back.
He took a deep breath. “Um. How do I put this? The heart wants what the heart wants.”
“That’s one way of putting it Landon but it sounds to me like a way to justify cheating, or a means of escape from a life of boredom with a partner you committed to.”
He chuckled. “There really is no gray area with you, is there?”
She shrugged. “I just see things the way they are. If someone wants in, get in. If you want out, get out. But don’t play games. It’s tiring and life is too short,” she said. “Besides, when you say the heart wants what it wants, you sound like you are speaking from experience.” She paused. “Are you?”