by Rhonda Lott
A silver town car drove slowly through the entrance of the rusted chain length fence, coming to a stop a few feet away from them. Carter stood ramrod straight next to him, surrounding them were the skeletal remains of cars, trucks, and vehicles, of every make and model. It was the perfect location. He and Carter could see anyone that tried to ambush them, but Peirce and his people were coming in blind.
A cold blast of wind kept up a constant flow across his face and his breath puffed out, white clouds in the morning air. Elliot glanced over at Carter. The man’s features were calm. A tick in his jaw, the only sign of tension in the big guy.
The car doors swung open. Brady and two heavily muscled men stepped out. Brady had his ever present fake grin plastered on his face. The rent-a-goons were both bald and huge. They surveyed the area with a bored expression on their faces, the kind that said “I’d like to kill you now then go back to bed.”
“Isn’t this sweet? Fuller brought Chief Lock-um Up to the party.” Brady chuckled, the goons grunted in unison.
“You didn’t exactly come alone.” Elliot nodded to the goons.
“Pierce always overdoes shit. Told him I could take you.” Brady leaned back against the car folding his arms across his chest. “The most feared ‘Trigger Man’ is now a grease monkey. You done found religion, a pretty woman, respect, and all that shit. Yep, you soft bro. Pussied out as fuck.”
Elliot took a step forward. “Done talking to you Asshole. Either Pierce gets out the car or were out.”
Pierce opened the door and unfolded himself from the car. He looked different than Elliot remembered. Gone was the casual khaki and polo wearing former boss and in his place stood a well-dressed CEO. He was always a fit guy even back in the day, but now he was bulked out as hell. He wore his graying dark hair brushed back off his deeply tanned face. His eyes were a steely gray that could freeze you with one look. Pierce looked like he could’ve been featured in Forbes Magazine instead of America’s Most Wanted. There was no resemblance to the cut throat killer Elliot knew Pierce to be.
In that moment past and present collided within Elliot. Pierce, the man who gave birth to Trigger Man, was just a greedy fucker stuffed into an expensive suit, not the demon he so often placed the blame for who he once was. No, Elliot felt the cold hand of reality twist his heart. The blame for his past could be placed squarely on his own shoulders.
“I’m here to end this once and for all Pierce.” Elliot pulled out a small plastic device from his pocket.
“Night Corp is in my past, forgotten. You take the flash drive and leave West Haven for good.”
Pierce pulled his collar around his ears and laughed, shaking his head. “Did you learn nothing about me in the time you worked for me? Unfortunately for you, I’m a distrusting soul. There could be copies out there in this pretty little place, you know, with your mom or a special lady friend.”
Elliot growled and took a step forward.
Carter moved in front of him. “You destroyed a part of my town and threatened my people. Elliot is one of ours now. We protect what’s ours. I suggest you take what you came for. I want to put a bullet between your eyes right now, so please don’t fucking make me.” Carter lifted his hand in the air and made a sweeping motion.
Dean stepped from behind a car, shotgun aimed at the goons. Mitch, Tony, and Gavin, all armed came into view. Elliot was proud of the men. He wasn’t fast friends and they weren’t facing Night Corp solely on his behalf, but for their home. Yet he felt a belonging and shared commitment. No matter how this went down the six of them were willing to lay down their lives for West Haven and its inhabitants. Gabby’s dark brown shining eyes and his mom’s warm smile came to his mind. He clenched his jaw, he had to get these men home to their families alive and he had to protect the women he loved.
“We stand behind Elliot. His fight is our fight. No swollen headed wanna-be villain and his band of pricks will come to us without a fight.” Carter shouted.
“Nice speech. Not without drama and just the right amount of valor. I applaud you Sheriff, but I don’t walk into a game without covering all the bases.” Pierce reached into the back seat.
Elliot’s heart came to a grinding stop as Gabby was pulled from the car. She was still wearing her pajamas and her hands were bound behind her back. Pierce held a gun to her head. The look of terror in her eyes carved out his heart.
Elliot moved forward, but pulled back when Pierce pressed the working end of the gun closer to Gabby’s hair line.
“Not so fast. My hand might get twitchy if you move one step closer. Now, you’re going to bring me that drive nice and slow, then we can trade.”
A familiar coldness took him over. The dim morning faded away to shades of gray and his sole focus was on the hand holding the gun on his love.
He loved this woman with the infectious laugh and caring heart. His insides felt like a solid block of ice. Negotiations were over. Pierce put his hands on Gabby. The man’s life was forfeit.
Elliot stared into Gabby’s eyes and prayed she could forgive him once again. It was time to strike the killing blow, be the monster Pierce knew. The monster he sent out into the world as his hand of death. Now that murderous hand was reaching for Pierce. Elliot smiled, as his instincts took over. Pain and blood were promised in his smile. Time to bring death to his past and Night Corp.
**
He’d come for her while she slept. The metal of the gun cold against her temple. Brady’s hyena grin taunted her as he tied her hands behind her, then like the animal he was, tossed her over his shoulder. He shoved her into the back seat of a big car.
Gabby didn’t go easy. Hands tied and with a weapon pointed at her, she kicked at the well-dressed man lounging next to her. The other man never even looked her way. Brady subdued her with a thick forearm across her neck, cutting off her air supply. When she thought she was going to black out, he allowed her to breathe again. Gabby decided to chill and catch her breath. She had to live through this.
The older guy had to be Pierce. He looked like he belonged in a board room not traveling out to kill someone. She thought about talking to him, maybe reasoning with him, but the stone cold look in his eyes stopped her.
Pierce was on a mission, his mind was set. She saw in that moment that Elliot was so very right. Pierce wasn’t going to take what he wanted and leave them alone. He was going to eliminate them all.
They entered the dilapidated junk yard and through the windshield, she could see Carter out in the open and next to him was Elliot. What were they thinking? This was their brilliant plan? The two of them against four.
The two monstrous looking men in the front of the car were armed. Brady and Pierce had big ass guns of their own. The two of them would be facing double their number. The henchmen and Brady got out. She tried to make out what Carter and Elliot were saying but couldn’t. For the first time that morning fear all but paralyzed her. She was afraid for herself, of course, but the numbing fear for Elliot pulled her apart inside.
“Don’t make this hard for yourself young woman. If you fight me again, I’ll kill you in front of him.” Pierce’s voice sounded like the threatening low rumble of distant thunder.
Gabby shivered. The temperature inside the car seemed to drop a few degrees as she stared into Pierce’s glacial gray eyes. He wasn’t the calm businessman, he appeared at first glance. Silent, emotionless, and creepy were the words that popped into her head.
The door opened. “Don’t move.” Pierce told her before exiting.
Gabby thought about jumping out the other door, but goon number two was standing there. Before she could come up with another plan, Pierce grabbed her and pulled her out the car. He placed the gun to her temple. Cold air whipped through her thin pajamas and the cold metal of the gun had Gabby shaking. Elliot’s features transformed in an instant. He went from intense to a deadly calm that surpassed Pierce’s detached coldness.
Oh, so that’s him. The Trigger Man up close and personal. Elliot glanced her
way briefly, then the world stood still. Gabby could see every twitching muscle on Elliot’s body, Carter standing like the native warrior of his ancestry, and then there were Dean and the other men of West Haven taking up post among the wrecked vehicles.
Her heart thundered and Gabby felt a twisting in her gut. No Elliot wasn’t alone against Pierce and his men, but how could they save her when she was a hair’s breath away from a bullet to the brain. El wasn’t going to let her die. He was a power onto himself. She only had to give him time and he would get her away.
From the corner of her eye, Gabby saw Brady toss something across the frozen ground. Gabby frowned, then a loud explosion threw snow and dirt into the air, the force rocking her back onto the car.
“Son of a bitch.” Dean shouted out.
Through the smoke Gabby could make out the shocked, angry expressions wash over the faces of the West Haven men. They stood motionless, aware what taking a step might cause.
Gabby’s eyes watered from the smoke. That fucker Brady had planted explosives under the ground. Pierce meant what he said about being prepared.
“Hey fellas, be very careful where you step.” Brady sang out. “Couldn’t trust Fuller not to bring his buddies to the party so I planted a few dozen surprises out here for you blokes.”
That fucker. Gabby felt her body shivering even worse now as Brady tossed what looked to be big pebbles out into the junkyard. Whatever the fuck he threw, landed accurately, and triggered bomb after bomb.
Tricky psychotic bastard and his bombs. Explosion after explosion rocked the ground, smoke and snow flew everywhere. The old wrecks were rocketing into the sky, sending the West Haven men ducking for cover.
In the middle of the chaos shots rang out. Gabby was pulled in close to Pierce’s body. Was he using her as a shield or was he preparing to shoot her, she didn’t have time to find out. One second she was against Pierce with all hell breaking loose around her and the next she was flying through the air as a land mine detonated a few feet away from them.
Fully expecting Pierce to shoot her through the head, Gabby’s will to live made her bold. She was bound and the world was a white snowy war zone. The sounds of gunshots and grunts of pain were all she could hear. She wasn’t going out like this. Not when she’d found the man her heart longed for, not when he wanted them to have a life together and this piece of shit was the only thing stopping them.
Gabby didn’t have the use of her hands, but Pierce was so focused on the explosions and looking out for Elliot, that his hold on her had relaxed a bit. In one quick motion she dropped to her knees and bit down hard on his thigh.
Pierce screamed in pain, pushed her off his body and slapped her across the face with the butt of his gun. Gabby’s head rocked back on her shoulders and stars flashed behind her eyes. Jarring pain blasted through her face, and then she heard a cry full of rage rise above all the other noise. Elliot ran through the exploding earth towards her.
His wrenching cry of fury and pain caused her heart to shutter in her chest. Pierce raised his gun towards her, Gabby threw her hands up covering her face. Pierce’s gun was shot from his hand. Blood spewed from his mangled appendage across her and sprayed the snow red.
Elliot was there out of the madness, standing protectively in front of her.
“Don’t.” Elliot commanded, gun aimed at Pierces heart. “Your men are down and there’s nowhere for you to go, but a Federal Prison for all the crimes you’ve committed. It’s over.”
Relief shot through Gabby so fierce it drowned out the throbbing ache of her body and face. Elliot was here and he was alive. There were no more sounds of detonating land minds or gunshots. Gabby braved a glance around.
The two goons were on the ground, blood pouring out of multiple gunshot wounds. Dean had his boot on the neck of an equally bloody Brady, who wasn’t smiling for once. All of the West Haven men looked to be intact, except for Mitch, who was holding a hand to his side where red soaked through his shirt.
“Gabby?” Elliot reached a hand out to help her to her feet. “You okay Baby?”
Gabby held onto his big hand and squeezed. Just the strong grip of his fingers made her feel safe. She looked into Elliot’s dark eyes, they were black as pitch and deadly intent on Pierce.
“Now what?” She asked.
Pierce answered that question himself. “You think you’ve won? Ha, put me in jail. I’ll be out within the fucking hour and there will be nowhere you can hide Fuller. That bitch of yours will go first, then your mom and then every person you care about in this little shit of a town until you beg me to take your worthless life.”
Carter and the others looked on frowning. Gabby believed Pierce. He had the means to weasel his way out of jail, possibly never go to prison.
Pierce barked out a laugh. “Nobody threatens me, or walks away from Night Corp. There’s no retirement only a dirt nap, mother fucker. I’m gonna be richer than sin. The only thing stopping me is the evidence you got. I’ll never give up until I get it from you. No way in hell you gonna keep me from my destiny.” Pierce continued to rattle on about how no jail could hold him and how he would hunt Gabby down.
Elliot’s body went rock hard next to her. He glanced down at her, a silent question in his eyes. It was all on her. He was asking for her acceptance, her understanding, her permission. Pierce was the ever present threat. The monster in the night, silently waiting to strike at them. He wouldn’t give up or give in. This was what Elliot meant. That they couldn’t afford to allow the man to live. There was only one choice. Gabby gave a slight nod of her head, then turned her face away.
Mid-rant, Elliot put a bullet between Pierce’s eyes.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Home. His cottage seemed different as he led Gabby inside. The atmosphere inside felt breathable, new, awash with a brightness that wasn’t there before. They didn’t talk on the way back from the junkyard. Carter and the others were taking care of the bodies, Elliot didn’t ask, but he got the feeling that there wouldn’t be any report filed on this little situation. Pierce was a loner who lived for Night Corp. The people in his employ certainly didn’t give a shit enough about the guy to raise a fuss. They were all murderers who could hardly cry foul.
“We have to talk this out, make sure you can deal.” Gabby took his hand and pulled him to the sofa, pushing him down while she stood. “How do you feel? Be honest with me, no bullshit. You haven’t taken a life in a long time. I’m here for you, babe. Just let it out.”
Elliot watched her bite her lip and pace a little back and forth. She wore a frown and a scrunched up expression.
“Hey, Gabby come here.” Elliot pulled her down onto his lap.
Gabby pressed her hands to his cheeks, eyes locked with his.
“I’m sorry it came to this El. You knew it all along, but I know it has to suck. It sucked for me to watch. He didn’t leave you any other option but to end him. I understand that now after looking into his eyes. I know he wouldn’t ever walk away. I’m sorry you had to break your vow.”
She seemed genuinely distraught over him having to go back on that vow.
“My Gabby girl. I have no regrets. I’d do it again and again if I had to in order to keep you safe.” Elliot kissed her forehead and tucked a wayward curl behind her ear.
“Never again. Not fucking ever again.” Gabby declared, placing her head on his shoulder, nuzzling in close. “What now?”
“Now Night Corp will be dismantled. Its employees will slink back into whatever holes they came from and we are free to go on with our lives without looking over our shoulders.” He told her.
In theory it sounded good, but there was a nagging doubt. Elliot felt as if something was unfinished. Paranoia was a bitch and when she dug in deep, as she had with him, it might take a while to feel secure with the world. He had his life, his life on his own terms now. Free of Night Corp and its threat to Gabby and his mom.
Gabby reached up and kissed him, biting gently on his bottom lip. “You still here
with me El?”
Was he with her? He had all her luscious curves in his arms right where they belonged and he had a lifetime to enjoy them. His dick was hard as a pipe under her soft ass. If he was anymore with her he’d be living in her skin. And didn’t that sound creepy as fuck, but what the fuck ever. Gabby Avila was his future stretching out before him, bright and beautiful as a sunrise.
“I was just thinking about the future.” He said, dropping a kiss to the delicate skin of her neck.
She stiffened. “About that.” Gabby said softly.
“Gabs, what is it?” Elliot’s heart pounded. He could hear the doubt in her voice. Did she have second thoughts about him, about them?
She searched his face before shaking her head and pulling in a lung full of air. “Like you said, you’re free now. You don’t have to stay in West Haven any longer. You can go anywhere you like now, and I know this isn’t the fancy life you’re accustom to. What could this small town offer somebody like you?”
“Gabby…” Elliot couldn’t find the words.
“No, let me finish.” She pulled her legs alongside his and sat facing him. “I fell in love with you almost the moment I saw you. Then I got to know the man inside and I fell even harder. You leave town and it would cut my heart right out my chest. Losing my dad and Nat that was the worst, but I survived. Losing you would devastate me. If I hide away for the rest of my life afraid of losing people I love, then that wouldn’t be living at all. I want to love you as hard as I can, for as long as I can and if you decide that this place isn’t for you, I’ll let you go with no drama. Please know that I’ll cherish our time together forever. I’ll never regret this, never regret us.”
Elliot could feel his jaw hanging open. She thought he wanted the lavish lifestyle he once lived. She believed he would leave her, when he just got her? Gabby was so sensitive and wanted him to be happy even if it was without her. Crazy woman.