Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  He watched her for a moment then glanced down at the paper in her hands. “So your name is Charlie huh?” he mumbled. “What the hell kind of name is Charlie for a girl?”

  Charlie stiffened and glared at him. A moment later, she wrote something on the paper and turned it toward him.

  He read it and his cheeks turned pink. “The only name you have huh? Well, I guess I spoke out of turn then didn’t I?” He shrugged. “I’m sorry. Guess I shouldn’t talk, everyone I know calls me Bull.”

  Charlie made a point of looking him over carefully and then shrugged. “I can see why.” She wrote on the paper.

  Bull shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious but that’s not what I want to talk about. I saw some of the River Ratz gang in town earlier. I hate to ask but is it you they are looking for?”

  Charlie nodded carefully. Then she wrote on the paper, “They did this to me.”

  “Why?” Bull demanded softly.

  Charlie stared at him for a long moment then began to write. “Because I witnessed them murder someone. They thought they killed me when they slit my throat but without a body they can’t be sure I’m really dead.” Slowly, she turned the paper toward him.

  He quickly glanced at her. “So they’ll come after you?”

  Charlie wrote something on the paper. “Paolo needs to see my dead body with his own eyes. He needs to know for sure that I’m dead.”

  “Why?”

  Charlie shrugged but wouldn’t look him in the eyes. She wasn’t sure she could trust him with everything.

  Bull reached out and grabbed her chin.

  Charlie hissed as his fingers caught the bruising on her jaw but he wouldn’t let her go. Instead, he turned her head to meet his eyes.

  “Why? What else are you hiding?”

  Charlie pressed her lips together and didn’t say anything.

  Bull could read the hurt in her eyes but he also read fear and hate. “If you won’t answer that question will you tell me something else? Are they going to bring blood and chaos to this city if they can’t find you? That crew is bad news and when they show up nobody is safe.”

  “Paolo will use anyone and threaten anything to get what he wants and he really wants me dead. He won’t care who gets in his way.” Charlie wrote. “Maybe you should just find me a place to hide for a few days while I heal and just leave me there. At least you won’t be caught up in this mess any longer.”

  Bull read what she wrote and frowned. “No fucking way will I leave you to the mercy of those bastards!”

  Charlie shrugged. “I’m a dead person any way you slice it and I’d rather not take anyone else with me.” She turned the paper his way again.

  Bull stood to his full six foot four inch height and glared at her. “I once belonged to a unit in the Special Forces lady, and our motto was no man left behind. It’s a matter of honor with us and that still means something to me, so no fucking way am I leaving you to those dirt bags.”

  Charlie felt a wave of dizziness sweep over her. Suddenly, she was tired and very weak. She closed her eyes and almost couldn’t catch her breath.

  * * * *

  Bull watched as she passed out and his fingers clenched into fists. He had to move her to the safe house before her condition got any worse. He gathered her in his arms and carried her out to his car. He couldn’t use the truck as the Ratz might recognize it from earlier tonight.

  Before he left the house, he double checked his weapons and grabbed the note pad Charlie had used earlier. He laid her out in the backseat and threw a blanket over her to keep her warm. When he touched her forehead, he noted that her skin was cooling. Checking the wrap around her throat, he noticed fresh blood seeping through the gauze. He went over to the cabinet and opened the door. Reaching inside, he grabbed the huge first aid kit he always kept with him and put it in the car. Then last, he made sure he had a weapon within reach. He wanted to be prepared if the Ratz came around. If they started shooting at him, he wanted to be able to shoot back.

  Glancing down at Charlie one last time, he pressed the button and the garage door slowly opened. His eyes scanned the neighborhood carefully as he pulled out into the street. Pulling away from his house, he watched and listened carefully as he made his way to the safe house he’d set up when he first arrived in this town several years ago. It was something he’d learned a lifetime ago. Always have a way out and somewhere safe to regroup.

  Pulling into the loading dock and closing the door behind him, Bull quickly carried Charlie up three flights of stairs and set her down on one of the beds in the open room at the top of the stairs. He quickly turned on the security system he’d outfitted the old building with and took a moment to check all the cameras before he turned back to the girl on his bed. He laid his hand on her skin. It was cooler but still warm. Next, he checked her eyes. They were pinpoint but not dilated. Then he checked the bruise on her belly. It had grown since he checked it last and Bull was worried that it might just be a blood clot.

  He hoped Hawk would have some medicine that would take care of it when he got here but until that time there was very little he could do to help her. He hated being helpless right at the moment. So instead of watching her lay there, he went over to the windows and looked out over the streets of Mount Pleasant. From this height, he could see almost the whole town. Everything looked quiet for now but he didn’t like the fact the Ratz were in town looking for her.

  He prayed the guys would get here soon. He knew in his heart they had no reason to come to help him after everything that went down four years ago but he prayed they would all the same. When they left the military after their last mission together, Bull had turned his back on them for his own reasons.

  Now he hoped they could forgive his rash decisions. He looked over at the girl laying so still in the bed about twenty feet from where he stood. He didn’t know if prayers from him would reach anyone’s ears, or if he even believed in a divine entity anymore after what happened five years ago, but he prayed all the same.

  CHAPTER TWO

  It was more than an hour later when Bull noted two vehicles pull in to the parking lot in the back of the warehouse. He tensed for a moment then saw the signal that told him his friends had arrived. It was sort of a code they had developed a long time ago in the desert of Iraq. A Morse Code played out by the headlights.

  Bull hit the garage door opener then the vehicles pulled in to the loading dock and waited for him to join them. Bull stomped down three flights of steps and watched as five men got out of the two dark SUV vehicles.

  The tallest of the five men turned and looked at Bull. He stood six foot seven inches tall and his dark hair was turning silver at the temples. He crossed his arms over his vast chest and waited until Bull joined them.

  The other men took Bull in. He knew he looked like shit but that’s what happened after a fight.

  “Damn boy, what or who the hell did you tangle with?” Hawk wanted to know.

  Bull smiled and held out his hand. “This isn’t bad but you should see the other guy.”

  Judge nodded. “You told Hawk someone was hurt pretty bad?”

  Bull nodded and glanced up the stars. “She’s upstairs, third floor. Someone beat the shit out of her and tried to slit her throat. He didn’t do a very good job but she’s got a belly bruise that could be a problem.” He turned to look at Hawk. “I’m kinda worried it might be a clot.”

  Hawk shook his head. “Any idea how long she’s had it?”

  Bull shrugged. “I found her a couple of hours ago. Someone dumped her in the back of my truck. I was at the gym after my fight. When I was leaving, I saw taillights of a vehicle leaving the parking lot and when I was almost to my truck, I saw another vehicle driving really slow down the street. The car had four punks in it. Two in front, two in the back. Their music was deafening and they weren’t afraid to show off their guns. They were wearing River Ratz colors. It seemed to me they were looking for someone.”

  Hawk grabbed a large field kit bag o
ut of the SUV and headed for the stairs.

  Bull was about to follow him when Judge held him back. “What the fuck are the River Ratz doing here? They’re headquarters are in Texarkana.”

  Bull nodded. “I know, that’s why I moved us here. No one knows I own this place so no one will look for us here. I made sure no one followed us. I really don’t know this girl and she can’t tell us who she is. She’s told me a little about her situation but she’s holding something back. I know it and she knows I know it too.”

  “So why did you call us?” Judge asked quietly. He studied Bull carefully for a long moment.

  Bull stared at the older man then looked away. He sighed then turned to face the older man. It was time to face his past. “Because you guys have always had my back in the past. I was so angry when we lost Pony and Blue. When I saw their blood staining the sand in that God forsaken place, I lost it. Those bastards kept coming even after they should have stayed down. Everyone was pinned down and couldn’t move.” Bull shook his head and his eyes glazed over as remembering the past was painful.

  Mustang snorted. “Yeah, we were pinned down but you evened the score for us didn’t you?” He moved over to where Bull was standing and slapped his hand down on Bull’s shoulder. “You started shooting and wouldn’t quit. You flushed Salim and his top two men out of hiding and showed them they weren’t as invincible as they thought they were.”

  Bull brushed off his teammate’s hand. “I was too fucking late to save Pony and Blue. They died in that fucking sand because I was too fucking slow. We should have known Salim was there. They didn’t have to die, only Salim had to die and I fucking failed to keep my team mates alive. When they died, a rage was born inside me and when we were forced out of the service, I let that anger rule me for a long time. But it’s time to let it go and I think I finally can do that.”

  Judge nodded then held out his hand to Bull. When Bull grasped the older man’s hand Judge grinned for a moment then grew serious. “Our last mission was fucked up from the start. What happened was something that we couldn’t stop. Pony and Blue didn’t die in vain and you were in no way responsible for what happened to them. We didn’t know before going in was that we were crossing into a drug trafficker’s territory and we should have. Our intel let us down. They didn’t tell us everything. Salim had been tracking us for a long time and he knew exactly where we were while we had no idea where the fuck he was or even who he was. We were the ones interfering in his business and we were closing in on him. He let us find him for the purpose of eliminating us once and for all. The drug king was using ISIS for protection and we walked in blind to what was waiting for us.”

  Bull frowned. “So our intel wasn’t wrong?”

  Judge and Mustang both snorted. “Oh, it was wrong alright, or rather just not complete. The higher ups didn’t want us to know they were tracking the biggest drug dealer in the area. They knew we were disrupting his business but they didn’t want us to know. We were told we were chasing ISIS not a fucking drug king. It was only after the battle when the helicopters showed up and Haling’s began to crow about finding Salim’s body among the dead that we put two and two together.” Judge began to pace and run his fingers through his hair. “I wanted to kill the man. He didn’t see the two bodies of our men lying there all shot to hell. He didn’t even notice or care that you were all shot up.”

  Mustang snorted and chuckled. “He cared though after we loaded Pony and Blue and Bull into his fucking Helo and gave the order to take off for the hospital. He cared when he thought we were going to leave his ass behind.”

  Judge nodded. “Yeah, he cared then.” He looked over at Bull. “He cared then because the Helo was full and there was no more room. He told us to leave the dead behind. He expected us to leave one of our own behind, so he could take Salim’s body along to prove we got him.”

  “What the fuck?” Bull exclaimed softly. His eyes were open wide as he thought about what Judge had just told him. He hadn’t known about this before today as he was out of it when the Helo carried him off for medical care.

  “Judge kicked Salim’s body off the copter and told Haling to get his ass in the seat or be left behind,” Mustang took up the tale. “Then he pointed his weapon at the pilot and told him to get you back to hospital. The pilot didn’t even hesitate. Haling had to scramble to get in his seat before we were airborne.”

  “How did the brass take that?” Bull wanted to know.

  “Let’s just say Haling was escorted out of the area quickly and quietly.” Mustang snorted. “Under armed guard.”

  “And we were kicked out of service.” Bull shook his head.

  “Commander Ritcher thought we were too shook up to continue the fight,” Judge informed him with a snarl. “He thought with half the team missing, we were demoralized by the loss.”

  Bull flexed his shoulders. “Ritcher always was a kissass,” he grumbled. Then he thought about something and snapped his head to glare at Judge. “Do we know who feed us the bad intel?”

  “We have a pretty good idea who feed us the intel but we can’t prove it, not yet anyway.” Judge growled. “Salim Malik wanted us dead. We were costing him too much money, forcing him to keep one step ahead of us and keep moving his locations. I think he already knew we were coming and he thought he could take us out. Someone tipped him off. We were too close to finding him, something no other team over there could do.”

  “Salim thought he could never be stopped,” Mustang continued. “He made millions transported that poison to our shores and he wasn’t going to stop. But he knew we were closing in on him and he set us up to be ambushed. He thought he could just kill us and escape into the hills. The look on his face when your bullet caught him was almost worth everything.”

  Bull snarled. “It wasn’t worth the lives of two very good men. Their blood never should have stained the ground red. That bastard cost us more than we ever took.”

  Mustang shook his head. “We were able to shut down his pipeline for at least a little while. Pony and Blue didn’t die in vain.”

  Bull snorted. “Salim’s pipeline was back up and running before I got out of the fucking hospital. Gossip runs wild in a place like that. I heard all about it. It took them less than two months to get it up and running again. I think that’s what pissed me off more than being wounded.”

  “That may be true but the man who took over for Salim didn’t have the contacts Salim did and we were able to shut it down again.” Mustang raised his chin. “Special forces blew him out of the water and took a big chunk of ISIS with them.”

  Bull whipped his head around to the other man. “They did? They shut down the pipeline?”

  Judge smiled. “Oh yeah, they did. Whoever took over from Salim didn’t have ISIS backing them and they went down easy. When we all came home again, we started up a new Brava Victor group. We pose as a security group but we’re really tracking drug runners here at home.”

  “Did you ever find Salim’s connection here?” Bull dared to ask.

  Judge shook his head. “Not yet but we aren’t giving up. I have a feeling we’re getting very close.”

  “After so long is it even possible anymore?’ Bull stared at Judge. “I mean it’s been over four years now and if the pipeline is gone where do you even look anymore?”

  Judge shrugged. “It was very quiet for a long time but there are whispers you hear every once in while about a new dealer. He’s the real deal and keeping his face out of sight. This one is worse than Salim and doesn’t take failure very well at all. We’ve been tracking a new product on the streets for about the last eleven months now. It’s the same damn shit Salim was shipping. We just haven’t been able to track where it’s coming from or who it’s being distributed by yet.”

  “How close are you?” Bull asked.

  Judge shrugged. “We’re narrowing it down but we don’t have confirmation on anything yet. We’re still missing a big chuck of the info we need to close down this pipeline but we aren’t goi
ng to stop until we do. The body count is adding up and what he does to those who rat him out is not pretty.”

  “Could this be Salim’s pipeline starting up all over again?” Bull asked.

  Judge looked unsure. “Anything is possible. At the moment, we just don’t know. I can’t imagine the pipeline staying away for very long. They have a product that they need to move. If they can’t make money they can’t pay their workers and the drug cartels aren’t happy without product to sell.”

  “Maybe you could make contact with Commander Ritcher,” Bull suggested. “He retired a year after we were kicked out and returned to Texas and ran for Senator. Damned if he isn’t sitting in Washington right now.”

  Judge’s lips tightened but he didn’t say anything for a moment. His eyes hardened and his whole body became tight with tension.

  Bull noticed but before he said anything, Hawk came to the top of the stairs and called down to them. A few minutes later, they joined him on the third floor. Charlie was still out but her injuries had been checked out and redressed.

  Bull looked at Hawk and asked, “How is she doing?”

  Hawk snorted. “She’s one very lucky girl.” He squatted down next to her and checked the wound on her throat. “Whoever slit her throat didn’t do a very good job but I have a feeling that was on purpose.”

  “What makes you think that?” Judge asked. He stood on the other side of the bed with his arms folded across his chest glaring at the others.

  “The cut is too high on her throat to kill her,” Hawk explained. “Anyone knows if you want to kill someone by slitting their throat you have to take out both arteries. This guy didn’t. What he did was take out her voice for a little while but he didn’t kill her. I think she’ll get her voice back at some point but not right away.”

  “What about all the bruises she’s got?” Bull asked.

  Hawk nodded. “Someone beat the hell out of her and the bruise on her stomach could have been a clot at one point but it wasn’t dangerous. She was lucky. It could have gone either way. I would have given her a shot to bust up the clot just in case but these bruises are too old. They’ve been there for at least most of a day.”