Young Guns Box Set

by Kane, Remington

  Ann went to Begley and pressed a hand against his chest.

  “You and Abadandi are the only ones who know the codes to access the escape tunnels. I’m asking you to let me go free, better yet, come with me?”

  “If we did that we would forfeit the money we’ve earned, and I don’t want to leave here. Don’t you realize that in a few short years I could be running the Citadel. When that happens, this place will get better. Unlike Abadandi, I see no reason to keep everyone locked up in here all the time. Leave could work if the proper security measures were taken.”

  “This isn’t a ship and I don’t want shore leave. I want to get the fuck out of here. I don’t even care about the money anymore, I just want out.”

  Begley shook his head. “I won’t help you. I want you to stay, in time… you’ll get used to living here.”

  * * *

  Ann stopped talking to Begley after that, and she made him sleep on the sofa rather than join her in bed. She had been willing to wait for him once she’d went back to the outside world, but no more. And although she pretended to be beaten and accepting of her fate, she was plotting a way to escape.

  She’d also had contact with Cindy again. Dr. Calavechi had performed plastic surgery on Kabell. While the man was in recovery the night of his operation, Cindy sought Ann’s company.

  Cindy was worried about “the master” as she called him, and Ann assured the girl that Kabell would be fine after the anesthesia wore off. The child’s knowledge of the world was scant having grown up in the confines of her cult society. Ann had to explain the concept of plastic surgery to her.

  “The master will look different?”

  “Yes, but not drastically. I was told he had his nose made smaller and the chin enhanced.”

  “Oh, and what about his voice, will he still sound the same?”

  “Yes,” Ann said, as she sat beside Cindy on the sofa. “Honey, where are your parents?”

  “Mother is back at the compound.”

  “Did you get a chance to say goodbye to her?”

  “No, but she’ll understand. I was chosen by the master to accompany him.”

  “And you’re his… wife?”

  Cindy beamed with pride. “I’m his favorite, and I’m one of the special ones too.”

  “Special ones? What does that mean?”

  “I’m one of his. There are others, but the master picked me over all of them.”

  “Are you special because of how young you are?”

  “Some of the master’s wives are younger than me, no, it’s because I’m his.”

  “His what?”

  “His child. The master is my father. That makes me special.”

  Ann rose from the sofa as her hand flew to her mouth.

  “He’s your father? You mean he’s related to you by blood?”

  Cindy nodded, the smile still on her face.

  “It’s what makes me one of the special ones.”

  Ann felt bile rising in her throat as she looked at the innocent girl before her. She excused herself to Cindy and rushed from the guest suite.

  A monster. Kabell was an incestuous monster and that poor girl was like a plaything to him. Ann decided that when she did make her escape from the Citadel that she wouldn’t be going alone. Cindy would be leaving with her.

  * * *

  In San Diego, Denny Haydon was riding the private elevator that led up to his penthouse apartment. The tape had been peeled off his mouth, but he still wore the handcuffs. Unlike the other tenants in the building, Haydon had his own private entrance. That had been fortunate for his captors, Cody and Romeo.

  The boys had shed their ski masks and revealed their faces. It had been necessary since they had to walk Haydon across the building’s underground garage. They saw only one couple in the parking area, and they had been kissing and paying them no attention.

  In place of their masks the boys had donned long-billed caps to thwart any cameras from getting a good view of their faces.

  Haydon looked frightened but not panicked. Cody figured the man thought he might talk his way out of things yet.

  “Hey guys, look at me. See? I’m keeping my head down so I don’t get a good look at you. I’ll give you whatever you want and then you can leave and not have to worry about me fingering you.”

  “We’re not worried,” Romeo said, and Cody, who was holding onto Haydon’s arm, felt the man tremble.

  Once the elevator doors opened, Cody held Haydon up in front of them, in case anyone inside was alerted and thinking of firing a weapon.

  When nothing happened, Cody stayed with Haydon while Romeo searched the penthouse. It was a large space with over five-thousand feet, so it took a while to go through it. When Romeo returned and told Cody that they were alone, the boys got down to business.

  “There’s a place called the Citadel. You’ve heard of it, yes?” Cody asked Haydon.

  “What?”

  “The Citadel.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know of it. What about it?”

  “We want the invitation they sent you.”

  Haydon raised his head. “How do you know about that? I never told anyone that I had that.”

  The boys hadn’t known for certain that Haydon had an invitation from the Citadel. He did have the required cash, so either way they would have been a step ahead. Now that they were certain he possessed what they needed, their plan was in high gear.

  “Where is it?” Romeo asked. “We want that invitation.”

  “If I give it to you will you let me live?”

  Cody answered Haydon by shoving the man to the floor. Haydon landed hard onto his bound wrists and cried out in pain. When he looked up, Cody had a gun aimed at his face.

  “You can experience a world of pain over the next hour or you can cooperate. What will it be?”

  “My safe! The invitation is in the safe inside my closet.”

  “What’s the combination?” Romeo asked.

  Haydon told him, along with instructions on how to reveal the hidden compartment where the safe was tucked. Romeo headed for the bedroom. He returned minutes later carrying a travel bag. Inside was a large packet of money, a Colt Python revolver with pearl grips, and the engraved metal invitation to the Citadel.

  Cody studied the invitation and saw that beneath the phone number there was a smaller set of digits, consisting of four numbers. He assumed the number was used to identify and record who the invitation had been sent to.

  “Get on your feet, Haydon, we’re leaving,” Cody said.

  Hope sprang to life in Haydon’s eyes as he rose from the floor.

  “All right, yeah, let’s get you guys out of here and back on the road.”

  * * *

  Denny Haydon’s parking spot was private, but it did have a security camera aimed at it. The boys kept their heads lowered and told Haydon to get in the back, where he would ride with Romeo.

  “You’re going with us to the airport,” Cody said, giving Haydon more false hope.

  Once they were back on the street and on the move, Romeo pointed out the rear window of the limo.

  “That car back there, do you recognize it?”

  When Haydon turned his head to look, Romeo struck him hard with a leather sap at the base of his skull. It put Haydon’s lights out. On an impulse, Romeo removed Haydon’s wallet, along with a medallion he wore. The medallion had his initials, D.H. written in a fancy script.

  “Cool, his driver’s license doesn’t have a photo I.D., that means I can use it.”

  Cody spoke over his shoulder while he drove.

  “Would a guy on the run from a cartel take his wallet along?”

  “I’ll say that I kept it out of habit.”

  Twenty minutes later they reached their destination. It was a secluded spot they had picked out and prepared days earlier. After carrying Haydon over to a pre-dug grave, Cody killed him with a blow to the back of the head. He used the same shovel he had dug the hole with.

  Haydon was
dumped in the grave, while the limo would be discovered at a motel near the airport. Whether the cartel bought into Haydon robbing them was of secondary importance to the Citadel believing it. Still, once they were inside, Hutchins would spread the rumor that Denny Haydon sought refuge inside the Citadel. That would at least make the cartel wonder and take heat off the boys.

  They were walking away from the motel parking lot, with Cody lugging the heavy duffel and Romeo carrying Haydon’s travel bag. As they headed toward a corner where they could hail a taxi, Romeo let out a laugh.

  “What’s funny?”

  “I was just thinking. Imagine if we killed Kabell inside the Citadel, then had cartel soldiers attacking the Citadel to get at me, you know, thinking I was Haydon.”

  “That would be ironic, but it gives me an idea. I think we’ll take out a little insurance so no one inside the Citadel gets suspicious about us.”

  “What kind of insurance?”

  “The Citadel will be expecting us to make another go at them, right?”

  “Yeah, and?”

  “We’ll hire two guys to attack them after we’re let inside. That way, it will take suspicion off of us.”

  “I like it, but where are we going to find someone who will do it?”

  “I’d bet Hutchins could help us.”

  “Yeah, and Cody, I don’t know how we would have gotten this far without the dude.”

  “You’re right, and we’ll take care of him for helping us. He’s earned that money we paid him and then some.”

  * * *

  They were back in their hotel suite an hour later and looking down at Cody’s bed with amused grins. Not only did they get the million they needed for the Citadel, but eight-hundred-thousand more. To go with that was another hundred grand. It was the money Romeo had grabbed from the safe in Haydon’s penthouse.

  “Dude, we’re rich,” Romeo said.

  “And this was only what we managed to grab on the run. There must have been over ten million that went up in smoke.”

  “Serves them right for selling that poison. It’s too bad they’ll make it back in a week.”

  Cody began returning the money to the duffel bag.

  “We’ll head up to Oregon tomorrow, and I’ll call Hutchins on the way. If we contact the Citadel soon, we’ll still have a chance to kill that cult leader Kabell.”

  “We’re going to do it, Cody. We’re actually going to beat the Citadel and make history.”

  “Spenser would expect nothing less from us, and neither would I.”

  “And this is only the beginning of our careers… shit man, we’re going to be legends.”

  Cody smiled at the money in his hand.

  “It pays well too.”

  49

  Ventilated

  NEW JERSEY, OCTOBER 2018

  Tanner and Sara were on the rural road that led to Harrison’s home after Zoe Farnsworth had come through with the names of James’ closest relatives. Besides his Uncle Harrison, James had numerous cousins, along with aunts and uncles, who were all on his late father’s side of the family. They were scattered throughout Georgia and Florida.

  With Harrison being the nearest and most likely choice to run to, Tanner decided to check it out. Along with his name and address, Zoe had sent along overhead views of Harrison’s house and the surrounding landscape.

  “If we find James and his mother here, I want to take them back to the city to stay with us,” Sara said.

  “They’ll be safer in the penthouse than they are here. Once we know they’re safe, I’ll see about keeping them that way.”

  “You plan to kill Maurice Biggs?”

  “First, I’ll get a read on his gang. I need to know how loyal the people under him are. I want to make sure that he doesn’t have friends who will keep coming after James to honor Biggs’ memory.”

  “And what if there are people like that?”

  “Then I’ll just have to kill them all.”

  * * *

  After finishing work for the day, James and his mother decided to change clothes before sitting down to dinner. Uncle Harrison had made it clear that they wouldn’t be eating together, so there was no reason to wait for him to arrive back home.

  James and Debra had bathed after finishing their tasks, with James showering last. As he was tying his shoelaces, he paused to listen to noises coming from outside.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked his mother. However, he could tell by the look on her face that she had heard the same thing he had. Voices, someone outside was talking, and there was more than one of them.

  * * *

  There were four people outside the home and they were armed with Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns. Three of the group were still children under the age of thirteen, but their leader, if you could call him such, was an eighteen-year-old nicknamed Trigger. Trigger was an up and comer in the Boulevard Bloods and a cousin of Maurice Biggs.

  “Why shouldn’t we surround the house?” one of the boys asked. “That way we’ll be sure to kill them.”

  Trigger sighed with exasperation and wondered if he had been as stupid at the boy’s age, which was eleven.

  “If we surround the house before we begin firing, the damn bullets will pass through the walls and kill our asses too.”

  “Oh… right,” the boy said.

  Trigger pointed to the left side of the house. “Two of you get over there, while the other one stay with me. When I give the signal, we start firing. Every time you reload, move to the right. By the time we empty four mags each those bitches inside will be dead as hell.”

  The boys got into position and Trigger gave the signal, which was a raised fist.

  * * *

  “Oh God, that sound, it’s faint, but is that what I think it is?” Sara asked, while lowering her window.

  “Gunfire on full auto, and at least three shooters,” Tanner said.

  Sara looked skyward as the last of the shots was fired. “Please don’t let us be too late.”

  * * *

  James crawled over to where his mother lay on the floor.

  “We need to get out of here.”

  “But they’re still outside.”

  “Yeah, Mom, but they’ll come in to make sure we’re dead, so we need to run.”

  Debra nodded her understanding and rose from the floor with James holding her trembling hand. Good ol’ Uncle Harrison had made them stay in the basement and sleep on his sectional sofa instead of giving them the spare bedrooms. If not for that, they would have died.

  James led the way up the basement steps and could scarcely believe what his eyes revealed as he eased open the door. The house was a mess.

  There were bullet holes in every wall and the kitchen cabinetry was ventilated. Water sprayed from the tap at the sink as a round had damaged its faucet, while wires sparked within walls.

  They moved past the toppled table, which now only had three legs, and toward the rear door in the kitchen. When James heard the sound of footsteps behind him, crunching the broken pieces of wall board, he turned his head to find gun-toting shadows headed toward him and his mother.

  “Oh, dear Jesus, help us,” Debra whispered, as Trigger came into view, with the baby bangers close behind him.

  * * *

  Sara moaned when they neared the house, as beside her Tanner gritted his teeth at the sight. He wasn’t close to James, but he did like and admire the kid. It enraged him to think that someone had murdered him, and for no real reason.

  The home also reminded him of the night his family was slaughtered. Although, the damage done to Harrison’s house was tame in comparison to the thousands of rounds Tanner’s childhood home had sustained.

  The sound of a single shot surprised both of them, while giving Tanner hope.

  “That was a small caliber. It might have come from the gun I gave James.”

  Sara laughed with relief. “Then there’s still hope.”

  Tanner brought his car to a stop behind the vehicle Trig
ger had driven and noticed James’ old Mustang. He bolted from the car with Sara while grabbing a shotgun from under the seat.

  Hold on, James.

  * * *

  Upon spotting Trigger, James had reached into his pocket and taken out the gun Tanner had given him. He fired without aiming and while panicked, but the round hit Trigger in the midsection and caused him to drop his weapon and stumble backwards.

  Debra’s look of horror matched the one on Trigger’s face as they both realized that James had wounded him.

  “Where’d you get a gun, James?” Debra said in a hushed tone.

  James was still holding his mother’s hand. He pulled her with him through the rear door with its broken panes of glass. The rational thought of heading toward the front of the house and getting to his car never crossed James’ mind. He was in a mad dash to get himself and his mother away from the house, and so he ran straight ahead.

  The field at the rear of the home was a cornfield with the remains of dead stalks. James rushed into them while all but dragging his mother along. They were out of sight within moments.

  * * *

  Trigger was down and unable to do anything more than grind his teeth against the agony in his stomach.

  The baby bangers stood staring down at him. They were fascinated by the blood and the sight of an exposed intestine. As the initial wave of pain dipped, Trigger opened his eyes and stared up at them.

  “Kill those bitches,” he said, then moaned as a fresh wave of agony rose within him.

  * * *

  James was forced to slow his pace because Debra couldn’t keep up with her shorter stride. They emerged from the cornfield and came to a stream. It was about twenty feet wide, had an unknown depth, and the water was cold.