Young Guns Box Set

by Kane, Remington

  Hutchins, slumped and bloody in his wheelchair, moaned as he looked down at Bev’s unmoving form. A moment later, he groaned in agony from the wound that was killing him. With his life leaking away from the hole in his gut, Hutchins looked up at May Ling.

  “Hide, honey, hide.”

  * * *

  While the gunfight had been happening in the kitchen, Garcia had been bashing in the front door. It had proven a tougher job than the door in the kitchen. He didn’t gain entrance until Hutchins had killed his man.

  Once inside, Garcia gestured for his remaining two men to go up the staircase and locate May Ling. As they did so, he called out to the man who had entered through the rear.

  Having received no answer, Garcia crept toward the kitchen with a shotgun leading the way. When he peeked around the corner, he saw Bev lying dead on the floor and Hutchins in his wheelchair. Beneath the chair, a puddle of blood was forming.

  Hutchins moved, and Garcia ducked back. When Hutchins fired, he barely had enough strength to pull the trigger; the round went six feet wide of Garcia’s position. The bullet entered the oven’s glass door, shattering it.

  Garcia peered around the corner again. Hutchins’ head was limp and resting against the back of the wheelchair, while the gun was hanging loose from his trigger finger.

  Garcia rushed into the room with the shotgun poised to fire. One look into Hutchins’ eyes and he knew it wouldn’t be necessary. Roy Hutchins was dead.

  May Ling erupted from the tiny pantry and smashed a jar of pickles into the back of Garcia’s head. The jar shattered, leaving splinters of glass in Garcia scalp and a laceration across May Ling’s right palm. Garcia groaned and staggered, but he held on to the shotgun.

  From elsewhere in the house came the sound of footsteps as the other two men pounded down the stairs. Garcia shook his head to clear it and reached out with his free hand to take hold of May Ling’s blouse. May Ling grabbed a carving knife from a set on the counter, spun in Garcia’s grip, and plunged the blade into his chest.

  A flicker of shock and pain registered on Garcia’s face before it returned to its usual granite countenance. May Ling gripped the shotgun, intending to wrench it from Garcia’s hands, but the man held it tightly despite his knife wound.

  When she heard the other two men headed down the hallway, May Ling released the weapon and bolted out the open back door. Garcia forgot all about wanting to take May Ling captive and fired a shot after her. The buckshot splintered the door frame and sent plaster dust into the air.

  When his men entered the kitchen, their eyes expanded at the sight of the blade embedded in their boss’s chest. Blood flowed down Garcia’s shirt and dribbled onto his shoes.

  He yanked the blade free as he leaned back against the counter. There was a small sucking sound as the knife came free. When he looked back at his men, Garcia issued new orders while pointing the bloody blade at the rear door.

  “I want that bitch dead.”

  The Mexican thugs rushed outside while stepping over the bodies of Bev and their dead colleague. They were determined to kill an unarmed woman.

  * * *

  Outside the house, Cody was driving along the street while wondering why so many of Hutchins’ neighbors were coming outside to look around.

  Those neighbors had heard the gunshots that Cody and Romeo had been too far away to have noticed.

  “Stop the car!” Romeo shouted, and Cody slammed on the brakes.

  When he looked to where Romeo was pointing, through a narrow gap between two houses, Cody saw May Ling sprinting across the meadow behind Hutchins’ house. On her trail were two men with guns, and they were gaining on her.

  Cody shoved the car’s shifter into park and leapt from the vehicle, as the first rays of sunlight cleared the trees.

  “No! No!” Cody shouted as he jolted into a run. Romeo was beside him and they were both far behind the trio they followed. Cody pumped his legs with all he had, and his recently injured ankle protested. He ignored the pain and focused on the men in front of him. They were closing in on May Ling, and one of them took a shot at her.

  May Ling’s stride didn’t falter. Cody felt relieved as he realized the round must have missed her. Still, the men were growing closer to May Ling and the sparse trees she was running toward offered little shelter. That said, the pines still held shadows the rising sun had yet to devour.

  Cody willed himself to run faster. It was no use, as he was already moving as quickly as he could. Stopping to fire at the men chasing May Ling would be useless, as they were out of range of the weapons he and Romeo carried. He was also aware that if his round missed it might strike May Ling instead.

  Up ahead, May Ling had reached the trees and headed to the right before disappearing from view. Her pursuers were less than thirty feet behind her. As the men followed May Ling’s path into the trees, they raised their weapons to take aim at her back.

  Cody lost sight of them an instant later. Above the pounding of his feet and the whoosh of wind in his ears he heard the distinct sound of six shots. Unbidden tears blurred his vision only to be borne away by the wind. The silence after the echo of the shots was the worst thing Cody had ever heard.

  There was only one reason for that silence to exist. The men had killed their target and no longer needed to fire their weapons.

  Once Cody and Romeo reached the tree line, they were forced to slow to maneuver among the ground cover and the trees. Romeo saw the body first, then, the one sprawled beside it.

  Garcia’s men were dead and lying face down atop the ground. Beyond them, May Ling was safe and cradled amid the protective embrace of the man who had saved her.

  Cody and Romeo rushed over to them and May Ling transferred herself into Cody’s arms. He held her tightly and kissed her.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” May Ling said in a breathless voice, although Cody felt her trembling.

  Cody looked over at the man who had saved her.

  “Thank you, Spenser, oh God, thank you.”

  “I saw her being chased as I was driving off the exit ramp. I was just able to intercept them in time.”

  After speaking, Spenser looked over at Romeo with a face expressing the compassion and sympathy he felt.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss, son.”

  When Spenser opened his arms, Romeo went over and fell into them, as more tears of grief poured forth from Romeo’s wounded soul.

  135

  Love, Lost And Leaving

  CAMAS, WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 2004

  Jorge Garcia was a mess. Blood flowed down his front from the stab wound. Still more blood trickled down his back from the slivers of glass jutting out from his neck.

  After his two remaining men went off to kill May Ling, Garcia had ripped open his shirt to assess his knife wound. It was a deep laceration, but it appeared the blade hadn’t struck anything vital, such as a lung or an artery. Still, it was bleeding freely.

  Garcia grabbed a handful of paper towels and pressed them to his chest, to absorb the blood. There was a first-aid kit in his bag back at his motel, but that was a long drive away. As he stood there waiting for his men to return, Garcia kept an ear out for the sound of sirens. Surely neighbors had heard the gunfire and were calling the police.

  Garcia looked down at the dead woman on the floor and the man in the wheelchair and wondered who they were. The thought that men such as Zane and Slade could have friends seemed odd to him.

  When he finally became aware of the odor, he realized that he had been smelling the unpleasant scent for some time. It was mingled with the scent of food. Gas, Garcia was smelling natural gas.

  Looking at the stove, Garcia saw bacon frying. Burning was actually a better term, since the strips of meat were blackening. Then, he remembered that the man in the wheelchair had fired a shot that went into the oven. The round must have loosened a gas connection.

  The level of gas in the kitchen was beginning to make his eyes water, and tha
t was with the rear door sitting open. Garcia took a step toward the door to look for his men and saw a sight through the window that froze him.

  Men matching the description he had of Zane and Slade were walking out of the trees and into the meadow. With them was the girl who had stabbed him along with a bearded man. Garcia gave a slight shake of his head. His last two men were dead, and he had failed again. Although wounded, at least he was still alive. He intended to stay that way.

  Garcia was turning from the window to head to his car when an idea struck him. Why not use the gas leak as a weapon? Garcia shut the back door, after having to kick the feet of his dead street soldier out of the way. Afterward, he opened the door on the oven.

  With the door sitting agape he could hear the hiss of the gas escaping through a damaged connector. As he walked out of the front of the home, Garcia spied several people standing in their doorways. When one of them took a phone out of his pocket to film him or take his picture, Garcia raised up his shotgun. The man fumbled his phone, gripped his wife’s hand, and rushed back into his home. When he looked for the others who had been gawking at him, Garcia saw that they had sought shelter as well.

  After closing the damaged front door on Hutchins’ home as best as he could, Garcia got back in his car, which was double-parked. He then drove off toward the nearby highway. If fate were kind, his luck would change, and Zane and the others would be blown to bits as they entered the house.

  Garcia left the scene as blood continued to run down his chest.

  * * *

  Spenser had checked the bodies of the men he’d killed and found a key card from a motel outside Robbin’s Cove. The men were also carrying driver’s licenses from Texas.

  With those clues to work on, Cody and Romeo planned to drive back to California to check out the motel. While they were doing that, Spenser was going with May Ling to the home where Romeo had stowed his boat in a private boathouse.

  The home was located in a small bay with nine others. It wasn’t a part of the deal they had made, but since the owner wasn’t currently living there it seemed prudent to make use of it. The house was just a short drive north of Robbin’s Cove and would be a good base while they hunted down Ryker and his people.

  May Ling had given Cody and Romeo the tragic news of Bev’s and Hutchins’ deaths while saying that Hutchins died to protect her.

  Cody assumed that May Ling’s attackers were connected to the same men who had tried to kill them at the jobsite. He had no idea why the man who hired them wanted him and Romeo dead. He did believe that it was connected to Vince Ryker.

  The man he’d questioned after the house collapse had said his boss’s name was Jorge Garcia. May Ling’s description of her attacker matched the one Cody had for the Mexican. He and Romeo planned to rush back to California in the hope of finding Garcia at the motel that matched the key card they found.

  Remembering Hutchins’ gawking neighbors, Cody knew that the police would arrive at any moment. He told May Ling that the things she’d left inside Hutchins’ home would have to stay there.

  “My suitcase is in there, but I have my phone,” May Ling said.

  “We’ll stop somewhere on the way to the house, so you can shop, okay?” Spenser told her.

  “Yes, and thank you again for saving me.”

  “Thank God I arrived when I did.”

  Cody gave Spenser the address of the home and kissed May Ling goodbye.

  “We’ll meet up later, but we need to check out that mo—”

  The roar of the gas explosion was tremendous and sent debris flying in all directions. What was left of the roof of Hutchins’ home collapsed inward as fire spread throughout the structure.

  “What the hell?” Romeo said. “Was that rigged up by Garcia?”

  Cody nodded. “He probably hoped we’d go back to the house.”

  “You boys be careful checking out that motel,” Spenser told them. “And call me afterward.”

  * * *

  Cody and Romeo had taken the long drive between Camas, Oregon, and Robbin’s Cove, California often over the past several days. It was beginning to seem like a shorter trip than it was. Although they drove above the speed limit, they didn’t push their luck.

  They were wanted for questioning in the deaths of dozens of men and several arson fires. Getting pulled over for a speeding ticket would be monumentally stupid.

  Spenser’s truck stayed with them for most of the trip but then turned off on the exit where the house was located. Little was said between Cody and Romeo during the drive, except to exchange thoughts of sadness over the loss of Bev and Hutchins.

  “Roy told me that he would protect May Ling with his life, and he did,” Cody said. “I only wish we could kill Ryker more than once.”

  “If I get the chance, I’ll make him suffer,” Romeo said, “and Vivian too. That bitch killed Emma. I can’t wait to get my hands on her.”

  * * *

  Garcia made it to his motel room and rushed into the bathroom to urinate. He had been holding it in for hours. After taking care of that, he looked at himself in the mirror. He was shocked at his appearance. His shirt was ripped and bloody, while the wad of paper towels he’d pressed against the wound was brown from dried blood.

  He had picked the glass shards from the back of his neck as he drove. More stiff dried blood was caked there.

  He knew that Cody and Romeo could have possession of one of his men’s room key cards and be headed his way. He still took the time to see to his wound. The paper towels were stuck to his chest, sealed there by clotted blood. As soon as he ripped the towels away, the wound began bleeding freely again.

  Garcia grabbed a fresh white wash cloth and pressed it to the wound. After donning a new shirt, he took his suitcase from the closet and emptied the dresser drawers into it. He glanced around the room to check that he had left nothing behind, then Garcia was back at his car. Blood was seeping through the wash cloth and staining his shirt, but it was a burgundy color and the stain wasn’t very noticeable.

  Garcia left by the motel exit. Four seconds later, Cody drove into the parking lot and went looking for him.

  * * *

  Ryker turned red with anger when he learned of Garcia’s raid on Roy Hutchins’ house. He then wondered how the man could have possibly discovered the location. That was when he recalled Garcia’s love of gadgets.

  Leaving One-Man Island by using the small boat he’d rented, Ryker returned to his truck, which was parked at the marina. The search took less than a minute. As Ryker held up the transponder and listening device Garcia had planted in his truck, his hand shook from the rage he was feeling.

  Among other things, Garcia had ruined Ryker’s plans to attack Spenser in Oregon. Garcia’s audacity at bugging the truck was unforgivable. The man had to be taught a lesson.

  * * *

  “That’s a tracker, isn’t it?” Romeo said.

  “Yeah,” Cody said. “And see that tiny speaker? It can pick up voices too.”

  In his haste to flee his motel room, Garcia had left behind the tracker and receiver he used to listen in on Ryker’s call. Cody had found it and a notebook in the drawer on the bedside table. The black device had a small screen at its center. It lit up with a crude green map whenever one of its corresponding transponders was near enough to be detected. Beneath the speaker was a knob for adjusting the volume.

  “It looks like it has a range of four miles. I wonder if this is how he found May Ling?” Cody said.

  “No way. Garcia was nowhere near the car we’re using now, and we checked it for trackers and bugs when we got it.”

  “Yeah,” Cody said. After flipping open the notebook, he read the words scribbled down in Spanish. “This was to track Ryker. Garcia placed a bug on his vehicle. There’s also something here about an island, but it doesn’t say which one.”

  “There are a few tourists’ islands around here. Maybe Ryker is staying on one.”

  Cody looked out the window of the mo
tel room and saw that it had grown darker since they entered the room. Being winter, the days were short. Sleep had been a series of naps over the last few days and food something they’d grabbed on the run. They were both weary, Romeo more so, as his grief over Emma’s death wore on him.

  “Let’s go to the house and grab a meal and a good night’s sleep, then tomorrow we can use the boat to search for Ryker on one of the islands.”

  Romeo agreed, and he took the wheel as they drove away from the motel. As they neared the exit off the highway where the bay house was located, Cody spoke his fear out loud.

  “May Ling will leave me soon, and I can’t blame her one damn bit. Because of me she’s nearly been killed twice.”

  “What do you plan to do?”

  “Nothing, as much as I love her, I’ll let her go. She might be safer away from me.”

  “I only wish Emma had left me. It would have been better for her if we’d never gotten together again.”

  Cody turned in his seat. “You saved Emma’s life in England. Don’t ever forget that. If not for you, she would have died months ago. And Romeo, they were the best months of her life, and she loved you.”

  “I thought I missed her when she left me in Indonesia, but oh man, this is ten times worse. I can no longer hope that I’ll see Emma again someday. It also hurts to think that her parents might believe I’m the one who harmed her, and I can’t even attend her funeral.”

  Cody gripped Romeo’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze while remaining silent. There were no words that could assuage Romeo’s grief, and only time would lessen its sting.

  136

  Home Nursing Care