Fight the Shock Page 18

  Cade waved him on and followed.

  Eugene took them on a tour through a couple of large outbuildings, showing and talking up various resurrected wrecks.

  Cade rejected one after the other with a single glance, until they came to an old rusted black GMC truck.

  Eugene fired it up and the engine sounded decent enough.

  Cade looked under the hood and didn’t see anything obviously wrong. He wasn’t a mechanic per se, but he’d gotten his hands covered in grease often enough. Usually from replacing a part on his wife’s Volvo. The truck looked like a winner, but he wasn’t about to say that. “Lot of wear and tear here. I’d be surprised if it makes it a hundred miles before going croak.”

  Eugene scowled. “It may not look it, but this one is as solid as they come. We’ll die before it finally goes to the junkyard in the sky.”

  They went back and forth a couple of minutes. Cade pointing out every flaw he could find while Eugene lavished praise on it like there’d never been a better vehicle ever built.

  Cade turned the conversation to the terms of the trade but Eugene wouldn’t discuss it further until they retired to his office.

  Calling it an office turned out to be quite an exaggeration. Like calling a Ford Pinto a luxury mode of transportation. Or calling a stick of Slim Jim beef jerky a t-bone steak. Yeah, they were technically both from cows, but that was where the likeness ended.

  The trashed out interior of Eugene’s trailer was an office only in so far as he was eventually able to sweep away enough debris so that they all had a place to sit.

  Except for Hudson.

  He chose to remain standing.

  Cade would’ve done the same if it wouldn’t have interfered with the negotiations. As it was, he and Eugene sat across a filthy table and volleyed offers and counteroffers back and forth. Knowing the game, he’d started off by offering low, but not too low.

  Hudson’s bike.

  That got a frown from the kid, but he was smart enough to chip in with details about what made it elite and so valuable.

  That the negotiations went on a while didn’t surprise Cade in the least. This was probably the most fun Eugene had had in weeks.

  Cade eventually allowed himself to be cornered into giving up one of the AR-15s along with an extra magazine. But he managed to secure a full tank of gas on top of the truck itself.

  The deal concluded and Eugene beamed with satisfaction. Partly because Cade made sure to act sour and unhappy about the whole thing.

  “This deserves a drink!” Eugene said. He rummaged through a pile of dishes in the sink and dug out a couple of shot glasses. He slapped them on the table and scooped up a mason jar of clear liquid.

  Cade stared at the streaked glass with disgust. He didn’t want to scuttle the deal by refusing to drink. Besides, whatever was in that jar was definitely going to be strong enough to kill any bacteria.

  Eugene was in the process of spilling liquid into both glasses when someone yelled outside.

  That sent the dogs into a barking frenzy from wherever they were being kept.

  Eugene cursed and took a look through the blinds. He cursed again and set the jar on the table. “Everybody’s coming by today, huh?” He grabbed up the newly acquired AR-15 and kicked the door open on the way out.

  Cade pulled the blinds over and saw a group of five guys outside the fence. All armed but not behaving in a threatening way. Still, he didn’t like the looks of them. They had a bad vibe.

  Wesley glanced out the window and muttered something.

  “Who are they?”

  “The Puckett brothers. All tweakers. Methheads from the next town over. I told that idiot not to get involved with them.”

  With the dogs barking, it was impossible to hear the conversation happening at the fence. Whatever was being said finally came to an end. And it didn’t look like there were any bad feelings.

  Eugene turned around and started back to the trailer.

  And then one of the Puckett brothers raised a pistol and shot him in the back. And kept shooting until he ran out of bullets.

  “We have to go!” Cade said when one of them pulled out bolt cutters and got to work on the chain. Going out the door wasn’t an option. He didn’t want to fire on them either because the trailer would’ve been no cover at all. Like hiding behind a slice of cheese.

  He hurried to the back bedroom and almost tumbled forward when the floor gave way underfoot. He tested the squishy part and saw it was barely holding together. He stomped on it to finish the job and kept going until the hole was big enough to get through.

  The voices outside grew louder. They were inside the fence and heading toward the trailer.

  Cade helped Wesley down, then Hudson and then dropped through himself.

  The trailer door slammed open as they crawled out the back side. Fortunately, the barking dogs covered the sounds of their escape. They stayed low and ran toward the back of the property. They skirted along the fence until they came upon a hole dug underneath. The dogs must’ve dug it out and Eugene hadn’t noticed or didn’t care.

  They squeezed under the fence, the sharp ends of the cut wires snagging and tearing at their clothes as they went.

  Cade was the last one out and all three hurried into the adjacent woods. They went in far enough to be sure they wouldn’t be seen.

  Wesley was shaking his head. “How many times did I tell him?”

  It wasn’t a question he was expecting an answer for.

  “Why did they shoot him?” Hudson asked.

  Wesley shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe a drug deal gone bad? I never knew Eugene to be into drugs though. Moonshine and tobacco and the occasional joint were all I’ve ever seen. But I never claimed to know all his doings.”

  “They have all of our stuff,” Hudson said.

  And that was exactly what Cade had been chewing on. With the bikes and all their belongings in the back of Wesley’s truck, they had next to nothing. He had his handgun and that was it.

  “What are we going to do?” Hudson asked.

  “We’re going to get back what is rightfully ours,” Cade said.

  Walking away wasn’t an option. But taking on five armed and proven killers wasn’t a great option either.

  Cade leaned against a tree and took a seat. “Might as well take a load off. We’re going to be here a while. When night falls, we’ll sneak back and see what our options are. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll leave.”

  As much as it burned him to have to waste the daylight not getting closer to his daughter, he also knew that not getting to her at all would be far worse.

  45

  With the windows down and the warm evening air blowing in, Donny should’ve been in a better mood. He would’ve been if his idiot friend and supposed business partner Zeke hadn’t lost the directions to Jax’s place. Without Google Maps, it wasn’t like they could just punch in the address and follow the directions.

  They’d been driving around for the last hour and he was about to lose it. What if they never found it? No one missed an appointment with Jax. No one that wanted to live, anyway. And especially no one that already owed him money.

  A stray dog appeared in the road and Donny hit the gas and aimed the Mino at it. The dog darted to safety at the last second and Donny cursed out the window as they roared by.

  Stupid strays. They infested parts of Vegas like fleas. The Mino’s bumper had a few dings on it that proved he didn’t always miss.

  Donny slammed on the brakes in the middle of a two lane on the western edge of the city. “When was the last time you for sure saw the paper with the directions?”

  “I told you a thousand times, man. It was in my jacket. I remember seeing it this afternoon.”

  “Then how did it disappear? Is it magic paper? Now it’s there, now it’s not?”

  Zeke snarled and looked away out the passenger window.

  Muffled sounds came from the bed of the Mino. Sugar and Spice were tied up tog
ether with a tarp strapped over the top.

  Donny pounded on the back of the cab. “Shut up!”

  The noise quieted.

  He’d initially been worried about running across the cops, but that had turned out to be no problem at all. They hadn’t come across a single cop the whole way. They’d passed a number of cop cars, but those were broke and abandoned like every other vehicle on the road.

  Just about every other vehicle, anyway.

  There had been a couple of cars driving around, but they’d taken off like a shot the second the Mino came into view. That was when Donny started to realize that the Mino was worth more than he was thinking. Sure, it had more dents and dings and scratches than a soda can in a tornado, but it worked.

  And for some reason, all those nicer, newer cars were dead as door nails.

  It was something to keep in mind.

  Something had happened the other night. Something big. Maybe it was some kind of alien technology thing out in Area 51. Maybe the government tried to use some ET weapon and it blew up in their faces.

  Donny figured things would go back to normal before too long. Which was why it was so important to take advantage while they could. This was a window of opportunity and they had to grab hold with both hands while the grabbing was good.

  And that meant getting to Jax’s or else Zeke didn’t have to worry about Jax taking him out. Donny would.

  No joke.

  If stepping into his bigger and better future meant stepping on a part of his old, pathetic life… well, so be it.

  “Check your pockets again!” Donny said, not trying in the least to keep calm about it. He flipped on the overhead light and gripped the steering wheel like it was a neck that needed strangling. He glanced in the rear view window and liked what he saw. The leather motorcycle jacket he’d found at the Mandalay made him look like a real badass. At least he’d gotten something out of that deal.

  Zeke sighed. “I’ve already checked them fifty times today. I don’t have it.”

  Donny smacked the wheel in frustration. He glared at Zeke and was considering punching him in the jaw when he noticed something. A vertical slit in the side of Zeke’s pants. He reached over and discovered it was a pocket. “Did you check there?”

  Zeke looked down in confusion. “What?”

  “That’s a pocket, isn’t it?”

  Zeke’s eyes went wide. He dug his fingers in and pulled out a folded piece of paper. His pale cheeks blushed pink. “I forgot… I didn’t… sorry… I put…”

  Donny snatched it away and barely managed to resist the urge to backhand him for being such an idiot. His best and only friend in the world might not be cut out for anything more than being a druggie loser. It could be an unavoidable truth. He’d have to think more about it later. If it was time to cut him loose, better to do it now. The bigger the business, the more costly mistakes became. He couldn’t and wouldn’t allow Zeke to drag him down. He filed it away for now and read through the directions.

  It took a while to get back on track, but he managed and before long they found Jax’s place. Place was the understatement of the century.

  It was a compound surrounded by ten foot high solid walls with sharp, decorative spikes lining the top. The driveway led to a rolling gate with an adjacent guardhouse. The gate wasn’t the usual black wrought iron bars that they’d seen at other large properties along the way. No, this one was solid metal panels welded onto thick beams. And whereas the others had snooty names like Rising Moon Ranch or Majestic Foothills Ranch (both in gold cursive letters), this one had no name and didn’t look the least bit inviting.

  A bulky guard wearing a dark suit and tie came out of the guardhouse with his hand up for them to stop. And if that hand didn’t get the message across, the Uzi submachine-gun in the other definitely did. It wasn’t pointed at them, but half a second could change that. He came over to the window and looked them over. “You’re late.”

  Donny chuckled and hooked a thumb at Zeke. “My friend here lost the instructions.”

  Zeke gave a thin smile. “I did, but I found them.”

  The guard gave them both a hard stare. He didn’t appear to be big on humor.

  “Mr. Cook was expecting you to bring merchandise.”

  “They’re under the tarp in the back,” Donny said.

  “Both of you get out,” he said.

  “What?” Donny said.

  The muzzle of the gun shifted over to them. “Get out. Now.”

  Donny threw his hands up. “Whoa! Easy there. You don’t want to kill Jax’s new cash cows.” He opened the door and stepped out. Zeke came around to join them.

  The guard patted them both down and then rifled through the Mino’s interior. He found the revolver under Donny’s seat and brought it out looking very unhappy.

  “Hey, I would’ve told you about it but you didn’t ask.”

  The guard wasn’t convinced. “No weapons are allowed inside the property until Mr. Cook personally says otherwise. Nothing on your person or in your vehicle. Is there anything else that needs to be left with me?”

  Donny shook his head. “Nope. That’s it.” And he wasn’t lying because he had no intention of turning over the .22 handgun tucked into the secret spot under the dash. It was small enough to fit there and would be better than nothing if he ended up needing it.

  “Show me what’s in the back,” he said.

  “No problem,” Donny said. “But could you point that somewhere else? We’re on the same side here.”

  The guard did as instructed.

  Donny winked and smiled with satisfaction. This was how it was supposed to be. Him giving the orders and other people doing as they were told. Maybe he’d let this bonehead work for him after he took over Jax’s business and became the big boss. He untied the tarp and revealed the girls underneath. They were tightly bound back to back and then strapped down to anchor latches in the corners of the bed.

  The guard nodded. “Take the driveway to the main house. Security will be there to escort you inside.”

  Donny’s heart leaped in his chest. His fingertips tingled with possibility. Most days didn’t matter. They passed by in a blur of meaningless moments. But this one was different.

  This was the first day of the rest of his life.

  This was where all the tragedy and failure and disappointment ended.

  46

  The tarp flew off and Donny flashed an evil grin at Lily. She’d come to understand him to a degree over the last day and a half. He was a methhead, yes. But that wasn’t it. He was also a psychopath. She and Piper weren’t human beings to him. They were pieces in his sick game. Things that were only cared for in so far as that care served his purpose.

  She knew he’d only given them food and water because it served his purpose. The fact that they were hungry and thirsty hadn’t ever been a factor in it.

  Donny vaulted into the back and untied them enough to drag them out. He left their wrists bound behind their backs and the gags over their mouths. He passed them off to a couple of guards standing by the vehicle.

  Lily groaned as the feeling of pins and needles spread through her numbed limbs. She would’ve collapsed but thick arms held her upright.

  Piper had gone silent earlier that day. It was like she’d finally run out of tears. Dark mascara streaked her cheeks. Her empty eyes stared at nothing. Lily hadn’t been able to get her to say a word in hours.

  She wasn’t sure why that mattered. Maybe Piper’s approach was better. Go numb and stay that way. She’d done it herself the night before. After failing in the attempt to escape. After Donny had kicked her and put his hands on her.

  All she’d wanted to do was vanish.

  And she had, for a time.

  But she couldn’t stay gone.

  Something inside her refused to. Something inside her wouldn’t surrender. It wanted to fight. It wanted revenge. It wanted to claw Donny’s eyes out and kick out his remaining teeth.

  The anger gave her stre
ngth. But strength for what?

  All of her struggle had only earned her worse treatment. She’d fought again and again, and it had resulted in nothing but bruises. Piper’s surrender had earned her gentler treatment.

  Not that it mattered now.

  Several black SUVs were parked around the circular cobblestone driveway. A fountain with statues of galloping horses occupied the space in the center. Water kicked up around their hooves like dust. Lights shone on their sides, accentuating the ripple of muscle and tendon. A generator hummed from somewhere in the distance.

  The house itself was a sprawling single-story structure of white stucco with a roof of layered terra-cotta tiles. Black iron bars covered the multitude of windows. Most were dark, but several glowed with soft light.

  “Mr. Cook is waiting inside,” one of the guards said. All three wore dark suits with slicked back hair. All tall and huge. Their unnatural bulk suggested they’d never met a steroid they didn’t like. Each had an Uzi submachine-gun hanging off a shoulder.

  Donny plucked at the collar of his leather jacket. “Let’s not keep the boss waiting then.”

  The guard carried as much as walked Lily up the stairs to a grand arched entrance with polished wood double doors. They went inside and threaded through a maze of rooms and corridors until they arrived at the back patio. Only, this wasn’t a back patio like Lily had ever seen. Not in real life, anyway.

  An outdoor living room with couches, chairs and everything. A low glass table in the middle. A stone fireplace on one end with a roaring fire inside. An outdoor kitchen next to that with stainless steel appliances and colorful mosaic tile countertops. A huge grill with the top open and slabs of meat sizzling inside. Beyond that, a pool that stretched the width of both spaces. A mound of irregular rock along the back and a yawning darkness where the pool went into a cave underneath. Off to the side, a pool house so big that it wouldn’t have looked out of place in any normal neighborhood in Durango.

  A pair of guards strolled by and disappeared on the path behind the pool house. Others stood at what must’ve been their assigned posts because they didn’t move much, just kept looking around.