by Kenny Soward
“I saw an opportunity and moved quick.” Tre handed his clipboard to an assistant and approached Jake and Marcy. Aside from his slow swagger and tattoos, Jake would not have pegged him as a member of a gang, and certainly not a gang leader. “But I don’t need to impress you. It’s you who needs to impress me.”
“I didn’t realize we were joining X-Gang,” Jake said with a shrug. “We’d be happy if you’d let us go so we can be on our merry way. You don’t need us.”
Hawk snickered and brushed the back of his hand across his nose. “Told you he was in denial.”
Tre approached Jake and put his face just inches away, eyes drilling into him from behind the dark lenses. “Are you in denial, Jake?”
“Denial of what?”
“Everything that’s happening right now,” Tre said, quietly. “The storms, the people starting to take sides when men like me draw the battle lines. For everything that is yet to come.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s a new age, Jake.” Tre turned around and gestured at the man he’d given the clipboard to, and the man rushed over to hand Tre a bottled water. “A regime change is coming, and it would be in your best interest to be on the right side.”
“They’ve probably declared a national emergency by now,” Jake said, “and they’ll be sending in the military soon. Do you think you can hold on to this little fortress for long? Do you think your little guns are going to stand up to armored vehicles when they come rolling through?”
Tre only smiled, opened his water bottle, and took a small drink. Once he’d finished, he capped the bottle and gestured to Jake. “Jake, is it?”
“Yeah.”
“Look, Jake, you’re not going anywhere.” Tre smiled faintly. “The storm is getting worse out there, and you won’t find any real shelter except what I have to offer you.”
“All the same,” Jake said in a low tone. “We’d appreciate it if you’d let us go.”
“You don’t understand, man,” Tre said, scoffing. “You are either in with X-Gang, or you’re dead. You’ve got to give me something now, right this minute, or you’re going to end up on the wrong side of things. Come on, what are you good at? I’ll make it worth your while.”
“I’m just an IT guy,” Jake said. “Computer work. Networking, application development, that kind of thing.”
Tre smiled wide. “You brought me a real, live nerd, Hawk.”
“Yeah,” Hawk said, laughing. “I guess I did. Sorry about that, Tre.”
“Don’t be sorry, Hawk,” Tre said. “You did real good. You and Raven both. You stop down at the reward room, and Vin will hook you up.”
“Thanks, Tre,” Hawk said with more respect in his tone than Jake thought possible.
Tre turned back to Jake. “We may not need a nerdy guy like you right this second, but we will later, after the balance has been tipped and the power returned to the people. When that time comes, I really hope you want to be a part of it.”
Before Jake could answer, Tre stepped over to stand right in front of Marcy. He studied the woman for a moment before giving an appreciative nod. “What about you? What can you do?”
“I’m a lawyer,” Marcy said, quietly. “I came to Boston for a job interview.”
“A lawyer is the last thing we’re going to need,” Tre said, laughing as the others in the room laughed with him. “I mean, if that’s all you can do then we’ll just take you back downstairs and—”
“Wait,” Jake said with a hard spike to his tone.
“Yeah, Jake?” Tre turned back. “You have some idea of how she can help us out?”
“Marcy is smart,” Jake said. “She knows a lot, and she’s resourceful. What if I told you she figured out that some junk we found lying in the road was actually worth millions of dollars?”
Tre leaned forward, turning his head slightly. “I’d say tell me more, Jake.”
“Back on Boston Street, past the bridge,” Jake said with a glance at Hawk, whose eyes were growing wide as he listened. “There’s an overturned truck.”
“I remember it,” Tre nodded faintly. “It blocked the whole road. That’s where we dropped off Hawk and Raven.”
“Right. Well, there’s medical equipment inside that truck.” Jake’s tone lifted, hoping to play to Tre’s capitalistic sensibilities to buy Marcy a bit more time. “Delicate machines and instruments. So much of it, you could probably set up a small hospital.”
“That true?” Tre’s head turned toward Marcy with a questioning tilt.
“It is,” Marcy said with renewed hope as she peered at the gang leader through her thick-rimmed glasses. “I worked on several malpractice suits in Indiana, and I had to know a lot about the equipment mentioned in the cases. Boring stuff, really, but I learned a lot about hospital equipment in general.”
“What did you see spilled out on Boston Street?” Tre asked.
“I saw one high-grade vitals monitor, a dialysis machine, and several Pentax endoscopes. They were still in their packaging, so they’re probably still good.”
“And how much do you think it’s all worth?”
Marcy shrugged and tossed a glance at Jake. “Just what I saw spilled out of the back of the truck was probably worth a hundred thousand dollars.”
“Very good, Miss Marcy,” Tre said, pursing his lips. Then he lifted his eyes to Hawk, whose face held barely controlled anger. “Send some guys out there with a truck and see if it adds up. Until then, we’ll put Jake and Miss Marcy up in the deluxe suite with all the other top-end merchandise.”
The guards laughed, and Jake felt Hawk take him by the arm and pull him toward the door. The heavy door swung open, and Hawk shoved Jake through it and down the hall a few feet until Marcy, Raven, and Luis caught up. Jake stumbled a bit then regained his footing, walking with his head down as Hawk seethed next to him.
“Something bothering you, Hawk?” Jake asked quietly. “You don’t seem like your usual, cheerful self.”
Hawk turned suddenly and shoved Jake hard against the wall. Jake’s shoulder took the brunt of the impact, and he grimaced to hide the sting.
“You’re going to pay for that, man.” Hawk put his finger into Jake’s face. “If you would have told me that was medical equipment in the back of that truck, I could have brought it back myself.”
“You didn’t ask,” Jake said with a bemused smile.
Hawk’s face turned red as he stared at Jake with his cold, gray eyes and his lip quivering in anger. Then he grabbed Jake by the arm and yanked him down the hall, shoving him two or three times until they got to the elevator.
“Hey, quit that—” Marcy said in protest, but a quick slap cut her off.
Jake glanced back to see Raven glaring at Marcy, and Marcy looking stunned as her left cheek burned bright red. A sudden heat flared up in Jake’s stomach, but there wasn’t a thing he could do about it with his hands cuffed together like they were. They arrived at the elevator banks a moment later.
“Take us up,” Hawk said in a fuming voice.
“It’s still broke,” the guard said with a shake of his head. “You’ve got to take the stairs.”
Hawk stalked back and forth, warring with some decision inside his head before he turned to Luis. “Take them upstairs and put them in the small room. We’re going to go pick up the medical stuff, and if that nerd so much as looks at you funny,” Hawk said, pointing to Jake, “you’ve got my permission to put holes in him.”
“You got it, boss,” Luis said, then he fixed Jake with a dark look and pointed toward the steps with the end of his rifle. “Let’s go. Upstairs.”
Chapter 24
Jake, Boston, Massachusetts | 2:05 p.m., Monday
Jake and Marcy shuffled up the stairs with heavy feet. Jake was feeling the burn of the climb in his legs, and Luis was having an even tougher time of it. The big guard panted heavily behind him as they approached the fourth-floor landing.
“You okay?” Jake asked, looking down at Marcy. Sh
e had tears in her eyes, while her expression remained resolute.
“I’m fine,” she said, firmly. “She just took me by surprise. She won’t next time.”
“Good.” Jake glanced back at Luis before his eyes settled on Marcy. “Looks like we bought ourselves some time.”
“Only because you saved my butt back there,” Marcy said, shaking her head. “I’d forgotten all about that medical equipment.”
“Hey, shut up,” Luis said in agitation. “No talking until you get to the room.”
“What’s in the small room?” Jake asked, throwing a backward glance at Luis.
“It’s just a room,” Luis said between huffs. “Now, shut up.”
“It must be a special room,” Jake pushed. “I mean, they could have put us back downstairs with the rest if they’d wanted.”
“Tre keeps certain people separate from the others,” Luis explained, then he caught himself. “Hey, I said shut up.”
Jake listened to Luis breathing like a locomotive train struggling to get over a hill. Thoughts of escape entered Jake’s head, but how much could he do with his hands cuffed? And where would they go? There were four floors and several guards armed with guns between them and freedom.
“He puts flight risks up there, doesn’t he?” Marcy continued to press the conversation as they moved past the fourth-floor landing and started up the last flight. “People he thinks might try to run.”
“I don’t know,” Luis huffed, sounding like he might be ready to keel over right there on the steps. “They’re just…” The hefty guard’s words trailed off as he breathed heavy, and Jake looked down to see Marcy’s eyes narrow before she glanced over at Jake with a strange expression.
“Ugh.” Marcy clutched the back of her leg and fell to her knee at the top of the next landing that marked the halfway point to the fifth floor.
Jake started to reach for her, but the barrel of Luis’s gun jabbed him in the side.
“Get back, man,” Luis growled, then he jabbed Jake in the stomach again.
Raising his hands in supplication, Jake took a step back, eyes darting back and forth between Marcy and the guard.
“Get up, lady.” Luis trained his gun on Marcy, sweat pouring down his forehead.
“Sorry, I’m cramping up,” Marcy said, looking back with a pained expression.
“I don’t care. Get up!”
“Look, I was running around out there for three days without fresh water,” Marcy winced as she turned and sat down heavily on the top step, facing right down the barrel of Luis’s gun. Then she reached down and pulled on the toe of her sneaker in an attempt to stretch her hamstring muscle. “And you assholes haven’t been feeding us all that well. Then you ask me to walk up five flights of steps. Of course I’m cramping up.”
Luis remained on the fifth step down with an expression of annoyance on his face. He seemed to contemplate something in his head before coming to a decision.
“Get up,” Luis growled the words as he leaned forward to grab Marcy with his meaty left hand, raising the end of his rifle at the ceiling as he did so.
In a quick move, Marcy reached up, grabbed the barrel of the rifle, and jerked it to the side. The weapon tore free from Luis’s hand, stopping short of clattering to the floor due to the strap hanging over the guard’s shoulder.
Jake stood there in shock for a moment before he raised his hands and smashed both of his fists into the side of Luis’s head. The guard staggered a few steps down, but he was a mountain to move, and he turned on Jake and grasped him by the shirt even as he fought to regain control of his weapon.
It would only be another moment before Luis made enough noise to bring more guards, so Jake grabbed the guard by the shirt, pushed him forward, and then jerked him back while slamming his head into the guard’s chin.
Luis grunted and fell backwards, bringing Jake with him. Jake’s world spun end over end until they landed in a heap near the bottom of the landing. The next thing he knew, Marcy was there, speaking in a hushed tone as she pulled the gun free of the heap and tugged Jake by the shirt.
“Get up,” Marcy was saying, her voice tinged with mad panic. “We have to go. Come on.”
Partially beneath Luis’s bulk, Jake pushed the guard off of him and got to his feet. His head was still spinning, but he was coherent enough to pat Luis’s belt line and pockets until he found what he was looking for. Jake pulled a four-inch knife free and held it out to Marcy.
“Cut these,” he said, nodding to his plastic cuffs.
Marcy took the knife and sawed until Jake’s hands popped free, then she handed him the gun and leapt up the stairs two at a time.
“Wait,” Jake said, still trying to get his bearings. “Where are you going?”
“Only one way to go,” Marcy said as she breathed heavily in a mix of elation and panic. “And that’s up.”
Jake put the rifle strap over his shoulder, checked that there was a round in the chamber, and followed Marcy up the stairs, gaining speed as his head cleared.
“Nice acting job,” he told her.
“Nice headbutt,” Marcy replied as they approached the fifth-floor landing. “And I don’t think anyone heard us.”
“We’d know by now if they had.” Jake stepped closer to the door at the top of the steps and put his ear to it. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Hawk knocked on the other doors before,” Marcy said, raising her fist to the metal surface. “To let them know someone was out here.”
“I wouldn’t knock,” Jake said as a mixture of dread and adrenaline coursed through his bloodstream. There were likely several gunmen on the other side of that door, which meant things were about to get bloody. He’d never killed another human being in his life, but he no longer had a choice. If they did nothing, the guards downstairs would realize Luis was missing and come to check on him. “Just open it, and I’ll take out whoever is on the other side.”
“What about after that?” Marcy said.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Jake replied, firmly.
“Okay. Count of three?”
“Yeah.”
Marcy counted down as Jake took a deep breath and nestled the stock of the weapon into his shoulder, finger resting on the trigger. He’d fired rifles like this before, but it had been several months ago, and he had no idea how accurate he’d be. This was likely to be a close and bloody fight, so it would be hard for him to miss. That went for the guards on the other side, too.
He swallowed hard just as Marcy hit the last number.
“Three!” Marcy said in a harsh whisper as she turned the knob and jerked the door open. Jake leaned forward and pointed the barrel to the right. Seeing no one there, he stepped through the doorway and spun to the left, nearly squeezing off a round but lifting his finger off the trigger at the last second.
There were no guards up here. Not a single one.
“What in the world?” Jake asked, looking around. The room was an open layout, similar to the first floor, with metal doors lining the far walls on their left and right. Three windows faced them along the opposite wall, glass broken and rain getting inside to wet the old hardwood flooring. There were a few small boxes and supplies sitting in the center of the room, and they looked like some of the things Tre’s people had been sorting through downstairs.
“Must be where he keeps his prized stuff,” Marcy said, also looking around.
“He’s been looting the entire city,” Jake said in wonder. “He’s collecting every bit of merchandise he can. This guy is ambitious.”
“I wonder why there are no guards?”
“Why would he need guards? There’s only one way out of here, and that’s the stairs. Unless…” Jake’s words trailed off as he moved across the floor, past the stacked merchandise, and over to the window on the far left. He poked his head out and looked down, seeing nothing except a five-story drop to an alleyway below. Then, looking to the right, he saw a fire escape that reached all the way to the g
round. In a rush of elation, Jake moved to the middle window and looked down. The fire escape was rusted, and the metal was flimsy and broken in some places.
“Tell me what you think of this fire escape,” Jake said, stepping back and giving her room get by.
Marcy swung one leg out over the windowsill and put her sneaker on the flimsy, grated-metal landing. She leaned out further and put some weight on it, wincing as the thing squealed in protest. “It might hold one of us at a time, but I doubt it will hold both of us, and not for long. Look at that.”
Marcy pointed to where the fire escape was bolted to the brick, and Jake saw how badly it had come loose. Some parts of the fire escape were completely detached from the wall.
“Not good.” Jake shook his head and then looked around, as if an answer might fall out of the sky. It was late afternoon, but there wasn’t much light filtering in through the sea of dark clouds above them. They’d survived so much only to be trapped on the fifth floor with the rest of Tre’s prized merchandise. Pretty soon, the guards would knock on the door and demand Jake and Marcy’s surrender. They could either fight and die, or give up. Jake could easily make that decision for himself. He couldn’t make it for Marcy.
He peered upward into the wind and rain, waiting for an answer. Then he cocked his head, turning his body completely around and narrowing his eyes at something.
“What is it?” Marcy peered upward, holding onto Jake’s arm.
“There,” Jake grinned at the iron ladder firmly fixed to the side of the building. It rose the full ten feet to the top of the building and looked much newer than the fire escape.
Marcy caught sight of it and grinned, too. “That’s our ticket.”
“Provided this fire escape will hold us for a second or two.” Jake stepped onto the flimsy metal and listened to it groan under his weight. Then he reached up to grip the first iron rung of the ladder.
Chapter 25
Sara, Gatlinburg, Tennessee | 2:15 p.m., Monday
“I don’t think this is a good idea, Mom,” Todd said in a disapproving tone as he watched his mother stuff a small backpack full of food, water, rope, and extra 9mm ammunition.
