Shellshock (Spent Shells, #2)

by Hunter, Bijou

  ≫SIX SPENT SHELLS≪

  KAI

  I wake to a message from Papa, warning us to leave for the safe house earlier than planned. A powerful storm will arrive in the afternoon, complicating a possible firefight with the mercenaries waiting for us.

  Despite the change in schedule, I choose to take Anika and Sunny swimming after breakfast. A little part of me fears this is their last day of freedom. This sudden dread isn’t like me. I enjoyed my evening with Sunny and Anika. The child blossoms every minute she is away from that place. And Sunny starts her day, wearing a smile. Last night was a big step for us.

  So why am I on edge? The answer is Neri.

  I realize while holding a joyful Anika in the pool that my fears are an extension of my sister’s. Though usually unflappable, Neri’s stressed over Jonas and Cobain. I’ve never seen my sister as agitated as when we pack up to leave the hotel.

  “Should we skip the safe house and go elsewhere?” I message my father.

  “Jonas is waiting. He’ll get you out of the US.”

  I think to straight-out ask if Jonas is a threat to Cobain, but I know my father will lie if he believes the truth might harm us.

  “The parking lot is clear,” Cobain announces, returning with Robin. “No movement in hours.”

  I assume our friend from last night realized the money wasn’t worth dying over. Others might not be so smart.

  “We should assume we’re in danger until we’ve put at least thirty miles between us and this place,” I state.

  Neri nods, but she fears our destination more than the local wannabe thugs.

  Knowing the drill by now, Sunny and Anika hurry to the Suburban, get low in the back, and cover themselves with the blanket. Cobain sticks the dog in his Yukon and then helps Neri and me move our supplies back to the SUVs. Just after an early lunch, we return to the road.

  The locals don’t make a move on us as we leave, and no one tails us from the hotel. Soon, Sunny and Anika sit normally in the back, playing games and talking. Their voices make me smile, but Neri’s mood keeps me on edge.

  Hours later, before the final leg of our trip, we pull the SUVs into the parking lot at a state line rest stop. No one appears to be around while Robin does his business, and a restless Anika runs around a tree with her mother in ecstatic pursuit.

  Earlier, we studied internet maps and learned the safe house is surrounded by mostly barren land. With nowhere to hide, Cobain can’t get close with his rifle without alerting the mercenaries. Neri and I will have to approach alone while he waits up the road.

  Finally accepting that Neri plans to take on a houseful of killers without him, Cobain descends into a predictable rage. “You’re children playing a game!” he hollers, startling Anika and causing Robin to growl.

  Neri strokes his beard and smiles at me. “He’s very protective.”

  “Calm yourself,” I warn as my fingers caress Anika’s cheek and then Sunny’s. “We need to get this done before the storm arrives.”

  “Jonas told Papa that he’s there with the three mercenaries,” Neri says and glances up at the darkening sky. “Apparently, they’re keeping a close eye on him, so he can’t provide more details. He did say they are expecting us based on the info from their spies on the highway.”

  “Then they know I’m with you,” Cobain growls. “Why am I hiding again?”

  Neri sighs. “I already explained, and I won’t repeat myself. Now hush.”

  I realize the longer we wait, the more agitated Cobain becomes. Sunny and Anika are getting nervous from the increased wind. If we don’t move soon, we’ll arrive at the same time as the storm.

  I shove my phone in my pocket and steady my nerves. “We’ll approach the house, honk the horn to alert Jonas, and kill anyone we view as a threat.”

  “Including Jonas,” Neri says and glances at Cobain. “Then you can join us.”

  “Shut up.”

  Patting his cheek again, she smiles. “So protective.”

  I ignore my sister’s odd relationship and zero in on Sunny and Anika.

  “You’ll need to hide again,” I remind them.

  Sunny nods, struggling to remain calm. Anika just pouts.

  “We’ll play tonight,” I say and poke her belly. “Duck needs to run around after all the driving.”

  Grinning now, Anika counts the toys in her bag after returning to the back seat. Sunny, though, startles me by gripping my arm and staring panicked in my eyes.

  “Please, don’t die,” she whispers.

  After a lingering kiss, I press my lips against her ear. “I have so much to show you.”

  Sunny struggles between fleeting hope and absolute terror. Giving in to neither, she joins Anika and prepares for the final part of today’s trip. They even put on their helmets, just in case.

  Driving the Suburban, I feel an eerie calm in my heart. The people at the safe house are a threat, but Papa says it’s the safest current destination. He claims Jonas will help us.

  However, my father often lies through omission. He doesn’t care about the truth. His only concern is our safety. If Jonas is a threat to Cobain or even Sunny and Anika, my father won’t warn us. He’ll omit those details to increase the chances of Neri and me returning to him.

  Soon, I turn the Suburban down a long dirt driveway toward an expansive ranch home. Cobain’s Yukon idles miles back. While I considered leaving Sunny and Anika behind with him, I can’t trust their safety to anyone except Neri and me.

  In my mind, I know I will kill the mercenaries at this safe house and provide my family with a place to stay until our next step. If need be, I’ll kill Jonas. No one will stand in our way. They can’t stop us any more than they can prevent a hurricane. We’ll be a force of nature.

  After pulling to the end of the drive, I park where the concrete curves around the one-story house. Ideally, there’ll be space to maneuver if we need to make a fast getaway. I give the horn a quick honk.

  Seconds later, the dark wood front door opens, and a thin armed man steps out. Neri warns Anika and Sunny to stay down.

  With the engine still running, I exit the car in the same motion as my sister. We both stand halfway behind our open doors, using them as shields. Our weapons remain hidden.

  The lean man glances to his left, where a second mercenary approaches. This one is taller and more muscular. Where is the third killer that Jonas warned our father about? Is the assassin watching us through a rifle scope, waiting to fire?

  “Righthand,” I mumble to Neri, and she nods ever so slightly. When we start shooting, she’ll take that target.

  “Welcome,” the man at the doorway says. “I’m Steve. We ask you to relinquish your weapons if you hope to find sanctuary here.”

  “Where is the rest of your group?” the second man asks as he walks toward us.

  Exhaling softly, I wait for the signal from Jonas. Will he make himself known before bullets fly? I hear Neri throw down a weapon in front of her door. Not her main handgun. Just a rifle to distract the men.

  No one moves. A wary silence holds between the four of us. Then we hear a gunshot from inside the house.

  Steve tenses at the sound and loses his false smile. His gun lifts, but I drop to one knee and aim for where his Kevlar vest won’t protect him. My shot hits him in the face, and he topples to the ground in a bloody lump.

  Before Steve drops, Neri fires at the second man lingering near the back gate. He shoots wildly at me rather than her, possibly not taking a woman seriously. His bullets tear through the Suburban’s windshield and crack my driver’s side window. As I duck behind my car door, Neri puts the man down with a shot to his throat and then—after steadying her nerves—one to his head.

  The day falls silent except for the SUV’s engine and the faint sound of Anika crying. Then Cobain’s voice roars over the radio.

  “Use your words!” Cobain demands.

  Lurking behind her door, my sister finds her voice. “Hold,” she tells him and then looks to
me. “We still need to secure the site.”

  “I’m coming,” Cobain growls, sounding more animal than man.

  Seeing my sister’s terror, I order him to, “Wait until we deal with Jonas.”

  “Cobain, please,” she adds.

  Likely hearing her fear, the man does as he’s told.

  “Movement,” I tell Neri, and we aim our weapons at the front doorway. “Don’t lose your cool.”

  My sister flashes me a dark frown, and I smile at how she regains her razor-sharp instincts.

  “Sunny, stay low,” I call back into the car before adding, “I love you.”

  Neri and I move in sync toward the shadowed figure hidden just inside the doorway. He hesitates when he notices our weapons. His behavior pauses our forward momentum.

  “Are you Jonas?” I ask, sounding calmer than I feel.

  Giving her a quick glance, I find Neri seconds from taking her shot now and worrying over the consequences later. Jonas must realize the same thing because he raises his hands and calls out.

  “The ocean misses you, children.”

  Neri and I exhale together and lower our weapons as our father emerges from the dark doorway. With his salt-and-pepper hair hidden under a dark hoodie, he smiles at us.

  “Papa,” Neri says and rushes to his arms.

  I embrace my father, feeling like a lost child finally back home. Around his shoulder, I peer inside the house and notice a body sprawled in the hallway.

  Finally forcing myself to let him go, I ask dumbly, “Why did you come?”

  “Your mama worried I’d die of a heart attack if I didn’t get you home.”

  “But, why Jonas? Why not tell us?”

  “I worried knowing might make you sloppy.”

  Neri frowns at him and steps back from his embrace. “I don’t get sloppy.”

  Smiling at her feigned irritation, he runs his fingers over her blond hair tied in a bun. “You look like your mama.”

  “And he looks like the boy from ‘Blue Lagoon,’” Neri teases.

  Chuckling, Papa scans the flat land around us. “Did Cobain run off?”

  “No, he’s back at the road.”

  “Hiding like a child?”

  Defensive immediately, Neri mutters, “I worried Jonas was a threat to him.”

  Papa sees right through his daughter’s irritation and understands her feelings for the mercenary. His scowl isn’t subtle, but Neri pretends not to notice.

  “Well, tell him to stop hiding,” Papa grumbles and then looks at me. “And let’s see the woman you had to have above all others.”

  I holster my weapon and give him the same frown as Neri. “Don’t scare them.”

  Refusing to lose his scowl, Papa walks with us back to the Suburban. I open the back door and help Sunny and Anika from under the covers.

  The child hates to be in the dark, even with the tablet. I remove her helmet and wipe her wet cheeks.

  “Is Duck okay?” I ask, and she quickly checks her bag to be sure. When she nods, I ask her to use her words. Anika says yes and then shares my smile.

  Sunny watches me with wary eyes. She can’t see my father yet, but I caught her gaze flash to the dead man at the side of the building. Anika never notices things like that, and I suspect her mother envies her innocence.

  “I love you,” I tell Sunny, but she says nothing while watching me. “Use your words,” I add, and she gives me a little smile.

  “I love you too.”

  I feel my father behind me, restless to move things along. If Sunny was Mama, he’d punch anyone who rushed her. But she isn’t Mama to him, and I control my temper better than he does.

  “Papa, this is Sunny and Ani.”

  My father’s anger can simmer for an eternity. When he dislikes someone, he’ll hold a grudge even after the person’s death. Now he blames Sunny for the situation Neri and I ended up in, mainly because he’s unwilling to blame us.

  I suspect his scowl would remain in place for the rest of the day—at the very least—if not for Ani. My sweet little girl suffers from a lack of volume control and tends to yell out words. She’s so excited to speak that I can’t bear to ask her to lower her voice.

  So, when I suggest she say hi to my papa, she bounces in her mother’s arms and cries, “Hi, Papa!”

  My father’s resolve crumbles, and he almost smiles. His gaze returns to Sunny, who stares at the ground.

  “Fine, I see it,” he mutters at me.

  “Do you, Papa?” I tease in Spanish and nudge him. “Can you see why they own my heart?

  My father finally gives me a little smile and tousles my hair. “I can’t believe how much you look like your mother.”

  “Who is staying with Mama while you’re here?”

  Neri hears my question and stops staring at Cobain’s approaching SUV. We frown at our father, who ignores us like Neri did to him earlier.

  “Is she here?” I ask, glancing back at the house.

  Papa shrugs. “I couldn’t leave her at home alone.”

  Neri’s torn between checking on our mother and keeping our father from doing something permanent to Cobain.

  “Where is she?” I say and take Sunny’s hand.

  “Down the main hallway, inside the last room.”

  “Are you not coming?”

  My father gets a look at Cobain exiting the Yukon and instantly turns off everything soft inside him. I plan to help Neri play the referee until I imagine Mama waiting for news. Besides, Sunny and Anika don’t need to listen to these two large men yelling at each other in Spanish.

  I take Anika in my arms, settle her on my hip like a pro, and wrap my free arm around Sunny.

  “Don’t look at the bad stuff,” I whisper as we walk past the first dead body. “We’re going to find my mama now.”

  “Mama,” Anika says and smiles at Sunny.

  The child is completely oblivious to the new place or dead bodies. She mostly just looks at my face and then smiles at her mother, who isn’t smiling at all.

  “My mama will be scared, so we’ll need to help her.”

  Sunny nods, but I feel her spiraling now. Papa intimidated her, and she assumes the worst about our future together.

  As we arrive at the final room in the hall, I knock. No one answers. It’s locked, of course. I hand Anika to Sunny and have her step back.

  One hard kick opens the door, and I enter to find a suitcase on the floor but no sign of Mama.

  I call her name and then go to the closet. Sitting in the corner, Mama holds a gun loosely in her left hand and one of her light-up snow globes in her right.

  “Mama,” I say and kneel down.

  Like Sunny, my sweet mother hides in her head when afraid. I say her name again, and she suddenly sees me. A smile blooms across her beautiful face, and she sets down the weapon and toy before throwing her arms around me.

  “Kai,” she says, stroking my hair. “Where’s Neri?”

  “Outside, keeping Papa from killing her lover.”

  Mama takes a moment to figure out what I’m saying. She blinks a few times and then smiles. “Oh, that’s nice.”

  “Mama, this is Sunny and Ani,” I say, helping her up.

  My mother has never met any of the women I’ve dated. None were important enough to bring home to my very private parents. When Mama doesn’t have experience with a situation, she tends to fall silent and hopes no one pushes her.

  Though Sunny hides her feelings, Anika is curious about the snow globe. I show my child how it works, and she tries herself. Anika’s giggling awakens a smile on Sunny’s face, and Mama glows at the sight of my little girl.

  “She’s so small,” Mama whispers and caresses Anika’s floppy bangs.

  “She got her first toys just a week ago,” I say and gesture for us to sit on the ground where they can play. “Ani, can you show Duck and Doll to my mama?”

  Opening her bag, my little girl babbles wildly about her friends. Mama doesn’t understand her any better than I do, bu
t that’s not the point. I need the three of them to relax and get to know each other in a way I thought couldn’t happen until we arrived in Playa Cielo.

  COBAIN

  Life is brief. I’ve killed too many people to think differently. Taking a life is so effortless. Humans are too fragile. Even ones as vibrant as Neri.

  The moment her SUV goes on without me, I struggle to breathe. I can’t see shit from where I’m at. Gripping the security tablet, I curse the cameras on the Suburban for offering such a poor view. I can’t tell what’s happening!

  The quiet afternoon awakes with the sound of gunfire. In frustration, I nearly snap the tablet. Is Neri dead? Injured? I imagine her dark eyes staring at the sky, no life left in them.

  I curse in my native tongue. That’s how far gone I feel. I’ve reverted to the child I was when I watched my mother die. I barely spoke English back then. Now I can’t remember the words to express my rage in any language except the one I was born into.

  I remember how Neri lectured me over speaking more and working as a team. Regaining my English skills long enough to growl into the radio, I demand to know what’s happening.

  Neri’s voice does little to soothe me. She sounds afraid. Unharmed, but scared about what comes next.

  Her sleek figure appears in front of the Suburban’s cameras. Kai joins her. After years of training together, they move as one. I notice a man shadowed in the house’s doorway, but the fucking camera isn’t pointing where I need it to be. Frustrated, I again nearly break the tablet.

  Why am I hiding? Neri fears for me when she’s the inexperienced one. Oh, sure, she told me stories about her kills in Nicaragua. Good for fucking her! At her age, I thought I knew everything too.

  I can’t fail Neri. If she dies, there’s no moving away and starting over. She isn’t Priscilla or my mother. I can’t recover from my failure. They were cold women consumed by the evil they relished. Neri is a single light in an entire world of darkness. She’s the only beautiful thing I can see. Even the kid and Sunny are just noise. I can’t feel them. Only Neri exists.