by Sam JD Hunt
“Penny, baby girl, are you okay?”
“Fuck you,” I said. “And fuck all your ‘baby girl’ bullshit.”
“Such language.” He looked over to Layla. “My Princess is going to need a shot of that too, I think.”
“Sure thing,” she answered.
He picked the knife up from the table and reached down to cut my right hand free. His fingers caressed where the rope had been—so gently that tears flowed down my cheek. “Don’t cry, baby, it’s not what you think. I’ll explain, okay?”
“You came here to be with her,” I sobbed against his chest.
“No, I came here to get you.” His arms wrapped around me. “Layla called me, she told me everything.”
“Wait, how did she…?”
“I have cell coverage here at the cabin. I know it’s spotty over where you are—but Rex gets a signal over near the creek. I managed to talk to him earlier when you were passed out.”
“You hit me!” I remembered the thud to my head before I fell into the snow.
“You did come here to my home and attack me—I merely disabled you, Penny. If I wanted to kill you I would have wrung your neck in the first two minutes.”
“I was kicking your ass, bitch. You only got the upper hand because—”
“I think we need to back up a little, ladies,” Rex interrupted. “I haven’t been honest with my two loves, and I think it’s time I explain what’s going on.”
“Two loves?” I was shaking in anger.
“I meant you and Nate.”
Layla handed Rex a mug and poured a shot of Jack into my tea. “Let me re-tie her so she’ll listen,” Layla said with sneer at me.
“Bitch!”
“Okay, if we could refrain from both the name calling as well as the whole bondage fetish thing, I think we’ll all be a bit calmer. Deal?”
We both nodded at Rex. “Good. Now, yes, Layla is Luther’s sister, and—”
“Was,” she corrected, her eyes glazing over with sadness.
“Was, sorry Ringer,” he said, putting a hand on her—again.
“Ringer? She has a pet name, too?” I was about to lose my shit on both of them.
He shook his head. “No, a military code name like mine. We called her Ringer when she was one of the CIA’s assassins—she liked to take her targets down by ringing their necks when she had time.”
“Oh my God.” I looked over at Layla and remembered her remark about ringing my neck. She really could have killed me!
“I miss him every day. I don’t blame you, it’s just, it hurts. I mean he was my twin—that’s such a connection. And then when I received this letter from the grave, I freaked.”
“Letter? From Luther?” I was so confused.
“Yeah, that’s why I contacted Rex and asked if he could come out to the cabins.”
“The cabins? Wait, what?” The puzzle pieces were slowly coming together.
“We’re staying in Luther’s cabin,” Rex said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the whole reason why we were staying there.”
“Just tell me you’re not fucking this bitch,” I snapped.
“There’s the word again…” she said.
“Sorry,” I said with a half-hearted nod toward her. “This is all about a letter from Luther?”
“Yes, dear Penelope. My pal Rex here thought mention of my deceased brother might upset you and your mutual-loverboy, Nate. But I thought he might be able to help me interpret it. As far as boning your pierced-cock caveman here, he’s not my type. I’d rather get horizontal with you.”
“How did you know about the piercing?” Assassin or not, I wanted to kill her again.
She snorted, actually snorted, in laughter. “Whiskey makes his clothes fall off. Everyone has seen Rex’s metal-clad member.” Her eyes met mine. “I promise you, Beautiful Penelope, he’s never wet it inside me.”
“Uh, if we could,” Rex stammered, interrupted by the cabin door opening.
Nate walked in, his eyes locking with mine. “I tracked your sorry asses—having a party without me?”
I rose from the chair and fell into Nate’s arms. Finally, reinforcements, I thought.
Nate’s eyes cut to Layla. “Fuck,” was all he said.
“Nice to see you again, too,” she said, pouring whiskey into her own tea.
“I thought you didn’t drink, addict,” Rex said to her, reaching for the bottle.
“I don’t.” She looked over to me with a grin.
“Luther sent her a letter…from the grave. That’s why we’re here, it appears,” I explained to Nate.
“That’s fucked up, but listen, we might have bigger problems.” Nate reached for the Jack Daniels bottle and took a large swig directly from it.
“Bigger than letters from the grave and wacky fur-girl wildings trying to steal our man?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he said. “There is a set of tracks to this cabin after Rex’s, tracking him here from our cabin.”
“Shit,” I said. “The same tracks we saw the other day by our window?”
“Yeppers,” he said, followed by another shot of whiskey.
“Someone was looking in our window, and you didn’t bother to tell me?” Rex reached for the bottle.
“You were keeping a lot of secrets, we just didn’t know what it was all about,” I answered, reaching to take both of their hands. “No more lies between the three of us, okay?” They nodded, and Layla looked away.
Rex took a deep breath and looked over at her. “We need to head back before dark. Do you want one of us to stay here with you?”
I wanted to smack him hard, but she shook her head. “I’ve always taken care of myself, Roger. I’m good. We need to figure out this letter, and fast. Sleep on it, and let’s meet up tomorrow?”
He nodded and we left the cabin in silence.
No one spoke until we were back to our cabin.
“Fire?” Rex asked. He knew it was time to come clean, and in our family, most deep conversations involved a fire and strong beverages.
I nodded. “Yes, I’ll make some drinks.”
Nate’s eyes caught mine as Rex walked outside. “I’m worried, Pen. Layla is bad news.”
“She said you two shared some fun times.”
“She fed my addiction for a few weeks, that was all. I suspect living out here keeps her clean—she’s always been wild, and cities are hard on her.”
I thought about the things she must have done, the dark places her mind must go to, and felt some sympathy for her.
“I think she’s in danger, Nate. Let’s bring her here until the road opens then take her with us.”
Nate smiled. “Check out the big heart on Penny,” he teased. “Seriously, though, Layla is fine. I think Rex came out of guilt rather than to keep her safe—to make amends for what happened to Luther.”
“But getting a letter from him is odd.”
Nate reached for the dog crying at his leg. “That whole group is odd.”
“So this is the real reason I don’t care to celebrate Christmas,” Rex began. The three of us sat in front of the fireplace sipping the last of the red wine.
“We were still in Panama then, the unit.”
“Including Luther?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes, Luther was still with us. It was mid-December when we got the mission orders. Our unit was supposed to raid one of the big cocaine distributors—a well-armed one. His place was like a military base in itself—and the mission seemed like a suicide one, honestly. We were all freaked out. It was even worse when they told us they were sending in Ringer.”
“Wait, that’s Layla?”
“Yeah, and they only sent her in when things were…dire.”
“Okay, but you both clearly survived—Luther, too,” Nate said as he poked at the fire.
“You have a great command of the obvious, Nathaniel,” Rex snapped. “Yes, we took the compound, finally. Another group came to help—the rest of Layla’s unit. They were, um, brutal I guess is the only w
ord I can think of. Rules of combat, ethics—there wasn’t much of that with them. They were truly the government’s last resort. We all knew that shit was about to get grotesque that night, but we had no idea how fucked up it would all end.”
Rex took a sip of the wine and stared into the fire. I knew this was a memory he’d rather not relive. “Anyway, the whole thing ended with a group of drug lords and their soldiers holed up in safe room-type bunker. The other unit set fire all around it—they burned it to the ground. Their mission was never to take prisoners.”
“Well, I mean that’s awful, they burned up right? But it sounded like it was for the greater good?” I was still lost as to why that night was so unthinkable—Rex had told us endless stories of battles with the cartels in Central America.
“We didn’t know this then, but there were civilians in there, with them. There were…teenage girls, ten of them. These demons weren’t just peddling drugs, they were using drug mules to get the stuff out. These girls were being shipped off to the States full of drugs.”
“How did they get across the border?” I could barely remember security before the world was full of random terrorist attacks.
“With balloons full of cocaine in their body cavities,” Rex answered.
“That’s disgusting.”
“Yes. Their reward was either money or to eventually get to stay in the US after they made however many trips. We didn’t know they were there.”
“Did the other unit? Layla’s unit?”
“I’m not sure, I hope not. I know she didn’t, at least. But, it haunts us both that the bad guys went down that night, but so did ten innocent young women.”
Rex shook a little as he spoke the words. In a whisper, he said, “We didn’t know.”
Nate put his hand on Rex’s knee. “Innocents get hurt in war, and you were at war with those cartel leaders. If you’d known…”
“I know. In my head, I know that. But the memory of those young lives, that we did that. It’s hard. Every Christmas Eve, I remember that fire.”
Nate stroked Rex’s leg as I pulled closer to them both. “The letter?” I asked. “How does that play into this now?”
“Layla received a letter from Luther a few weeks ago, as you know. She asked if I could detour from the resort and head out here to the cabins for a night or two to figure out what it meant. The letter is Luther’s confession about what happened that night, and it seems to be written not long before he died.”
“When he was off the rails,” I said.
“Yes. It’s addressed to someone named Santos. I’m guessing this Santos sent it to Layla. The why we aren’t sure.”
“So you and Layla were comparing notes on this Santos?”
“Yeah, but we drew a blank. He’s none of the players that we remember from back then.” Rex took a deep breath and finished his wine. I poured the rest of mine into his glass. He needed it more than I did.
“I never meant to put the two of you in danger. I seem to always hurt people,” Rex said with the shake of his head.
I crawled into his lap. “We love you—I wish you’d realize we’re stronger as three, lean on us and stop always trying to protect us. We’re stronger than you think.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I know, Princess.”
“We are three, and I love you both,” Nate said, walking over to kiss first Rex and then me.
Chapter Eight
“It’s Christmas Eve!”
I ignored him and snuggled into the warm blankets.
“Come on, Princess, wake up. It’s the day you’ve been waiting for.” Rex was pulling the blanket from me.
“Huh?” I sat up and let my eyes focus on him. He was dressed and had his heavy down coat on.
“The roads are clear—we can go. Nate’s out chopping up the Christmas tree to leave it as firewood. We’ll shut down the cabin and drive out today.”
I looked around the cabin with mixed emotions. Being snowed-in had its highs and lows, but I couldn’t wait to check in to the ski resort and be pampered.
“What about Snowball?” She was sound asleep at my feet.
“We’ll stop at the vet in town—hopefully they’ll still be open on Christmas Eve. If no one is missing her, we’ll take her with us.”
“It’s a deal. She’s a sweet girl, and I’d love to keep her but she seems restless. The other day she was crying at the door, like she heard someone she knew.”
“I’m sure she was someone’s pet. She’s too well taken care of to be a stray.”
I looked over at the kitchen. “What do I do with the food that will spoil?”
“We’ll haul it out along with the garbage. Who knows how behind the folks who service the cabins are because of this storm. We’ll toss it all at the nearest gas station dumpster.”
I nodded. “Let me get a bath and I’ll start shutting down.”
“Excellent. I need to secure everything outside. Don’t get rid of those cookies, though. I’m eating those.”
I gave him the thumbs up. “They’re yours.”
“Oh, and the butter, let’s bring that to the hotel,” he said with a wink.
My mind raced back to all of the insecurity I had that week, my worry that Rex was being unfaithful. “Rex, I hate to ask, but was the butter from Layla?”
He sat at the end of the bed. “Yes, it was the only place I knew to get it from and you were already mad. Besides, I wanted to check on her. She’s not as careful as she should be.”
“It’s good butter,” I said with a smile.
“Let’s just hope it’s from a cow. Knowing Layla, it’s like beaver butter or something.”
“Well, to be fair, it did become beaver butter.” I thought back to our kinky sex while making cookies.
Rex laughed and nodded, “I guess it did.”
“Should we say goodbye?”
He tilted his head, confused.
“To Layla, I mean. I feel bad about how it all went down. I wasn’t exactly hospitable.”
“Penny, people like her aren’t anything you have experience with. Don’t feel bad. If you think I’m fucked up, you can’t even imagine the type of world Layla and Luther inhabited. She’s happy out here trapping and living off the land. I’ll give her a call from the resort.”
“We have so much food here that will just go to waste. I’m going to take it over to her.”
Rex’s eyes softened. “Yeah, that would be cool of you. I’ll have the car cleaned off when you’re ready and you can drive over there SLOWLY.”
“Perfect.”
“Penny, I never had anything with Layla. Neither did Nate,” Rex said as he stood up.
“I know. She told me she’d rather have me.”
He nodded with pursed lips. “Yeah, I’d kill her. You’re ours and ours only,” he said with a wink.
I packed up the food and loaded it into the car. “Can you guys watch Snowball? She’s very antsy this morning and I’m worried she’s going to run off.”
They were stacking firewood and neither looked at me. “Yeah, we’ll watch her,” Nate said without looking up.
“I mean it!”
Rex looked over at me. “I’ll let her hang out in my coat, she seems to like it there.”
I watched him walk toward the cabin to get the dog as I climbed into the car. I’d already bought Rex’s Christmas present, but I decided if Snowball had an owner I’d get him a little dog like her. The thought of my giant, inked man attached to such a delicate little thing made me smile.
The snow crunched as I shifted the heavy vehicle into drive. I savored the freedom of driving—we’d been trudging through the heavy snow for so many days that I’d forgotten the freedom of being behind the wheel.
I turned on the radio, feeling connected to civilization again. When I turned onto the rough road to Layla’s cabin, I was surprised at how quick the trip was by car. My euphoria faded, however, when I saw Layla’s door wide open.
I didn’t feel alarmed, just confuse
d. She was so odd, an open door was probably just her airing out the latest round of creepy food, I decided. I shifted the car into park and walked around to the trunk to get the groceries.
With several bags in my hand, I knocked on the doorframe and said, “Layla, I have some food for you.”
There was no answer, so I went in to leave it in her primitive kitchen. And then I saw him, but it was a split second too late. As he shoved the cloth over my nose and mouth, I mumbled into his furry mitten, “Santa?”
I woke up feeling woozy, but I wasn’t in any pain. My eyelids were heavy, but I forced them to open. Layla was tied to a chair across from me—her body was limp, lifeless. Tied to another chair? I thought. These cabin folk need to get more creative.
“I had to give her more,” the thickly accented voice said from behind me. “She wouldn’t respond to the level of Chloroform that the internet suggested.”
“Who are you?” I felt nauseous, but fought it. I had to think.
“It doesn’t matter, Penelope. I’m not here for you.”
“Is she okay?” Layla was breathing, but the unnatural tilt of her head worried me.
“She’s fine until I kill her.”
The man walked around my chair and sat down next to me. I pulled at my arms—but they were tied tightly to the chair I was bound to. “People will be expecting me. Layla too—she was coming with us. They know where we are—I have GPS tracking on my phone,” I lied.
“I’m counting on it,” he said grimly.
The man looked down at his hands. He was old, possibly in his seventies, and wore a long white beard. The red coat was removed and hanging on a hook by the door, but he still reminded me of Santa Claus. A very scary Santa, that is.
He crunched on some sort of hard candy and said, “Penny, I used your phone to send a text message to Colonel Renton. I’m quite sure he is on his way. Once he is here, I will swap him for you.”
I thought back to all the captive training I’d listened to Rex give. I calmed my nerves and responded with a forced chuckle. “I thought you were Santa Claus.”
The man relaxed a little and looked at me. “Long ago I used to be one of those department store Santas for the holidays. My name is even Santos,” he said, instantly regretting giving me information.
