by K. J. Dahlen
He forced her to walk in front of him with the knife was pressed under her chin.
Sawyer didn’t dare breathe too heavily as the steel blade bit deep into her skin. She felt a trickle of blood run down her neck and onto her chest.
He forced her to walk in front of him down the hall. When they got to the end of the hall, she could see into the living area. She could see Pappy, Dewey and her father standing over Enrique.
He was bruised and bloody and holding his left arm all the while cursing out her father. “My brother is going to kill your girl for this.” Enrique sneered as Pappy pulled his arms behind his back. Enrique fought against him but the other man zip tied his wrists together behind him. He kicked out at Pappy all the while cursing and screaming obscenities at them.
Tomas cleared his throat and waited for Calico to turn toward him.
Tomas’ hands gripped the knife a bit tighter.
Calico took a step closer to him but Pappy reached out and grabbed his shirt. He hauled him up short.
Calico glared at the only man that mattered at this moment.
“So you did come for her?” Tomas rasped.
“You knew I would.” Calico growled.
Tomas’s lips curled into a sneer. “Yeah, I knew you would come for her. That’s why I took her.”
Calico tipped his head to one side. “How the hell did you find her anyway?”
Tomas chuckled but there was no glee in his laughter. “It was by accident I saw her. If it wasn’t for her hair, I never would have known she was your kid.”
Calico hardly heard the words, as he looked her over for any injury. “Did they hurt you baby?” he asked softly.
Sawyer tried to shake her head but Tomas held her too tight.
He pressed the knife into her throat a bit harder. “I still hold all the cards, you bastard.” Tomas growled. “This isn’t over yet and I will stick this knife in her throat if you don’t do what I say.”
“It’s over Barrone,” Calico told him.
“You are willing to watch her die right here, right now?” Tomas goaded him.
“You willing to die right here, right now?” Calico asked in a cold voice.
Tomas laughed. “You may kill me here today but know if you try, she’ll be the first to die. I will have my revenge for Susan and my child, not to mention Jose.”
Sawyer felt his spittle drip from the corner of his mouth and land on her shoulder. She couldn’t even cringe, all she could do was stared into her father’s eyes. Then something else came into her consciousness. She could feel him. The man she’d spent the day in bed earlier with was nearby. She couldn’t see him or smell him but she knew he was there all the same. She felt a wave of something close to feeling safe again, wash through her and she calmed her fear.
Tomas must have felt her let go of her fear too, because he suddenly alerted to it. “What the fuck?” he swore under his breath as his hands gripped the knife tighter. He couldn’t look around without taking his eyes off Calico and he wasn’t willing to do that. Instead, he told the other man, “If you do anything wrong, I will kill her. I got nothing left to lose here.”
Calico just glared at him. Instead of speaking, he slowly raised his hand away from his sides and stare him in the eye. He was holding a bloody knife in one hand but he was holding it loosely.
No one moved closer to where Tomas stood with Sawyer.
Bastian crept up behind the pair. His footsteps were even and silent. Without making a sound, he pulled the knife from his pocket and flipped open the blade. Raising his hands, he found the spot on Tomas’s neck that would do the most damage. Pressing the tip of the knife into the other man’s skin, he leaned forward and whispered in his ear.
“Move your knife away from her slowly.”
Tomas started in shock. His breath left his lungs as the steel from the blade bit into his neck. He didn’t dare move. Then he snarled, “Release me or the girl is dead.”
“You’ll die before she does,” Bastian promised him. “My blade is sharper than yours and from where my blade is located it wouldn’t take much pressure to severe your spinal cord. When my blade slices through your spinal cord, you will lose all feeling in your body. You won’t know it but your bladder will release and you’ll piss your pants. You won’t feel it but you’ll shit yourself too.”
Tomas gripped the knife a bit more. His knuckles went white and he began to sweat. “Who the fuck are you to speak to me like that?” he growled as he glared his hatred at Calico.
Bastian leaned closed to the other man’s ear. “They call me the Priest,” he whispered.
Tomas paled as sweat rolled down the side of his face. His hand holding the knife trembled. “The Priest?” he whispered brokenly. His tongue darted out to wet his suddenly dry lips.
“That’s what some people call me.”
Tomas slowly drew the knife he held away from Sawyer’s throat.
“Let her go very slowly,” Bastian ordered the other man. “Try really hard not to make any sudden moves.”
Tomas moved his hands away from Sawyer and when she was free of him she stumbled forward into her father’s waiting arms.
Bastian reached out, grabbed one of Tomas’s wrists and pulled it back behind him.
Pappy rushed forward and grabbed Tomas pulling him away from Bastian. He pulled both the other man’s wrist behind his back and ziptied them together. Bastian went over to where Sawyer was safe at last in Calico’s arms.
Calico slipped his knife under the ties that held her hands together and broke the plastic. When her arms came free everyone could see her wrists were torn up. Her wrists were bloody and bruised.
Sawyer hissed with pain as her eyes settled on the man that rescued her. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, even as her father began taking inventory of her injuries. She took a step away from her father but he hauled her back to him.
Bastian shook his head. “Are you all right?” he asked her quietly.
Sawyer nodded. “I am now,” she whispered back.
Calico growled when she tried to leave him again.
Bastian smiled slightly then turned to Pappy. “Get what you need off the boat then load the other bodies on the deck. I’ll take it out into the Gulf to question these two. When I’ve got everything they have to tell me, I’ll sink the boat and no one will find the bodies.”
“Will you come back to the compound afterwards?” Pappy asked.
Bastian nodded at Sawyer. “I’ll come there for her.”
Calico tried to move away with Sawyer but she wouldn’t move.
Bastian stepped closer and reaching out, he tucked a strand of her multi colored hair behind her ear. “You go back home with your dad. Your mother’s waiting for you.”
“But I want to stay with you,” she protested.
Bastian smiled gently. “No, you really don’t. Go back with your dad and when I get done here, I’ll come find you.”
Sawyer grabbed the front of his shirt. “Do you promise? Promise me you’ll come back for me? You won’t disappear?”
Bastian leaned toward her. When his lips brushed hers he whispered, “I promise. But right now, I have to go to work.” He pulled her gently from Calico’s arms and just held her for a moment.
Calico took this time to walk toward Tomas. He snarled as he bent down and whispered in the other man’s ear.
Tomas listened for a moment then twisted to get loose but he couldn’t. He began swearing and tried to kick out at Calico.
Calico stepped back and smiled, then turned his back and went over to where Bastian held Sawyer. He pulled her away from Bastian and back into his own arms.
Bastian stared at her for a moment then switched over to her father.
Calico hadn’t said anything out loud yet, but just stared at the other man.
Bastian nodded at him. “Take her home. Take her back to her mother. I’ll meet you there later.”
Calico wanted to growl at the other man but he didn’t. He just tighten
ed his grip on his daughter and led her off the boat. Pappy and Dewey had taken all the paperwork they found on the table beside the radio.
One of the other men had grabbed what paperwork he found in the bedroom Sawyer had been in and then all three of them stepped off the boat. For a moment, the boat rocked as the other men in Tomas’s crew were loaded aboard.
Finally, Jim came in. He was carrying Bastian’s carryon bag. He glanced over at Tomas and Enrique. Both men were bound. He then looked over at Bastian. “What are you going to do with them?”
“I need to take them out into the gulf and question them.”
“Then what?”
“Then when I know what they know, I’ll sink the boat. I need you to pick me up and bring me back.”
Jim nodded. “How long will you be?”
“I don’t know.” Bastian shrugged. “That all depends on how much these guys want to stay stupid.”
“Have you thought about what you plan to do after this case is done?” Jim asked.
Bastian stared at his longtime friend for a moment. “What did you have in mind?”
Jim shrugged. “I’m thinking it might be time to settle down. Here’s as good a place as any.”
“It’s something to think about.” Bastian nodded. Then he turned to Tomas and Enrique. “Gentlemen, it seems we have a great deal to talk about.”
Enrique sneered. He was covered in blood and his hands were bound behind him. “So the little puta belongs to you huh?”
“Sawyer is my woman yeah.” Bastian nodded as he reached for his carryon. Jim brought it aboard when he got there. When he opened the bag, he pulled out a pair of gloves.
Jim got ready to leave. “I’ll get hold of a boat and follow you out there.”
Bastian glanced up at him. “Are all the bodies on board?”
Jim nodded. “We put them on the deck. From the dock, you can’t see them.”
“Good I’ll take the boat out into the gulf and question them out there. That way no one will hear their screams.”
Jim grunted. “These are the worst kind. They always scream the loudest.”
Bastian glanced over at the two men he was here to get some answers from. Both men looked tough but he knew from experience it wouldn’t take much to break them. He glanced over at Jim. “Come back as soon as you have a boat and we’ll go from there.”
Jim nodded and left the boat.
Bastian stared coldly at Tomas and had to ask, “What did Calico say to you?”
Chapter Seven
Tomas curled his lip. “He told me Susan’s son lived the night his mother was shot. He said she lived long enough to name him Emmett and that when she died, she knew he would take care of her son. Then he told me Emmett was his middle name and that my son carries his name not mine.”
Bastian grinned. “So you have a son out there somewhere. Good to know. Congratulations. Let’s hope he lives a long and prosperous life away from the likes of you.”
“Fuck you!” Tomas screamed in his rage. “My son will avenge me.”
Bastian laughed out loud. “Your son will never even know who his real father is. If the people who are raising him tell him anything, it will be about his mother, not his loser father. Your son will never know you existed.”
“You bastard!” Tomas swore.
Bastian leaned toward him and whispered, “Boyo you ain’t seen nothing yet. But you will. We’ll both learn a lot about each other over the next few hours.”
It was a while later when Bastian hear a short beep of another boat horn. He went forward and started the boat’s engine. As he followed the other boat down the river and out into the vastness of the gulf, his mind wasn’t on the job he had to do. Instead, he was thinking about the woman he was going to go to when this night was over.
His own sweet Sawyer.
The more he thought about it the more he felt her in his heart. He couldn’t wait to hold her again or lose himself in her sweet body. As he steered the boat down the river, he thought of all the things he wanted and all the things he knew he would never have.
He knew he had serious enemies out there, just waiting for the opportunity to get back at him. They were worldwide and he knew he couldn’t bring Sawyer into the hell that was his life. He now knew he couldn’t count on her father or his men to keep her safe.
Calico would try and die in the effort. He knew that as sure as he knew they would come after her. He couldn’t risk either scenario. He couldn’t take her away from her family either. Yet, he knew he wasn’t strong enough to leave her, not now.
For a while today, he felt almost normal. It was when he’d been with her. He’d been able to forget everything else and just reflect about how his life could have been. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet.
As they cleared the river and entered the gulf, Bastian steered the boat for the vastness in front of him. He knew he would have to go out far enough not to be disturbed, yet he didn’t want to get too far away.
When he stopped the boat and shut down the engine, he watched Jim move his boat far enough away so he wouldn’t interfere, yet close enough that he could pick him up when this was over.
Bastian turned toward the two men bound and waiting for him. He walked over to where his bag was sitting and reached inside Bringing out a long roll he dropped down on the sofa beside them.
Enrique was sitting on the sofa opposite while Tomas was tied to one of the two chairs, the only other pieces of furniture in the room. He set the roll down on the coffee table in the middle of them and began unrolling it.
Tomas and Enrique watched as the roll unfurled, revealing Bastian’s weapons. Most were knives of different lengths and strengths. Each blade was wicked looking and when Bastian began lifting them out of their places within the roll, Tomas and Enrique looked at each other in horror. That’s when the gravity of their situation hit them. Until that moment, they hadn’t thought about what was going to happen to them but they thought about it now.
“What are you going to do to us?” Tomas voiced the question.
“That depends on what you can tell me,” Bastian replied. “My new friends want to know who you work for and what you were about to do.”
“And if we refuse to tell you?” Enrique asked.
Bastian shrugged slightly. “Part of me hopes you will.” He exhaled loudly, his coldness seeping in as it always did when he was about to do what the priest was known for. “But I’ve been doing this a long time as I’m sure you know. I am a student of the human body. I know all the muscles and tendons of the body. I know where these blades will do the most damage and where it will just hurt like hell.”
“So you would torture us?” Enrique sneered.
“As I’m sure you would do to your enemies,” Bastian answered simply.
“I am not your enemy,” Tomas argued. “I don’t even know you.”
Bastian turned his head slowly to glare at the other man. “You took my woman. You abused her and would have killed her to get vengeance on her father.”
Sweat poured off Tomas’s face as he paled. “I didn’t know she belonged to you.”
“Doesn’t matter, she still belonged to your enemy. You would have killed her as sure as the day is long. You held a knife to her throat and threatened to harm her when her father faced you down.” Rage built in him and his lips snarled, “You spilled her blood and didn’t care she was an innocent. All you cared about was the man that fathered her and getting your own revenge. Well now, I’ll get my revenge.”
“That bastard put me behind bars for ten fuckin years!” Tomas yelled. “I wasn’t there to protect my woman or my son. He let my woman die and hid my son from me.”
Bastian shrugged. “You broke the law, you did that. No one forced you. No one held a gun to your head. There are consequences we have to face for everything we do. Susan paid the ultimate price for your fuck up. Now is your time to pay.”
Enrique began to laugh out loud. The blood on his skin was drying now. He felt pal
e and weak from blood loss but he knew if he made Bastian mad enough, he would die quicker. “Your girl sure looked fine to me.” He licked his dry lips. “I was waiting to have me a little taste of that.”
Bastian snapped his gaze toward the other man. Cocking his head he asked, “And did you? Did you taste her sweetness?”
Enrique’s eye lit up. He knew if he pushed hard enough, Bastian would break. Curling his lip he said, “Her skin was so soft. She smelled like a flower just opening up in the springtime.”
Bastian reached out and slid a blade into Enrique’s shoulder.
For a moment, he didn’t react, then he screamed as Bastian turned the blade.
“Jesus.” Tomas swore under his breath as he watched his brother writhe in pain.
“Every time you two lie to me, I’ll hurt you,” Bastian told them emotionlessly. “Sawyer does not smell like flowers.”
“Fuck you!” Enrique screamed as spittle flew from his mouth.
For the next hour, Bastian questioned the brothers. When he was sure he’d gotten all the information he could from them, he sat down and began cleaning his blades. Placing each of them back in his roll, he put it back in his bag.
Tomas and Enrique were still alive but barely so. Bastian walked over to the liquor cabinet and chose a bottle of the finest liquor they had aboard the boat. He took a healthy swig then began pouring the contents all over the floor. He covered the entire floor of the cabin. When that bottle was gone, he chose another one and walked over to where the two men were sitting.
Without saying a word, he poured the contents over them drenching both men.
Tomas and Enrique hissed as the liquor burned into their wounds. Grabbing another two full bottles, he made a trail to the outer deck and poured the liquor over the deck and the dead men lined up against the hull of the boat.
Bastian went back to main room of the boat and grabbed his bag. Walking over to the horn, he beeped it twice then he watched as Jim started his engine and steered the other boat closer to pick him up.
