by Dale Mayer
“Maybe,” he said. “But I figured, with you guys in the middle of this headache, and George still alive, there wasn’t any way to walk away free and clear.”
“Are you the one who attacked George?”
Parsons waved his gun at him. “Just shut the fuck up right now,” he said. “I have to think.”
Colton went quiet, but he watched the sweat on the man’s face. Not only was the pain making it hard for Parsons to think clearly, but he was in a pickle.
“The easiest thing would be to say you were pressured into doing this,” Colton said in a conversational tone.
The gun was immediately pointed at him again.
“I said shut the hell up,” Parsons snapped. Using the truck, he slowly stood, keeping the gun leveled on Colton and Troy. When Troy stepped forward, Parsons smiled and said, “I don’t really care if I kill both of you or not, but you know for sure your buddy will be dead because I can’t miss at this range.”
Colton said, “But you’re not likely to kill both of us. And that’ll still leave you with one death on your record. At the moment I don’t see any on yours. These guys,” he said, waving his arm, “are all on us.”
“And I’m still figuring out how you did that,” Parsons said. “None of it makes any sense.”
“Makes more sense than you think,” Troy said cheerfully. “It’s kind of what we do.”
“Hell, I’m military,” Parsons said. “What the hell are you guys?”
“Navy SEALs,” Colton said, his voice hard and dry. “If you got your fat ass off the ground and into the water, you might have learned a little more.”
“Well, that just means you’re sea, air and land. I’m just land, but I should still be better than you.”
At that Colton’s eyebrows shot up. “Not sure how you figured that,” he said, “but whatever.”
“The whatevers in life count,” Parsons said, but it was obvious the pain and maybe the blood loss was starting to get to him. “I can’t handle two of you, so I’ll have to kill one. The other one will drive me out of here.”
“Maybe,” Troy said. “What will you do about her?”
“I’ll shoot her,” he said.
“Wow,” Colton said. “So you’ve got absolutely no problem shooting a defenseless unconscious woman on the ground. That’s like shooting one of us in the back. Absolutely no honor in that.”
“Honor? There is no honor in this job. I’ve been trying to get off this goddamn base for four years, and I haven’t been able to. At first I thought, if I was good as gold, I’d get a transfer. Instead, they just kept me on because I was so damn good at my job. At some point my dissatisfaction turned to hatred. And that hatred turned to revenge and trying to find any way I could to screw this place. When I finally figured it out and hooked up with the drug-running, life became interesting. I’m not even too bothered about leaving now, except for the fact that you busted my position here wide open. Who the hell needs that?”
“That won’t stop now, no matter what you do to us,” Troy said. “The commander is already running a full investigation. Plus we already know the next plane that comes in will have the real drugs. The one George flew in with Kate was supposed to have drugs, but they were running it as a test, and it literally was just cargo.”
“So I heard. Figures I wouldn’t hear about it until afterward. All I could think about was all that money sitting in the Arctic Ocean.”
“You can always try to recoup some of it,” Colton said cheerfully. “But I highly doubt I would trust anything anybody says in your outfit.”
“That’s the problem,” Parsons said. “I can’t trust anyone. I can’t trust the people who told me it was full of drugs, and I can’t trust you guys telling me it was a trick. The trouble is, I can see them doing the trick thing to test out members in the chain to see if we’re loyal.”
“If you’re making money on this,” Colton said, “then that’s a smart way to be. Nobody is loyal long-term. They’re only loyal as long as it benefits them.”
“By the way, did you kill Andy?” Troy asked, studying Parsons like he was a bug he’d never seen before.
“Forget about Andy,” Parsons said.
“Why is that?”
“Andy already botched his situation at the base, and getting him out of there without getting court-martialed was a trick, but I managed it. I figured he could be useful from town, but then he stopped being useful.”
“Wow,” Colton said. “And what about the plane? Did you guys sabotage it?”
“No, it was all part of the trick to keep George honest. But instead he ditched the plane.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Colton said, “because the engine did blow up.”
“I wondered about that too. It’s possible that, when the bosses realized George wouldn’t do what they told him, they blew it up to get rid of him anyway. I don’t know. They don’t tell me anything.”
“How will we deal with them?”
“You won’t,” Parsons said. “Some are at Coronado base. Some are on the German base. They’re all over the place. They infiltrate even the big military groups. Once you’re in, you’re caught, and you follow orders.”
“Like ordering you to take others out, like Andy.”
“Didn’t have a choice with Andy. And look at the guys you’ve just taken out now.” Parsons’s gaze cast around to the dead men on the ground, and he shook his head. “A bloody massacre.”
“They pulled guns on us,” Troy said softly.
Colton just gave Parsons a fat grin. “And you do see the relevance of what you’re holding on us now, right?”
“It’s not as if you guys will stop me,” Parsons said, “at this distance nobody could miss.”
“Sorry to say,” Colton said, “we’re willing to take our chances.”
Parsons stared at that. “You’re willing to take certain death for one of you in order to make sure you stop me?”
“For what you did to Kate, absolutely,” Colton said.
“And what you did to Andy and George and possibly a half-dozen others,” Troy said.
“How is that sensible? Why don’t you just decide between you which guy will die, and the other one get in the damn vehicle and drive me back into town. I need medical attention.”
“You’ll take the gun into the hospital and force them to treat you too?”
“Sure,” he said and smiled. “Actually, you know something? I think we’ll put her inside the vehicle too. We’ll keep her as collateral, to make sure you behave. And, if you don’t, I’ll blow you all apart.”
“You won’t get far,” Colton said.
“You keep giving me that bullshit,” Parsons said, looking around at the vehicles, “but I don’t want one of these big rigs.”
“What do you want?” Troy asked helpfully.
“I want the one she took in the first place.”
“I can go get it,” Troy said.
“And take off on me?” Parsons said derisively. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”
“No, but you have her and Colton captive,” Troy said. “Of course I’ll come back.”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel like I can trust you.”
“I’ll do anything to stop you from shooting these two,” Troy said quietly. “Hasn’t there been enough death already?”
“Go get it and bring it back because you can bet that, if you don’t, I’ll have people waiting for you at the other end.”
“Why don’t you bring some people in here to grab your guys so they’re all taken care of?”
“No, we’ll figure out how to blame this all on you.”
Just then the wind picked up, and Colton’s hair whipped back tight around his head. He brushed it back, turning his face into the wind. He looked over at Troy, and they could see how black and dark the clouds were. He yelled over the wind, “We have to do something soon, or we won’t be going anywhere.” He could see the vehicles rocking in the wind. “Come on. We have to get
you somewhere to get treatment.”
Parsons took several deep breaths. “It’s not that easy,” he said.
“It’s not that hard.”
Troy made a decision and said, “I’ll go get the jeep,” and he took off at a run. From his position, Parsons couldn’t even move to stop him. He just held the gun on Colton.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said.
“What will you do if he takes off?”
“I don’t know,” he said, but his breath was gaspy and choppy. “It’s not how I wanted to go out.”
“Then don’t make this a case of going out,” Colton said. “You can do this. Let me give you some help. You don’t have to die from this.”
“If I don’t get help soon though, I will. I don’t have any choice. I’m losing too much blood.”
Colton studied the man, seeing the pale waxy look to his skin, the sweat on his forehead and the odd fevered look to his eyes. “How badly are you hurt?”
“Bad enough,” he said, then he started to swear. “God damn it, this is not what I wanted.”
“Then let me help you,” Colton snapped. “Even if you do a few years, you’ll still be alive.”
“It won’t be a few years, and, just like Andy, I’ll be taken out. And the dealer you sent off to jail today? He’ll get taken out too.”
“If he hasn’t already,” Colton said with a nod. “That’s what he said would happen.”
“Exactly, and it’ll happen to me too.”
“I doubt it,” Colton said. “Let me help you. We’ll get you back to the base, and the doctors can help you.”
“No,” he said. “Not the base. They’ll shoot me for sure.”
“Tell us who else is involved in the drugs.”
“I don’t know—somebody, but I don’t know who.”
“Above you?”
Parsons nodded. “Yeah, definitely above me.”
“No idea, no hints?”
“None,” he said, and slowly he sagged to the ground. Colton took the gun from his hand, then tucked it into the back of his jeans and said, “Damn it, man, you don’t have to die from this.”
“I think it’s too late,” Parsons whispered.
Colton ripped Parsons’s shirt apart and studied his shoulder. He grabbed more of the T-shirt that had been used to tie up his leg. It was sitting on the ground, already dirty and getting rained on, but it was something. He folded it with the cleanest side out, then pressed it against the shoulder and said, “Here. Hold this.” And, while Parsons held it tight, Colton checked Parsons’s vitals and said, “Were you shot anywhere else?”
“No, but I think it must have nicked something major.”
Colton stepped back and walked to where Kate lay and checked her shoulder.
In her case both bullet holes were generally superficial wounds, so it must have been the shock that dropped her. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him. “Did you stop him?”
“I did,” he said. He helped her into a sitting position. “You took two hits, but one of them was more of a burn.”
“It just seemed like a huge stab wound,” she said. “I didn’t know how bad it was, then everything went blank.”
“Yeah, that second shot put you down like a ton of bricks.”
“That’s a good description,” she said, “because that’s how I feel.” He helped her back to where Parsons sat, then helped her inside a vehicle, out of the rain that was starting to pick up.
“Let’s get you inside, both of you.” He could hear a vehicle coming toward them.
Parsons smiled. “I guess your buddy meant it.”
“Yeah, he meant it,” Colton said. “He also knew I’d have no trouble taking you out.”
“Damn,” Parsons said. “I was only fooling myself, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah,” Colton said, “you were.”
The vehicle pulled up and parked beside them. Troy hopped out, and, seeing Kate sitting on the driver’s side, helped her to the other vehicle. He buckled her in, then came back, picked up Parsons and loaded him in the back. Then Colton and Troy checked on all the men on the ground. But nobody was left alive, so they hopped in the military jeep, with Troy driving and Colton in the back to keep an eye on Parsons. Troy turned around and headed back toward town.
“You could keep going the other way,” Parsons said. “It would be faster.”
“Is it though? What’s the road like?” Troy asked, turning to look at him.
“It’s not bad. You’ve got about another fifteen miles to go. It would be faster. By the time you head back to town in this storm, you won’t get back to the base.”
“I’m not sure I care to go back to the base anyway,” Troy said. “We need to pick up these men.”
“Why don’t we do that?” Colton asked. “Let’s load them up into the back of the bigger truck, and we’ll drive them into the base.” So, with that, Troy turned around, and he and Colton carefully loaded up all the men into the back of the first truck. Then Colton returned to the jeep and looked at Kate. “Are you okay to stay there while Troy drives?”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah,” she said. “As long as we’re getting out of this storm.” By now the thunder was crackling and the lightning flashing, and the wind was terrible. Her words were picked up and swept away every time she opened her mouth. Colton nodded, raced back to the big truck, started it up and drove off. Through the rearview mirror, he could see them following him, so he stepped on the gas and kept going.
Chapter 14
Talk about feeling like shit. Kate turned to look at Parsons, who was leaning on the back seat, his eyes closed. “Why the hell did you have to shoot me not once but twice?” she growled.
“Sorry,” he said, “at least I shot high.”
“Yeah, but you also could have killed me,” she said. “Instead, my shoulder is killing me.”
“I probably won’t make it through the storm anyway,” he muttered. “So, whatever.”
She had to admit that was a hell of an argument. She looked over at Troy. “The storm is really picking up, isn’t it?”
He nodded grimly. “There’s a reason why we were all supposed to stay on base.”
“Or in town,” she said.
“True enough.” Just then a heavy blast of wind hit the jeep sideways. It didn’t dislodge it off the road, but it buffeted them heavily.
“Should we have gone in the big truck too?” Kate cried out.
“If it gets too bad,” Troy said, “we’ll move to Colton’s truck.”
“Right,” Kate said. They were staying close behind where at least they could still see the faint glow of the rear taillights. But that was about it. It was all shadows with no sign of the road anywhere. “I hope his visibility is better than ours.”
“I doubt it,” Troy said. “It’s all I can do to see him. What’s he following?”
She stayed silent at that. “So how will we know if we’re even still on the road?”
“We are,” Troy said, pointing to the edges of the shoulder. “I’m keeping an eye on that too.”
“It’s just nasty out here. I’ve seen a lot of storms, but not like this.”
“The storms they get up here,” Parsons said faintly from the back seat, “they’re brutal.”
“So it’s a good night for murder and mayhem then, isn’t it?” she snapped.
He didn’t say anything. She turned. “Who above you is involved?”
“Don’t know.”
“What about those below you?”
“Don’t know,” he said. “Andy and Strange were the ones who handled that.”
“Strange is in custody,” Kate said, “so hopefully the cops can get answers from him. But we’re heading into the base, which means going to whoever is still controlling this. So any answers you have that will help keep us alive would be appreciated.”
“It won’t keep me alive,” Parsons said.
“So, if it won’t do you any good, you don’t want to help any
body else?” Kate asked. She waited a moment and then prodded him again. “Don’t you have any siblings? Don’t you want people to know you lived a life of honor instead of shame?”
He just glared at her.
She nodded. “Either you can help or you can go down as a traitor. What do you want your family to hear?”
“Of course I don’t want them to know about this shit,” he said. “They were never supposed to hear about it.”
“And yet,” she said, “that’s not what’ll happen. You’ll go down as part of a drug-running group the military cleaned out. I have no idea what they’ll do for a pension if you have a wife,” she said. “I imagine you’ll be dishonorably discharged, with no benefits, but I don’t know.”
“I don’t know either,” Parsons said. “When you get involved in shit like this, you don’t think about the consequences on that end. And, to a certain extent, I still don’t. I don’t have a wife. I don’t have any kids, and my mother is gone. There’s my father and my brother, and I would just as soon they didn’t know about this, but I don’t know who it is working above me.”
“So how did it work?” Kate asked. “The drugs come in, so who loads them onto the vehicles?”
“The dead guys,” Parsons said faintly.
“And you?”
“I check the manifests and keep the product moving,” he said.
“How do you know somebody is above you?”
“Because the planes have to come in and be approved, and all the cargo has to be moved. People have to sign that.”
“What does it come in as?”
“Medical supplies usually,” he said. “Or basic supplies for the base.”
Kate nodded and sat back, wondering. “Do you think the commander is involved?”
“No,” he said. “The commander has always been good to me. And I’m sorry he’ll find out about this.”
“Not as sorry as he’ll be,” she muttered. “He put his trust in you, and look how you repaid him.”
“Guilt really doesn’t matter much now,” Parsons said, gasping.
“But it makes me feel better,” she snapped. “All of this is just bullshit. I almost died several times now because of it, and all I was doing was bringing a plane load of supplies into the base.”
