Devil's Pact

by Brook Wilder

  Olivia didn’t say a word, just glowered at him as he turned on his heel and took off back outside. He stalked over to Charlie’s borrowed bike, gunned the engine, and flew down the road just as the morning sun began to break through the cloudy sky.

  Chapter 15

  Preston was shaking with suppressed anger and frustration as the parking lot he’d just left behind disappeared from his rearview mirrors.

  His hands clenched into tight fists on the handlebars and his knuckles went white under the pressure, but still all the emotion trapped inside him fought to bubble to the surface though he fought to keep it all buried away.

  He didn’t have time to get pissed off, he didn’t have time to be angry. The only thing he had time for was to find his brother as quickly as he could and figure out how the hell they were going to get themselves out of this fucking mess.

  Still, despite Preston’s best efforts, his thoughts kept sliding back towards Olivia and the harsh words they’d spoken before he had left.

  How could she have said those things? How could she honestly think she would be safer out on the road with him looking for Knox?

  Preston knew how she felt about his brother. She saw Knox, and she saw a killer. But he knew Knox was only looking out for him and his daughter.

  Either one of them would gladly kill anyone who threatened their family. They had lived in a world that Olivia didn’t understand. And Preston honestly wasn’t sure if she ever would.

  Preston’s gut clenched at the thought that occurred to him. Did he really want her to?

  He couldn’t help but think of all the shit that she’d been put through ever since she had first taken on his case. The violence. The threats. Running for her life. The heartache she’d endured.

  He would never wish that life on anyone, let alone Olivia. And the idea that he would just let her ride off into danger without a word? Preston snorted to himself as the wind whipped past him. Fat fucking chance of that happening.

  He had seen her in enough risky situations to last him a life time, thank you very much.

  But she’s strong, a soft voice whispered in the back of his mind, she’s a fighter.

  He knew it was true. All the more reason to make sure she was safe and out of harm’s way under Charlie’s watchful gaze.

  Over and over again, as the miles of pavement passed beneath him, he told himself that he had done the right thing. He had to move fast if he was going to catch up with his brother, and Olivia would only be a distraction. He didn’t have a choice.

  The thoughts didn’t help ease the guilt that had started to settle heavy and slick as grease in his gut, though.

  A part of him hated to leave her behind, hated not knowing what she was doing, what she was feeling.

  Preston forced his wayward emotions back once more. He had a job to do. Both their lives depended on it.

  As he rode through the hazy morning light, Preston struggled with himself, wrestling with his warring thoughts. With the highway stretching out in front of him, empty and accusing, he couldn’t help but replay the scene between him and Olivia, over and over.

  And every single time he felt guiltier and guiltier.

  He should have handled it better, he should have pulled her into his arms and told her the truth.

  That he was too afraid to lose her to put her in danger like that again. That even the idea of her being hurt because of him filled him with a rage and despair that shocked him.

  He had never cared about anyone before, besides his brother and his daughter. But she’d edged her way under his skin and into his heart and claimed it for her own.

  If he lost her, he would lose himself. He knew that with a soul-deep knowledge. But as he rode, her image still haunted him. That wide-eyed, blank look that had dominated her too-pale face. Her emerald green eyes dull with shock and heartbreak. And he hated the fact that he had helped put them there.

  Preston let out a sigh that was part relief and part bitter nostalgia, as he finally passed the big rusted metal sign for the old quarry.

  It was close to the small, rural town that he and Knox had grown up in and where they had spent many days as children scampering around the abandoned site. It was also where the small shack they’d found while exploring was located.

  The quarry had been abandoned by the time they were kids running wild in the area and they had taken every opportunity to break in through a hole in the rusted fencing.

  Preston hadn’t been back there since he had been a kid, but he still easily found the gap between two pieces of the fence that was more than big enough for a small boy to fit through but he had to duck to squeeze his much larger frame through.

  Looking around, he was shocked at how much smaller it all looked. As a child, he had remembered the place as being an enormous warren of stone and sheer cliffs.

  But in reality, it was little more than a craggy, rock-filled pit with overgrown weeds and tufts of grass sticking up wildly and blowing in the breeze.

  Preston walked around the perimeter, careful to stay well away from the quarry’s jagged edge. He had wracked his thoughts to try and figure out where Knox could be hiding, and this was the first place that had popped into his mind.

  It was out of the way and completely deserted as far as Preston knew. No one else had discovered their little hideout in decades.

  It took Preston longer than he expected to find the small shack. He had nearly walked right past it. The corrugated steel roof was almost completely obscured by an overgrown shrub covering most of the place.

  But a glint of metal reflecting the late morning sun caught at his eyes and pulled him to a halt.

  Preston crept closer, careful to avoid the sharp thorns of the vine that he pulled back to reveal the rotting wood door frame. It took barely any pressure at all to make the metal door topple inwards, opening up to the dark, damp interior of the shed.

  Preston had to crouch to fit through the opening and, as he made his way inside, memories long forgotten assaulted him.

  As if it had happened yesterday instead of twenty years ago, he could see their parents passed out in the living room of the trailer home, or so high they didn’t even recognize their own kids.

  He and Knox, sneaking to the quarry, hiding away in the shack while they pretended that this was their real home and that they had a mother and father who loved and cared about them.

  Preston shook off the bitter recollections and the sadness that seeped through them. He looked around the tiny abandoned shed, taking in the old antennae radio, the posters that were peeling off the walls, and the inch-thick layer of dust that covered everything, and nearly cursed out loud.

  It was obvious that the place had been empty for some time Years, maybe decades. He and his brother might have been the last souls inside all those years ago. There was no way Knox had been their recently, or anyone else for that matter.

  Preston grimaced at the layers of filth and debris and hated the fact that he had ridden all the way out there for nothing. He still didn’t know where the hell his brother was and, even worse, a kernel of rage and resentment started to bubble up to the surface from deep within him.

  “Damn you, Knox!” This time, Preston couldn’t keep the words contained as he spit out the curse, and then immediately let out a hacking cough as he inhaled a cloud of dust that he had accidentally disturbed.

  When he finally caught his breath, Preston leaned back against the crumbling frame, barely bracing himself in time as the whole structure rattled precariously under his weight. In the aftermath, a single piece of paper fell from its hiding place tucked behind an old crate and flouted to the dirt covered floor.

  Preston knelt to pick it up carefully so as not to rip the fragile material. It was stained and yellowed with age but, surprisingly, he could still make out the words that had been scrawled across it in marker.

  He read the big, bold block letters obviously written in a child’s hand.

  Preston and Knox’s hideout. Only Presto
n and Knox allowed. No parents and no girls!

  Despite his growing frustration, the sign had a small, wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

  He remembered when they had first made the damned sign. They must have been no more than seven- or eight-years-old at the time. Maybe even younger.

  Preston’s grin faded as he looked around the empty place, as he tried to figure out the puzzle that had been dumped in his lap. Where the hell would Knox have gone?

  Preston had been so sure that he would find his brother there, but it had obviously stood unused for a very long time.

  Preston let the scrap of paper fall back to the ground. As he watched it float to the dust covered floor as light as a feather, a terrible feeling hit him.

  It was that sort of gut feeling that told him something was wrong. Really wrong. The kind of gut feeling that he had learned never to ignore. The feeling was followed by a realization that sent him reeling.

  He had forgotten to check and see if Charlie was being watched by Capone and his men. He hadn’t even searched the apartment before leaving.

  He could have walked right into a trap with Olivia, and he’d left her right in the middle of it. Alone!

  With another string of curses, and a stream of awful images filling his head, Preston rushed back outside.

  He headed straight towards the borrowed motorcycle, gunned the engine, and rode back in the direction of Charlie’s place, praying that his instincts were wrong, and that he wasn’t too late.

  Chapter 16

  She kept seeing John’s face in her mind. Every time she tried to close her eyes and get some sleep, he was there. He looked at her with those accusing eyes, his body wracked with coughs that had blood as red as crimson spluttering down his chin.

  I trusted you, Olivia. I helped you. I brought you into my life and this is how you repay me? You don’t abandon your friends, Liv. I thought I taught you better than that.

  Olivia choked back a sob at the mental onslaught. She tried to curl up into an even tighter ball but, laying as she was on Charlie’s small couch, she didn’t have much room to move.

  Not that she really felt like moving or doing much of anything at all. Ever since Preston had left hours ago, a strange lethargy had seeped into her bones.

  Or maybe it had been before that, at the hospital, or before that, when she’d seen Johnathan’s blood staining the sidewalk in front of the office on the morning news.

  Olivia couldn’t pinpoint when it had begun, but she wrapped the numbness around herself like a blanket, using it to block out the rest of the world. Not just what was outside, but what was waiting inside as well. All the terrible pain and grief that was just below the surface.

  Olivia squeezed her eyes shut tight, focusing on floating in that sea of nothingness, forcing herself not to feel anything. Keeping herself numb from it all.

  John’s pale, blood-speckled face sneered at her, and her eyes snapped open once more. It was no use trying to sleep. Even though she was exhausted, she knew the nightmare would be there waiting for her. The guilt. Those same accusations that even now were filling her head.

  A soft whine interrupted her troubled thoughts and Olivia dragged her gaze towards where Bowie sat at the foot of the couch. He must have heard her.

  His big brown eyes stared sadly at her and Olivia finally gave in, reaching out to scratch behind his ears.

  “You don’t blame me, do you Bowie?” Olivia whispered softly in to the empty living room. “All I have to do is give you a belly rub and you would forgive anything.”

  Bowie’s tongue lolled out to one side as he grinned at her in agreement and she gave him an extra scratch. She was glad the dog was there and safe. As glad as the shock and numbness would allow anyway.

  “You’re a good boy, Bowie.”

  The pup’s ears perked up at her words, and suddenly he looked around as if searching for someone else. She knew who he was looking for.

  “Preston’s not here,” Olivia said softly, her voice hitching on the words. “He left us.”

  Bowie’s ear drooped once more as if he had understood what she had said, and then let out a big, disappointed sigh. She knew exactly how he felt.

  Olivia was just opening her mouth to tell him everything would be alright when the front door of the apartment banged open.

  Olivia looked over unconcerned as Charlie sprinted wide-eyed into the small, one-bedroom apartment. His gaze landed on her and turned even more frantic.

  “You have to hide. Now!” Charlie ordered.

  Olivia could hear the worry in his voice but couldn’t seem to force herself to be bothered.

  Charlie must have noticed her lack of action, because the next moment he was running towards her. He didn’t stop as he grabbed her wrist with one hand and the strap of Bowie’s collar with the other.

  He dragged them both towards the apartment’s only bedroom and tucked them inside.

  “Just stay in here and stay quiet! Hide in the closet, under the bed, whatever you have to do.” Charlie cast a fearful glance behind him. “Some of Capone’s men are coming. I think they’re suspicious. Just… lay low, alright? And keep the dog quiet.”

  Before Olivia could even process what Charlie was saying, the man was gone, slamming the bedroom door shut behind him.

  Olivia stared at the back of the door, even Charlie’s panic not enough to cut through the numbness that dulled her thoughts as well as her senses. She couldn’t make her body move, just sat there on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the door.

  She lost track of time, not rousing again until the muffled sound of voices coming from the living room reached her ear. Even then, it was almost too much effort to raise any curiosity about the source of those voices.

  Capone. Charlie said his men were coming.

  The thought had an edge of fear skittering along the surface like a blade against ice, but Olivia pushed the feeling away. She was happier there, where there was no fear. No pain. No doubt or blame. Just… nothing.

  She clung to that emptiness as the voices rose louder and louder from beyond the bedroom door. Bowie even perked his ears, tilting his head first one way then the other as if to try and understand what they were saying.

  They were loud enough now that Olivia could make out three separate voices. One belonged to Charlie and the other two were gruff and demanding. She didn’t even have to lean forward to hear their words.

  “…I already told Capone. I didn’t know shit about that job with the lawyer. It’s none of my business.”

  “That’s right, it’s none of your business,” one of the other men said roughly. “So you need to keep your god damn nose out of places where it don’t belong.”

  “Yeah, Charlie. We’ve heard you been asking some questions that you shouldn’t have been.”

  “Honestly, guys. I don’t know where you get your fucking intel, but it’s wrong. Capone says jump. I ask how high. He tells me to back the fuck off something, and I do,” Charlie said on a forced laugh. “Hell, I’m not an idiot. I wouldn’t go up against Capone. Do I look like I have a death wish?”

  There was a moment of muffled silence from the other room and Olivia lost interest after a moment. Bowie nudged under her hand, staring up at her with those big pleading eyes of his, and she gave him a half-hearted scratch.

  A part of her screamed for her to run and hide, to get out of the apartment before she was found, but it was a distant part. Far too distant for her to worry about just at that moment. Too distant to make her move.

  So, Olivia sat there, petting Bowie and wondering where Preston was. That had another hitch of emotion threatening her and she ruthlessly stomped it out.

  Suddenly, one of the voices sounded too close. Just on the other side of the door.

  “…you were warned Charlie. You had plenty of chances to prove your loyalty to Capone.”

  “I am loyal! I’m loyal to the crew! I’m loyal to the Devil’s Martyrs.”

  “Wrong answer,” the o
ther voice answered with a low, mean chuckle. “The gang doesn’t work like that anymore. Either you’re loyal to Capone, or you’re out.”

  “Of-of course I’m loyal to Capone. He’s our president, for fuck’s sake. He’s our leader.”

  “That’s right. He’s our leader. That means you do what he says, when he says, and you don’t ask any fucking questions. Got it?”

  “Yeah. Yeah! Of course. No questions, no problem.”

  Olivia could practically hear the pleading in Charlie’s voice as footsteps sounded just beyond the bedroom door. Idly, she wondered if they were going to come in there. If they were going to discover her and Bowie.

  A small frown marred her blank expression. It wasn’t worry for herself that caused it, but worry for the dog. He was an innocent in all this. He didn’t deserve to get caught in the crossfire. She deserved anything that came her way, but Bowie didn’t.