A look of pain flashed across Chris’s face.
“That hurt you, thinking that you might never see Rayne again?”
“It did, I admit it, and goddamn it, but I think I love them both.”
Jake put an arm around his brother’s neck and gave him a one-armed hug.
“I don’t envy you, and I think I’d rather face a dozen baddies than be in your shoes.”
“Thanks a lot,” Chris said, and Jake laughed, little realizing that he had just prophesied his near future.
CHAPTER 19
12:02 a.m. Sunday, Pachaw, Texas
Pruitt and Deputy West lay in his bed discussing the missing drug money. They had each had several beers after making love, and Pruitt was telling her what he would do if he ever found the money.
“I’d get a real office. Right now, I work out of my van. If I had an office, I could be just as big and important as Jake Caliber.”
“I met him, he’s hot, and his brother is cute.”
“I’m as good looking as he is; I just don’t have a famous grandfather.”
West smiled, she had a dazzling smile, but seldom showed it.
“Let’s go out there and look around, I talked to Emmy and I know what section her husband didn’t check yet.”
Pruitt sat up.
“Hell yeah, and I bought a metal detector earlier, it’s a cheap one, but it should work. But wait, if we found it, wouldn’t you have to hand it in? I mean, you are a deputy.”
West grinned.
“I’m off duty.”
“Cool, then, let’s go.”
They went out into the parking lot, and when Pruitt grabbed West from behind and nuzzled her neck, she giggled.
Neither one of them noticed that Jake Caliber was looking out his window, watching them.
***
After retrieving Pruitt’s metal detector from the trunk of his rental, they took West’s car, because she didn’t want it to be seen parked in front of the motel for too long.
When they reached the Gates’ property, they were surprised to hear faint voices, while off in the distance were what looked like the beams from over a dozen flashlights.
“Shit, I think someone is after our money,” Pruitt said.
West began walking past the burnt trailer, and the streams of trampled red tape.
“Let’s have a look.”
They traveled across the uneven ground and the sound of the voices grew louder. Most of the voices were male, and gruff, but Pruitt heard at least one female voice among them.
They came upon the motorcycles on a shelf of sand that lay just below the same rise that Pruitt had stood on with Rayne, and since leaving the car, their eyes had adjusted to the moonlight.
There was a loud triumphant cry from the section of the field where the boulders sat, and the flashlight beams all began converging on the spot where the voice had shouted.
“Damn,” Pruitt said. “It sounds like they found the money, but who are these guys?”
“The sheriff said they’re a biker gang called Diablo’s Doubles. The FBI arrested two of their members last year for doing contract killings. They’ve been suspected of smuggling drugs and weapons across the border, but since they’ve been hanging around here, they’ve stayed clean.”
“Damn, I’m sure as hell not going to fight them for the money, let’s get out of here.”
West nodded in agreement as she turned to leave, but then froze in her tracks when she heard Emmy Gates’ voice. The widow of Peter Gates was going on about something, but they were too far away to make out exactly what it was. West grabbed Pruitt’s arm, and pulled him back below the rise.
“That’s Emmy, my cousin, Emmy Gates, what the hell is she doing down there with them?”
“I guess she made a deal to share the money.”
West stared at Pruitt.
“The Diablo’s Doubles aren’t into sharing. If she doesn’t shut her mouth they’re going to toss her into the hole they take the money from.”
***
Down in the boulder field, Emmy Gates was red with anger.
Hombre had stumbled across something that made his metal detector sound off, and according to the screen, the object was rectangular, and just about the width of a strongbox.
When Emmy yelped with joy over the prospect of finding the money, and began talking about her half, Roxana finally explained the facts of life to her.
“What do you mean I get nothing? This is my land you’re on, and I don’t care how many ways you have to split your half with these bikers, but half that money is mine.”
Bronco laughed at her, took out a gun, and handed it to Roxana.
“She’s your problem, deal with it.”
Roxana took the gun, but held it limply at her side.
“Bronco, you know I’ve never wasted anyone. Can’t we just mess her up real good so she’ll shut up?”
“We can’t risk it. Even though that’s drug money down there, the cops would still be all over us if she talked, not to mention the dead drug dealer’s partners.”
Roxana nodded.
“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, Emmy, but I have to do what I have to—aaarghh!”
Roxana cried out in pain as Emmy raked her nails across her face, gouging out lines of flesh.
Hombre laughed.
“That’s gonna leave some nice scars.”
Roxana recovered and fired at Emmy, but the younger woman had scampered behind a boulder and was gone. Roxana chased after her.
“I’ll kill you, you little bitch! Do you hear me?”
***
Up on the hill, West took a gun from her purse and started down the slope.
Pruitt called after her in a hushed voice.
“Where are you going? There’s too many of them.”
“That’s my cousin,” West said, in a voice that was too loud.
In the boulder field, Hombre pointed up the slope.
“Turn out those flashlights; we got company!”
He fired a shot, missed, and then West returned fire, hitting a boulder twenty feet in front of Hombre. Hombre fired back, and West went down with a wound to her abdomen.
“Got her!” Hombre said, “Now some of you guys go on up there and make sure she’s dead.”
Pruitt watched as West writhed on the ground in pain. He rushed down the hill to help her, but then ran back up as he drew gunfire from the three men rushing towards them. The shots were either wide or short, as the weapons the men used weren’t as powerful as the one fired by Hombre to wound West.
After Pruitt passed the motorcycles, he soon returned to the top of the rise. He then stayed low to the ground and crawled back onto the other side where he couldn’t be seen. He had just exhaled in relief and was about to run off, when he heard West call out his name.
“Trace... help me.”
Pruitt stood, took two steps towards the road, but then froze, as self-preservation battled conscience, after cursing, he rushed back over the hill and towards West.
His return startled the men, and the three bikers scrambled to take cover, while thinking he had a weapon. Pruitt then scooped West up in his arms, turned, and ran.
A moment later, nearly a dozen bullets whizzed about Pruitt, and one of them caught him on the leg. However, the contact was so slight that the bullet didn’t even draw blood, but merely bruised Pruitt’s left calf. Still, amid the shifting sand, he lost his balance and fell to his knees near the motorcycles.
As he started to get up, a hand gripped his shoulder and spun him around, causing him to fall backwards onto his butt, even as he held West in his lap like a child.
The bearded man who had grabbed him let out a chuckle, and then he and the two men with him raised their guns and took aim.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Two of the three bikers fell to the ground and began tumbling back down the hill, each with a bullet in their chest, and when Pruitt swiveled his head around, he saw Jake Caliber, weapon drawn, and firing once mor
e.
Pruitt cringed from the sound of the large gun and then watched as the third biker dropped his weapon and fell to the sand, dead.
“Holy shit, Caliber, do you have good timing or what?”
“Can you walk, Pruitt?”
“Yeah, I think so, but look, there are more of them headed this way.”
West had slipped into unconsciousness, but Jake gave her wound a quick check and found that it was serious.
“She’ll die if you don’t get her help. Take her and go.”
“Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I’m staying, if we all run, with these bikes, they’ll be on us before we reach town.”
“Staying? Dude, there’s still a lot of guys down there and they’re not fucking around.”
“Go Pruitt, or Deputy West will die.”
“I’ll call for help when I reach the car.”
“Just go!” Jake said, and then he sent several shots towards the figures running his way. When he looked back, he saw Pruitt topping the rise. At his feet, one of the wounded bikers moaned. That’s when Jake noticed the Ka-Bar knife strapped to the man’s belt. He took the knife, fired several more shots down the hill, and then hit the ground as they returned fire, then, while gripping the knife between his teeth, he crawled towards the motorcycles.
***
Pruitt heard the shots getting closer and wondered if Jake Caliber had just died. After laying West across the back seat of her car, he suddenly recalled that he didn’t have the keys, and that West’s gun and purse were lying back in the sand. He was happy enough to cry tears of joy when he discovered that West had left the keys in the ignition.
He then took out his phone and called for help, as he rushed West into town.
***
Jake laid flat in the sand, watching a group of four bikers, Hombre among them, move cautiously up the slope, too cautiously for his purposes.
He was dressed in the dark slacks of the suit he’d worn the day before as well as a black T-shirt, along with a shoulder rig. When he heard Pruitt and West leave the motel, he had been sitting up in bed watching a sports channel, but curiosity led him to follow Pruitt.
Jake sprung up suddenly, fired two shots, and heard one of the bikers grunt in pain. He then sprinted for the rise and disappeared over it as a barrage of bullets zipped around him. He reappeared atop the rise only a moment later with a lit cigar in his hand, and as the bikers came to a stop near their motorcycles, Jake tossed the cigar through the air and at their feet.
WHOOSH!
The motorcycles all went up at once, as every other one had a punctured gas tank dripping fuel. Jake smiled in satisfaction, even as the screams of the bikers reached his ears. Three of the men were still afire, while a fourth one, Hombre, was rolling about, unlit, but still smoldering. Hombre screamed in agony, his long braid had burned away, and his scalp was red with blisters.
Now confident that they’d be unable to pursue, Jake turned to run to his car.
BAM! BAM!
The two shots were fired from his right and just barely missed him. Jake came within a hair of killing the figure running towards him, but then he saw that she was not only unarmed, but running for her life.
It was Emmy Gates, and following behind her was Roxana.
“Help me!” Emmy cried, and then she slammed into Jake with enough force to make him lose his balance. The two of them tumbled backwards down the hill and landed in a heap at the bottom.
When Jake shook off the impact, he realized that he no longer had his gun.
Emmy cried out in pain, and Jake saw that she had broken two fingers on her left hand.
BAM! BAM!
It was Roxana again, firing wildly, but getting closer. Jake rolled to his right near the corpse of one of the men he’d shot earlier, and plucked the gun from his dead hand. He fired off a shot at Roxana, and saw the woman run off to the left, where a biker joined her behind a cactus. Jake cursed, his fall down the hill had given the bikers time to maneuver in front of him, and now he was cut off from the road.
Emmy came crawling over to him and gripped his arm.
“They want to kill me, especially Roxana.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Emmy Gates; this is my land.”
“How many of them are there?”
“I don’t know, maybe fourteen or fifteen, counting Roxana.”
Jake gritted his teeth. That meant that there were as many as eight still left to deal with.
He spoke to Emmy.
“Stay close to me; I’m heading towards those boulders, they’re the only cover out here.”
Emmy nodded, and Jake thought that he had never seen eyes so large with fear.
He checked the gun’s clip, and found that it had only four rounds left. He then searched the dead man for more ammo, and found only a cell phone and a wallet.
“Let’s go,” Jake said, and Emmy followed along behind, as a string of bullets raised up the sand near their feet.
***
Pruitt watched Dr. Hennessy rush off with West down a corridor of her clinic, as she called back words of assurance that the young woman was still alive.
Pruitt said a whispered prayer of thanks and then went back outside into the night air. He had called the sheriff while driving to town and learned that the lone deputy on duty was dealing with a fatal traffic accident far down the highway, but that Hennessy himself was on his way.
Pruitt looked along the street and saw the motel. He had followed Rayne to her door earlier with the hope of being invited inside, and so he knew which room was hers.
He ran down the street, while still feeling a throb of pain where the bullet grazed his leg, and when he reached Rayne’s door, he knocked lightly.
Rayne answered the door as if she had already been awake, and Pruitt saw that she was still dressed, but had changed into dark clothing.
“Pruitt, you’ve got to be—”
Rayne stopped talking as she saw the blood on Pruitt’s clothing.
“Are you hurt, what happened?”
“Rayne, it’s Jake Caliber. I think he might be dead.”
“What?”
Pruitt explained quickly, and even before he finished, Rayne had retrieved her weapon and was knocking on Christopher’s door.
Chris answered the door with a sleepy gaze, but when he saw the blood on Pruitt, he startled awake.
“What is it?”
“It’s Jake,” Rayne said.
***
Jake had made it to the boulder field with Emmy following behind, but they had three men closing in on them, and one of them had already fired at them with what sounded like an Uzi. Jake took Emmy by her good hand and dragged her behind a boulder. He then took out his phone and tossed it behind a second boulder a dozen feet away.
Emmy opened her mouth in shock, but Jake silenced her by holding up a hand, before taking out the phone he had stripped off the dead man.
The three men drew disturbingly close, and Jake could hear the sound of a fresh clip being fed into a gun.
One of the men whispered. “Do you see them?”
A second voice whispered in return. “They ran back this way, so they have to be behind one of those three boulders.”
“Right, then we’ll split up and—”
Jake had dialed his phone as the men talked, knowing that it would grab their attention with its shrill sound.
Ring!
“There!” one of the men said, as he pointed at a boulder, and the three rushed behind the rock while firing their weapons. The Uzi ripped Jake’s phone to pieces, even as he raised his own weapon and fired until empty.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
All three men fell to the sand, but only two were fatally wounded, as the third one, the man with the Uzi, had suffered a through and through near his left ribcage.
Jake plucked a rock from the ground, advanced on the man, and crushed his skull with a savage blow. When he heard the retching sounds behind
him, he saw that Emmy was vomiting after having witnessed the violence. He called to her.
“Get over here before we get separat—”
Shots ricocheted off the boulder that Emmy was behind, and Roxana’s voice filled the night, as she shouted for Emmy in a screech.
“I’m going to kill you! Kill you!”
Emmy bolted away into the shadows of the nearby cliff, and Jake had just enough time to scoop up the dead men’s guns and hustle away, as the sound of multiple footfalls sounded in the night around him.
***
Chris hit the dashboard of Rayne’s rental in frustration.
“All I get is voicemail.”
Rayne reached over and squeezed his hand.
“Your brother can handle himself well, you know that.”
Pruitt spoke up from the back seat.
“There were a shitload of bikers out there, Rayne. I think your boy here should prepare himself for the worst.”
“Shut up, Pruitt!” Rayne said, and then she rounded a curve so fast that the car nearly flipped, but as they landed back on all four wheels, they saw flashing red lights approaching from the other direction.
“It’s the sheriff,” Chris said, “Thank God.”
And in the back seat, Pruitt whispered, “I hope he brought the Marines with him.”
***
Jake dived behind a small boulder that just barely hid him from view and checked his arsenal. Thankfully, most of the Diablo’s Doubles appeared to use 9mm weapons, and so the ammo was interchangeable. He had an Uzi and two Berettas, guns he had taken off the last men he’d killed.
He filled the Uzi’s clip and then discarded the gun he took the ammo from, afterwards, he shoved the second gun in his waistband, behind his back. He had twenty-three rounds all together and guessed that there were as many as five hostiles left.
He sighed as he thought about Emmy Gates, but knew that he could do nothing to help her now.
The soft sound of footfalls came from the right, and Jake sprang up and flung the Ka-Bar knife into the throat of a biker with a clean-shaven face, the man had been foolishly walking along with his gun hanging limp at his side, while swiveling his head about wildly.
Even as the man dropped his weapon and cried out in agony, Jake felt a bullet nip his ear as another one literally passed through his hair. With a grunt of shock and surprise, he hit the ground and scrambled away on his knees and elbows, as instinct drove him close to the ground.
Caliber Detective Agency Box Set 2 Page 24
