by Mathews,Mark
“Besides, I shot the bastard. For all I know he’s rotting in a shallow grave somewhere. It’s exactly what he deserves. I told Alice the same thing, but she’s being stubborn. She says he’s tougher than that and that he’ll make it through.”
“Looks like her loyalty is still with him. What are you going to do about that?” Changing the topic was the only thing that the other man could think of.
“I’m not sure. This gang is causing us the most trouble right now, but I wouldn’t put it past his group not to cause us some more just for shits and giggles. If he’s still alive, then definitely there will be problems with them. If he’s dead, they may disband, or they may try to get some kind of revenge for him. His group is still on the list of most wanted. I just need to find a way to deal with this gang first. Then I can go and root out the bastard and his cronies.”
Anger was pouring out of Austin, and his face was getting so red, Nat thought his head might just spontaneously combust. He thought about what Austin just had said, and he smiled. If something had happened to Garrett, he was right, the group would come after Austin, and Nat would lead the charge himself. He finally had someone in his life to talk to, to get advice from, and someone who believed in him. There was no way Austin would survive if Garrett didn’t.
“But she still isn’t warming up to you?” The man still was trying to change the subject to something where he didn’t have to tread on eggshells. Then again, he realized a little too late, that asking his boss whether he was getting his wife to warm up to him after he’d kidnapped her from her ex-husband, probably wasn’t the best idea either.
“No. I got her the best apartment in town. The most luxurious accommodations that we can have in this time of craziness. It is the apartment above the furniture store. The former owner made good money and catered to his wife before the two of them passed away, and the storm barely even touched their home. I made the little repairs necessary and got her everything she would need to take care of the baby, but she still only ever talks to me when she needs something for the baby. She never asks for anything for herself, except to be left alone.”
The two men got back in their respective cars, and headed back toward town. Nat hadn’t even made it all the way to town, and he still had got the information he’d set out for. He wanted to do a happy dance but as he started to set out again, the sound of a loud truck engine caught his attention. Scrambling off the road again, he hid behind a clump of tall grass at the foot of a tree. A truck passed by, and he saw that there were at least two men in it. This might be the gang that Austin had been looking for. He watched the truck as it sped down the road. There was a stop sign up ahead. A left would take them to the factory where Garrett’s family was staying. A right would take them somewhere else. He held his breath as the red brake lights came on. No blinker was used, so his heart beat out of his chest until he saw them swerve to the right. He waited a few minutes longer in his hiding place. Just in case another vehicle came by. Once he deemed that it was safe, he managed to get himself back out of his hiding place, on the bike, and on down the road to the factory.
He was hoping Garrett would be proud of him and would show him some attention when he got back. He’d done what he’d been asked, without getting caught, and he was coming back home safe and sound with no one following him. Smiling to himself, he pulled up the bike in the loading area around the back of the factory.
Chapter Three
It was still the early hours of the morning when Nat hid his bike in a clump of bushes at the end of the loading area behind the factory. The first rays of sunlight were trying to make themselves seen, and everything was no longer pitch black, but a mottled dark gray. He was sure no one would expect him back this early, so he had a grin on his face as he started toward the door that led to the main area of the factory. He opened the back door as quietly as he could. It liked to squeak, so he really had to grab the handle, then pull up as hard as he could for it to be quiet. The door had rusted and started to hang in the frame. He closed it behind him and locked it.
He should have been the only one not here, and just in case he wasn’t, banging on the door could be heard everywhere. He tiptoed into the main room, and started to make his way to the office where Garrett was staying when a solid mass wrapped around his waist and dragged him to the ground. Nat couldn’t even draw in enough breath to scream, because the solid mass had hit him with the force of an oncoming truck. He hit the hard concrete floor with enough momentum that he saw stars winking in front of his eyes. He tried to shake his head to clear it, but he couldn’t. Something heavy was across his throat. He scrabbled with it, trying to dig his fingernails in enough to pull it away. He froze when he realized it was an arm. He searched the space in front of his own face to find…Ben.
“Who are you? Where do you come from?”
The look in Ben’s eyes was wild. He stared down at Nat like he’d never seen the boy before. Nat tried to answer Ben, to let him know that it was okay, that he was Ben’s friend, but he couldn’t draw in the breath he needed to form words because Ben’s arm was crushing his windpipe. The edges of his vision already were starting to go blurry. Ben raised his voice until he was screaming in Nat’s face.
“Where do you come from? Who are you?” His words reverberated on the cavernous walls of the factory, and the last thing Nat heard before he blacked out was the thundering sound of footfalls rushing toward them.
“What is going on out here?” Wren was first on the scene, quickly followed by everyone else, except Garrett who still was resting in the office that had been made up for him.
“Ben? What are you doing? Let him get up.”
Wren was standing a little behind Ben, and so she couldn’t see the crazed look in his eyes. Something was off, though, and it pinged on her radar. She grabbed his shoulder, trying to get him off Nat. At first, she just was trying to snap him out of whatever trance or daze he was in. When she noticed that Nat’s eyes were closed, and it didn’t look like he was breathing, she put both hands on his shoulders and began to drag him backward, trying to get him off Nat.
“Help me!”
The panic in her voice made everyone else react to her without question. It took every single one of them to pull Ben off the boy. Wren finally muscled him into a corner, keeping an eye on him and making sure he didn’t lunge back at Nat. Kayleigh went straight to her son and started CPR on him. It took a few pumps of her hands on his chest to make Nat cough and sputter his way back to consciousness. Brooke helped him get up, and he leaned heavily on her for stability.
“Are you okay, baby?”
Kayleigh went straight into mother mode. She was checking every inch of Nat’s skin to see if he’d been hurt or if anything was broken. He tried to reassure her that he was fine, but his voice was so quiet and rough from the pressure that Ben had exerted on his voice box that she couldn’t hear him. Nat held Brooke’s hand, squeezing it softly. She squeezed back. He let his mother finish her inspection. Kayleigh immediately turned on her heel and made a beeline for the corner that Ben was now in.
“How dare you attack my son! What the hell were you thinking?!? You could have killed him!”
She tried lashing out at him, but Wren stepped in the way, gently but firmly keeping Kayleigh back from Ben until she could figure out what was going on in his head. For his part, Ben just stared at her, not saying a word. His eyes were unfocused now, and Wren was pretty sure no one was home upstairs.
“Now isn’t the time, Kayleigh. I don’t know what’s going on right now, but I think you should take Nat and everyone else and go back to sleep. I’ll handle this.”
Kayleigh’s jaw dropped, almost like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She opened her mouth to say something else, more than likely a protest, but Wren shook her head curtly, and she closed it with a snap. She led the group back to the sleeping corner, then turned back to Ben. His face had changed. It was obvious he recognized her, so she tried approaching him in a nonthreatening
manner.
“Where have you been? We didn’t know if you were dead or alive, or coming back.” He sneered at her meanly, and Wren was taken aback. What had she done to him?
“I was trying to find a place that was safe! Somewhere to stash all the women and children who can’t do shit for themselves.” His voice was cruel, and Kayleigh was glad the others weren’t around to hear what he’d said.
“What? What’s wrong with you? You never would talk that way about the others. Why didn’t you tell us you were leaving? We were worried about you.” Ben just glared at her. She reached out to touch his shoulder.
“Don’t touch me.” He jerked away from her and Wren looked hurt.
“Okay, I won’t touch you. Come on into the factory with the rest of us. Maybe we can talk about what you found in the area.” Ben didn’t move. Wren already had taken a couple of steps away from him before she realized he wasn’t behind her.
“No. I’m going back out there.”
Before she could say another word, Ben crossed over to the door in two long strides, unlocked it, and disappeared into the morning light. Wren stood there, stunned. What was going on with this man? Maybe he’d come back. He already had once, so maybe he would again. All she could hope for was that he came back in better condition. She stared at the door, biting her lip. She took a few quick steps forward and locked the door. It felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her when she did. The others would be safer with the door locked, until Ben could come back in his right mind. This was something she’d have to tell Garrett about…and she dreaded giving him bad news about his friend.
Meanwhile, Nat had got his voice to work a little better, and he was now in the office with Garrett, telling him everything he had seen and heard while he was out and about on his mission. He explained he had been very safe the whole time, because he’d never even made it into town before he’d seen the cars. Garrett interrupted him to say he’d done a good job staying hidden and undetected. It made the boy beam from ear to ear, sit up a little straighter, and launch into the rest of the story with fresh vigor. Garrett listened carefully to everything that had happened. When Nat got to the end of the story, Garrett clapped him on the shoulder.
“You did well. Thank you for finding out where they are. If we can time this rescue attempt while Austin and his men are distracted with the other gang, we just might be able to slip in, get Alice and Seth, then slip out undetected.”
Nat’s face was a little crestfallen. He hadn’t been able to tell Garrett about what had happened with Ben yet. He felt that that information would make him look a little more important. Wren knocked on the door before coming in.
“Garrett, we have a problem. I don’t know if Nat told you, but Ben came back.” She stopped there, looking at him pointedly. Garrett nodded to Nat, letting him know that he had done a good job, and that now he should go be with his mother.
“Ben came back? Why is that a problem?” Garrett was confused, so Wren told him the rest of what had happened.
“Why didn’t you go after him?”
Garrett was upset, but Wren had to explain to him that right now Ben was a threat, and they didn’t have anyone who could handle him if he turned violent. Garrett sighed heavily. That was true. Wren couldn’t handle him, though she’d give it a hell of a try, and Garrett was in no shape to stand toe-to-toe with him either.
“Nat gave me a lot of information, and I think we need to put it to a vote as to what to do next.” He started to try getting to his feet. Wren gently, but firmly, put her hands on his shoulders, keeping him from getting up. Him she could handle.
“Stay here, I’ll go get the others.” He hated that he was so weak, but he knew that if he overdid it now, he might not get his strength back, ever. He waited impatiently until the others filed into the room.
“Okay, so it looks like the gang that accosted Ben and his group now is giving Austin problems. We could try finding them, gather information on when they’re going to be heading back into town to cause trouble, then go at the same time and get them out.” He waited a few minutes for someone to speak up with other alternatives before he put it to a vote. Wren was looking over the group, seeing that no one else was coming up with anything, and cleared her throat.
“I’m sorry, but that doesn’t sound like a good plan at all. We should scope out the town, wait until Austin’s group fights the gang, hopefully killing each other off, then we can waltz into town with no worries and take Alice and Seth back.”
Garrett saw that everyone else was thinking about it. He was a very impatient person when it came to getting things done, especially when that thing was a rescue of people he cared about. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one who did give a damn. He gritted his teeth and tried to calm down.
“All in favor of my idea?” No one raised their hand. He sighed. “All in favor of waiting?”
Everyone’s hand shot up. He’d been outvoted. He was not a very patient man, and waiting was the hardest thing for him to do, but he had to respect the wishes of the group. He was going to do a little recon on his own as soon as he could get up and about on his own. He’d been trying to exercise his toes and feet, as well as his leg muscles, while he was alone in the room, and he was happy with the progress he’d been making. He thought he would be up and about on his own soon. He decided not to tell Wren his plan, because he was pretty sure they not only would disagree that he thought he was doing better, but that she would try to stop him doing anything other than lying in that damn bed. He waited until the group was out of his office space before he let his disappointment show on his face.
Chapter Four
It was night, and everyone was asleep except for Wren, who was pulling watch. Since Ben had gone rogue, and threatened Nat, Garrett decided it might be better to have someone on watch during the night. The doors still would be locked, because he wasn’t sure how helpful the girls in the group would be if someone tried to break in and fight. He lay still, eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. He heard nothing. No one was moving, there was no snoring, nothing. He was pretty sure Wren was near the back door so she could listen for anyone trying to tamper with the lock.
Garrett picked up the edge of his blanket, and started to pull it back. He was getting impatient with his own agonizingly slow movements, but it was necessary to do what he was planning on doing. He tried to make a little game out of it, trying to count his breaths, giving himself an inch after every few. It didn’t quite work as well as he’d hoped. He was still impatient and sweating with nervousness. He managed to sit up and swing his legs to the floor. Now came the hard part. He had to get up off this rickety cot without making it squeak. He closed his eyes, placed his hands firmly on the edges, and started lifting himself up slower than a turtle could walk. There was a creak, and he froze instantly. His heart thudded loudly in his ears as he tried listening over it for anyone noticing what he was doing.
When he didn’t hear anything, he started shifting his weight again. He got to his feet, then took a deep breath. There was pain in his legs, but he pushed it aside. He felt like an old man who was trying to walk without his cane. There was nothing there that he could use to support his weight, but then again, he didn’t want to try this with a crutch. He needed to be able to get up and about by himself, so now was the time to test his strength. He took the first step, and it felt like he was walking on pins and needles. He bit down on his lip to keep from making any noise. He started to walk a little straighter the more steps he took, and he did his best not to lean on anything or put his weight on anything other than his own legs. He just was testing his strength, not running a marathon. He made one more circuit of the room, then went back to the bed. This time, when he had to lower himself back onto the cot without making any noise, his arms almost gave out on him.
He made a mental note to try working on getting his arm strength back up, too. His arm was still weak from the shot to the chest he’d taken, courtesy of Austin. Thinking about Austin made white
-hot rage flood through him, and that did a lot to take away the pain he was feeling at the moment. Once he was back in bed, and looking like nothing happened, he lay down and spent an unknown amount of time pushing Austin’s grinning face out of his mind’s eye.
When the morning light came through the upper windows of the factory, Garrett thought he’d give the group a surprise. The routine was to eat breakfast in the factory cafeteria because it was naturally lighted during the day. The group was already in there, but he wanted it that way. He had a flare for the dramatic at times, so he made his way to the cafeteria under his own power to eat with them. He was rushed by his family and disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He sat down with them and started eating, waiting for the chatter to die down. When it did, he said what was on his mind.
“Alright, it’s been long enough and I’m on the mend, so we need to start coming up with a real plan to rescue Alice and Seth. Anyone have any ideas?”
He looked around the table hopefully, but no one spoke up. His heart sank. Even though everyone agreed it was time to get them back, no one had any ideas, nor were they offering up anything. The room was silent. Garrett tried keeping himself from speaking up with his own plan, because apparently his ideas weren’t what everyone else wanted, but he couldn’t keep the resentment from pouring off him in waves. Maybe it was a good thing that not everyone was as intuitive as he was. Finally, Nat spoke up.
