by Bec Botefuhr
“I am damn sure it’s wise. Can you watch Cody for an hour? It won’t take long.”
“Willow…”
I spin and stare at her. “I have to do this.”
“Ok,” she sighs, “fine.”
“An hour. Cody’s sleeping, he probably won’t even wake up.”
She nods and I walk past her, gripping my keys and checking on Cody. Then I head out and punch Aunt Satan’s address into my navman. I got the address off Maggie, saying I wanted to apologize. She fell for it. I feel bad for lying, but I have to know. That woman is a snake and she’s up to no good. I drive a good hour and finally I pull up at a large white house on a large block.
I get out of the car and peer around. It’s a quiet part of LA, and the house she lives in is massive. I walk up the front pathway until I reach the door. I’m about to knock when I hear voices inside. I slowly lower my hand. I know those voices. I know them all too well. It’s Mick and Sharleen. Oh my, have they come after her too? I step to the side very slowly and peer through a small window beside the door. It’s blurred but I can hear better.
“He won’t get hurt.” Mick says.
“I don’t know Mick, what if he refuses to leave?” Mary asks.
“He won’t, he has a fight. He’ll get off the island and then we’ll end it.”
End it?
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Mary says. “That island is your life’s work.”
“They’re going to rat it out, I need to start again somewhere else. It’s better to end it and them while I’m at it.”
“How can you be sure you’ve got enough explosives?”
“I’ve planted them all over the island. When I press that button, it blows.”
“How can you be sure the gang will be on there?”
“Because they’re sneaking in as we speak. I have eyes everywhere.”
Oh god, I feel sick. Mick is going to blow the island when the men are on there, and they don’t know.
“Jagger could get hurt, it’s risky.” Sharleen mutters.
“It’s a risk I’ll take. If he doesn’t get off tonight, I’m blowing it anyway.”
“You said you wouldn’t hurt him!” Mary snaps.
“Mary, this isn’t your concern. I have to do what I have to do and you’ll do best not to interfere.”
“What about Willow?” Mary mutters.
“Willow thinks Jagger fucked Sharleen, she won’t go back to him, even if he gets off the island before it blows. She’s hurt.”
“She could get over that hurt.” Sharleen points out.
“I made it real Sharleen, that photo we got when Jagger was out is very real. Trust me when I say she believed it. If she didn’t have my grandson, I’d finish her too but I’m not that cold. Without that gang around, she’ll fade off.”
“She’s onto me,” Mary mutters.
“She’ll get over it. I don’t think she’s thinking about you right now.”
I swallow and blink. They took that photo of Jagger? They set all this up. The entire time they’ve been working together. How could I be so stupid? How could I have missed this? How could Jagger have missed this? God, we’re so naive.
“Ok, so we got Willow out of the way but we still have Huck. He’s got the co-ordinates and he’s helping that gang.” Sharleen says.
Mick snorts. “Don’t you worry about Huck. He’ll get in his car this afternoon for work and boom! No one will know any better. I planted a bomb in his car, as soon as he opens the door it’ll blow and kill him.”
Oh god, oh my god.
“Fine. When will the island blow?”
Mick looks down. “In exactly twenty two hours. I’ve got a timer set.”
I turn and hurry off, careful not to make a sound. When I hit the sidewalk I run to my car and get in. I pull out my phone with trembling hands and dial Jenny.
“Willow, hey.”
“Where’s your dad?”
“What?”
“Where is he Jenny? God, where is he?”
“I don’t know, Willow what’s wrong?”
“I need to find him, NOW!”
“I’ll call him, just hang on a second.”
She’s silent a moment and then she comes back to the phone. “He’s not answering.”
“Fuck, holy fuck. Where does he live?”
She gives me his address, and then squeaks. “Willow what’s wrong?”
“I have to go, I’ll explain later.”
I hit the accelerator and pray to god Huck hasn’t gotten into that car. I speed through the streets and it takes me half an hour to get to Huck’s house. As I pull up he’s just reaching down to get into his car with a coffee in hand. I leap out of the car and scream bloody murder. He drops the coffee and spins around.
“Don’t open that door!” I scream.
Huck looks confused, his eyes dart from me to the car and then back again.
“Willow? What’s going on?” he asks, stepping away from the car.
“They planted an explosive. It’ll blow up if you open that door.”
His face pales. “Who planted an explosive?”
“Jagger’s father.”
He swallows and pulls out his phone, dialing. I hear him speaking quickly and the word ‘bomb’ is used numerous times. When he hangs up, he turns to me and takes my hand. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m ok. We have to help the boys Huck, Mick is going to blow the island as soon as they’re on it.”
“Shit,” he curses.
“We have to go and stop them.”
“We go and we’ll die too.”
I snatch my hand from his. “Not if we’re quick.”
He sighs, closing his eyes. “I have a copy of the co-ordinates and I can lend a speed boat from work. Even so, it’ll take us at least fifteen hours to get there.”
“I don’t care, we have to go. Mick said twenty two hours, we have time if we’re quick.”
A team of police cars pull up a moment later and men get out of the cars in thick black uniforms to protect themselves. Three officers walk over and chat quickly to Huck, then they gently scan the car, sliding underneath it and peering around the tires but not touching it. One calls out and waves the others over, they all lean down and peer under the car and then nod at each other.
“It’s a bomb, isn’t it?” Huck whispers when an officer walks over.
“Yes Huck, you want to tell me how you knew that was there?”
Huck swings his eyes to me, and then looks back to the officer. “I don’t know, I had a bit of a threat via phone call last night. I was sus and I just knew something was off when I walked out the door.”
“Lucky for you that you listened to your gut,” the officer mutters.
“Yeah. Look I’ve got to run. I have to help my daughter out, it’s an emergency.”
The other officer nods. “We’ll close this area off and then we’ll check the house too.”
Huck nods and hands his keys over. Then he follows me to my car. When we’re in, he finally speaks.
“Take me to the wharf.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No Willow, Jagger was insistent that you don’t come.”
“Huck, I know that island. I’ve seen it before. I’m coming.”
“Willow…”
I pull out my phone and dial Ava, she answers quickly.
“Willow, are you ok?”
“Ava, I need to ask you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“I need you to watch Cody for me tonight, something has come up and I have to go with Huck.”
“What? Willow, no. You know that I can’t let you go.”
“I have to, I’m the only hope those boys have. Ava, it’s a set up. Mick is going to blow that entire island. Not only will Jagger die, but so will Angel, Ace, Rusty and Bull.”
She’s silent. “Willow if you die…”
“I won’t, if I can’t save them. I promise I’ll get off t
he island. I know when it’ll blow, I heard Mick talking and…”
“Mick?”
“He was at Mary’s house. All along they’ve been working together.”
“Oh god,” she whispers.
“Ava, take care of my son, please?”
“Willow, are you sure you have to go?”
I pull the car over, Huck is talking frantically on the phone too. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I see my son’s face and wonder if I’m doing the right thing. If I die…no, I can’t think like that. Mick said twenty two hours, I’ll time it. If I don’t find Jagger, I’ll leave. I’ll force myself to leave, I won’t be a hero.
“I have to, if I don’t they all die. I can’t live with that Ava, I can’t.”
“I know,” she whispers. “I’ll have Cody here safe. Come back Willow, don’t you leave him without his momma.”
“I swear, I’ll be back. I won’t be a hero Ava, if I can’t find them I’ll leave. For my son, I have to. Take care of him…please?”
She knows that I have more than one reason for asking that, but she answers anyway. “Always.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I hang up the phone and a moment later Huck does too. “We’ve got a boat. Let’s go.”
We don’t say anything as we drive down to the wharf. When we arrive, I see a cop car pulled up beside a slick, white boat. We get out of the car and I swallow once more before pulling on my shield of bravery and walking towards the boat with Huck. The officer waiting rushes over and shakes Huck's hand.
“It’s got plenty of fuel, water and food. Not that you’ll need it but you can’t be too safe. I’ve loaded it with weapons. Guns, machine guns, knives, you name it.”
“Vests?” Huck asks.
The officer turns to his car and pulls out two bullet proof vests. I swallow. Shit. Huck grips my shoulders and spins me towards him, and then he grips a vest and secures it over my top. Then he hands me a long sleeved navy shirt, and I slip it over the top of the vest.
“Know how to shoot a gun?”
I shake my head. “They never showed me, they were going to but…things got crazy.”
“Right, I’ll give you the simple one. It’s loaded, you just pull the damn trigger. Try it now.”
The officer reaches into the boat and shuffles about, and then he comes back with a small black gun. He hands it to me and with trembling hands, I take it. Huck takes my shoulders and turns me towards the trees. He quickly shows me how to position my arms and then he tells me to pull the trigger. I do and it jerks me backwards, Huck steadies me and tells me to do it again. I do it over and over until the backfire isn’t so unexpected.
“I hope you don’t have to use it, but just in case.”
I nod, still in mild shock. I put the safety on and slide the gun into my pants, and Huck hands me another, which I slide in too. He loads himself up and then turns to the officer.
“Thanks Kyle, I appreciate it.”
“I had nothing to do with this, remember?” Kyle says.
“You know I won’t dob you in buddy.”
“Be safe, call for backup if you need it Huck.”
“Yeah, we got it. Take care.”
Kyle slaps him on the back, nods at me and then gets in his car and leaves. I stare at the slick speed boat and Huck nods at me and indicates towards the boat with a hand. I climb in on with shaky legs and sit on one of the small swivel seats. Huck slides the boat further into the water until he’s up to his knees, then he leaps in. He gets in the front seat beside me and roars the engine to life. It grumbles a moment, and then begins purring loudly.
“Ready?”
“I have to be,” I whisper.
He pulls a leaver and the boat surges forward. Soon we’re flying so fast that water flicks over the side and hits me in the face. The screen in front of us is stopping most of it, but the boat is moving so quickly it’s just not possible not to get a little wet. We bounce over waves, just sitting in silence. I swallow back my fear, right now I can’t think about what might happen. I have to help those boys, I have to. If they died and I knew I did nothing, I’d never be able to live with myself.
I wish to god I could have just called, but that’s not possible. Only special satellite phones work on that island and they left too hastily to be able to get one. It was stupid on all our parts really, if we had have made sure they had a phone, we could have stopped this from going ahead. It’s too late for that now, I could only pray we made it in time. If they blow the island before plan, it’ll trigger Mick’s bombs and they’ll all die.
They said they were going to wait until Thursday to save the girls, before they blew it. Thursday is tomorrow. I imagine it’ll take them a few hours to get the girls. God, I hope we make it. I am silently praying that we do. If we don’t, it could be the end for all of us and that includes me. I close my eyes and think of my son, I hope I’ve made the right choice because I can’t turn back now.
CHAPTER 17
JAGGER
It’s dark and this side of the island is quiet. The boys will be here soon, and I’m pretty sure everything is ready for them. I flick the torch on and quietly sneak through the trees towards the back of the island where I’ve told them to come in. When I see a faint light in the distance, I ready my gun, just in case. As it moves closer, I see a familiar figure jump off the side and wade through the water to help pull the small boat close enough.
“Ace?” I say quietly.
“It’s us. We’re here.”
I shine the torch towards them, and watch as they all jump off the boat and drag their legs through the water. When they hit the sand, I move closer. When I get close enough, they all slap me on the back and hug me quickly.
“Is it all ready?” Ace asks.
“Yeah, all set. I’ve wired a massive explosive to one of the cars in the middle of the island. I’ve got it connected to a trigger, when I press it, this island is in big trouble. It should get rid of the whole thing. We’d want to be a fair way away before I press it.”
“Good, what about the girls?”
“All good, as far as I know they’re all still going to their weekly meeting tomorrow.”
“Mick?”
I sigh. “That’s a problem, Mick isn’t here yet.”
“What?” Angel hisses.
“He didn’t come, I don’t know why.”
“I don’t like the sound of that man,” Ace mutters.
“He said he had business. He called me out earlier tonight but I told him I couldn’t make it out until tomorrow. He wants me in for another fight. He was pretty persistent,” I say.
“Well, we’re here now. We have to do this. We can take Mick down when we get back.”
I nod, hoping that’ll work. Either way, we don’t get much choice. This needs to be done and it needs to be done soon. I stare at the boys, who all look tired. I ask them the question I know they’re waiting for.
“How is she?”
Angel sighs, “Not good man, not good at all.”
“We should have fuckin’ told her.”
“No, we shouldn’t have,” Ace snaps. “It wouldn’t have helped.”
“Where do you want the boat parked boss?” Rusty asks.
“Leave it there, this part of the island only gets used twice a week to load up. They did it this morning so they won’t have any reason to come over here.”
“Hope you’re right man,” Bull mutters.
“Trust me ok?”
“So what now?” Ace asks, plonking down onto the sand.
I sigh and stare into the darkness. “Now we wait.”
~*~*~*~
JAGGER
By morning, we’ve come up with a strong plan to get the girls onto the ship. We’ve spread out through the trees with guns and one by one we’ll take the guards out. Our guns all have silencers, it’s the best we could do. I’m standing with Bull and we’re watching the open assembly area, and waiting for the girls t
o come. God, if they don’t come…they’ll come. They always do.
Fifteen minutes in, I see a group of people. I shove Bull’s arm and he squints, staring into the distance. Six guards and a group of women all walk towards the assembly area. I wave my arms to give the other men the go ahead. Angel gives me a sign that indicates he’ll take the two closest to him. I know Rusty will take the two at the back, so Bull and I will take the two closest to us. It’s a precise hit, if we injure the girls, it could be a problem.
I raise the gun when they get into the small shelter and the women all sit down. Two of the guards have their backs to me, which makes for the perfect hit. I raise the gun and close one eye, Bull does the same beside me.
“You take left, I’ll take right.”
He nods. I press the trigger and before my eyes, the guard on the right falls flat on his face. Beside him the other drops. The girls all stare wide eyed, but they don’t scream. They’ve been beaten into never speaking or making any sort of sound unless they’re told. I watch the two guards at the back spin around and start rushing towards the trees when they too fall flat on their faces. Perfect shots boys. I rush out of the trees, not thinking.
I feel a burning sensation in my shoulder and for a moment I’m stunned. Then I realize I’ve run out of the trees too early. Angel hasn’t shot both of the guards. Blood trickles down my shoulder and the pain sets in like fire. I grip the gaping hole and roar with pain. Bull is quick and he’s behind me in seconds, putting pressure on it.
“Fuck boss, what’d you run out for?”
“Fuck, I thought they were all down.”
It’s like fire. I feel sweat begin building on my forehead and my vision swims a little. I have to kick on, if I don’t, this will fail and we’ll all end up dead.
“Get the bullet out,” I growl.
“What?” Bull asks.
“Get it out.”
“Boss I can’t…”
Ace is beside me now, tearing into my shirt. “We have to Bull, we’ve got minutes.”
Ace pulls out a pocket knife and I look away, focusing my attention on Angel and Rusty gathering the girls quietly. Thankfully for us, those girls are doing as they’re told. Ace drives the knife into my shoulder and Bull shoves a shirt into my mouth as I scream. The burning pain shoots down my arm and for a moment I’m sure I’ll black out. My body begins trembling from pain, and my vision sways.
