Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  Bull ran his fingers over his face and grimaced when he touched his own swollen and torn flesh. His left eye and cheek were still puffy and bruised but the swelling was going down. He might be able to see out of his eye by morning if he put ice on it tonight. When his fingers rubbed his jaw, he winced again. He’d taken a nasty blow that almost put him down but he’d delivered the knockout punch before his opponent could get the better of him.

  When he left the arena just after the fight, he was still running high on adrenalin, so he hadn’t hurt this much until now. Bull shook his head when he thought about the last few years and how he ended up here of all places. The day he’d seen his friends die in a staged ambush so many miles from home, a rage had been born within him and when he was discharged from the military hospital, the rage had finally won. Fighting had given him a place to use that rage and he felt a balance in his life again. He knew it wouldn’t last forever but for now, he needed this balance. He was taking it one day at a time until he could finally breathe again. He was getting closer to that day.

  He’d stopped in this little town on a whim. It was close enough to the bigger cities he needed access to, but still a small enough town nobody would notice him. Four years ago, he hadn’t wanted to be noticed by anyone. He felt safe enough until the time came when he wanted them to notice him. Here, nobody watched for him, hell nobody here even knew his real name except Smokey, his boss and right now that was fine with him. Here he was just Bull. Here, nobody knew that he was Bennett Seeger, Special Forces with sniper training. Nobody cared that he was once a part of something bigger.

  Smokey Langer had been his ticket in the world of caged fighting and had given him a key to the gym when he began fighting a year ago. He’d been wounded in action and had spent a year in hospital before he got out. Then he needed his space to figure out where he wanted to go from there. He’d used those three years to get back into shape in that gym and build his body back up to where it should have been.

  He had his lean, mean fighting body back but this body was more muscled and more agile than his old body had been. He had real fighting skills now and his martial arts training had also improved greatly. He was now a black belt in many forms of the martial arts. He’d learned from the best teachers not only in Texas but also in Louisiana. He didn’t compete but he knew what he was doing.

  He grabbed the soap and ran it over his massive arms without thinking about the scars or the Special Forces Tattoo he wore on his shoulder. He couldn’t look at it now though. His last mission had taken that away from him. He still raged about that fuck up.

  Looking down at his chest, he saw the names under the grave marker he had tattooed there. Pony and Blue Baby, both men hadn’t come back with the rest of the Brava Victor Unit that day four years ago.

  Instead of thinking about the past, Bull continued to soap his aching body. He hissed as the soap ran over the multitude of bruises on his chest and belly. Blaze had been vicious but Bull gave back everything he got and more.

  Even with blood running down from the cut over his left eye, he still delivered the blow that put Blaze down. Bull smiled as he remembered the look on Blaze’s face when he realized he was done. Blaze had been too cocky from the moment they’d stepped into the cage and the last expression Bull had seen on his face was surprise and disbelief as the other man’s eyes rolled back into his head and his body hit the mat.

  Now, he groaned as his hand hit yet another sore spot on his face. His eye ached and when he raised his hand to touch it he hissed again when his fingers touched his swollen eye socket and cheekbone.

  Ducking his head under the hot spray of water, he rinsed his body off and shut off the water. Bull stepped out of the shower stall and grabbed a towel. Drying off his body, he reached inside his duffle for clean clothes. Pulling his clothes on over damp skin left him worn out. All he wanted now was a stiff drink and a soft bed.

  Throwing his towel in the hamper, he shut off the lights behind him as his footsteps echoed in the empty gym as he made his way to the back door. As he opened the door, he felt the blast of hot air. Texas in August was the pits. It was so damn hot, you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. It literally took his breath away as he checked out the parking lot before taking a step out of the cover of the building. Old habits died hard and he had to shake his head when he thought about why he was checking the surrounding area for enemies. For a moment, he forgot he wasn’t in the military anymore. And this was home, not some random desert where everyone had a gun and was looking to kill their enemies.

  Bull growled and made his way to his truck. From the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of the tail lights of a truck leaving the lot. He frowned as he turned his head and watched the vehicle drive away in the early evening light. The vehicle didn’t have any lights on until it was well away from the parking lot. He stared at the vehicle as it turned the corner and disappeared from sight. This time, he checked out the parking lot a little better, his eyes darting everywhere while his brain registered everything he was searching in an instant but found nothing out of the ordinary. After all, the military had spent a lot of money and trained him well to do just that.

  Then just as he was going to get into his truck, he heard loud music coming down the street. He turned and watched as a low slung vehicle drove down the street very slowly. He eyeballed the vehicle and kept his eyes on it as it drove past where he was standing. The loud rock music hurt his ears but the four people sitting inside the car didn’t seem to mind it.

  Even as beastly hot as it was, all four young men in the vehicle were wearing heavy denim jackets. Bull didn’t show any sign of acknowledgement at all.

  One person sitting in the backseat even raised a weapon and waved it at him.

  Bull stared him down and the guy flipped him off. He didn’t return the gesture but he did follow their progress down the street. They drove off slowly and it made Bull think they were looking for someone or something. He couldn’t imagine what that could be but he wasn’t taking any chances either. If the vehicle held street gang members, it was best to not show disrespect of any kind. If you did, they would kill you where you stood without batting an eye. Bull didn’t feel like dying tonight.

  To his mind, their colors reminded him of a gang he knew called the River Ratz. He didn’t know why they were here in Mount Pleasant though. They usually hung out on or near the Red River and that was closer to Texarkana than here. They were like a secret everyone knew about but never spoke of.

  Finally, the car turned the corner and the music died down. He could now get into his truck and leave the gym. He watched the area carefully as he made his way home. He was almost there when something hit his back window softly. At first, he didn’t know if he only imagined the sound or not, so when he pulled up to a red light he glanced at the back window.

  Then his eyes went wide at the faint red streaks trailing down the window glass. He looked around the empty streets and pulled over into a Whataburger parking lot. Moving around the back of the building he pulled to a stop. Grabbing the handgun under the seat and a flashlight, he got out of the truck slowly. Carefully, he moved to the back of the truck and with a flashlight, he checked out the bed.

  At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary but the light caught the movement and when he swung the light toward the movement he’d seen just a moment ago. He gasped when he saw the movement had been a foot inside a tennis shoe. Swinging the first even higher, he saw the foot become a leg and the leg became a body. The fall of black hair prevented him from seeing her face but that wasn’t concerned him. What concerned him was the dark red stain covering most of her shirt.

  Bull swore and reached inside the bed of his truck and hauled her into his arms. Moving around to the passenger side, he stuffed her into the seat then rushed around to the driver’s seat. Putting the truck in motion, he raced toward his place. Half a block from his house, he pressed the button for his remote and as he pulled into his garage, the heavy double door to the garage
opened. As soon as he shut the engine off, he pressed the button again and the door closed slowly behind him.

  Bull raced around the truck and opened the truck door, carefully taking her out of the seat, he rushed to the door leading to the house. Pushing the door open, he made his way through the kitchen and into the living room.

  Laying the girl carefully on the sofa, he brushed her hair away from her face. Wincing, he took in the bruised and swollen flesh of her face. Someone had beaten her badly. Her left eye was swollen and black with a matching bruise along her jawline. Her hair was matted with dried blood and she had black and blue marks resembling long, slim fingers bruising her throat.

  With her eyes closed, he couldn’t see her eyes but he needed to find out where the blood on her shirt was coming from. He laid her out flat on the sofa and that’s when he noticed the dried blood on her throat.

  Bull hissed and got to his feet. Going to the kitchen, he grabbed a bowl of warm water and a couple of washcloths. Going back to the girl on the sofa, he began to bath her neck to clean off the dried blood. He needed to see how bad the wound on her throat was before he could determine the next step.

  As he washed away the blood, the wound across her neck became clear. Someone had tried to slice her throat. The cut was located high on her throat and whoever did it completely or deliberately missed the arteries on either side. Bull laid his fingers on the arteries and could feel the weak pulse and he thanked the lord she was still alive. From the amount of dried blood, the wound have bled too much.

  The cut itself looked shallow enough but the blood had soaked her neck and shirt. He didn’t know what other kind of damage it had done to her throat or even if she would survive the cut. But he did know he couldn’t take her to the hospital. He had a feeling there was more going on here than he knew at the moment. His training told him this was something bigger that the local cops would know about.

  Then he remembered the slow driving, low riding car traveling down the street with the four thugs inside wearing gang colors. If they belonged to the River Ratz gang in Texarkana, what were they here in Mount Pleasant for? Gazing at the young girl on his sofa, he wondered what her connection to them was and how the hell she ended up in the back of his truck.

  He got up and went over to his front windows. Glancing out over the front of his yard out into the street, he noticed everything was quiet. This neighborhood was not the best but it wasn’t the worst either. Families lived and worked here. Small children played on these streets. If there was trouble coming, he didn’t want to bring it to his front door. Glancing back at the girl on his sofa, he pulled his blinds shut and went back to her.

  Her breathing was still shallow but it didn’t seem as labored as it had been. Fresh blood seeped from the wound but it wasn’t gushing, so Bull folded gauze pads in half and wrapped them around her neck with more gauze.

  When that was finished, he took the time to clean the rest of her. Washing her face and hands of the grime and dirt that covered her gently, he uncovered more bruises and small cuts. Then he reached for a pair of scissors and cut her soiled t-shirt away. The shirt was drenched in dried blood and grime and when it opened, he could see her pale skin. Her breasts were covered by a black bra but they overflowed its boundaries. Her breasts were full and perky but it wasn’t her breasts that drew his attention, not fully. What drew his attention was the black bruise on her chest.

  He could see the blood pooled under her skin and he didn’t think that was a good thing. He’d seen this type of injury before and it never ended well for the person who had it. He knew he had to do something quickly. He grabbed his phone and called the one person from his past he felt could help him. When the call was answered on the other end, Bull called out a name, “Hawk, I need your expertize.”

  Hawk was silent for a moment then asked curiously, “What can I do for you?”

  Bull swallowed hard. This was a man he hadn’t spoken to for well over three years. “I have a girl here with a slit throat and a chest hematoma.”

  There was silence for a long moment then Hawk came back with, “How bad is the bruise on her chest?”

  “It’s black already.”

  “Shit,” Hawk swore softly. “And her throat?”

  “It’s a shallow cut but never touched either artery. It’s also high on her throat. The bleeding stopped but the wound itself bled a lot. And this all happened a while ago because the blood has had time to dry.”

  “How is her breathing?”

  “Shallow. It was a bit labored when I first found her but it’s easier now. I wrapped her throat because the slit was seeping fresh blood after I cleaned it.” He paused then added, “I may have to move her. Right now, she’s at my house but the town is crawling with River Ratz. They seem to be looking for someone or something and it might have to do with her.”

  “What the fuck are the Ratz doing in Mount Pleasant?” Hawk asked.

  Bull was silent for a moment. “How did you know where I was?”

  Hawk snorted. “Brother, we’ve always known where you were. We were giving you the space you wanted but we’re brothers, we watch out for one another. We’ve been watching your back since you left the military hospital and came home again.”

  Bull was silent for a minute as Hawk’s words washed over him. This was one of the things he missed over the last few years, but it took him until that moment to admit it even to himself. “Thank you. Can you help me?”

  “Do you have somewhere safe you can go?” Hawk asked. “We can be there in less than two hours and be there to watch your back. If you need our help, that is.”

  Bull hesitated then finally admitted, “Yeah, that would be great. I have a feeling trouble is coming and it ain’t gonna take no prisoners.”

  “Ok,” Hawk grunted. “I’ll get the others and we’ll be on the road shortly. Text me the address and we’ll be there soon.”

  “Thank you man,” Bull spoke softly. “I know I turned away from the group after we got back but I wasn’t in a good place just then. I needed to learn to cope with what happened.”

  “We were all fucked on that last mission buddy,” Hawk reminded him. “And the Judge found something interesting out much later. It wasn’t the military that screwed us it was a drug lord. Somehow, one of his minions hacked into our intel and gave us false coordinates and bad information. He led us into that fucking ambush. The odds were none of us were coming home but I think we surprised them all. We got us out of there, despite the odds.”

  “And if I remember right, we even took some of them with us.” Bull growled.

  “Yeah, we did.” Hawk chuckled.

  “But it cost us two really good men,” Bull spoke softly. “Does Judge know who gave us the bad intel?”

  “Yeah, he does and we’re closing in on him.” Hawk assured the other man.

  “Could you use another man?” Bull asked.

  “Anytime you’re ready to come back, you’ll be welcome to join us.”

  “I have another fight coming up soon but after that, I’ll be ready to help hunt this motherfucker down.” Bull swore.

  “Are you going to join us then?”

  Bull was silent for a long time before he finally said, “Maybe part time. I found something in the cage that I didn’t have before and I kind of like it.”

  Hawk chuckled. “Oh, the Judge is gonna like that real well. He always did think you were the crazy one in the group.”

  “Yeah.” Bull snorted. “But it worked didn’t it? My crazy just worked when it needed to.”

  “Yeah, it did brother,” Hawk agreed. “You were right there when we needed you.”

  Bull glanced over at the girl and found her eyes open and she was staring at him. “Gotta go brother, she’s waking up.”

  “Text us with the new address,” Hawk told him as he ended the call.

  Bull put his phone down all the while keeping his eyes on her. Her eye color was turquoise. Between that and her black hair, she was beautiful. She’d be e
ven better looking without the bruises, he thought to himself.

  Her eyes watched him carefully and while there was a hint of mistrust in them, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she pulled the edges of her t shirt together again. She hissed when she rubbed the bruise on her stomach but she didn’t take her eyes off Bull.

  He got up and went over to the desk beside the front door. Rummaging around the main drawer, he found a notebook and a pen. Bringing them back to the sofa he told her, “I know you’ve hurt your throat and I don’t want you to try to talk until I have someone look at your injuries. You lost a lot of blood and have been beaten to hell, but I need to know who you are and how you got hurt. Can you tell me that much?”

  * * * *

  Charlie stared at him for a long time then finally nodded slightly. Reaching out, she took the notebook from him and she couldn’t hold her shirt together and write at the same time.

  The big man noticed and grunted as he got to his feet. “Let me see if I can find you another shirt. Sorry but I had to see how badly you were hurt.”

  He disappeared and while he was gone, Charlie began to write. She wasn’t sure how much to tell he but she decided to tell him just enough to keep her safe but she knew she couldn’t tell him everything.

  When he returned, he pushed a t-shirt at her.

  Charlie frowned and held up the garment. It was five sizes too big for her but she knew it would fit him.

  He took it from her and helped her pull it on over her head then dragged it down to cover her body. Then he waited while she pulled her blood stained shirt off. Pulling her hair free, she couldn’t or wouldn’t look at him again.