Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  When the call went to voicemail, Bull left a message Conrad Bane could not misunderstand, “This is Bennett Seeger. You called about my contract with Smokey Langer. I fought for Smokey for the last year but now that Smokey is gone, I’m retiring from the ring. I will not fight for anyone else. Smokey couldn’t use my contract as collateral as I had a clause in it that said I could walk away anytime I wanted to. When I put that clause in the contract, he understood it for what it was. It meant that anytime I was done I could walk away. I’m sorry if he stiffed you on the deal but that’s what it was.” He paused then added, “I think it IS very bad taste to do this, only hours after Smokey and Lori were killed in an explosion. I’m sure there are other fighters you can get.”

  Bull hung up the call and shoved the phone back in his pocket. Looking over at Judge, he wondered out loud, “What made him think I would fight for him?”

  Judge raised an eyebrow. “You are one hot fighter in the cage arena right now. In the short time, you’ve been in the cage, you are the one to beat, and every fighter out there wants to come and see if he can knock you down a peg or two. They see you as the one to beat. Bane knows this and he wants to make money on the betting part of all of this.”

  Bull shook his head. “But I would never work for a man like him.”

  “I find it odd that Smokey put up your contract only a few days ago and now he’s dead,” Hawk stated the obvious. “Did the man have a problem with gambling?”

  Bull shrugged. “I’ve never seen one if it was there. As an owner and sponsor, the league wouldn’t allow him to bet and if he were caught, it would cost him more than just the money. Smokey was a smart man and he knew it wasn’t worth it.” He ran his fingerS through his hair. “Something doesn’t fit here.”

  “Yeah and there’s the fact that he only died this morning and already, Bane is setting up a meeting with you?” Mustang shrugged. “Something isn’t cool here.”

  “I agree but again, we can’t prove anything,” Judge interjected. “I don’t imagine there’s too much left of his body to show it was murder and not a fire that killed him. This is all speculation anyway. We really don’t know what happened to him and or why.”

  Charlie grabbed the notebook and began writing something down on the paper. When she finished she got off the bed wincing as she stood on her feet.

  Bull noticed her grimace of pain and rushed over to her. Assisting her back to the bed he told her, “You aren’t strong enough to move around too much. You need to rest and get your strength back.”

  Charlie nodded then shoved the notebook in his hand.

  Bull frowned and glanced at the paper. His frown deepened when he stared at the words she’d written. He looked up at her and growled, “Are you sure?”

  Charlie nodded. Then her hand went to her throat and she closed her eyes as fresh pain washed over her. That simple movement had brought her more pain. She laid back down on the mattress and Bull covered her up with the blanket. He put his hand on her forehead and told her to rest.

  Then he went back to where the others were standing and handed Judge the note Charlie had written. It said the River Ratz knew Conrad Bane. I overheard them speak of the man in question. I’d seen them together as well at the Ratz compound.

  Judge read and reread the note then passed it along to the others. “If this is true that could be one connection. There might just be others.” Looking over at the bed, he couldn’t help but speculate, “She might be the one to bring all the other connections together for us. She might be the missing key we need to finally connect the dots and build our case.”

  “I don’t want her to get involved in this mission,” Bull stated flatly. “I’m not putting her at risk for any reason. She’s been through enough.”

  “And we can’t let her go.” Judge insisted. “She seems to know what we need to know. We have to find out more about her, what her story is, how she knows these bastards so well.”

  “If we come at her with everything we’ve got, we’re going to scare the shit out of her. She’ll shut down and then we won’t find any answers,” Bull insisted. “That’s not what she needs right now. What she needs is our protection. We have to keep her safe.”

  Judge snorted. “I think we can be gentlemen about this but what we can’t do is allow her to leave here. We can’t protect her if she’s out there on the streets.”

  “What are we going to do about food and stuff?” Hawk asked. “If we’re going to stay here, we’re going to need supplies for seven people for a number of days.”

  “I’ve got supplies,” Bull told them. “This place is fully stocked.”

  “Great.” Tank smiled rubbing his hands together. “It’s time for breakfast and I’m starving.”

  Judge shook his head. “You’re always starving. You must have a tape worm or something.”

  “Na, I’m just a growing boy yet.” He grinned.

  “Then you can be chief cook. Make enough for everyone,” Judge ordered.

  Bull slapped him on the back. “Come on, I’ll show you where everything is.” He proceeded to lead the way to the second floor. When they got there, Bull pushed back a sliding panel and revealed a huge kitchen area with wall to wall pantries. He looked over at the other man and said, “Everything you need is here. The stove is vented outside so don’t burn anything or the smoke will be visible. The windows are tinted so you can see out but no one can see in and the exits are wired by alarms, so don’t open the doors. I have cameras in all the rooms so don’t be gross.”

  “Got ya.” Tank smiled as he made his way into the kitchen area. Rubbing his hands together, he began opening the pantries and took stock of what was available for cooking.

  Bull made his way back up to the third floor. He checked on Charlie first, then went over to the control panels and checked the outside via the camera system he had set up. Everything looked quiet.

  * * * *

  Charlie stared at the two men for a long time.

  Mustang moved over and asked about the security system and while Bull explained what he had, Judge was watching him carefully.

  “What’s weighing so heavily with you?” Hawk asked him.

  “I want him back with us on the team,” Judge told him.

  “I think he’s ready to come back, if that’s what’s got you so worried.”

  Judge shook his head. He turned to stare at the woman on the bed. “That’s not all that has me concerned. I think she’s part of his reason for staying here.”

  Hawk snorted. “I don’t think Bull would let a woman interfere with his real mission.” Rubbing his hand along his jaw he said, “Besides, didn’t he tell us earlier he just found her in the back of his truck last night?”

  Judge snorted. “That doesn’t mean shit, not to Bull, not to any of us. You know better than that. Any jack one of us would help someone in trouble. That’s just the sort of men we are. He looks at her and sees someone who needs help.”

  “And he’s already made up his mind to protect her.” Hawk groaned.

  “Let’s not forget something here.” Judge shook his head. “Bull hasn’t been part of this mission from the beginning. He went his own way four years ago when we failed to bring down the drug ring Salim had. We got the man but we didn’t stop the ring. It just went underground.”

  “And now the fucking thing is back but now it has more protection than ever before and we don’t know where it is, so we can’t stop it,” Hawk grumbled. “It’s a vicious cycle.”

  Judge nodded. Then he looked over at the bed again and found Charlie looking back at him with solemn eyes. “It may be a vicious cycle but we may just have found a way to stop it for good.”

  Charlie heard their words and her heart pounded in her chest but her eyes made no outward sign of listening to them. She knew what they wanted and had to wonder what they would do to get the information they needed.

  Turning away from the two men, she looked for the one they called Bull. He was near a bank of security screens
. Then she frowned. One of the men was missing. Then there was a shout from a floor below. Everyone began walking toward the stairs.

  Bull came toward her. “Tank fixed a meal. Do you think you can eat something?”

  Charlie’s hand wrapped around her throat. It was swollen and very sore but she didn’t know if she could swallow food or not. She shrugged and tried to look away.

  Bull cupped her chin and pulled her eyes back to him. “Come on, I think we can find something you can swallow. You have to be hungry.”

  Charlie nodded slowly. She was hungry she just didn’t know how well she could eat anything.

  “If nothing else, there’s some protein drink down there. We can make you a shake. You should be able to swallow that,” Bull informed her.

  Charlie wrapped her arm around his waist and let him led her down the steps.

  When they got there, the others were sitting around the table eating their breakfast. Tank had fried potatoes, bacon and a mess of scrambled eggs and toast.

  Bull sat her down at the table and grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs and a fork. Setting the plate in front of her, he urged her to try and eat. “See how that goes. If you can’t swallow it, I can fix you a protein shake.”

  Charlie took a small forkful of the eggs and put it in her mouth. The eggs were fluffy and light but as she swallowed them, the texture did hurt her throat. She pushed the plate aside and pushed her hand into her belly. She was hungry enough to eat but the food hurt going down.

  Bull laid his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t fret it. Let’s try a shake first.” Then he walked over to one of the pantries and reached inside. Mixing the powder in a glass of water, he brought the shake over to her and set it in front of her. “Try this.”

  Charlie grabbed the glass and taking small sips of the liquid she managed to get it down. After a couple of sips, she looked at Bull and nodded. Then she motioned him to eat with the others.

  Charlie watched as the men ate their meal and talked among themselves. She frowned a bit as she realized something. These men were friends, they shared something rare with each other. Something she’d never seen before. No wait… she had seen it before. It was the same thing she shared with Maggie and Jesse before everything went to shit five years ago.

  Tears stung her eyes as she remembered her life. It had been one cluster fuck after another. The only good thing that happened was when she was eleven and Maggie and Jesse came into her life. For a few years, she’d had friends. Maggie had been a few years younger than her but that didn’t matter to Charlie. Foster care was a hard life but having a friend helped both of them. For the next five years, they were as happy as they could be then Maggie was in the wrong place at the wrong time and everything went to hell in a hurry. Now all she had left in her heart was vengeance and she would have it one way or another. She had a mission to complete and she would find a way to get it done. For Maggie, for Jesse and mostly for Braden.

  Gazing around at the men, she hadn’t realized that tears were falling down her cheeks as she remembered her past. Swiping them away, red stained her cheeks and she couldn’t meet their inquiring eyes. She looked away and continued to drink her shake slowly. When she was done, her belly didn’t feel so empty anymore. Pushing her glass away, she waited for Bull to finish his meal.

  “So Charlie, can you tell us about you?” Judge asked softly. He pushed a notebook over to her and waited for her to answer his query.

  Charlie just stared at them for a moment then grabbing the notebook wrote a question of her own.

  Pushing the notebook toward Bull, he read what she wrote. Looking over at Judge, he repeated what she wrote. “She wants to know why you want to know about her.”

  Judge studied her for a moment then decided to tell her the truth, or as much of the truth as he could, “These men and I formed a team of Special Forces over in the Iraq desert seven years ago. I was team leader and Bull, Hawk, Mustang, and two other men made up the team. We were doing what we do best, fighting the enemy of our country. We were going after a man who thought he was better than we were. His name was Salim Malik. Salim’s mistake was working with the ISIS bastards. They were very bad extremists who would just as soon shoot you as to look at you. Even their own people hated them. He thought they would protect him with their guns and grenades. He thought they would be loyal to him and him alone. He thought because he paid them, they would take a bullet for him if it ever became necessary.”

  Charlie listened and looked around

  The men at the table nodded.

  “We didn’t know it at the time but Salim also trafficked drugs. He would ship them overseas and somehow, those drugs found their way to our shores. His poison was killing the kids on our streets but we didn’t know that at the time. Five years ago, we caught up with Salim and there was a hellish battle. We lost two of our men and Bull was all shot up. We killed Salim and another of his men and several members of ISIS but we lost more than we wanted to, when we lost Blue Baby and Pony. We did manage to shut down Salim’s pipeline for a little while but it was back up and running within a few months. Due to the ambush, we were forced to retire from active service and we all came home. Bull went his own way and the rest of us began our own group. We were all sick of the drug trade and decided to track it and break the drug lines we found here at home. We weren’t going to let our fallen friends die in vain so we took up the fight here. We were just starting to piece things together. It’s taken us this long to uncover what we did because we had no clue where to start our search. We also had to be very careful with our research, as we didn’t want to tip our hand to these animals so it’s been a long slow road. We’ve got some of the players but we need to find the big ones. The wheelers and dealers.”

  Judge paused as Charlie wrote something down in the notebook. When she turned the paper to him, he read it. “Yeah, like Conrad Bane and the River Ratz. We’ve been watching them for a while now. We know how they are getting their stuff we just don’t know who is sending it or where it’s coming from.”

  Charlie sat there for a long time. She didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, she just sat there thinking. Then she made up her mind and raised her head to look Judge in the eyes. Reaching for the notebook, she wrote for a while. When she finished she felt exhausted. She turned the book toward Judge and got to her feet.

  Bull rose with her and helped her to the stairway. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her up the flight of steps and over to the bed. Setting her on the floor, he helped her lay down. Sitting on the side of the bed, he covered her with the blanket. “You know I’ll never let anyone hurt you don’t you?” he asked.

  Charlie turned her face to look at him. After a moment, she shrugged as if to ask him why.

  “I don’t know who put you in my truck or why but when I found you, you became mine to protect.”

  Charlie began shaking her head at his statement. She paused and grabbed her throat. Closing her eyes, a tear slid down her cheek.

  “Don’t you shake your head at me little girl,” Bull warned her as he gently brushed the tear away with his thumb. “I decided and there’s nothing you can do about it. I know you may not want my protection but you’ve got it. Not only mine but all those other men will protect you as well. Whoever hurt you, will never touch you again. You told me earlier, the River Ratz did this to you. Well, they will never get close enough to hurt you again. I don’t know if you have family or not but it doesn’t matter.”

  Charlie shook her head when he mentioned family.

  “Well, you’ve got one now.” He smiled. “Now you belong to the Brava Victor team.”

  Charlie shook her head slowly. She belonged to no one, never had probably never would.

  “You may not want to but you do. Right now, Judge thinks you can help with this mission and so do I. As much as we’d like your help, we are not going to force you to do it. These men are trying to stop a drug pipeline. One that’s bringing nothing but death to the kids on the streets. Kids who are too messed
up to know better. Their lives matter to these men and I know the Brava Victor team, they won’t stop until the mission is complete.”

  Charlie sat back and listened to his words. She could help them but did she really want to? That was something only she could decide. She had to weigh the pros and cons of what they wanted her to do with what she wanted to have happen.

  “I know Judge comes across to heavy at times,” Bull continued. “But he’s a good man. They have some of the answers but not everything. They need help connecting the dots so it makes sense to the law. I know they would appreciate any help you could give them. In return, they can help you too.”

  Charlie looked around and found another notebook. For a moment, she scratched out a question. When she was done, she handed him the paper.

  Bull looked down and frowned at the question on the paper. Then he looked at her and grunted. “Why did I leave the team?” hesitating for a moment he asked her softly, “Are you sure you want to know?”

  Charlie nodded.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Bull exhaled a deep breath. He tried to turn away from her but she cupped his chin and turned him back so she could see his face. “I left the team because it was me who got Pony and Blue killed. I hesitated when the shooting started and that hesitation got two very good members of our team killed.”

  Charlie shook her head.

  Bull snorted and went on, “Oh yes, I got my friends killed because I hesitated to shoot a woman holding a gun in her hands. I’ve been taught all my life that men protect women at any cost. When that woman came out of the hut with a gun in her hand and began shooting, I hesitated to shoot her down. Pony caught one of her bullets. I had to watch as the bullet tore through his chest. Then I had to watch as Blue Baby ran to him to drag him to safety take a shot to his head. I didn’t start shooting back until they both were down. I was surrounded in a red haze by then and I couldn’t stop shooting. I think when everything stopped, there were over thirty bodies on the ground covered in blood. I didn’t even feel the two bullets I took. For a moment nothing made sense to me, I couldn’t hear any sound. I think I was dazed for a long time. Then suddenly, I could hear every sound and the noise was overwhelming. I kind of went a little nuts. My mind was in chaos. One minute I was standing on my feet and the next, I was laying in the dirt. My blood was staining the ground and I was struggling just to breathe.”