Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  Just then, her stomach growled. She felt weak but she didn’t know if it was due to still recovering from the beating or lack of real food for several days. Either way it wasn’t good. Cleaning up after herself, Charlie opened the door to find Bull standing there.

  She just stared at him without saying a word.

  Bull reached out and grabbed her hand. He didn’t say anything either as he led her to back to the table.

  There was a protein shake waiting there for her. Taking her hand back, she sat down and began to sip on the drink. The liquid was cool on her throat and she welcomed the feeling. The coolness soothed the fire in her throat. She stared at the table rather than meet his eyes, his or any of the other men’s eyes.

  Bull grabbed a notepad and wrote something on the paper then pushed it toward her.

  She looked briefly at the two simple words he’d written then closed her eyes.

  “I’m sorry.”

  A moment later, she opened them again and reached for the pen. “Me too.”

  “How’s your throat?” he whispered.

  “Not so good at the moment.” She wrote. Pausing she added, “How are your balls? Sorry for the cheap shot but I didn’t want to be there.”

  Bull chuckled. “I had it coming I guess but please don’t make a habit of doing it. It hurt like hell.”

  Charlie hesitated then wrote, “I meant what I said, I won’t testify and I won’t put Braden at risk. I’ll cooperate to a certain point but no future.”

  “I know and Judge knows that too.” Bull insisted. “He was wrong to push you the way he did. But he’s been after this drug dealer for longer than any of us knew about. When we lost Pony and Blue, it cut us all to the quick. Judge made it his business to find out why two good men had to die, why they were sacrificed for some poison. There isn’t enough money on this earth to cover the cost of their lives.”

  “I’m sorry for your friends and I’m sorry I can’t help more than I am but I have to protect Braden.” Charlie wrote

  Bull smiled sadly. “He knows that and so do I. I just wish it were different.”

  “Me too, but it isn’t.” Charlie lifted the pen for a moment then added, “What are you going to do about Bane?”

  Bull raised his head and stared out the window for a moment before he finally looked at her. “I don’t know yet. But I do know one thing, I won’t fight for him.”

  Charlie exhaled. Then groaned as fire raced down her throat. Closing her eyes, she mouthed the words “Fuck that hurt.” Then with tears in her eyes, she stared at him for a moment then put the pen to paper and wrote, “Then you might have to kill him before he kills you.”

  Bull’s eyes got hard as he turned his stare to her. “That might happen anyway. The way I feel right now none of these bastards are gonna live very long.”

  Charlie closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she smiled.

  * * * *

  The smile lit up her whole face and Bull couldn’t help but stare at her. She was beautiful even in her beaten state. He almost couldn’t wait to see her without the black and blue on her skin.

  Hawk came over to the table and sat down with them. He sat quietly for a moment then offered his own apology, “I think we got off on the wrong foot before.” He shrugged. “It’s just that we’ve been tracking this group for a long time now and not making any connections, then you come along and boom, suddenly everything becomes clears. It kinda blew us away from a moment.”

  Charlie stared at the man for a moment then shrugged. Then she put pen to paper. “What do you want me to say?”

  Hawk read it and shook his head. “There isn’t’ anything you can say. But what I said earlier is true. We have to take this to the authorities. We have to do this the legal way so they can’t wiggle out of it. We need justice for Pony and Blue.”

  Charlie shook her head. “You won’t get your justice through the courts.” She finally wrote. “They think they can buy their way out of any charge brought against them. They’ve done it before and will again.”

  Hawk tightened his lips and glared at her. “We don’t do vigilantly justice. That’s murder and we aren’t killers.”

  “But Bane and Paolo are.” She wrote. “They sure as hell aren’t going to court to try to beat the charges. They’ll come after you first, and they won’t stop until the threat is gone. They’ll keep coming after you until they are dead or you are. That’s just the way they are.”

  “They won’t find us so easy to kill.” Hawk growled.

  “Is your pride worth another of your men’s lives?Maybe even your own?”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It was late afternoon when Charlie got tired of Judge staring at her all the time. She was sitting at the table with Bull most of the time since she’d gotten up. His eyes seemed to follow her wherever she went and it was creeping her out. She’d felt everyone’s eyes on her at some point during the afternoon but it was Judge’s eyes that bothered her the most. Finally, she took the paper, wrote another note and shoved it at Bull.

  Bull read it and chuckled. He looked up at her then turned to his commander. “She wants you to quit staring at her, she says if you have a question ask her or leave her alone.”

  Tank made the mistake of chuckling and got a hard head slap for his troubles. He glared at Judge while the other man stomped over to where Bull and Charlie were sitting. Pulling out a chair, everyone heard it scraping across the wooden floor.

  Flopping down in the chair, Judge glared at both of them for a moment then finally said, “I don’t appreciate you telling Hawk to kill a man.”

  Charlie stared at him for a moment before she shrugged. “It will be him or you in the end.” She wrote. “And you fucking know it, if you hesitate for one second you and your men will be dead before you can pull the trigger.”

  “How do you know?” Judge demanded.

  “Because that’s the sort of men they are. I’ve been watching this men for three years now and I’ve seen both their eyes, neither one of them has a soul or any redeeming qualities. They both come from the pits of hell and they both need to go back into the fire.”

  Judge read the words she wrote and crumpled the page they were written on. Then he glared at her and growled, “And I won’t become like them. I won’t murder a man just because he needs it. I won’t do that.”

  Charlie shrugged and continued to stare at him. After a few minutes she wrote, “Then be a better man than they are but you won’t win this fight. Neither of them knows you guys are here at the moment, so they don’t think there is any threat yet, but once they know you and your men are out there, they will hunt you down and take you out. They won’t get their hands dirty by doing the deed themselves but they have scores of men willing to shed blood on their behalf. You won’t even see the bullet with your name on it and by the time you do it’ll be too late. That’s just how they roll. ”

  Judge pushed to his feet and swore at her, “Fuck you bitch. You can go to hell yourself.” He then turned and stomped away from her. He went over to the brick wall and threw his fist into the cement and mortar. When he was finished, he cradled his hand and there was a good sized blob of red left on the wall.

  Bull leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Boy you sure know how to piss a person off don’t you? I’ve never seen him this mad before.”

  Charlie shrugged. Then she turned to him and whispered, “I don’t want you to die for that sack of shit.”

  “Hush, don’t try to speak,” Bull murmured. “You’ll really hurt your throat.”

  Charlie wet her lips with the tip of her tongue and looked the man in the eyes before she made her move. She’d never initiated this sort of move before but she wanted to now. She leaned in closer and pressed her lips against his. It was supposed to be just a fleeting touch but once they connected, she couldn’t pull herself away from him. The kiss deepened for a moment then Bull broke it off.

  Bull was shocked at the kiss and he froze for a moment then he gen
tly pulled himself back. When he did, he saw red darken her features and she couldn’t meet his eyes. She struggled to get away from him but he wouldn’t let her escape.

  Wrapping his huge arms around her waist, he pulled her to him. “You know a man could get used to sweet kisses like that,” he whispered in her ear.

  More red colored her face and she dipped her head to hide from him.

  Then he made the mistake of looking up at his friends. Seeing their faces made him cringe. There was shock and disappointment on each and every one of them. Then Bull buttoned down his own emotions and let her escape his embrace. He glared at the members of his team and turned his head away from them.

  Charlie scrambled back over to the bed and sat there with her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around them. She couldn’t look at anyone else in the room.

  Hawk finally came over to the bed and stood there for a moment before he asked her, “You said you knew where the bodies of the FBI agents are located. Can you tell us?”

  Charlie sat there for a moment then grabbed her notebook. She began to write something and when she finished she handed the paper to Hawk. Then she got up and walked to the bathroom. When she closed the door, the tears began.

  She only let a few fall before she reined in her feelings again. Taking a deep breath she washed her face and straightened her shoulders then went back outside. Going back to the bed, she curled up again and watched as the men worked on finding a map to locate the bodies of the FBI agents.

  She searched the room for Bull and found him staring at a computer screen alongside of Tank. Hawk and Mustang were at another computer and Wild Child was at a third screen. Judge was standing behind them keeping an eye on everything.

  Watching them for a moment, she suddenly frowned as another thought flooded her memory. She hadn’t thought of it since it happened two years ago but now she remembered. Her focus had been on finding the man behind Maggie’s kidnapping but now she remembered something that might help.

  Grabbing up her notebook she began to write. After about twenty minutes, she looked up to find everyone looking at her. She grabbed the notebook tight in her hands then got to her feet and went over to Bull and handed him the papers.

  Bull searched her face briefly then read what she wrote. He frowned as he read it then his frown deepened when he handed the pages to Judge. He came over to her and wrapping his arms around her, he whispered harshly, “That was a very stupid thing for you to do. He could have killed you.”

  “I know, believe me I know,” she whispered back. “I don’t know why I even went there and I didn’t intend on taking anything when I left. I don’t even know why I grabbed it but I did. I didn’t even look at it before I hid it. I just wanted to get to a safe place.”

  “How did you get into his office?” Bull frowned.

  “Yes, please tell us all how the hell you got into Conrad Bane’s office without getting caught.” Judge snarled from behind her. “You are either very stupid or working with him. Is that it? Are you working with that bastard? Is that how you know so much about his operations?”

  Charlie stiffened but didn’t turn around. She could feel the man’s rage slamming her. Instead, she looked into Bull’s eyes. Judge’s words were harsh but they were only words. But his words hurt her worse than a beating. To have them doubt her hurt worse than the beating Jermanio had given her.

  Bull felt her begin to tremble. He’d been about to tell Judge to go to hell then he looked her in the eyes and felt his own heart break. Her welling tears set his blood on fire. He glared over the top of her head at Judge and the others. They had no cause to even think that thought let alone say it out loud. She hadn’t done anything to make them think that.

  Before he could respond to Judge’s accusations Charlie turned, stepping away from his embrace, stood tall as she glared at the man. “No asshole, I’m not working for the likes of Conrad Bane.” Her words were barely more than a whisper but they were loud enough for everyone to hear. “I told you I’ve been watching him for the last three years. I saw him leave the office that night, two years ago, heard him tell his driver to take him home and on a whim, I broke into his office to see what he was up too. It wasn’t planned, nor did I really want to be there but something was up. I’d been watching him and the Ratz over the last few days and there was something in the air. I didn’t know what but they were high alert and I wanted to find out what was going on. I may not have found out what I wanted to know and I don’t know why I grabbed the flash drive but I did and then I got the hell out of there. I don’t know what’s on the drive and I had no way of looking so I put it away for safe keeping. Then a new boat came into Texarkana and everything went to shit for a while. Apparently, a new cartel tried to butt in to the Ratz territory and there was a minor street war for a while. I had to stay hidden or stay away. The Ratz were shooting everything and everyone that didn’t belong for the longest time. Forgive me but I forgot about the flash drive until now. I was too busy trying to survive.” She grabbed her throat to ease the fire in her throat, and told them, “You may chose not to believe a word I say but don’t ever accuse me of dealing with that evil bastard. You may mean something to these men but you mean nothing to me. You don’t trust me? Big fucking deal. I have no reason to trust you either. Right now, I’d rather take my chances on the streets with the River Ratz hunting me, looking to drag my dead body back to Texarkana than stay here with you for another moment.”

  Charlie felt Bull’s arm wrap around her waist and she began to struggle. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

  “Let me go!” she yelled as loud as she could. She felt fresh blood running down her throat as she struggled. “I’m not staying here with that bastard. I won’t do it.”

  Bull tightened his hold around her waist then reached up with his free hand to wrap his fingers around her throat. He held her throat snuggly but not to harm her. “I’m sorry baby, but I can’t and won’t let you go. Please stop, you’re bleeding again,” he whispered in her ear.

  Charlie turned in his embrace and planted her face in his chest. She sobbed into his t shirt and Bull held her close. After a few minutes, he led her back over to the bed and sat down with her on his lap. Grabbing the blanket, he wrapped it around her shoulders. Then he just held her until she calmed down.

  Finally, she was still and her tears had stopped flowing.

  * * * *

  Bull cupped her chin and lifted it so he could see her eyes. They had a defeated expression in them. Her skin was pale and she had blood staining the bandages on her neck. “Are you okay now?” he whispered.

  “No,” she whispered back. “I don’t think so.”

  “Come on let’s get those bandages changed and have a look at the damage.” Bull urged her to her feet.

  Charlie shook her head and tried to lay down on the bed. “Just leave it,” she whispered. “I don’t care anymore.”

  Bull pulled her back to her feet. “I care. You don’t want to get a fever now. You aren’t strong enough to get through that.” Bull dragged her over to the bathroom and got them both inside.

  Just as he was going to close the door, Hawk pushed it open again. “I want to help.”

  Bull looked at Charlie and saw the vacant look in her eyes. Looking back, he nodded at Hawk. Without saying a word, Hawk cut away the old bandage and washed the wound. The cut edges were seeping fresh blood and were now raw and ragged. Using her voice as much as she had hadn’t allowed the wound to close properly. He went over to the first aid kit and got some antibiotic cream along with fresh gauze. He went back to where Charlie was sitting and began wrapping the wound.

  Neither of the men said a word. Charlie’s eyes never changed either. Bull didn’t know what to do to help her but he wouldn’t turn his back on her.

  When they were done, Hawk cleaned up and went back to the door. As he grasped the knob, he paused then said, “Judge can be an ass at times and we don’t necessarily believe him or stand with him in this belief. As a
matter of fact we don’t. Charlie has helped us connect more dots today than we did in the last year. By the time the drugs hit the streets, it was almost too late to track it but with her help we were able to find out how it was getting here and who was bringing it in.”

  “I know but he crossed a line just now and I don’t blame her for being mad,” Bull stated. “I’m furious with the man myself. I realize we don’t know that much about her yet but I have to go with my gut and I told you guys my gut is screaming at me to help her, to protect her and until I have evidence to the contrary, I’m going to go with my gut.”

  Hawk shook his head. “I don’t blame her either. I just can’t believe what she did without getting caught. That takes balls.” He walked out of the room.

  Bull hugged Charlie close. He was worried about her. She had slipped into herself and Bull was worried he wouldn’t get her back. He cupped her chin and raised her eyes to his. He noted the vacant look in her eyes and that what worried him. “I need you to come back to me. I know what Judge said upset you, hell it made me mad too. I need you to fight to come back to me. I believe in you and you have to as well.”

  Charlie shook her head slightly. “But I don’t have anything left to fight with.” she barely whispered brokenly.

  “You said you would fight for Braden, well I need you to fight now, if not for yourself then fight for him.”

  Charlie closed her eyes. “But I’m tired of fighting. Braden is safe. I tried to help and got it pushed right back in my teeth for my effort. Those men don’t trust me and they’re going to get themselves killed before this is over.”

  “Hush now, you shouldn’t be speaking. Your throat can’t take it. Come on you need something to eat and more rest.”

  Charlie shook her head. “Your time is running out with Bane.” Her voice was almost gone by this time.

  “Don’t you worry about me. He isn’t going to find us here. This place is secure. I made sure of that.”