by B. B. Hamel
We didn’t talk much as we approached the compound. I didn’t feel like pressing her, and I wanted her to be in the right state of mind when we got there. I took us through the woods, using the moon as a guide, until we reached the ridge overlooking the back of the buildings. We crouched down next to an outcropping of bushes and looked down at the compound.
It was basically dead, with only a few outside lights on. It was around three in the morning, and everyone should have been asleep.
“Ready?” I asked her.
“I guess so.”
I gave her a serious look and then nodded. “Put the first charge about fifty feet that way, and the other fifty feet that way. Remember, only use it if you have to, and run like hell afterward.”
“Got it.” She took my arm as I went to walk away. “Good luck, Travis.”
I grinned at her. “Don’t worry. I don’t need luck.”
I turned away from her and melted into the darkness, heading down the ridge and toward the buildings.
This was the real reason we’d gone on that ATV tour. Fun as it was, I had needed a chance to scope out the surroundings. I had a pretty good idea of where the cameras were and where the motion-sensing lights were, which meant I could sneak around undetected. Still, I pulled a black cotton mask down over my face just in case. If a camera caught me now, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
I reached the first little buildings and crept around its side. I poked my head inside and saw nothing but touring equipment. I quickly moved away from that, reaching the main building and pressing my body up against the side.
My heart was beating slow, slow, slow. I took a deep breath, keeping my body under control. I crept along the side before shimmying down low, keeping in the blind spot of a camera.
I came up around the other side and found a window. It was locked, which was fine. I didn’t need to get into the main building.
My real targets were the barns on the opposite side of the compound. They were big enough to hold what I needed to find, and they were secluded enough on the property to be defensible. They made sense from a logical standpoint.
I kept moving, staying low, crouching down under cameras and sticking to the blind spots. I had to go the long way to avoid tripping any of the motion lights, but it was worth it to stay in the darkness. I didn’t see or hear a single person, which wasn’t too surprising.
I finally reached the first little barn. It smelled like hay and animals as I pressed my face to the window. Inside it was musty and dark, and the only thing I saw was more farming equipment.
On to the next building. I slipped through the darkness, moving like a ghost. Up ahead was the largest of the barns, and a single light was burning above the front entrance.
I skirted around the side toward the back of the barn. I didn’t see any animal tracks back there, or really smell anything animal-like. In fact, it seemed pretty clean for a barn, which was a good sign.
As I came around the back, I stopped short in my tracks. There were two men sitting at a table outside, smoking cigarettes. They were playing cards and had serious rifles at their sides. The barn doors were shut.
Fucking pay dirt. Nobody kept guards around a building unless there was something worth guarding, and I suspected they weren’t watching over horses. I crept closer, keeping low. The men weren’t too far away, but I had to go through them if I wanted to get inside that barn.
No use in delaying it. I moved fast, emerging from the shadows. The man facing me saw me but didn’t have time to react as I clubbed his friend in the back of the skull with the butt of my gun. The man I hit toppled to the ground, making only a strangled grunt.
I held the gun level at the other man, causing him to freeze. His hands were on his rifle, but he hadn’t raised it up.
“Don’t,” I said softly. “Don’t do it.”
He stared at me, his face hard. He wasn’t a professional, but he sure as fuck was brave.
“Think about it,” I said softly. “You raise that gun. Think you got time to squeeze off a round before I put a bullet in your head?”
“Maybe,” he said.
“Look at me. I know what I’m doing. Do you?”
He stared hard at me, and he made his choice. He raised his gun, squeezing the trigger.
I put a bullet in his skull. His weapon fired off but missed by a mile. He toppled back to the ground, dead on impact.
Fucking shit though. That gunshot had been loud. I knew I didn’t have much time before someone came to check on these boys. The other guy was out like a light, and so I rooted through his person until I found a set of keys.
I moved fast to the barn door. It was locked with a nice padlock. I tried three keys before I found one that would open it. I let the padlock fall to the ground and cracked open the door.
Instead of horses and tractors, the barn was full of crates. The crates were stacked high and deep. On the right there were rows of tables, and unless my eyes were deceiving me, those tables were covered in weed. It looked like they were weighing and packing the drugs, ready to be sold.
I took a step into the barn, but all hell broke loose before I could get to a crate.
As soon as my foot touched the floor, two world-shaking explosions went off in the direction of the forest. “Fuck,” I said out loud, and turned away from the barn.
Hartley had set off her charges. She must have heard the gunshot and seen people waking up. She had panicked and probably figured setting them off was the right thing to do.
I wanted to get in there and check a few crates, make sure this was the right place, but I didn’t have time now. If they weren’t sure what was going on before, now the Caldwells probably thought they were under a full-scale attack.
I got the fuck out of there. I darted out of the barn and headed toward the tree line just as men with flashlights began to spill out of the main building. I moved fast, hitting the tree line before they made it to check on the barn.
I could hear ATVs starting up, which wasn’t good. I made my way back toward the car, winding through the woods, but I had to check and make sure Hartley really ran. I kept low, moving fast, and made it back to the original spot on the ridge.
Two large, blackened hunks of wood and dirt marked the spots where she had lit the charges, but she was nowhere in sight. That was good, though I probably should have told her that these things weren’t really fireworks but more like homemade bombs.
I couldn’t’ help but smile to myself as I made my way back toward the car, picking through the trees. I could hear the ATVs tearing around the forest, and so I had to be careful. I kept low, pressing against a tree when one lucky rider got pretty close to me. But fortunately, he drove past, and I continued on through the woods.
We were lucky that the Caldwell compound was so close to the forest. If they were smart, they would have cut the trees back a bit further to create a kind of no-man’s-land between the forest and the compound, just for visibility. That didn’t matter, though, as I picked my way through the trees.
The real problem now was how the Caldwells were going to react to this. Before, if it were just one dead guard and an open door, they’d figure out that it was just someone scouting them out. They’d double their security, but they probably wouldn’t move the goods.
But after the explosions, they might get spooked. They might think the mafia was actually attacking them. If that happened, and they actually tried to move the shipment, then all of this was for nothing.
I kept moving back toward the car, and the sound of the ATVs faded into the distance. Finally, I burst out of the forest and found Hartley pacing back and forth in front of the passenger’s side door.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when I appeared.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s me.” I pulled the mask from my face.
“Travis.” She ran to me and stopped herself a foot or so away. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m so sorry. I just, I
panicked when I heard the gunshot. I was worried.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “You did the right thing. You did great, Hartley.”
She bit her lip. “Did you see something?”
“They have it,” I said. “It’s on their property.” I walked around her and unlocked the door. “Come on. We’ll talk as we drive.”
We got into the car and I started the engine. I pulled out onto the highway, heading back toward town.
We’d gotten away with it, more or less. The Caldwells were going to be paranoid after this, but at least I was able to confirm that the shipment was real.
Still, it only brought up more problems. They might move everything, which was the worst-case scenario. Also, there was a lot of stuff to transport, and I didn’t think we could do this on our own.
Hartley looked at me nervously. “What’s wrong? You look angry.”
“What? No. I’m not angry. Just trying to reason this out.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
“Big barn full of weed and crates. I didn’t see what was in the crates, but my guess is guns and ammunition.”
“That’s good. So they have it.”
“Right. But they might move it now. Also, it’s just too much stuff for us to move on our own.”
She frowned. “What are we going to do?”
“Right now we’re going back to your place. We’ll sleep and then we’ll work this out.”
She nodded and looked out the window. Poor girl was probably fucking terrified, but I couldn’t do anything about that. She’d come to grips with it and move on. She was strong.
But I had to make a plan. Otherwise, we were going to be screwed. The mafia meant business, and so did I.
My head buzzed with possibilities as we drove.
13
Hartley
I woke up with a start, sweating. In my nightmare, I had been lighting off fireworks all over this huge field while Travis ran around, trying not to get blown up. Just as the dream ended, Travis stepped on one of the fireworks, and he disappeared into a red mist of blood.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. Last night had been insane, absolutely crazy. As soon as I heard that gun go off, I knew something had gone wrong. In my mind, Travis was dead on the ground somewhere. I freaked out and lit the fuses and then ran like hell back to the car.
The explosions had nearly knocked me flat on my face. I had stumbled and my ears had rung like crazy as I managed to get back to the car. While I waited for him, I’d heard the ATVs riding around in the distance and the sounds of shouting.
I’d been worried he wouldn’t show up, but he did. He materialized from the tree line wearing that mask and scared the hell out of me, but there he was, safe.
I couldn’t imagine what he did down there. I didn’t ask about the gunshot, because I was afraid to know the truth. He had probably killed someone down there, or something equally bad, and I didn’t want to know. I understood that the Caldwells were dangerous, and that he was doing this for me, but still. I couldn’t imagine killing someone.
That was what he did, though. He was a Navy SEAL, and he was trained to kill America’s enemies. That was different from killing gang members, though, or maybe it wasn’t. I just didn’t know how I felt about the whole thing, but the fear and the adrenaline still seemed to linger inside me.
I got up slowly and smelled coffee brewing in the other room. I was slightly surprised that he was up already and even more surprised that he was making coffee. But I wasn’t about to complain. I got some clothes on and stumbled out into the kitchen.
Travis was standing in front of the stove wearing nothing but black gym shorts. I stopped short and stared at his muscular back, at the tattoos that snaked along his skin. I kept forgetting in all of the excitement just how attractive he really was, how he made my body feel.
“Morning,” he said.
“Oh, uh, good morning,” I said.
“You gonna stand there and stare, or do you want some pancakes?”
I paused. “You made pancakes?”
“Sure as hell did.”
“Wow. You’re a SEAL and a chef. I’m impressed.”
“Cooking pancakes is my specialty, mainly because it’s easy and brainless.”
I laughed, the spell broken. I walked into the kitchen and got myself a mug of coffee while he flipped the pancakes, stacking the finished ones on a plate.
I watched him cook for a few minutes, fascinated. Travis just didn’t seem like the kind of man who would cook me breakfast. Frankly, he seemed like the type to kick me out in the morning and pretend like we’d never spoken to each other.
Then again, this wasn’t exactly a normal situation we were in. Not many men got involved in my mafia-related issues, and so he was already heads above the rest.
When he was finished, he put a plate in front of me, a plate in front of himself, and the plate of pancakes between us. He sat down and gestured.
“Get at it,” he said, serving himself.
I smiled and grabbed a small stack, drowning it in syrup. I took a big bite, and it was delicious.
“Okay, so what’s the reason for this?” I asked him.
“Rough night last night. Pancakes solve most problems.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.”
“Trust me. Global warming? Terrorists? Throw pancakes at it.”
“Seems like you’d be out of a job if terrorism were solved so easily.”
He grinned at me. “Great point. Fuck pancakes.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as we continued to eat.
“Listen,” he said finally, “I want to go see a friend today.”
“Okay,” I said, shrugging. “That’s fine with me.”
“Well, not really a friend, but someone who knew Janey back in the day.” He paused and swallowed a bite of pancake. “I have a plan.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Do you now?”
“Yeah, but I want to get more info on Janey before we go ahead with it. Can you trust me on this?”
I nodded once. “Okay.”
“Good. Don’t worry, there won’t be any explosions or gunshots today.”
“Darn. I was just starting to enjoy them.”
He smirked and leaned toward me. “We can get some fireworks going right now, if that’s what you really want.”
“Probably not the safest thing in the world, setting up explosions in my apartment.”
“Dangerous things are more fun though.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You might be right about that.”
He leaned back in his chair, grinning at me, as I finished off my stack of pancakes.
What a strange man. He had a point though. Despite all of the insanity and the danger, I felt more alive than I ever had before. I didn’t think it was because we were doing dangerous things, though.
It was probably because of him. Travis just made me feel alive, like I could do absolutely anything. The man was infectious and incredible.
That lingering nightmare was entirely forgotten by the time we finished eating. And all it took was some pancakes.
The car ride was shorter this time. Instead of heading out into the hills on the edge of town, Travis took us south.
The houses in this neighborhood were larger and nicer, with green, manicured lawns and nice paint jobs. There weren’t rusted-out trucks in the front yards, but instead expensive BMWs and SUVs.
“The rich part of town,” Travis commented as we pulled up outside a nice-looking house with a white picket fence.
“Really? I didn’t notice.”
He grinned at me. “I don’t have a lot of friends from this neighborhood, but this guy knew my brother and Janey pretty well.”
“How?” I asked.
“He was the running back of the football team. I guess he was Ray’s best friend back then.”
I nodded. “What’s his name?”
“Sam Gray.” Travis killed the engine. “Looks like he’s done prett
y well for himself.”
“Not too bad,” I agreed.
Travis climbed out. “Let me do the talking.”
“You got it, boss.”
He gave me another smirk before heading up the walk toward the front door. I followed him, not at all nervous. Before I would have had butterflies in my stomach at the prospect of interviewing another person for information, but not anymore, not after everything that had happened.
Travis knocked and we waited.
“Is he expecting us?” I whispered.
“Nope.”
“Travis! We can’t just ambush people.”
He shrugged. “Too late for that.”
The door opened and a pretty woman stood there wearing white pants and a green sweater, her blond hair pulled back into a messy bun.
“Hi there. Can I help you?”
“Ma’am, I’m looking for Sam. Is he around?”
“Sure. Samwell is here. Who can I say is looking for him?”
“Travis Rock.”
“Right. Just a second.” She shut the door and disappeared back inside.
“Guess he’s married,” Travis mused. “Never would have figured that.”
“Why?”
“He was something of a man whore back in the day.”
I nudged him. “Are you judging?”
He laughed. “Not at all.”
“I don’t know. I think I hear some judgmental tones.”
He gave me a look, but before he could respond, the door opened again.
Sam Gray was about five foot nine and covered in muscle. He looked like a little tough pit bull. He was wearing jeans and a simple white T-shirt, and he was marveling at Travis like he was seeing a ghost.
“My god,” he said. “It’s really you.”
“Hey, Sam.”
“Holy shit. Travis Rock. You look way different, man.”
