“What is it?” I whisper, remembering the snake in my house. That was so long ago, before we really got to know each other. As weird as those days were, I miss them. They were so innocent compared to now. It’s like I bit the apple and suffering the consequences.
“Two of them,” he whispers. “I can’t make them out.”
“Shit.” I grab my gun and hold it against my heart, trembling.
“Stay here,” he says, putting his hand out to stop me.
“Don’t leave me,” I say. He turns around and kisses me with all the desire in the world.
“If I don’t make it back, know that I loved you,” he says.
I’m about as stunned as I would be if I was to get shot.
He ducks out of the tent, and I have to peak my head outside to make sure he’s okay. I watch as he kneels down and quietly walks to the other tent. He ducks his head inside and motions for them to come out, that there’s two of them beyond the rocks.
We all exit our tent. I take cover behind a large boulder, but the three men move in opposite directions. One goes toward the middle of the valley. The other goes to the left. Rowan moves to the right.
I lean out to take another look. That’s when I see them. They’ve got their bloodied masks on, and they’re moving toward the tents. Luckily, they don’t us.
However, they’re nearby me. The guys eye them carefully, and I turn to Rowan, feeling my heart go insane. I just need to stay silent. I just need to—
My foot slips, and the rocks underneath make a scraping noise. One of them turns around and fires his gun. The bullet hits near the boulder next to my face.
Rowan grabs his gun and aims quickly, firing two rounds. The guy falls to the ground.
Within a second, an ambush of men come out.
Five more are screaming, holding freshly lit torches. Behind them, more rev their engines.
I take aim and shoot one off his throne. He tumbles into the dirt, holding his chest. After that, I run.
Rowan manages to stay on the calm side. I, on the other hand, have found a covered area I can hide near.
I close my eyes.
I don’t want to see any of this. I don’t want to be here for this. What if I lose Rowan? This is exactly why I wanted to go back to Pennsylvania.
When I open my eyes again, Rowan is standing over me. “It’s okay now. They’re dead,” he says.
“Who the fuck was that?” I ask, shaking.
“An ambush,” Jeffco says. “We need to move. Now.”
“Hunters,” Rowan says. “We need to get out of here, and we need to do it fast.”
We run down to the camp. “Let’s take the bikes instead,” Iago says. “We’ll be better able that way. If we get ambushed again, it’ll be easier to escape.”
“Good thinking,” Rowan says, grabbing a bike.
But I’m just standing in the darkness.
I’m horrified.
I’m not sure I can take another day of this. We need to find the Hell Squadron.
We need help.
25
Rowan
Tonight has been one hell of a ride, but I can tell Caroline is a bit shaken up. The only thing I can do is try and make things easier for her.
She shouldn’t have come. It was a bad idea, right from the start. But when a woman insists, you eventually just have to acquiesce and let her have her way.
“Hop on,” I tell her, revving the engine.
It’s been too long since I’ve been on a bike of this caliber. This one is fairly new. Poor guy. He lost a beauty. Now she’s mine. I can’t wait to gut it for the parts.
Caroline places her hands around my abs, and we take off into the distance.
Along the horizon is a sliver of the sun’s orange beauty. After a few miles of driving in it, we cut into the highway, and we roll full speed ahead, wind slapping against our faces.
There’s no talking anymore, just driving. Iago knows the general direction we need to go, and that’s enough for me.
Not too far ahead, we stop at a roadside bar. Jeffco looks at the wooden sign that reads: “The Holy Trinity.”
“What is this place?” he asks.
“The Hell Squadron stays in one area at a time, moving every couple of months or so,” Iago says. “The best we can do is ask around. Last I heard, they were nearby. Someone here ought to know.”
We walk in and all eyes turn to us. The music shuts off. We’ve got some balls walking in here with our gang symbols posted on our bodies.
Everyone knows who we are. There aren’t any Hunter-affiliated people. If there were, we’d be dead.
“Four whiskeys,” Iago says to the bartender.
“Ya’ll from around here?” he asks him, while he pours. His gaze and pour are both very steady.
“Not too far,” Iago says, raising his shot glass in the air.
We all take the shots. Caroline too. I keep my hand around her waist, hoping she doesn’t freak out too much.
The stakes are high in here. The tension is palpable.
“How far?” He presses us, pouring us more shots.
“We only needed the four drinks,” Iago says.
“These are on the house.”
“Fifty miles south,” I butt in.
“Hm. Gang territory,” he mutters. “I see where you’re from, just by looking at you. The looks on your faces spell trouble. What’s your deal?”
“No deal,” Iago says. “We’re just passing through. We don’t want any trouble.”
The bartender puts his hands under the bar. “Bullshit. What are you doing in a ghost town like this?”
Iago looks at me and sighs. I speak up. “We’re looking for some people,” I say. “Maybe you can help us.”
“What kind of people are you looking for? I’m not too good at identifying names or faces,” he says, squinting his eyes.
“The Hell Squadron,” I say, placing my palms on the table, so he knows I’m not pulling any fast ones on him. “You seen them?”
He pulls out a sawed off shotgun from underneath the table. “Why the hell would you need the Hell Squadron? You out for blood, sir?”
“Not out for anything of the sort,” I say. “Put the gun down. Let’s talk.”
“Come in the back.” He motions for us to follow him, and we do just that.
Inside the back room, there’s a couch and six men. The bartender keeps his gun on us, and I keep my hands visible.
“Go ahead,” he says. “Tell them who you’re trying to find.”
“The Hell Squadron,” Jeffco says. “Where they at?”
All six men look at each other and get off of the couch. They put out their cigarettes, and the guy who looks most in charge pulls out a blade.
He presses it against my throat, withholding himself. I don’t move. I don’t react. I let him do his thing.
“Now, why would you and a little girl like her be looking for the Hell Squadron?” he asks, steadily showing his teeth.
These kinds of threats mean nothing to me. Still, I have to act carefully if I want to keep my jugular intact.
Out of nowhere, Caroline speaks up. “We need their help,” she says. “The Hunters have gone insane. They broke the pact.”
The man takes his blade off my throat and starts laughing. The rest of the men do the same. “The Hunters,” he repeats. “And who the fuck are you, little girl?”
“I’m with him. He’s with the High Priests,” she says.
The man nods. “Four corner gangs, huh?”
She nods back with ferocity. “You can ask the rest of the guys who they are. I’m not speaking for everyone,” she says. “Kaine is on a killing spree and now we need their help. Do you know where they are or not?”
I’m impressed. When she wants to get something done, she gets it done.
The leader turns to me again. “Is this true?”
“It’s true. He killed my partner. The cops raided one of our deals. I got away. One of their men got killed. Now they
want retribution,” I say.
“You know the rules. You give them money, and then you give them some more. Pay them back in full,” he says. “Those are the rules.”
“We’ve given them double what we owed,” I say.
“Then it should be squared away,” he says.
“He took my partner’s life. My gang is done. Last night they ambushed us,” I tell them. “We wouldn’t be here if our situation wasn’t dire.”
The man puts his blade away and glances at the other guys in the room. “Hm,” he mutters. “They really broke the pact? Why?”
“Last I saw of Kaine, he said they’re breaking away for good. They want to be independent. They want all the goods to themselves,” Iago says. “They’re ready for war. That’s why we’re here. We need to gather as many honorable people as possible.”
Jeffco starts in now. “We didn’t have time to bury any of the bodies,” he says. “They were our brothers. Practically family. They put Ash’s head in a box and put it on Rowan’s door. The whole thing makes me fucking sick.”
The man walks in circles, until he stops and looks to look at me in a new light. “You’ve come to the right place,” he says.
“So, you’re the Hell Squadron?” Iago asks.
“No,” he says. “But I can take you to them.”
“We’d be delighted,” Jeffco says.
“Follow me,” he motions forward and walks through a second back door that leads to a hidden outside area.
In the back, there are groups of bikers smoking and talking, drunkenly. One of the guys plays darts in the corner of the room. Others are sitting on the top balcony, surveying the area.
This is a place for wanderers, derelicts, and anyone who’s on the run. This isn’t a normal hangout.
He takes us to an enclosure, not too far away, but far enough. There’s a small river that winds through the mountain range, and a boat that can fit all four of us, plus another.
The man gets in the boat and stares at us. “Come on, now. If you want to get to the Hell Squadron, you have to trust me. Do you trust me?” he asks.
His teeth are a dark yellow and brown, and sharp at the edges. His eyes are wild.
Do I trust him?
“Sure thing,” I say, eying Iago and the rest of them. Nobody looks too pleased about this boat ride, but we know the stakes are too high to give up now.
When we’re in the small boat, the man pulls the engine and unties the rope holding it against the short pier. We take off, slowly moving through a body of water I’ve never seen before.
We wind through a densely populated area, filled with brush, snakes, insects, and eerie sounds. It’s daylight outside, but the mountains have encroached on that light. Towering over us, they block out the sun.
“Where the hell are we?” Jeffco whispers.
The man turns his head. “You’re in no-man’s land, son.”
The whole thing is freaking Caroline out. I can tell. I put my hand on her thigh and squeeze, trying to give her some comfort. She places her head against my shoulder, closing her eyes.
We keep moving forward, through the river.
As time passes, we finally reach land. A small cabin rests near the water. There’s nothing else around us. Not a soul in sight.
We step out onto the rocks, but the man stays in the boat.
“You coming?” I ask.
“In there,” he says.
“You kidding me?” Jeffco asks. “You’re coming in there with us.”
“This is the end of the road for me,” he says. “I’ll wait here for ya’ll. Don’t you worry.”
We begin to walk toward the cabin, but Iago whispers, “I’m fucking worrying. We don’t know who the hell is in that cabin. It could be Kaine for all we know.”
“Just get your weapons ready,” I tell them. “If it’s the Hunters inside, all we can do is shoot for our lives.”
We step onto the porch, and a man peers out the window. His face is scarred, as if a blade had cut across his flesh in multiple swipes.
A shiver runs down my spine. I’m not used to dealing with gangs like this.
Back home, things are a bit more normal. Bikers snorting speed, making deals, and getting wasted. That sort of thing.
In these parts, it seems like anything goes. They follow the rules, so they don’t get talked down to. But they’re on some sort of other path that I’m not too keen on pursuing.
The door pushes open, and we’re face to face with a group of men. The leader, the scarred face man, steps forward. “Throw your weapons onto the floor and slide them over,” he says. “Now.”
All glance at each other from side to side. I take a huge breath and grab my pistol. I place it on the ground and slide it forward. Everyone else does the same.
“Your blades too,” he says. “We’re not stupid.”
We take out our knives and slide them forward as well. “We came to ask for help,” I say.
“Come inside.” The man motions for us to follow. I turn around to see the man on the boat leaving the premises.
My heart turns to rage, but I’m unable to do anything in this situation. I feel fucking helpless. All we can do is hope for the best.
“Sit down,” the man says, glancing at the couch.
We do as we’re told.
“Good. Now get that look off your face. You’re not dead, are you?” he asks.
“No,” Iago says. “We’re not. That’s why we’re here.”
“You came for our help,” he says. “I heard all of that. Except, before this, you’ve never come to us for anything. How strange.”
“We like to keep to ourselves,” Jeffco mutters.
“What a load of fucking bullshit,” he says, grabbing my pistol from the ground.
The man takes aim at Jeffco, forcing him to flinch. He holsters the gun, smiling.
“You came because you’re selfish. It’s okay to admit it. We’re all selfish. That’s why we keep to ourselves. It’s smarter that way. People don’t get hurt,” he says. “We’ve lost one man in the past ten years. One. That’s it.”
“What happened to your face?” Jeffco asks, enraged that the man put a gun to him.
The man snorts with laughter. “Name’s Maynard. Before I was a Hell Squadron, I was on my own. I made deals here and there, but I hadn’t a clue as to what the world was really like. I stepped into a bar one night to make a deal. The guy cut my face up into little pieces,” he says. “I just remember seeing bits of my flesh falling into my drink.”
“Jesus,” Caroline whispers to herself, shielding her eyes.
“After I healed, I formed the Hell Squadron. I found the man that did this to me. Know what I did? I cut his fucking face up. I cut his body up. I cut his feet up. And I left him to rot. Turns out, he’s still alive, living with those scars,” he says. “Payback is a bitch, ain’t she?”
“We should go,” Iago says, standing up.
“Sit back down,” Maynard says. “And listen very carefully because it could be the last words you hear. We don’t get many visitors here. We don’t like to get visitors here. Who is searching for you?”
“The Hunters,” I say. “Kaine.”
“Why?”
I explain the story to them, and he sits down and thinks to himself for a second. “They broke the pact?”
“They broke the pact and a whole lot more,” I say.
“That’s the only law keeping us from falling apart,” he says. “Even I know that. What’s their angle?”
“They want to break up the four corners and send everything into disarray and chaos,” I say. “They want our money. Power. You name it. They want to own it all.”
His grin falls from his face. “That’s not going to happen,” he says. “It can’t happen.”
“I know,” I tell him. “But we need the Hell Squadron to back us up. Otherwise, we might lose this fight. They play dirty. They’ll use every trick under the sun to gun us down. But if we unite and fight together, we ca
n end this and go back to our everyday lives.”
“A war?” he asks, shaking his head.
“We don’t want a war,” Iago says. “We just want Kaine and his men gone. Think of it as another job.”
Maynard shakes his head again and groans. I tell him, “There’s a kilo of powder, with your name on it. That is, if you help us.”
“We don’t need the additional product. I’m not doing this for the money,” he says. “We’ll help you in this fight. I’ve met Kaine before. Never liked the guy. He thinks this lifestyle is something completely different.”
“You won’t regret this,” I say.
“Oh, I know I won’t. Because if I do, it’ll be your head in a box next time,” he says. “The four of you will stay here for the day. We leave at nightfall. We’ll come up with a strategy. How’s that sound?”
“Good,” Jeffco mutters. “You know, I thought you were all a bunch of hillbillies.”
I sock Jeffco in the arm, and glance at Maynard who’s begun laughing again.
“The illusion is all you need, right?” he asks.
I suppose he’s got a point.
26
Caroline
We reach the end of the river.
Out here, there’s absolutely nothing. I’m not exactly at ease, but I’m also not losing my mind either. I don’t feel like there’s the possibility of an ambush. Not out here. Not so far removed from the world.
Maynard is quiet and particularly solemn about things, but he’s willing to help. He eventually gets out a map and places his finger on the spot we’re in.
“This is us,” he says.
“We’re perfectly safeguarded by lakes and rivers,” Iago mutters to himself.
“We pick where we stay with great precision,” he says. “The most important thing in life is keeping this life. Our system is flawless.”
“I’ll say,” Iago whispers. “But where are your men?”
“My men are situated here.” He points at another point on the map. “We tend to stay apart, coming together every few days or so,” he says. “And over here, are your men.”
His Hostage: A Dark Romance Page 13
