Skeeter

by KJ Dahlen

  “I can give them a chance but they will have to prove they can fit in with the rest of us. But that has to wait until we get through this mess.” Gunner shook his head. “Bring them in and we’ll hear what they got to say.”

  Beau nodded and reached for his phone.

  A short time later, several men walked in.

  Beau introduced them as they came in, “Guys, this is Hayes...” He pointed to a huge man in both stature and weight. “His little brother DJ. Then we have Runner, Stomper and Acer.”

  Skeeter and Gunner shook hands with the new men, then Skeeter turned to the one they called Hayes. “We understand you know the Juniper House in Tyler.”

  Hayes looked over at his brother DJ then back to Skeeter. “Yeah, we know the place, why?”

  “We’re looking for someone that might be there,” Skeeter explained. “Her name is Calista Jones.”

  Hayes looked over at DJ.

  DJ slowly nodded at him.

  Hayes turned his gaze back to Skeeter. “DJ knows her, so she must be there.”

  “Calista is my mom,” Zoey spoke up. “Is she all right in that place?”

  Skeeter explained, “The fake Calista has kept her mother a prisoner in that place for a very long time, damn near seventeen years and raised her daughter here...” He motioned to the teen girl. “...Zoey. All while using the money she would have gotten for raising the girl. But now Zoey’s life is in danger too, and we need to get her mom out of there before she’s killed.”

  Hayes just stared at the men without saying a word for a long time. Then he finally spoke, “Even if you get her back, she’s going to be damaged. The guards and the doctors there are sadists. They figure they can do anything they want to the people behind those fucking walls. And what they will do is just this side of the worst nightmare a person can live through. If she’s been there that long, there might be nothing left of the person she once was.”

  “No matter what—she’s still my mom.” Zoey looked up at them with tears in her eyes.

  “I know little girl,” Hayes told her. “I’m just trying to warn you. Most of those people are never the same. They took a ten year old kid and they locked him up in a room, where he couldn’t even look out the window. He kept calling out for me, he told them to call me to come and get him. To control him they kept him doped up, then when he would wake up again, they’d give him more stupid juice. After a while that didn’t work and they had to do something else. Instead of calling me in, they went and clipped his vocal cords, so he couldn’t keep asking for me. I didn’t find him for five years after that. Now it's too late to repair the damage.”

  Zoey fisted her hands and snarled, “I don’t care! Do you hear me? I don’t fucking care. She’s still my mom. I want her out of that hellhole and back with me.”

  DJ walked up to her silently. He then wrapped his arms around her and refused to let her go. He just held her.

  At his gesture, Zoey burst into tears.

  Hayes watched them, as he looked stone faced with rage. “Don’t you worry, if she’s still there, we’ll get her back.” Hayes nodded at his brother. He turned to Gunner. “But if this bitch who’s impersonating her, figures out we know where she is... we’ll have to move real fast. The threat of a second breach will not go over well there. They’ll just shoot the patients up with enough to overdose them and walk out.”

  Gunner ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed in frustration. “Do you have any idea how many people they have living there?”

  “When I got him out of there, DJ told wrote down that they had ten other people there.” Hayes nodded.

  “Then we go and get her and arrange for the Rangers to take care of the rest of them.” Gunner growled.

  “If she’s still alive at this point,” Janice pointed out. “It’s been seventeen years since she was seen last.”

  “Well, we won’t know until we find out huh?” Beau snorted. “First, we got to get inside and disarm the guards. Then we go from there.”

  “Dallas, my boss over at the Rangers said he would be there if we needed him,” Skeeter added.

  Hayes smiled with a steely glint in his eyes. “Then let's go break some heads, boys. Those bastards got it coming.” He turned to Zoey, “And don’t you worry sweetheart, if your mom is still there, we’ll find her and bring her back to you.” He looked over at Gunner. “We’ll need to borrow a truck.”

  Gunner nodded. “We got one you can use. We can also help with anything you might need for breaking in. Right now, we have men out looking for the fake Calista but she might also be at the Juniper House. We can have them meet you in Tyler to watch your backs. She has to make sure she has no loose ends. So be careful, don’t trust her for a minute. That woman is insane and she won’t hesitate to shoot you if you get in her way.”

  Hayes snorted. “She can try.”

  Rigger got up, walked over to Gunner and handed him a photo he’d found.

  Gunner studied the young woman in the photo. “Who is this?”

  “This is the real Calista Jones,” Rigger explained. “I backtracked her to the high school she attended. Then I double checked it with the county records through Social Services. This is Zoey’s real mom.”

  Gunner studied the photo then handed it off to Skeeter, who looked at it and handed it off to Hayes.

  “Find her and bring her back with you,” Gunner stated.

  Hayes stared at him for a moment then gazed down at the photo in his hands. It was a photo of a beautiful young woman. She was young in this photo but it had been taken seventeen years ago.

  DJ came over and stared at it, then he looked up at his brother and nodded slowly. Grabbing a small notebook out of his pocket, he scribbled something on one of the pages then turned the book toward Hayes.

  Hayes read the message and looked back at DJ. “Are you sure?” he asked.

  DJ nodded.

  Hayes looked up at Beau and Skeeter. “DJ says she’s still alive or at least she was four months ago when I got him out of there. The staff called her Callie and she was in room three.”

  “At least, that gives us a place to start looking,” Runner proclaimed.

  Zoey moved close and took the picture from Hayes. Staring down at it, tears rolled off her jaw. This would be the first time she saw what her mother looked like. She swiped her tears away and turned to sit down, all while holding the image of her mom. She just stared down at it while smoothing her fingers over the scanned image.

  Hayes watched her silently, as his expression grew hard. He turned to Skeeter. “Give us time to get to Tyler, then call your friends in. By the time they get there, we’ll be ready for them to take over.”

  “You sure that’s how you want to do this?” Skeeter asked.

  Hayes nodded. “Yeah.” He paused and stared at his little brother. “Let’s just say, I owe them a beat down and now, it’s finally time to collect on that.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  A few hours later, Hayes called them back to tell Skeeter they were about to go in and take the Juniper House down.

  Skeeter then called Dallas and the Rangers in.

  By the time Dallas got there, the ten patients inside the house were free and there were four guards bruised, bloodied, and tied up waiting for the Rangers to pick them up.

  Hayes and his men were a bit scuffed up but in much better shape than the guards were.

  Finally, Dallas joined Hayes and his boys to talk about what happened.

  Hayes grunted and jerked his head toward the back room. “Doc was doing rounds tonight. He might need a hospital.”

  Dallas raised an eyebrow at his statement. “How bad is he hurt?”

  Hayes shook his head, “You know it was the damndest thing, rather than face me one on one, he crushed his hand in a vice."

  standing beside Hayes, both Acer and Runner smirked.

  “He had a vice in that room?” Dallas asked incredibly.

  Hayes nodded. “Yeah, he did. He said it was for patient
care. I asked him what kind of patient care required a fucking vice and he said unruly behavior. He said some patients required a great deal of pain to snap them out of their ‘behavior upsets.’ ” Shaking his head he said, “He volunteered to show me and I think he got the vice too tight. He sure did scream a lot. But no one heard him, you see that room is sound proofed. I didn’t think it was but sure enough, you can’t hear anything outside that room.”

  “And the woman who owns the house? Was she here tonight?” Dallas asked.

  “Yup, she’s here," Runner replied. "She was afraid when we got here, so we gave her a cup of tea. The daily tea they give out around here. The tea relaxed her enough, so she fell asleep on us.” He nodded toward the kitchen area. “We laid her on the floor so she wouldn’t fall down and get hurt. As far as we know she’s still there.” He shrugged.

  Dallas just stared at the men for a moment then nodded. “Did you find Calista, the real Calista?”

  Hayes’ eyes went cold. “Yeah, we found her and we’ll be taking her with us.”

  “How bad is she?” Dallas asked him.

  “I don’t know,” Hayes admitted. “But I’m sure she’ll get to a good doctor once she’s away from here.”

  Dallas nodded. “You can bet your ass on that. Skeeter will make sure of it.”

  Hayes shrugged. “I don’t know the man yet, so I can’t say.”

  Acer spoke up now, “You might want to have a peek at the files in the office area. Those files will tell you what’s been going on here. Just make sure you don’t eat anything before you do or you will lose you lunch.”

  Dallas just stared at the three men then said, “You guys have been here before haven’t you?" He paused and raised a brow at them. "When?”

  “I got my little brother out of here four months ago,” Hayes explained. “And as soon as I find a place for him and I to call home, I’m going to find his mom and make her pay for putting him in this place,” he vowed. “She brought him here as a ten year old kid six years ago, then she walked away and never came back. That was of course after she collected my dad’s insurance money.”

  “What’s her name?” Dallas asked.

  “Penny Griffon is one of her names.” Hayes glared at him. “Why?”

  Dallas just grinned. “Just curious that’s all.”

  “Well Captain, if that’s all, we’d best be heading back,” Hayes stated, “I know a little girl who really wants to see her mama.”

  Dallas nodded. “Watch your backs going to Jasper. This isn’t over yet. We’re still hunting for Karen Hall. And if she knows this place was raided, she’ll be looking for Calista to make sure she’s dead.”

  Hayes grinned. “That’s what I brought these two along for.” He motioned to Runner and Acer. “I charge into the fight and they watch my back. Ain’t that right boys?”

  Runner nodded.

  Acer agreed, “Yup, works for us.”

  Dallas shook his head. “You got an almost three hour drive and this woman is certifiably crazy. Not only that but her plan is falling apart and she’s desperate. She’s also injured and not in her right mind, just be careful okay?”

  “Yes sir, boss.” Hayes nodded his head. “We’ll be careful.” Then he and the others walked away.

  Hayes paused to lift a woman up and carry her out of Juniper House, where she had been imprisoned for many years.

  Dallas just watched them go. Then he thought to himself at least something ended up going right in this case. They finally found the real Calista. One point for the good guys.

  When they loaded up the truck, no one saw the shadow moving behind the tree down the block. Cold vacant eyes watched as the three men got into the truck and they drove away.

  Those eyes had seen that truck before and they narrowed as she remembered where. It had been in the parking lot of the MC. She remembered the vehicle as she thought it was a fine looking truck.

  Watching it drive away, she shook her head as she glared at the driver of the truck. She hadn’t seen him before or the other two. She would remember them though. She always remembered biker men who were part of an MC.

  Stepping back into the shadows, she watched as the truck passed her.

  She had been on her way here this morning to begin taking care of all her loose ends. Calista was just the first one, Zoey and Mercy were next along with Franklin Howard. After him, the world would become hers. She could go anywhere she wanted and start all over again, just like she'd done this time.

  When she moved here she had made some mistakes but she’d always learned from her mistakes and starting over wouldn’t be so bad. Turning her gaze to the path the truck had taken she realized Calista had been her biggest mistake. She should have killed her years ago. Dead people couldn’t tell anyone her secrets.

  Slipping away, she headed back to her own vehicle. She had liked Calista back when, then she had to go have sex with Trace. He should have been hers, but Calista took him away. She used to watch them together and imagine herself being the one with Trace. When he would touch her, Karen imagined it was her skin he was touching, her lips he was kissing, and her ear he was whispering sweet nothings into.

  She watched with a smirk on her lips the day Calista told him she was carrying his child. The look of shock on his face almost made her day, but the real payoff came a few minutes later when Trace stormed away, leaving the other girl sobbing and broken.

  Karen’s heart grew ten times lighter at the rejection on her face. Then she intended to go to Trace, thinking she could finally offer herself to him now. She waited for the proper time to do it, then as she watched from a hidden spot, he was kissing yet another woman, just weeks after he broke up with Calista.

  She had stood hidden while watching him smile, laugh and hold hands with someone else. That was the day her love for him turned to hate and that hate would last through the years. She’d already made up her mind. This event started her quest of destroying the man and his memory. She would take everything he ever cared about and some of the things he left behind...she would eventually destroy the very memory of Trace Coulier.

  Now, she sat and stared off into the distance in the direction the truck had disappeared. She knew where it was headed but she needed to be really ready before she went back to the compound.

  That run in with Gunner and his Savaged Souls MC had left her banged up and sore but she had lived with worse. She'd learned as a child how to live with pain. She hitched her shoulder and felt the wound of the bullet from the shootout at the hotel.

  That wound had been nothing more than an inconvenience. She could ignore it and she knew she could as she had other things to worry about. She couldn’t leave Texas until she got everyone and everything right to start her new life, maybe she would go to California next. It would be easy for her to get lost for a while in Cali.

  She got in her car and drove over to Hubbard street. Her to go kit was there and so were some of the weapons she would need.

  When she entered the house, she stopped and looked around. She sniffed the air and looked around again. Nothing seemed out of place but she knew something was different here. Sensing someone had been inside her house, she carefully backed up and left the building. She didn’t hurry, she knew better than to run... instead she walked back to her car and got inside.

  As Karen drove away, she kept glancing in the rear view mirror. Nothing appeared behind her but the situation rattled her. She decided it might be better to just replace her to go kit and her weapons. Damn, it wouldn’t be the same but she would make due. She would have to. She realized time was the one thing she didn’t have too much of any more.

  Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel as she drove. She would have to watch her own back from now on. She couldn’t afford to get caught now.

  When the truck drove into the compound a couple of hours later, Gunner and Skeeter came out and met them when they parked.

  Hayes turned his head and smiled at Gunner then looked at Skeeter. He motioned over
his shoulder to the backseat.

  Gunner slowly turned his head and finally saw her.

  She was laying so still. Her skin looked pale and her eyes were closed.

  “Is she alive?” Skeeter asked.

  Hayes opened his door and stepped out. “Yeah man, she’s alive. Surprisingly, they didn’t hurt her too bad. The only thing we know for sure is that she was on some pretty strong shit to keep her out. We’ll have to get her medical attention and try to bring her down slowly, but we won’t know how scrambled her brain really is until she’s completely free and clear headed.” He shook his head. “Man, I just don’t know if that’s even possible after this long, but it’s not my call.”

  Skeeter opened the door and went to gather her into his arms.

  Hayes nudged him out of the way. “I got her, man.”

  Skeeter backed away and stared at Hayes.

  Gunner looked over at Runner and Acer, but they just shrugged.

  Then he and Skeeter followed them into the clubhouse.

  Inside, Zoey and Mercy were with Janice walking behind Hayes as he made his way down the hall to Patriot’s infirmary with Zoey’s mother in his arms.

  Gunner and Skeeter went over to Runner and Acer.

  “How did it go?” Skeeter stared at them.

  Runner shrugged. “It went. We got inside and cracked a few heads. That was fun.” He raised his eyes to Gunner. “Then Hayes found the doctor hiding in one of the rooms.” He nodded down the hall to where Hayes had just walked. “He dragged the doctor to his surgery and just shut the door in our faces.”

  “What happened?” Skeeter asked.

  “We never asked but knowing Hayes, that man will never practice medicine again,” Runner told them. Looking over at Skeeter he said, “Your Ranger friends showed up and they took over. They will get the patients to the proper places and the guards are already on their way to jail.”

  “Did you have any trouble with Karen?” Gunner wanted to know.

  Acer shook his head. “We didn’t even see her.”

  Gunner looked out the still open front door. He had a sinking feeling in his bones that this wasn’t over yet. Was she out there hiding in the shadows? Was she here already or still on her way? Damn, he’d been hoping she would be smart and just disappear. He shook his head. One way or another, they would have to hunt her down, maybe this way was the best way though. Her coming to them.