IENDE Read online

  Victor crawled to the back of the van where he unlocked a large metal box. From it he pulled a pistol and handed it to Kyle. Kyle reluctantly grabbed the faux wood handle with his clammy hand. He squeezed it, feeling as though he’d just started the first ascent of a roller coaster. He hated roller coasters.

  “You okay?” Victor said.

  Kyle cocked the gun and nodded. Victor gave Kyle a supportive nod of common cause. Kyle realized that he was ready. His anxiety was a healthy one. But Remmie eyed the gun in his hand with a doubtful expression. He returned a look not unlike the one Victor had just given him, but she turned away, cuddling up to Bosco like a cat.

  Victor pulled two body armor vests from the box and handed them to Kyle. “One’s for Samuel.”

  Kyle handed one up to Samuel, then held the other out to Remmie.

  “Suddenly worried about my safety?” she said. “No thanks.”

  “I’m not wearing it either way.” In his mind, if he needed the vest, then things had gone bad, and he would rather Remmie possess the added safety.

  Bosco said to Remmie, “Please put it on.”

  “Why don’t you put it on!” Remmie’s reply seized everyone’s attention.

  “No.”

  “Just leave it in the goddamn van then,” Samuel said. “We need to move.”

  Kyle laid the vest on the floor, where it remained. He knew he was being stubborn as much as he was offering an olive branch to Remmie. He shoved his gun in a shoulder holster that Victor had given him.

  Remmie eyed the gun. “You know how to use that?”

  “Yeah.” Kyle looked to the forest, the ghostly outline of Rich’s corpse projected onto the darkness by his mind’s eye. He wondered if he would be killing again, or be killed. Lara Stilltrot was bullshit.

  Victor cut Remmie’s binds. He then pulled out an old-west-looking revolver and handed it to her. The look on his face was something like he was going against his better judgement. But he showed Remmie the safety and how to fire the gun.

  “The recoil’s not bad on this one,” Victor said. “Don’t give it to Bosco.”

  Bosco snickered.

  Kyle was surprised Victor had given Remmie a gun. Was that smart? Not because she couldn’t be trusted, but was she ready to handle the situation?

  “It’ll be dangerous,” Kyle said. “She should wait in the van.” He said to Bosco, “If you care—”

  “He does care!” Remmie said. “I’m as big a part of this and as capable as the rest of you.”

  “She’ll be all right,” Bosco said.

  Then Kyle wondered if Victor should just give a gun to Bosco too. If he was hostile, it would be bad either way. Besides, Kyle was sure Remmie would give Bosco the gun if he asked for it.

  Victor left Bosco’s hands bound. They exited the van.

  It was cold outside, and Kyle shivered in his T-shirt and khaki cargo pants. He was reminded of the gravel pit and the abandoned Trans Am. Where was the Trans Am now? The car was lucky enough to be spared, probably safe and cared for in Remmie’s parents’ garage.

  The air was moist and thick with the smell of pine. It was peaceful outside, only the sound of nature—crickets and a gentle breeze passing through the trees. Kyle thought of the beach, and the beauty of the Sierra Madre. He had experienced so much beauty since this all began, but he never had the opportunity to take time and enjoy it.

  But he did appreciate it, more so every day that passed. There was so much in the world that remained as yet unexperienced. Now that he was awakened to life, he wanted to live free from inhibition, self-doubt, fear. He gave Remmie a passing glance, thinking that he’d once considered that fate had brought them together, but that hope had only ended in disappointment. Don’t follow the path. Create it.

  Samuel raised a knife to Bosco. “Victor, we should unbind him. If he’s lying, we’re screwed either way. If not, I want his hands free.”

  “Okay,” Victor said.

  Samuel cut Bosco’s bindings.

  Victor pulled out his device. “Sam, Kyle. Watch this.”

  The screen displayed three red dots in the middle. Back from the cluster of reds were another red and a blue dot.

  “Those dots are us?” Kyle said.

  “Exactly,” Victor said. “And in case it wasn’t obvious, red means Malclenersy—active Dames. The blues are those with inactive Dames.”

  Remmie and Bosco looked at the screen.

  “This gives us a pretty good advantage,” Bosco said.

  “Yeah, assuming we’re all on the same team,” Victor said. “It’s time to move. The house will show up when we get in range. I loaded its geospatial coordinates.”

  Kyle watched the device as they approached the house. Its outline moved into the display. Just outside the outline was a blue dot.

  Samuel said to Bosco, “You expecting guards outside?”

  “There are only five guys in the house, including Tommy and Jack. We normally work in shifts, so there’re always two to four guys active.”

  “Nobody has to die in this.” Samuel pointed at the blue dot. “I’ll take this one down and tie him up.”

  Victor nodded, and Samuel scuttled off into the woods. Kyle watched blue dot move along the south side of the house. But in his peripheral vision he was focused on Remmie. She pressed her body against Bosco’s, her contemplative eyes scanning the forest. Kyle believed they could have been good together, but that ship had sailed.

  They huddled over Victor’s screen. A red dot—Samuel—approached the blue dot outside the house. They occupied the same space for a moment. Then the red dot began to return to them.

  Samuel emerged from the woods. “I bagged him. Let’s go in.”

  “What’d the guy look like?” Bosco said.

  “Spiky blond hair, short—”

  “That was Will. That leaves Tommy, Jack, Gabe, and Javier.”

  They inched toward the house until the entire structure had come into the display.

  Bosco pointed to the screen. “We know Sands is red and so is Eli. Anthony is blue. The southwest corner of the lower level is where Eli is. Across from that room is where Anthony is being held. The guards’ bedrooms are upstairs on the northeast quadrant of the structure—you see two blue dots in that area. And you can see there’s a red and blue dot in the open area—it’s gotta be the lower level. That’s gotta be Mr. Sands, and Tommy.” Bosco seemed to seethe as he spoke of Tommy. “The back door enters the lower level. I have keys. I was supposed to make contact with Mr. Sands when I met up with you guys. He has no idea we’re here. Let me go in the front door. I can take care of the guards upstairs.”

  “No way,” Victor said.

  “I’ll go with him,” Samuel said.

  “If this is a setup, what’ll you do?”

  “I don’t think it is. And you know I can take care of myself.”

  Victor hesitated a moment. “Okay.”

  Remmie grabbed Bosco’s arm. “No, that’s too dangerous.”

  “We all have to stick our necks out on this,” Kyle said. “We’re all committed.”

  Remmie’s eyes bulged, her mouth preparing to deliver a lashing. “You—”

  “Kyle’s right,” Victor said. “This is how it’s going down. Kyle, Remmie, you’re coming with me. We’ll go in the back door, but Remmie will hold back. We’ll handle Mr. Sands and Tommy.”

  Bosco handed Victor the key to the back door. Then Samuel and Bosco departed to the front of the house.

  Victor whispered to Kyle, “I don’t feel good about any of this. We need a backup plan.” He handed Kyle the device. “There’s a key under the driver’s side floor mat of the van. I’ll send Remmie out to you if all is okay. Or if it’s not. I’ll make sure she stays out of harm’s way. But if you don’t hear from her in ten minutes . . . you need to go. You remember how we got over the border? You can go back to Vegas, to Samuel’s place. The secret’s there, underneath the trapdoor, four feet down, okay? You connect this device to that device.
There’s an envelope with instructions . . . just remember that two and three are reversed. Don’t forget that. I built it before I knew the Dames weren’t active.”

  “What do you mean?” Kyle said, knowing full well what Victor meant. He didn’t want to be the one to flee, yet again.

  “Just do it. And it’ll be obvious how it all goes together when you see it. Go to the van.”

  Kyle looked at Remmie. “No, I’m—”

  “This is bigger than you. You’re doing it my way or nobody’s going in. Under different circumstances, I’d have Remmie in the van and you with me but”—Victor eyed Remmie—“I’ve got some trust issues.”

  Remmie fired Kyle the same look she had back at the cabin when Victor had told him to go. That’s why she had been so hostile toward him. It wasn’t just his jealousy, his behavior. There was genuine resentment in her that hadn’t existed before he’d abandoned her. And now he’d be doing it again.

  Victor said to Remmie, “C’mon.”

  Kyle looked at the screen. He could see that Samuel and Bosco had reached the front of the house, and two red dots moved away from Kyle.

  He looked up. Victor and Remmie had disappeared into the woods.

  FORTY-FOUR

  AS REMMIE AND Victor reached the back door, what remained of her resolve was carried away with the breeze. She had begun to feel sympathy for Kyle and the burden he carried. Why had she hated him so much? She knew it was because he had left her, when he’d been the only thing that made her feel safe and not alone. And Bosco? What if she was being naïve? It was possible that he was playing her. Everything would fall apart if he was, but at least she wouldn’t have to wait to find out. She tightened her grip on her gun.

  “Something doesn’t feel right about this,” Remmie said.

  “Bosco?”

  “No. It’s just all this talk about backup plans. I want to go check on things from the front door. I know the layout of the house. It’s not a big place, and I—”

  “Why the sudden change in plan?” Victor said. “Can I trust you?”

  “Yes, you can. If things go awry I can get to Kyle.” She felt her body chill, wanting to run to the woods and escape. She could tell Kyle to leave now, take them home.

  “It’s probably better this way. We’re all just doing, now. I’m sorry I got you into this. Now go.”

  Remmie dashed toward the front door. On approach she heard gunshots from inside and froze. Then her body simply continued of its own volition, leaving rational thought by the wayside.

  FORTY-FIVE

  KYLE WATCHED THE display screen on the device, surrounded by the peaceful sensations of the forest. If he survived, would he ever be able to enjoy the forest, or the ocean, without fearing for his life?

  There were gunshots from the house and he stumbled backward on weak knees. He thought of Remmie and took a step forward. But he knew he needed to do as Victor had said. Another gunshot rattled his focus. He looked at his watch—ten minutes had already passed. One of the blue dots inside the house disappeared. Then another. There were four blue dots remaining, clustered in the middle of the house with four red dots.

  But a fifth red dot was at the front of the house.

  The screen started to flicker. Then it went dead. A red LED flashed on the box. Above it was the small, hand-traced outline of a battery.

  He wondered if he should go in, but if they were captured then he’d be captured with them. He could only help them if he stayed free. As he sprinted toward the van, he felt his eyes moisten.

  He would be on his own.

  And what would he do? He wasn’t Victor. Maybe going back to help them would give him better odds of success than running. Either way he felt like an infant stuck on a median between two busy streets.

  He got in the van and started the engine, then pounded the dashboard with an open hand.

  FORTY-SIX

  VICTOR QUESTIONED HIS judgement, letting Remmie go. But his first instinct had been not to, and with his track record, he decided to go against his first instinct. Could he trust her? He didn’t trust Bosco. And he questioned whether he could trust Kyle to do as he’d asked if things went awry. He hoped Mr. Sands’ and Tommy’s positions hadn’t changed, assuming it was even them he was about to encounter. He wished he’d had time to make two of those devices, for even if he was caught, the device didn’t hold the secret, not without the component that sat hidden beneath Samuel’s trailer.

  Victor quietly unlocked the back door, pulling it open a crack. Inside was a short hallway, doors on either side. The walls were dark wood paneling, the carpet newer, off-white. He could hear Mr. Sands’ voice. And assuming Bosco had been honest, Eli was in the room to the right, and Anthony to the left. Victor pushed the door open, bracing for a creak, but the door was silent.

  Muffled gunshots echoed from upstairs. Victor sprinted down the hall and emerged in a large open space. To the right Tommy was facing the stairway, gun in hand, martini glass in the other, his focus drawn to the gunshots. Mr. Sands was to the left. Victor hesitated.

  “Tommy!” Mr. Sands said, his eyes on Victor.

  The glass fell from Tommy’s hand, shattering on the linoleum floor, and he charged toward Victor.

  Victor’s perception slowed like he was submerged in thick fluid. His finger pulled at the trigger seemingly ahead of his conscious will. Two shots pierced Tommy’s chest, and a third his cheek. Blood spewed like shrapnel. Tommy fell forward, his momentum brushing him past Victor, who careened out of the way. Tommy grabbed at Victor’s shirt, but Victor jerked away and Tommy fell facedown onto the carpet, littering it with red accents.

  Victor turned his gun on Mr. Sands, who had his hands raised to chest level, still holding a cocktail. Mr. Sands’ demeanor was calm, unfazed. That couldn’t be good. Victor fell back against the wall to have a view in all directions. A perpetual gurgle was now humming from Tommy bloodied mouth.

  “Looks like you have the upper hand now.” Mr. Sands downed the remainder of his cocktail and eyed Tommy. “I’ve tried hard to avoid violence in all of this. It’s never been necessary, but you’ve—”

  “Freedom sometimes requires the use of force.”

  Victor could feel his finger inching at the trigger, the rage that had grown in him from the beginning reaching critical mass, all projected at Mr. Sands.

  Samuel and Bosco sauntered down the stairs, guns in their hands.

  “Looks like we pulled it off,” Samuel said, looking around.

  “Where’s Remmie, Kyle?” Bosco said.

  Samuel gazed toward the back door, concerned, his gun raised. “I’m gonna grab Eli.”

  Something about Samuel and Bosco felt different. Mr. Sands looked suspiciously at Bosco. Something was wrong. Samuel emerged with Eli. Victor’s emotion quelled at the sight of his brother. A well of peaceful joy bubbled from Victor’s core.

  “It’s over, brother,” Victor said.

  “No,” Eli said, looking around, studying every angle of the room. “It’s not. Where are the others? Where’s the device that got you here?”

  Victor sheathed his gun and reached out for Eli, a desire to embrace and share the moment of triumph.

  Eli lifted his chin, his body rigid, face void of emotion. Victor’s hopeful joy burned away.

  Then Eli hurled himself into Victor.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  REMMIE’S WILL FRAGMENTED and dissolved away as she listened to Bosco and Samuel. Her ear touched the seam of the front door, catching their whispers from the other side. Her mind struggled to make sense of Samuel’s statement that Victor wouldn’t be able to handle what was about to happen, and Bosco’s response that Victor deserved it after what he had done to his family. She started to knock, but hesitated, her instinct holding her at bay.

  “We’re about to walk into uncharted territory,” Samuel said. “Stay on guard. I don’t know what Victor will do when he finds out his brother’s been playing him. And that girl’s gonna have daggers for you.”

&nb
sp; “She’ll get over it. She’s weak. A good lay was all she needed to be hooked—”

  Remmie convulsed at the sound of gunshots from inside. She could hear Samuel and Bosco scuttle down the stairs. She gagged then looked at her gun. She couldn’t manage if she broke down. She needed to get out and wondered if Kyle was still waiting.

  But she had a feeling he’d have trouble leaving. She needed to believe he hadn’t wanted to leave her at the cabin, either.

  Leaves muffled the moonlight as she stumbled over uneven ground. She ran from the house at an angle she hoped would lead back to the van. It was only a matter of time before she would be pursued. And they knew where the van was.

  But had she heard them correctly? Did any of it make sense?

  A surge of hopeful energy struck her at the sight of the idling van.

  Kyle twitched like a cardiac patient when she jumped in the passenger seat. “Remmie! We’re good? Why’d it—”

  “Drive. It was a trap.”

  “What?”

  “Go!”

  Kyle jerked the van in gear and they rattled into the woods, sideswiping a tree as Kyle attempted to retrace the path Samuel had used to get them in. Remmie locked her jaw, wondering if they’d blow a tire before they reached the highway.

  “Which way?” Kyle said.

  “North—back to the States.”

  He screeched onto the highway. “Good thing we gassed up. Guess we just have to head to the border and use . . . wait. I have an ID. A passport. But we need a plan for you.”

  “It’s okay. I have my own. That’s how I got over. I brought it when Bos . . . when I left to find you and Victor.”

  “What happened?”

  “I’m not sure, but from what I could hear . . . I don’t really want . . .”

  “Bosco?”

  “Look, Kyle. If you’re going to gloat—”

  “I’m not a dick. Okay, so I was . . . at times. I just need to know what happened. I don’t care about you and Bosco.”

  “Don’t say his name.”

  “Okay, sorry. We can refer to him as something else—”