Page 18

Vishon had been right. The still, bar, and track were almost within sight of their property line. Had it not been for all the trees, you would have easily seen it from the small community they’d built a few years back.

“I’m surprised comms didn’t see the smoke coming from back here,” said Ian.

“Wind is blowing out to the Gulf, so they wouldn’t have caught sight of it,” said Gaspar. “They damn sure have a death wish pushing it so close to our property.”

Docking the boat at the community docks, they stepped off, waving at a few folks they knew all too well. When they began traipsing through the brush, the dogs became eerily quiet, sniffing the air, then the ground. Trak patted their heads, whispering something in Navajo to them.

“Do the dogs speak Navajo?” asked Ghost. Trak stared at him as if he’d gone mad.

“Dogs don’t speak anything,” he frowned. “They understand everything.”

“Right,” nodded Ghost, staring at the others. There were some days they were terribly concerned with Trak’s mental health. Other days, he was the most sane of them all.

“Shit,” whispered Nine. “There must be fifty people in that bar.”

“Which is why you assholes should have waited,” said Miller. Nine looked around, seeing the familiar faces on the other side of the clearing. “We figured you could use some help.”

Sure enough, Miller, Antoine, Jean, Angel, Rory, Tailor, Alec, Max, Gabe, and Piper were hidden in the trees.

“They brought Piper,” frowned Ian. “Why?”

“ Because there are women in that group. Again, if you’d waited, comms would have told you that they deployed a drone, and we saw all of this. Besides, she’s a fucking badass and wanted to come out.”

“Fine. We’ll just – wait, what the fuck is Trak doing?”

Trak was walking casually into the clearing, the two dogs at his side. Men and women turned, staring at him and then down at the behemoths covered in fur.

“You’re abusing the dogs,” he said calmly.

At first, no one said anything, then the group began to laugh. Trak scanned the crowd, his eyes catching with a few locals who knew all too well who he was and who those damn dogs belonged to. They left so fast no one even noticed.

“Friend, you’re in the wrong place. This is invitation-only. Unless. Unless you want to race your dogs against mine.”

Trak smirked at the man, calmly unleashing the two dogs. He gave two clicks of his tongue, and the dogs stormed forward, ramming into the man and pinning him to the ground. Goliath had his teeth wrapped around his throat. Beast was a little further south. As men drew their weapons, Trak released two knives at the bodyguards, killing them instantly.

That’s when the team slowly appeared, their weapons drawn.

“You are so fucking impatient,” growled Nine. Trak shrugged, calling back the dogs for a minute.

“You’re dead!” yelled the man as he got off the ground, gripping his saliva-covered throat. “You have no idea who you’ve fucked with!”

“Cassius Hugo. Blah, blah, blah,” said Ghost. Everyone stared at them, then looked back at the one bodyguard left alive.

“I-I don’t know who they are,” he muttered.

“I’m your neighbor,” said Jean. “All the property that way, and that way, oh, and that way, is mine. Well, mine and my parents and siblings. And friends. It’s ours. Don’t worry about the semantics.”

“This isn’t your property!” yelled the man.

“But it’s within the zone of protection,” said Gaspar.

He watched as Trak walked to the dog kennels, letting each one out and guiding them to the boat. When they were seated with water and food, he commanded Beast and Goliath to watch over them, then returned to the group.

“What the hell is he?” asked a woman.

“I am a man. A man who values animal life more than human life. Unless it’s my family. You are not my family.”

“Nine,” whispered Angel, walking toward them. “You may want to see what they have in that shed.”

“Do I want to see it?” he frowned.

“Nope. But you’ll need to.” Nine began walking toward the shed with Ghost. When two men stepped forward to stop them, Tailor and Alec brought them down so quickly their bones echoed in the quiet of the swamp.

The door to the shed was open, allowing fresh air inside. But when he shone the flashlight, Nine and Ghost both felt their blood boil. Three young girls, barely sixteen or seventeen, stared back at them. They were wearing short denim shorts, tank tops with no undergarments and were dirty and sweaty.

“Are you alright?” asked Ghost, kneeling at the entrance. The girls shook their heads. “Are you hurt?”

“We-we’re hungry,” said one of the girls. “That man said we owed him money, but we didn’t owe him anything. He said our parents bet on the dogs and lost, and we were payment. My mama wouldn’t do that!”

“I know, honey,” said Ghost. “We’re going to get you out of here. You see that pretty lady over there?”

“The tall one with the gun?” asked the girl. Ghost smirked.

“Yeah, that’s her. She’s tough, but she’s really nice. You’re going to go with her, and we’re going to get you cleaned up, some fresh clothes and find your parents.” Ghost stood, holding out a hand, and the first girl stood, taking it. She could barely walk she was so weak, so Antoine and Angel stepped forward, helping the girls to the boat.

“You’re going to be okay now,” said Piper. “Let me get you to safety.”

Ghost turned as soon as the girls were out of sight, marching toward the remaining bodyguard. He slammed his fist into the man’s face, his heavy silver rings causing blood to spurt everywhere.

“Where is fucking Hugo?” he growled.

“I-I don’t know! We don’t ever get to see him at his office. We have to see him out here,” he said. Ghost turned to Tailor.

“Kill him.”

“No! Wait! Please, I’ll tell you what I know, but I don’t know a lot. He keeps us in the dark and doesn’t tell us anything.”

While the others were being cuffed around trees, Ghost, Gaspar, Ian, and Nine stood over the bodyguard.

“Why is he doing this? He’s not making a killing out here on four dogs on a track or on moonshine. Why?”

“He’s fucking crazy. That’s why!”

“That’s not good enough,” said Ghost, cracking his knuckles. The man shook his head, holding up both hands in defense.

“It’s some sort of vendetta. I don’t know anything about it other than he’s trying to get two men to come after him.”

“Why?” asked Nine.

“Look, I heard him muttering to himself once. He does that a lot. He talks to himself like a lunatic. He said he’d show them he was good enough. Smart enough. He said no one would ever say he wasn’t good enough again.”

“Good enough for what?”

“Some fucking security job that he didn’t get here.” Nine and Gaspar looked at one another then at Ian and Ghost.

“A security job. Why here?”

“All I know is he said that they’re based somewhere around here, but he didn’t know where. He was literally standing over these huge maps spread out on the hood of a car and saying, ‘They’re here. I know they’re here, and I’ll find them.’ He was planning to let some guys in the Middle East know when and where he found them.”

The echo in the trees said it all.

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

“Shit.”