Seventeen
I didn't realize that the spot I had chosen to hide in would have such great acoustics. I heard every disgusting thing that Manny and Dave talked about. I had to gag myself when they started talking about some girls they had taken care of for Brom, and the sick, twisted things they had done to them before dumping their bodies.
When the talk turned to the shipment, it dawned on me they were talking about the crates they had stowed away in the trailer. Dave was the brains and Manny the brawn—as cheesy as that sounded.
I was still pissed that I’d fallen asleep. Listening carefully, I knew frick and frack had left the truck, and I was alone in the trailer. Rolling out from my hiding place, I gratefully stretched out the kinks in my arms and legs. Hearing a noise at the back door, I quickly ducked, flattening my body against the wall. I heard a shriek and then voices.
Knowing they could open the door at any time, I scrambled across the floor, sliding into my spot and pulling the panel closed. The engines started up and I could feel movement as the trailer gained momentum. I was about to roll out of my spot again when I heard Dave yelling at Manny.
”You idiot, we don’t need Breech getting nosy and looking too closely at us because you were being fucking stupid and put your hands on his woman. We have to deliver these guns and get back to the farm without any problems. So keep your fucking hands to yourself, or I will shoot you myself, asshole.”
I sat frozen; the cargo they loaded were cases of guns. Once I found a safe place to hole up, I needed to tell someone that Brom was gun-running. My blood ran cold at the idea of putting more guns on the street. The reason I got dumped into the system was because my father, a decorated police officer, was gunned down during the raid of a suspected weapons dealer. My mom had died from breast cancer, leaving me with a workaholic detective father who had no idea what to do with a four-year-old girl child. He hired nannies and left me in their care until he also died, and I went into the system.
Guns scared me, and the idea of putting them in the hands of people to use against other people—especially those trying to keep the peace—made me sick. Brom was twisted enough with his depraved appetites and the cruel way he treated woman. Someone needed to stop him and if it would help in my own little way, if I could get the information into the right hands, I would.
The man named Breech—the one following us on the bike with the woman—he had been nice to me. He seemed to really be in love with the girl, and I didn’t get a bad vibe from him. Maybe if I could get him alone again, I could tell him what I knew and he could get the information to someone who had enough juice to do something with it. With that plan in place, I settled down to wait for the truck to stop again.
My pocket vibrated, telling me I had an incoming call. Switching off the mic, I answered the call. “Breech, I ran the picture you sent me through a bunch of databases but came up empty. The fact that I can’t find any information on Brom tells me the guy isn’t for real. He’s definitely not who he says he is.”
“Fuck, I knew something wasn’t right with that guy,” Breech responded.
“I’ve got some feelers out with some of my buddies, and if anything pans out I will let you know immediately. How far are you from home?” I asked.
“Maybe 5 or 6 hours of hard riding,” Breech replied.
“I’m going to send a couple prospects out to back you up,” I said. When Breech didn’t bitch, I knew he was worried. “Hang in there, man, you’re almost home.”
Chewing on all the intel, my gut was churning. Making a decision, I banged my fist on the desk and got up quickly, going in search of Dukes. Finding him in his office with the door open, I entered barely after knocking. “Dukes, I just talked to Breech, and I’m getting a fucking bad feeling. My first thought was to send out a couple prospects to back him up, but I think I’d rather take one and go myself.”
“Whoa, wait a second, back up, Sonny. What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Sorry, Dukes, I’ve been researching a couple guys Breech asked me about and not getting much intel in response to both name and facial recognition. This guy didn’t exist before a couple years ago, and his right-hand man is in the system. Breech is only a couple hours from home, but I’m not comfortable leaving him alone out there.”
“You gotta believe in your gut, Sonny! If it’s telling you to beware then do what you feel is necessary. Take Murph, get your ass out there, and guard his back. I don’t wanna hear Fighter bitching if something happens to Jiji while he’s away. Not to mention, I’ll never hear the end of it from Sandra and Lani. All those ladies have become thick as thieves.”
I smiled for the first time since getting Breech’s phone call. “I’m on it, boss!” Giving Dukes a two-finger salute, I went upstairs to pack a bag and strap up. Five minutes later, I threw my leather on, pulled the backpack over one shoulder, and jogged down the stairs and out the door of the clubhouse, calling for Murph.
“Hey, Sonny, how’s it hanging, man?” he asked.
“Murph, I want you to mount up and ride out with me. We are going to back up Breech on his way home with Jiji and some young horses for Sandra. Get what you need for a couple days and be quick, man—I wanna be out of here in ten.”
Murph dropped his teasing grin and stood up. “I’m ready to go, Sonny. I’ve got a go-bag on my bike now.”
I clapped him on the back. “Good man, Murph, let’s roll!”
The trailer had been moving for a while and I didn’t want to fall asleep again, so I thought about all the things I needed to do once I found a new place to live. Getting a job was priority number one. I would love to find a job working with animals, especially horses, but since those were few and far between it was back to slinging coffee in a diner. I could try bartending again, but even though the money was better, the clientele wasn’t. Getting groped ten times a shift just wasn’t worth the extra money.
I started to doze again when a loud bang startled me, then the trailer started thumping and whipping from side to side. I was thrown around like a rag doll, and couldn’t suppress the scream when I thought the whole rig was going to tip over. The sound of screeching metal and frightened horses filled the air. It all happened in minutes, but it felt like forever before the trailer came to an abrupt stop. I banged my head against the seatback and saw stars. Reaching up, I felt a sticky patch near my scalp and realized I was bleeding.
Before I could process the thought, I heard yelling and then three loud pops. A woman screamed; more cursing erupted, and then the sound of a motorcycle revving up and driving away. I heard the truck being unhitched from the trailer. There was the screech of metal on metal then the truck moving away, and the trailer rocked a few times before settling on the ground with a loud thump. The silence after that was eerie—and I was afraid of what was outside the trailer. But I had to find out what was going on.
I was a sitting duck if Manny or Dave decided to investigate. Crawling over to the window, I glanced outside then ducked down. Moving to the other side of the window, I repeated the motion but stopped before ducking.
Lying on the ground about three feet away was the biker who had talked to me at the farm. He wasn’t moving. Damn it; those pops I heard were gunfire. They had shot Breech.
Debating for a minute, I knew I couldn’t leave him out there if he was still alive. Flipping my hood up, taking a deep breath, and gathering my courage, I grabbed a hoof pick, curling my fingers around the wooden handle and holding the pointed end like a hammer. The horses were unsettled so I took a moment to soothe them but I needed to get out to see if Breech was still breathing.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and slipped outside in a crouch. The trailer was off the side of the road, sitting at a drunken angle. The loud bang I heard was a tire that had blown. The panel that had hidden the guns was dislodged and one case was busted open on the ground.
Avoiding the deadly looking rifles, I hurried over to the fallen man and quickly rolled him onto his back. I could see his chest rising and falling, so he was still alive and breathing. Blood dripped from his side and a wound up near his shoulder. Grabbing one of the horses’ blankets, I made a pad and pressed down on the wound. I didn’t know much about gunshots, but I did know anything that bleeds needs compression to help stop or slow it down.
I was concentrating so hard on Breech that I didn’t hear the bikes ‘til they were almost on top of us. I crouched over him, lifting the hoof pick in front of me. The bikes stopped and two men dismounted in a hurry. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I wasn’t leaving this man alone to have these thugs finish him off. It probably meant I would die too, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.