Chapter 12

Chase

I toss the burner phone beside me on the bed and run my hands through my hair.

I can’t get hold of James.

Why is his phone still off? Has he gone into hiding, or left the country? Or did something or someone convince him not to get in touch with me?

I shake off the thought.

James is smart. Maybe he turned off his phone because it isn’t safe. I’ll have to wait for him to call.

But what do I do in the meantime? Just sit here? And what if I never hear from James? What then? Do I stay here at the ranch forever?

As pleasant as that idea sounds, especially now that Lauren and I are lovers, it’s not possible.

If Lauren’s right, my mother is in an asylum and I have to get back to her. I have to get her out of there and set things right in the company before the damages become irreparable.

I get off the bed and head outside.

One thing I do know – if I don’t start doing my evening chores, I’ll get another visit from Isaac and maybe a lecture. As aware as I am that my life as a farmhand is only temporary, I don’t want to leave the ranch worse than I found it.

I get out of the barn, stare at the horizon which turns from turquoise to amethyst, the dying rays of the sun scattered.

Another day almost over.

I stop, spotting two broad silhouettes against the fiery landscape. Even from far away, I can tell they’re bad news.

I run back into the barn and close the door. I squeeze under the bed.

I’m not prepared to fight these fuckers on Isaac’s property. Not when it could involve the Calvers in my problems.

I press my arms to my sides, turning my head to the side as well so that I’m not staring at the dust and cobwebs above me.

The door to the barn bursts open, a pair of black, leather boots and silver Nikes appearing on the floor.

It’s the asshole who dumped me over the cliff. Fan-fucking-tastic.

“It’s empty,” one of them says, the voice familiar.

The other man grunts. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Mr. Nike steps forward, stopping by the bed.

“This place is shit. The horses have it better. Do you really think that kid we tried to kill could live here?”

“Who knows? If he’s desperate, he’ll settle for anything, though I still can’t believe he survived. We should have split his skull on a boulder.”

Mr. Nike approaches the bed and I hold my breath, don’t move a muscle.

“Hey. Look at this,” he says. “A burner phone. Didn’t James say he gave Chester a phone?”

James? They spoke to James?

He presses a button on the phone and the message echoes in the room.

“The number you have dialed is unavailable. Please try again later.”

He laughs. “Seems like Chester’s out of options and friends.”

My jaw clenches. My hands roll into fists at my sides.

Bastards.

Footsteps pad across the dirt and grass outside.

More men?

“Chase?” Lauren calls out, and I grow deathly still.

Why did she have to drop by now?

Her brown flat shoes pad into view, and I curse silently, fear churning in my gut.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” one of the men asks.

“Who are you?” There’s fear in Lauren’s voice, and it makes me wanna rip these fucking walls down, tear shit up. “What are you doing here?”

Mr. Nike walks up to her. “What did you say your name was again? Lauren?”

She doesn’t answer.

“Didn’t you say the name of your farmhand was Jake?”

“I said I don’t remember,” she answers, voice trembling.

“You know it’s a crime to lie to a federal employee,” Mr. Nike says. “But I’ll forgive you if you tell me everything you know right now.”

All is silent, and finally, Lauren’s feet scurry off.

The men chase after her, and I roll out from under the bed, hop to my feet in one swift move and dart after them.

“Let me go!” Lauren shouts, a few feet from the barn. She wrenches her arm free from the grip of a weasel-lookin’ son of a bitch with brown hair.

I grab the hoe resting on the side of the barn and swing it.

Crack.

It hits the back of the man’s head. He falls sideways.

The other dude, the one with the Nike shoes, reaches for his gun but I whack his arm. The weapon cartwheels through the air.

I bury the end of the hoe’s handle in his chest. He falls to his knees and I swing the hoe again, connect it with the back of his head. He falls face down not far from where his comrade has dropped. They’re both unconscious.

I drop the hoe, adrenaline still pounding through me.

Lauren drops to her knees in the dirt, her pleated blue skirt billowing outward. She has one hand clasped over her mouth and I can’t tell if she’s gasping or she’s about to throw up. Her shoulders tremble.

I wish she hadn’t seen this, but I can’t regret doing it.

Even though those men are already on the ground, unmoving, my blood still boils. They took everything away from me. They almost took Lauren.

“Who are they?” Lauren asks, her teeth chattering slightly. “Are they the ones who tried to kill you?”

“Two of them,” I answer.

She turns her head, pale as a white lily, just as precious. “There are more? There are more of these… monsters?”

Instead of answering her, I kneel beside her and draw her into my arms. Her body quakes against me, vibrating on repeat. Christ, I didn’t mean for this to happen.

How the fuck did they find me here?

“Shh.” I stroke her hair. “It’s all right, Lauren. It’s going to be all right.”

“One of those men…” She gulps a deep breath. “…was here earlier. He said he was from the Census Bureau. I told him we had a new farmhand living in an old barn. I shouldn’t have told him. He could have killed you.”

I pause. It was her they were trying to hold captive, yet it’s me she’s afraid for?

I kiss the top of her head and continue stroking her hair. “It’s all right.”

I hold her as she trembles in my arms, the sky turning purple and then inky above us. A light bulb flickers to life a few feet away, one of several that Isaac lights before six in the evening. It chokes like a child with stage fright and then finally glows steadily. A moth comes close, hovers over it along with smaller insects I can’t identify, casting their shadows on the bulb.

Finally, Lauren stops trembling.

I let her go and get on my feet.

“Go to the barn and wait for me there. I’ll take care of this mess before your father sees it.”

I fetch the wagon where I left it somewhere near the storage barn, pulling it. When I reach the bodies, Lauren is still there, standing over them. I go to the body of the long-haired man first, lifting him by the shoulders. Lauren appears across from me and grabs the man’s feet.

She looks calm, determined.

I nod and she lifts the man’s feet. Together, we carry him and toss him into the wagon. We do the same the other, and I take off the shoes – I’ll burn these precious kicks later on, for the hell of it.

Lauren and I push the wagon, neither of us speaking. The crush of wagon wheels on the soil and the chirping of insects pierce the silence.

Finally, we reach the ditch outside the ranch. I lift the wagon and dump the men there.

It’s only fitting. They dumped me off a cliff and I’m dumping them in a ditch.

“Are they dead?” Lauren asks, breaking the silence.

I turn my head to look at her. Her hair is even more chaotic now than before, ebony strands sent in various directions by the breeze. Her white blouse is dirty now, a dark brown stain on the Peter Pan collar.

I’m not much better, a large wet stain on the front of my shirt where the sweat has gathered.

The men I’ve knocked out lie face down in the ditch.

“They’re unconscious,” I say. “I applied the right amount of force to give them concussions. That way, when they wake up, their minds will be muddled and they’ll have a hard time remembering what happened. Hopefully, they won’t remember me.”

She wraps her arms around herself.

“Let’s go back. It’s late. Your dad must be looking for you.”

I start pushing the wagon back toward the ranch. Lauren walks beside me. We remain silent.

With the wagon empty, the trip back is faster. Still, the moon is already high above the clouds. I park the wagon under a tree then stand by Lauren.

“I’ll walk you back to the house.”

“Okay.”

I follow her back to the house, keep an eye out for pursuit.

There’s no one. There’s only the moon in the sky and grass below.

I told Lauren I didn’t kill those men but the truth is I’m not sure. Who knows? Maybe I did.

Maybe I’ve become a murderer like them.