Chapter Ten
Moments later, Stone stood beside the monitors hoping to catch a sign of Hades. He’d left the warehouse thirty minutes before and somehow bypassed the street cameras about three blocks away from where he was staying.
He glanced over at Frankie. “Do your men still have eyes on him?”
Frankie shook his head. “They lost his location fifteen minutes ago. Dagger followed him almost all the way to the outskirts of town. He thinks he’s headed here.”
“Any word on the woman he beat the hell out of?”
Frankie nodded. “Amos got to her quickly. She’s in the ER. Amos said he hurt her badly.”
“What do the doctors say?”
Frankie shrugged. “They don’t know yet. They had to take her to surgery.” He paused then asked, “Why did he have to hurt her at all? She didn’t know anything. Most likely, she didn’t even know he was there. She was probably just getting in out of the cold.”
Stone and Reaper both look disgusted.
“The man is a fuckin menace. I guess his mama never taught him you don’t hit women.” Stone growled.
“Boss,” Recon called his over to the monitors for the outside cameras. “I think he’s here.”
Stone went over to the monitors on the bar. These monitors were set up for the infrared cameras they had placed all around the woods. He saw several stationary red dots. Those were his men. Then he saw a moving dot. He knew that one was Hades. Stone reached for the headset on the bar. Tapping the signal button he whispered, “Heads up team one, our quarry is in the vicinity. Take him down but don’t kill him if you don’t have to. I have some questions for him.”
He ripped off the headset and threw it down on the bar. His eyes were focused on the moving red dot on the screen. He was concentrating so hard on the screen he missed McKenna coming up behind him. When her arms wrapped around his waist he jumped and turned sharply. He caught sight of her frightened eyes and calmed down immediately. Wrapping his own arms around hers, he hauled her close. “God woman, you scared ten years off my life and I can’t afford that.”
“I’m sorry. I got scared in there alone. I needed you.”
Stone could fell her trembling in his hold. He rubbed her back and tried to calm her down but it didn’t seem to be working.
“Where is he? Is he close?” she asked.
Stone pursed his lips, unsure of what to tell her. Finally, he said, “He’s in the woods east of here.”
“But he’s close isn’t he?”
Stone could hear the fear in her voice and held her tighter. “My men are on it. He won’t get inside the fence.”
Tension in the room mounted as they all watched the moving red dot zigzag through the woods, getting ever closer to the stationary red dots. At one point, Hades passed one of the stationary red dots. Stone and Reaper held their breaths as he continued to move deeper toward the next red dot.
When he was far enough away from the first red dot, that dot began to move, following Hades path. One by one, the red dots began to circle the dot they knew was Hades. Then they saw all the other red dots swarm the dot in the middle.
Moments later, the headset began to squeak. Stone picked it up and brought it to his ear. Listening to the voice on the other end, he threw the headset back down on the bar. He looked up at McKenna then over at the rest of his men. “They got him.”
“Is he dead?” McKenna whispered.
“No.” Stone shook his head. “They took him alive.”
“It might be a trap Pappy, you realize that,” Recon suggested.
“Yeah, I realize that.” Stone assured him. “They’ve bound him.”
Reaper scoffed. “Mere ropes won’t hold him long.”
Stone nodded. “Dewey said he surrendered without a mishap.”
“That doesn’t sound good Pappy.” Reaper growled. “That’s not Hades at all.”
“I know,” Stone agreed. He turned to look at McKenna, “Maybe you sound wait in the bedroom. If he’s up to something, I don’t want him to know you’re here.”
McKenna shook her head. “No, I am tired of being afraid. This fuckin creep has run me out of town for the last time. I’ve been running for four years. It’s time to stop running and face my destiny. I don’t want to die tonight but I’m not running anymore.”
“McKenna please,” Stone urged “We don’t know what kind of mood Hades is in. It could be dangerous for you to be here when the men bring him in.”
“I don’t care.” She shook her head. “This needs to end. If he kills me, you make sure he dies. He’s a parasite feeding on the fears and blood of the women he’s murdered. Some of them were my friends. Someone has to stop him. Let it be here and now. Here and now with you and your men standing in judgement. You better than anyone else can judge him and carry out his sentence of death.”
“Yeah, I’ll judge the bastard,” Stone muttered under his breath. “And I’ll be the one who carries out his execution.”
They all heard footsteps coming toward the backdoor. When the door opened, they saw Hades stumbling inside. Ropes bound his hands behind his back. Someone pushed him and he fell to the floor. He turned and glared at the men who followed him inside. Then he took the time to search the room.
Stone watched his eyes. He noted the predatory edge he saw. Hades was anything but predictable. Stone knew this was a trap and the look in the other man’s eyes just confirmed it. “Tie him to a chair and make sure the ropes are tight,” he ordered.
Hades glared at him then snarled at the men as they grabbed his shoulders and slammed him down into a chair. When someone brought a rope over to wrap it around his shoulders, Hades exploded. He’d worked the ropes around his wrists loose and he wasn’t going to be bound again. Suddenly, he had a knife in his hands and he held off everyone as he slashed a wide circle. “You bastards, you aren’t going to take me alive.” He snarled as his eyes searched the room looking for a way out. Then he spotted McKenna. Hades smiled with no mirth in his eyes. “Well, well, well, this is most fortunate. Before I leave here, I will kill you bitch.”
Stone stepped forward and in front of her. “No you won’t. We outnumber you twenty to one. We’ll kill you before you can get close to her.”
“Oh Pappy,” Hades laughed out loud. “I’ve learned a few things since I left you in the desert. One man or twenty, you all can’t stop me.”
McKenna stepped out from behind Stone. She was shaking but as she stepped forward, she held a gun in her hand. Pointing it right at Hades.
He had to laugh. “You gonna shoot me now, bitch? I bet you can’t hit the side of a barn.” He opened his arms. “Take careful aim baby. Make it a good shot.” He paused then asked, “Did you take the safety off?”
McKenna felt a rage flow through her. He was mocking her, telling her she wouldn’t be able to kill him. Well he would be wrong and she was going to show him just how wrong he was. She carefully slid the top of the gun back and heard a bullet enter the chamber. Maybe she couldn’t kill him but she could wound him. Giving it a minute, she aimed the gun and fired.
Hades halted as the bullet slammed into his body. It ripped through him leaving behind a path of fire. He looked down at his chest and saw his blood seeping through his shirt. He didn’t look as if he felt the pain yet. He raised his eyes to stare at McKenna just as a second and a third bullet ripped through him. Finally, he seemed to feel the pain and he fell to his knees and screamed.
Stone grabbed the gun from her hand. He’d been surprised by her actions. Looking around he found he wasn’t the only one.
Dewey pick Hades up and flopped him back in the chair. He swiftly tied Hades’ hands behind his back.
Raine stepped closer to check out how badly Hades was hurt. He saw the three bullet holes in the other man’s belly.
Hades was shaking now, his skin looked pale, and his eyes were wild.
Raine pressed a towel into his belly to try and stop the bleeding but soon the towel was soaked. He threw the bloody one down on the floor and grabbed another one. Hades slumped in the chair and Raine knew he was going into shock. “I need him on his back,” he called out. Two men grabbed his shoulders and laid him on the floor. With his hands bound behind him Hades groaned as Raine pressed down on his wounds.
Stone watched the efforts Raine was performing to save a life. McKenna turned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Stone turned from Hades to pull her closer. He ran his hands up and down her back and felt her trembling. “Are you okay?” he asked.
McKenna shrugged. “Did I kill him?”
“He’s still alive for the moment.”
McKenna raised her head and stared at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill him. I was just so scared and after this long, I didn’t want to be scared anymore.”
“I know baby, I know.” Stone rubbed her back. “Hades isn’t a good man and he hasn’t been for some time. This was going to happen anyway. It just happened before we got our answers.”
McKenna groaned and planted her face deep in Stone’s chest. Her tears soaked his shirt. Sam approached and nodded at Hades. “You might want to get whatever answer you need quick there, Pappy.”
Stone nodded and Sam reached for McKenna. Stone loosened his grip. He hated to pass her off to anyone but he knew Hades wouldn’t live long.
Sam wrapped his arms around her and held her. She cried out and reached for Stone but he took a step away from her reach.
He needed to steel his heart as he walked toward Hades. Kneeling down beside the fallen man, he noted his pallor and the shaking. “Hades,” he called out. “Look at me Hades.”
Hades slowly turned his head. “What the fuck do you want?” he began coughing. When blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth Stone knew he wouldn’t last long. “You let the bitch shoot me Pappy. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. You let her kill me, you bastard.”
Stone scoffed at this. “And just how did you see this happening?”
“I was gonna get you, then kill her and after that I was going to disappear. Stay low for a few months and then I was going to start hunting again. That’s how it should have happened.” He grimaced as a wave of pain washed over him. “You let a bitch kill me,” he murmured.
“Hades how did you become this monster?” Stone asked as he shook his head. “When did you lose your humanity?”
Hades sneered. “I had it beaten out of me before I was ten. My old man liked to drink then beat the hell out of my mother and me. He finally beat my mother to death when I was nine. I took it for another year before I got a set of balls and stopped him. He got drunk one night and started in but I was ready for him. I grabbed my baseball bat and let him have it. I hit him seven times and almost broke his leg that day but he never hit me again.”
“Do you have any idea how many women you’ve killed over the years?” Stone asked.
Hades eyes began to glaze. Death was close and calling his name. He knew it and Stone knew it. “All I was looking for was someone who could love me. Someone who would look at me a certain way, someone who wouldn’t cringe when I touched her. When I couldn’t find that special someone the women I met, betrayed me. They were whores all of them.” He nodded. “I killed seventeen people over the years. I don’t regret a single one of my kills. Those women didn’t deserve to live. Now I’m going to die at the hands of the one woman who might have given me a chance.” He glared at Stone. “But she betrayed me with you Pappy. You took her away from me. I should kill you for that.”
Stone shook his head. “You never had a chance with her. She kept running away from you.”
Hades grinned and his teeth were stained with blood. “Yeah, but I kept finding her didn’t I? I found her four times. Do you remember that dream I shared with you? I told you if I found a worthy woman, I would be able to find her three times and when I found her the last time she would be mine or I would kill her. I hadn’t met McKenna yet, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted. She was McKenna.” Hades gasped and closed his eyes against the pain. “When I found her in Boston, I almost stopped what I was doing. When her eyes met mine, I knew she was the one. I saw something in her eyes that night that gave me hope.”
“What you saw in her eyes was horror and revolution. She was never going to be with you,” Stone told him.
Hades opened his eyes slowly. Death was closing in. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, but a man can hope. She gave me hope until the last few days. When that hope died, I knew she was just like all the rest. I knew then I would kill her.” He let out a weak snicker. “Instead, she killed me.” Hades’ eyes opened wide for a moment. “I didn’t think she would do it. I didn’t think she would actually shoot me. Damn Pappy. She was the one I was looking for all along. She gave me something no one else did.” Hades eyes closed slowly. His lungs rattled as he took his last breath.
When he stopped breathing, the silence in the room was almost overbearing.
Stone got to his feet and went to McKenna. He pulled her out of Sam’s embrace and held her close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and wept. Stone swept her up in his arms and walked down the hall to their bedroom.
When he closed the door shutting out the rest of the world he carried her over to the bed. Carefully laying her down, he crawled in beside her. Wrapping his big arms around her, he held her tight and let her cry. After a while, he noticed the crying had stopped. When he looked down at her face, he noted she was sleeping. Tears were drying on her face and he brushed the wetness away with his thumbs. He leaned over and touched his lips to her forehead. He laid back down and closed his eyes. His heart felt heavy. Not so much at the death of Hades but at the fact that she’d pulled the trigger setting in motion his demise.
Hours later, the sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon when a gentle knock came on the door. Stone’s eyes opened and he snapped his head around to stare at the door. When the knock came again, he gently moved McKenna away from him. He went to the door and opened it. Reaper stood there. When the man motioned for him to come to the other room. Stone nodded. He opened the door and followed him.
When he got to the main room, he saw the reason why he’d been summoned. Detectives Matthias Jones and Jonah Trent were waiting for him. Stone headed to the bar in front of the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee. Taking a sip of the hot brew, he went over to stand beside Reaper. “What can I do for you Detectives?”
Matthias glared at him. “Your men won’t tell us what you guys found out about the man you call Hades. They told us if we wanted to know, we should ask you.”
“Is that right?” Stone looked around at his men.
“So what happened?” Matthias asked. “Did he come here last night?”
“He did,” Stone admitted and sipped his coffee.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Matthias growled.
“I shot him,” McKenna said in the silence that followed Matthias’s question. “I killed him.”
Matthias snapped his head around to stare at her in shock. Whatever he’d been expecting hadn’t been that.
Stone almost choked on his coffee. He turned and saw her standing there.
Her hair mussed from sleep and her eyes haunted but she raised her chin and stared at the Boston detectives like she was waiting execution.
He put his cup down on the table and marched over to where she stood. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he turned to face Matthias and Jonah with her.
“Is this true?” Matthias asked. “Your man Hades is dead and she killed him?”
“He wasn’t our man Hades.” Reaper retorted. “He hasn’t been Hades for the last ten years.” He looked over at McKenna and smiled. “And yes, she shot him and he died. She put an end to four years of terror in self-defense.”
Matthias glanced all around the room. Each and every man standing there gave him a look as if they dared him to question the self-defense notion. Finally, he nodded. “What happened to his body?”
“We buried it,” Sam told him. “The man stunk to high heaven and we didn’t want to stink up the place. He hadn’t bathed in weeks.”
Jonah snorted. “Yeah, I’ll bet he did stink.”
McKenna groaned and opened her mouth to say something when Stone tightened his hold on her. “Shhh…” he whispered. “Let it go.” He gazed back over at the detectives. “He was staying in an abandoned warehouse on Front Street. Frankie or Amos can show you where. There might be something there that you need to close this case. Something that you could offer his victims’ families for closure.”
Matthias studied McKenna for a moment but when she didn’t say anything else, he nodded slowly. “I would appreciate that greatly. Serial killers like him always keep something he takes from his victims as a souvenir. I’m sure the families would appreciate getting closure. If we don’t find anything else, we can give them what your man Calico found. At least we can assure them the threat is gone forever.”
Frankie stepped forward and offered, “I can show you where he was staying. I’m glad this is over. He hurt a good friend of mine and Amos’s last night. I want to stop over at the hospital and see how she’s doing anyway.”
Stone nodded and watched as Matthias, Jonah and Frankie left the clubhouse. Then he walked McKenna over to the table and sat her down. He moved over to the kitchen and grabbed her a cup of coffee.
When he came back, she took the coffee with a grateful smile.
Deke and Sam joined them, then Dewey and Reaper joined them.
“Are you okay this morning?” Dewey asked looking at McKenna.
She took a sip of coffee and nodded. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay with shooting and killing a man but if anyone needed killing it was him.”
Stone glanced over at Sam and Deke. “What did you do with his body?”
Deke smiled slightly. “We put him where no one will ever find him.”
“And where would that be?” Stone asked.
“We feed him to the pigs.” Sam grinned. “Those sows will eat anything and everything they’re offered.” He reached inside his pocket and brought out a small item. It was his dog tags from ten years ago. “He had these around his neck. I didn’t figure you’d want them lost forever.”
Stone reached over and picked up the tiny pieces of metal. Holding it up to the light he noted Hades name as well as his blood type and his religious status. Once these tiny pieces of metal might have meant something to Hades. “He disgraced these in so many ways. These were meant to be something the men that wore them could be proud of. Instead, he made a mockery of everything we hold dear.” Stone’s hands closed around the dog tags. “I’ll take care of these when I get home.”
“Pappy, were you serious the other day when you said something about setting up a network?” Sam asked.
“Yes, I was.”
“I was talking to Amos while all this was going on and the more we talked the more ideas we came up with. If you’ve got time, I’d be happy to tell you about them.”
Stone looked around the room and saw the expressions on all their faces. “I’m listening.”
“Well, Amos and his boys can spread the word all the way across the nation if they need to. As much as the Washington elite deny it, there are thousands of vets out there in trouble. Some of them are like Amos and the boys at Redemption House and may not have two dimes to rub together but like Cassie said the other day, they would be proud to help.”
Sam chuckled and hung his head for a moment. Looking up at Stone, he grinned. “These men are anything but useless. Like everyone else, they just need a reason to get up in the morning. This would give them a reason.”
“How far would this spread by word alone?” Stone asked.
“They say they can get the word out all across the nation. Kind of an underground movement,” Sam informed him.
“Do you believe that?”
Sam and Deke grinned. “Oh yeah, when those boys say something, they mean it. They have a system set up between here and Albany that if something bad happens in Albany, Amos knows about it before the police do. If anyone can do this, they can. I think you should give them a chance.”
Stone glanced over at Dewey and at his nod, he agreed. “Okay, before we go home, I’ll talk to Amos and his men. But I also wanted to check out Redemption House. We help abused women and kids back home and I’ve heard nothing but good stories about this place.”
“Redemption House is Cassie’s dream,” Deke explained. “She’s very proud of what she does there and she’ll be happy to tell you whatever you need to know.”
“When you guys are ready to go home I can give my friend a call and he’ll fly you back,” Mountain suggested. “I know you guys like to ride but damn, that is a long trip back.”
“Yeah it is,” Stone agreed. “I have a collection to get back to Texas somehow, so a ride would be great. Thanks.”
“What did you get now?” Dewey groaned.
“The sweetest collection of guns you ever saw,” Stone told him excitedly.
“When you get back, there’s someone in Sabine Pass you need to talk to,” Mountain stated. “My old VP Hawk would be more than happy to have a parley.”
“You’re old VP?” Stone repeated.
Mountain nodded and stared at the other man for a moment. “I led the Sons of Satan MC for a number of years.”
Stone stared at him for a moment then glanced over at Dewey. When his eyes came back to Mountain he had to ask, “You used to lead them?”
Mountain nodded again. “I left Texas to look for my daughter. A daughter I didn’t know I had until five years ago. I had no idea where she was. I found her here and in trouble.” Mountain motioned at the other men sitting around the table. “We settled the trouble and she decided to stay.” He chuckled and added, “I came back here to be with her. We both found something here that settled us down.”
Stone took in what the other man said. “I’ll give him a call when I get back.”
“Can I go home with you?” McKenna asked.
She felt every eye turn toward her but she didn’t care. Her eyes were trained on Stone. “We don’t have to be together anymore if you don’t want me, but I’d like to help with your network setup.”
“What about your family?” Stone asked softly.
McKenna hung her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks and for a moment, she didn’t say anything. “Hades took the only family I had left away from me.”
“What do you mean?” Dewey asked.
McKenna glanced over at him then stared at the tiger on the wall and began to tell her story. As if white tiger gave her the strength to tell them what happened five years ago. “When I fled from Boston I went home. I lost my Mom three years before that to cancer, so it was just my Dad and I. We lived in Providence, Rhode Island. Hades somehow found out where I lived and one day, he came to see my dad. He wanted to find me and he didn’t care one whit about doing what he had to, to get the information he needed.” She paused for a moment to relive what happened in her own mind.
“What happened?” Stone asked and he leaned forward and took her hand. He could tell from her expression it was bad but he had to know.
“He showed up in the middle of the night. When my dad woke me up, he told me to hide until he came back for me. He made me swear to stay hidden and not come out no matter what I heard. He made me give him my oath, I wouldn’t come out.” Fresh tears made their way down her cheeks. After another moment she continued, “Hades tied him to a chair and started asking him questions. My dad told him over and over he didn’t know where I was. He told him I was an adult and I hadn’t been in contact with him lately. But Hades just kept asking. Every time he had to ask, he hurt my dad. When simply beating my dad didn’t work, he changed his tactics…Her voice faded away as she cried.
In the room, all remained still and silent, all of them knowing what she would say next.
“He told my dad about the torture he used on the badasses’ in the desert. How he would strip their skin off one strip at a time. Then all I could hear was my dad’s screams as Hades showed him exactly how he did it.” McKenna’s eyes were haunted as she finished her story. She looked over at Stone. “My dad never gave me up though. Hades put him through hell but he never gave me over to that bastard. When Hades realized he wouldn’t, he packed up his shit and left. He told my dad he would find me one day and when he did, he would enjoy hurting me. Then he just left the house. My dad was still tied to the chair. Hades had left him there to bleed to death.”
“Where were you while all this was going on?” Stone asked as his thumbs rubbed across the backs of her hands.
“We lived in an old farmhouse just outside of Providence. At one point, it belonged to a prominent family in the city. They were part of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. The farmhouse had several passages inside the walls they used to hide the runaway slaves. My dad put me inside the walls and locked the door behind me. He told me not to make a sound or we would both die that day. I had to watch and listen to everything Hades did to my father. Then when Hades left him there to die, I still didn’t go to him. I was too afraid to leave the place I was hiding. It took me three hours to get out of the passage and get to my father. When I did he was almost dead from blood loss. He used his last breath to tell me to run. He told me to change my name and appearance and to be tougher than I ever had to be before. To fight this madman all the way. That I had to find a way to be smarter than him. He said I could beat him but I had to be strong. He said he would always be with me but he had to be with my mother again.” McKenna closed her eyes.
The silence in the room was only broken by her sniffles.
“After my father died in my arms I got mad. Mad at Hades, mad at the whole world. The hate I felt in my heart gave me the strength to leave that place. I wanted to protect my father, so when I left, I set fire to the house. I didn’t want anyone else to know what Hades had put him through. No one else needed to see that. They didn’t need to see what I’d seen. I knew the police would bury his body next to my mother and that he’d given me the greatest thing a father could ever give his child—his life to protect mine. I wasn’t going to waste that.”
“Where did you go from there?” Sam asked.
“I went to Baltimore. I was there for a little over a year before he found me. From there, I went to Trenton. I was there for a year and a half before he found me. Then I went to Pittsburg. He found me there too. Then I came to Troy. I’ve been here for about six months. I never knew how he found me time after time.’
“That was something Hades could do. He was our point man but he was also smart at tracking his prey,” Reaper told the group.
“Did you ever go back to Providence?” Stone asked.
McKenna shook her head. “I told my father goodbye before I burned the house down around him. Told him I loved him too. Hades tortured him for hours and when he realized it wouldn’t work he just left him there to die.” She glared at Stone for a moment. “I’ve never hated anyone in my entire life the way I hated that monster that night. I made up my mind that I would do what my father wanted. I would live to fight another day, but I also vowed I would end his reign of terror if I ever had the chance. And that’s what I did. I shot him but I didn’t do it in self-defense. I did it with hate in my heart and I may go to hell because of it, but I don’t care. He took everything I ever cared away from me!”
“I think you also gave him something no one else ever did,” Deke told her.
“What would that be?” McKenna asked as she glared at the other man.
“You gave him peace,” Deke said.
“Peace?” She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean he knew his life would end one day, whether by choice or by violence. He knew he wouldn’t live forever and he was praying someone else would end his suffering. All his life, all he ever knew was pain and violence. I think he just wanted it to end but he didn’t know how. He did horrible things to other people because he didn’t know any better. He chased you hoping you would be the only one out there that could end his suffering.” He shrugged. “I could be totally wrong of course, but that’s what makes sense to me. We all heard what he went through as a kid and while I feel sorry for all that, he made his own choices. After a while, living like that his killing became easier. His first kill was probably the only one that mattered. All his others left him chasing the thrill he got from the first time he murdered another human being.”
“Unfortunately, that makes a lot of sense,” Dewey commented. “I’ve read psych Evals that say the same shit.”
“Me too.” Stone nodded. “I’m just sorry it had to be you in that position.” He shifted in his seat. “You need closure as well. I think you should go back to Providence and say your final good bye to your dad.”
McKenna shook her head. “I don’t have anything to go back for. I also don’t have anything to look forward to. I need to find a purpose in my life, a reason to move forward. Please can I go home with you? I know you can keep me safe from all the boogie men in this world.”
Stone reached for the back of her neck and leaned forward to rest his forehead on hers. “Yeah, you can come home with me. I’ll slay your boogie men and keep you safe.”
McKenna smiled as she brushed her lips to his. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“No, thank you,” Stone whispered back as he pressed his lips to hers a little harder.
Sam chuckled. “Well, hot damn, Pappy!”
The room fell silent, then one by one, all the men began to laugh.