I crouched low, my back pressed against the outside wall. All the bullets had gone wide of their mark by a huge margin, shooting up the ceiling and the top windows of the living room, raining down glass and ceiling plaster on my head. They’d either fired high just to try and scare me, or the Skull and Bonesmen were all just truly awful shots. I was betting on the former, though.
“You figured out we mean business yet, Murdoch?” Wyatt shouted from the front. “We’ll turn that little cabin of yours into swiss cheese, asshole, pump it so full of bullets we can’t help but hit that little girl we followed out here. You want that? You want her blood on your hands, all mixed up with the blood you’re already gonna have from little Miss Sheila out here? Because, if even if you make it out, blood like that don’t come off your hands, man, no matter how much you scrub.”
I breathed hard and tried to weigh my options as I sat there with my back against the wall, looking over the destruction they’d already inflicted on my cabin. I mean, shit, it looked like this place had been used for a punk rock or metal show. I’d seen places in Kabul that looked better after a suicide bomber hit it.
The cabinets in the kitchen were blown open, the dishes and glasses shattered and sprayed all over the kitchen. The TV had been knocked clear off the wall, falling right on its edge and splitting the screen from its housing. Even the refrigerator hung open, having taken a solid blast from a rifle, popping it open and so it swung against the kitchen island.
I shook my head again to rid the images of what they might do to Sheila if I didn’t turn myself over to them soon. My hands tightened around the shotgun, my knuckles going white.
“Next thing you hear, Murdoch,” Wyatt crooned to me, “is gonna be little Miss Sheila screaming your name. But it ain’t gonna be in a fun way. You see, we’re gonna take our time with her out here in the gravel. Ain’t got much longer to make your decision ‘fore I can’t hold my boys back any longer.” The men chuckled like some sort of Greek chorus of the damned, their voices evil as they began to imagine and relish the things they’d do to the poor woman.
What I needed to do was to keep them from putting their hands on Sheila, to stall them so they couldn’t put any of their promises into actual action. And, ideally, I could keep them busy until the rest of the pack showed up. And what better way to keep them busy than to keep them talking?
“Fine,” I yelled back. “What do you want from me? Why me, Axelrod? Cause I kicked your ass back in Enchanted Rock?”
“Cause you sucker punched me, you motherfucker,” he snarled, still lying about how everything went down. “Then when Bo challenged you to a fight earlier today, one of your buddies showed up and wrecked their bikes. Seems to us you can’t handle a fair fight, is all, so we wanted to make sure you got one this time around.”
“That’s what you want?” I asked with a laugh. “A fair fucking fight? That why you brought a dozen of your men up here to protect your sorry ass from me?”
“That ain’t what it is!” Wyatt screamed. “It’s about respect, boy! About us teaching it to the sorry likes of you!”
I laughed again. “Respect? Wyatt, you wouldn’t know respect if it fucked your momma and knocked her up with you. You’re a lousy piece of shit and a lousy liar.”
“Think I’m a fucking liar?” he asked, really getting worked up now, his voice almost cracking as he screamed. “You think I’m a motherfucking liar?”
“I think you tried to sucker punch me on the fucking street earlier today, and I whooped your ass anyways. That’s exactly what I think.”
“How about this? You think I’m a fucking liar?” The hammer on his revolver clicked as he drew it back and locked it into place. “You wanna see if I don’t keep my fucking word? Huh?”
My mouth suddenly went dry as I realized I may have pushed him too far. Apparently, Wyatt Axelrod and the Bonesmen with him were only so interested in speaking. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “You made your point!” I yelled out to him. “I’ll come out. But since you’re so fond of your word, I want you to make me two promises.”
Wyatt laughed, and I heard the hammer release.
“First,” I called, “I need a minute to get my shit together in here. Then, I’m not coming out till Sheila’s inside the house.”
“Sounds fair,” Wyatt said to a smattering of giggles and chortles from his buddies. “You come out and you fight. You lose, that’s it, end of story. You win, that’s it, too. We leave in peace either way, long as you as ain’t gonna try and pull no more dirty shit like you did earlier.”
But just as I was about to head into the bedroom to tell Jessica and Lacy the plan, I heard them. My pack. Their howls echoing through the mountains, urgent calls that let me know they were on their way, and not to worry. They’d have my back in just a couple minutes.
“Just wanna say goodbye is all,” I called. “Five minutes? Can you at least give me that?”
“You got five, boy-o,” Wyatt called. “Any longer and the party gets started without you.”