Chapter 27
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
NOVA
After the brothers arrived, we quickly rallied and got into our positions.
Some of us are up in trees, a few are on the rooftop, and the rest of us are scattered along the ground, hiding in the shadows—which are plentiful considering I live in the belly of the woods.
We aren’t sure who all he is involved with or who will be coming along with him, that’s all up in the air.
From what Icer and Shade have observed, he’s been camping by himself, but that doesn’t mean that the brother we’ve discovered of his, who holds a high position within the FBI, won’t be helping him out.
But then again, he may be covering his ass by staying out of it.
Who the fuck knows? Either way, we’re prepared for every scenario.
Icer even laid bear traps around every entry point to my land, how the hell he got his hands on them nobody knows, but we’ve all learned not to ask.
It wouldn’t matter if we did, he’s like a damn caveman, he only grunts when we ask questions he doesn’t want to answer.
My com beeps in my ear with static before Riptide’s voice comes through. “We have movement on the east side, Indiana.”
“Got him in my sights,” Indiana replies. “He’s moving slowly, as if he’s injured.”
My heart is beating rapidly in my chest, the anticipation has my adrenaline running through my system.
I’m edgy, and tense, something about this feels too damn easy.
He’s evaded us so far, so why would he make it this easy to catch him?
“I don’t like it,” I say into my mic. “Something about how he’s made himself an open target feels wrong. ”
“I found blood at his last landing zone,” Icer tells us. His voice is monotone, robotic, which means he’s in what we call his ‘warrior mode’. In other words, we’re fixing to get nothing but one syllable responses from him until the enemy has been captured and is no longer a threat.
Shade picks up the story, stating, “It didn’t look like it was life-threatening, but he did stop along the way for bandages and antibacterial ointment.
Icer and I tracked him to a convenience store and the clerk remembers him tending to his wounds in the bathroom.
The reason he could recall him with clarity is because he made a mess and didn’t clean up afterward. ”
“Doesn’t surprise me after seeing the state of his house,” I reply. “Jennings isn’t a clean person, he left that chore up to his daughters to do whenever he’d let them out of their cage.”
“He’s dragging his right leg,” Indiana advises. “He’s red and pouring buckets of sweat. I believe what we have here gentlemen, is a man who’s got an infection. His brain’s not firing on all cylinders.”
“Should we just take him down and be done with it?” LoneStar asks, sounding disappointed in the fact that he won’t be able to chase down his prey.
“Nah,” Riptide manically says. “I think after everything he’s done to his victims as well as his daughters, we should mess with his head a little bit.”
“Cat and mouse?” I ask, a frenzied grin on my face.
“It’s a classic game, but it does the job. Let’s make him paranoid,” Riptide suggests.
“If we’re going to play, make sure you’re keeping your heads about you and remember where Icer laid the traps,” Slayer states. “If you get caught in one of them, it’ll snap your damn leg off.”
“So stay clear of the outer perimeter, and you should be safe,” I add. “Keep him in the center of the field.”
“Ring around the rosies?” LoneStar chuckles. “My sisters loved to play that game, for once, I won’t be the monkey in the middle.”
“Kinda makes me wish I had one of Rio’s cattle prods,” Riptide muses.
“We can improvise. Anyone got any jumper cables on their bikes?” Shade asks.
“If they don’t, I’ve got a set in the garage. I’ve also got two ATVs and three dirt bikes if anyone wants to use them to round Jennings up,” I offer.
“Fuck yes!” Indiana whisper-shouts, causing my ears to ring.
“Keys are in the ignition, go for it,” I reply.
The once quiet night air is now submerged with the sound of revving engines.
With my night goggles in place, I watch with satisfaction as Jennings rushes from one hiding spot to another.
The guys are whooping and hollering as they kick up the mud and ride around in circles, pushing Jennings closer to the middle so we can corral him.
My earpiece is ladened down with laughter as the rest of us observers watch him scurry around like a rat trapped in a maze.
“Marsten on standby, Nova?” Riptide asks.
“He’s not far away with a team he trusts. They’re waiting on word from us to step in so they can take him into custody,” I apprise him.
“Good. When they book him, I want that motherfucker seeing ghosts around every corner,” Riptide enlightens me. “I don’t want him to have a moment of peace.”
I laugh before saying, “After this, he won’t.”
“Alright boys, playtime is over, let’s force him to expose himself so we can round him up and call it a night,” Riptide commands. “The Feds are only going to be patient for so long before they come charging in.”
Without verbally answering, the guys tighten their circle around Jennings and push him to the center. When there’s nowhere left for him to run, he spins around taking in the fact that he’s surrounded and drops to the ground, landing on his knees, defeat showing in his slumped shoulders.
“This is boring,” Icer complains. “I expected more of a fight out of him than this.”
“He’s damaged goods, brother,” I say, coming up on his side and slapping his shoulder. “I think the fucker’s given up. This was his Hail Mary and he lost.”
“Indiana, pat him down. We don’t want any surprises,” Slayer orders.
Indiana skips over to Jennings, looking smug. “I’m not a woman, motherfucker. Think you could take me on?”
“Fuck. You,” Jennings sputters, spit flying from his cracked and chapped lips.
“No thanks, I don’t swing that way. Even if I did, it wouldn’t be with you. You’re too damn ugly, I’d have to put a bag over your face,” Indiana taunts.
“It wasn’t an offer, asshole,” Jennings retorts.
“Huh. It sounded like an offer,” Indiana says, disputing Jennings’ claim. “Did it sound like an offer to y’all?” There are hums of agreement and a few gags from the brothers, myself included.
“A disgusting one,” LoneStar claims. “You stink, Jennings. How long has it been since you took a shower?”
“Call Marsten in, Nova. We did our part,” Riptide edicts.
“Yeah, the sooner this fucker is off my land the easier I’ll feel,” I reply, shooting off the text that’ll bring in Marsten and his troops.
“Did y’all do that to his leg?” Marsten asks as soon as Jennings is tucked into the back of the cruiser.
“Nope. He was damaged goods before he got here,” I inform him. “How sure are we that he’s not going to get out on bail? Is the evidence rock solid?”
“It is,” Marsten replies. “While your men were chasing him down and leading him here, I was gathering evidence and cleaning house. His brother is no longer in the bureau, he didn’t cover his tracks as well as he thought he did.
Their entire family is evil, Nova. He changed his name and buried any ties to them, but I uncovered them all.
His uncle was a serial killer, his mother was a black widow, and his grandfather should’ve been the star of every horror film ever made.
Their gene pool is founded in blood. The entire line should be decimated. ”
I take offense to that because Chaney and Freyja don’t deserve to be put in the same category as the rest of them.
“Blood doesn’t make you evil, Marsten. I’m not going to get into the entire nature versus nurture debate with you, but the girls, they’re nothing like Jennings and his relatives.
” Not wanting to hear what vile thing will come out of his mouth next, I swivel on my feet and walk away before I do something that’ll land me in jail.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” I toss over my shoulder as I breach the house.
I’m done with this idiot and his bullshit. It’s time to move the fuck on.