Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“ H oly shit!”
Taking one glance at what was going on, Moon hunkered down as he ran toward the thick trees. Hopefully, the people who had Knox and the midwife pinned down hadn’t noticed him on the crest of the hill.
He took out his gun, cocked it as he made his way in the direction of Knox’s vehicle, then called Viper.
“How bad is it?”
“You already know?” Moon asked, making sure to keep his voice whisper soft.
“Knox pushed the panic button.” Then Viper asked, “Which level?”
“Red. Seven. Knox is next to his vehicle with the midwife. SUVs a foot before crest. Split right, left.” With that, Moon disconnected the call and silenced his phone.
Stealthily making his way forward, he heard the sound of gunfire. He maintained his focus and kept a steady pace as he moved through the trees, carefully trying to step over limbs and looking for trip wire. With the firepower being leveled at Knox, he wouldn’t be surprised if they had them.
The break of gunfire felt deafening in the woods.
Looking around the tree he was hiding behind, he saw Knox and the woman behind the door of the Bronco.
Moon pulled his head back. How was he not surprised that woman had managed to be there? She was clearly becoming the bane of his existence.
Looking around, he found two men cautiously maneuvering themselves closer to Knox through the trees. Seeing one already dead by the bumper, Moon’s eyes went to the other left side of the road. There were two in the woods and another making his way across the opposite side of the Bronco.
Slightly moving where Knox could see him while the two closest to him couldn’t, he signaled him with a sweeping hand movement, pointing toward him then two pointing to the right then himself.
Waiting for Knox’s nod, Moon raised three fingers, dropping them one by one. At the end, he pointed his gun at the two closest to him, taking them out before they could shoot a single bullet.
He quickly glanced back at Knox. He was lying on the ground then rose up after shooting the man on the other side.
Taking out his cell phone, he saw the brothers were close.
He put his cell phone away again, then unzipped a pocket on the sleeve of his jacket and pulled out a red bandana to tie it around his skull.
The bandana might be easily seen by their opponent, but it was worth taking the chance. Anything without a bandana would be neutralized without a second hesitation.
Knox signaled Moon to hold, and Moon repeated the signal to Reaper and Viper, who were now on the other side of the road. Rider, Train, and Cash were already spreading around the area he was in.
“You still there, Tanner?” Knox yelled out.
There was no reply.
“Tanner’s woman, can you hear me?”
“I’m not his woman!” the woman shouted from inside the house.
“Is Tanner the one who calls the shots?”
“He was. He’s the one you killed.”
“Who’s next in line?”
“Benie,” the woman answered.
“What’s your name?” Knox asked.
“Cielle.”
“Benie, can you hear me?” Knox shouted out.
Benie remained silent.
“Either Benie’s dead or he’s not answering; which is it, Cielle?”
When Cielle didn’t reply, Moon assumed the fucker was still alive. Knox did, too.
“Benie, you’re surrounded. There are only two ways this is going to end. Either you can come out with your hands up, or you’re going to die along with the rest of the men with you.”
“Go fuck yourself!”
A shout was then heard from inside the house.
“You try to come in here, you’ll set this whole mountain on fire. I bet you don’t want to be responsible for killing two women, and one of them pregnant, either!”
Knox gave a harsh bark of laughter. “You bet wrong, motherfucker. They’re nothing but collateral damage to me. Their deaths are going to be on your conscience, not mine. You think I’m going to lose sleep over some pissants polluting my town? Fuck no! The only reason I’m giving you a fucking chance to save yourself is because I left the camera on in my vehicle. If I hadn’t, you’d already be dead. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not alone anymore, you stupid fucker, so come out, or the next thing you’re going to feel is your body being blasted to hell.”
Did he just see the midwife give Knox a reproachful glare? If he were Knox, he would have …
Moon took a steadying breath. Why did that woman get under his skin so fucking badly?
“We’re coming out!” Benie yelled out. “Rob, Miller, come out!”
Moon and the brothers stayed in hiding until all the men came out, and one of the women.
“Is that all of you?” Knox roared.
“Yeah!”
“Where’s the other woman?”
“She’s in the bedroom. Eryn’s in too bad of a shape to come out,” Cielle spoke up. “You might need to call an ambulance now that she doesn’t have to protect that son of a bitch.” The woman disdainfully glared at the body lying beside Knox’s Bronco.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Moon saw Larissa use the Bronco door to lift herself to her feet. She then hobbled over to the other vehicle and pulled out a crutch.
He was amazed as she navigated herself around the men and rocks to reach the porch. Then, seeing what she was about to do, Moon rushed toward her, managing to block her path before she went in the door.
“You can’t go in there until it’s checked out.”
Determined, she didn’t back away. “I’m going inside to check on Eryn. Get out of my way.”
“Give me a couple of minutes.” He tried to get her to think rationally instead of with her heart.
“I don’t know what condition she’s in; a couple of minutes might be all she has, so move!”
Moon didn’t bother arguing with her.
“Rider!” he called out.
Rider stepped forward to lift her away from the door. When she would have tried to rush forward, Rider blocked her.
“Stay here until Moon comes back.”
Moon didn’t wait to hear Larissa’s answer. Going room to room, he checked the large, two-story house out.
When he heard footsteps, he came out of a back room on the first floor to find Reaper and Viper conducting their own search. He had already retied his bandana around his mouth. The stench of rotting food had him ready to lose his breakfast. From their expressions, the smell was just as offensive to them.
“I’m surprised they didn’t give themselves up rather than stay here.”
“Goddamn,” Viper swore as he tied the bandana around the lower part of his face. “I won’t be able to eat for a year after seeing that kitchen. Why in the hell would they live in this filth?”
Moon’s and Reaper’s eyes met.
“To distract us from other smells,” Reaper answered.
All three moved upstairs in unison. As they reached the top of the stairway, Moon turned left while Reaper moved right. Viper remained in the middle, ready to back up who needed him first.
When he slowly opened a door, an unmistakable scent hit him. His first instinct was to open a window. Instead, he went to where they were cooking their meth, making sure everything was turned off.
“Fucking hell,” he swore out loud, carefully turning the nozzle to turn the gas off where they had jerry-rigged it to the stove. Then, striding toward the window, he opened it before moving to another in the room, where he stuck his head out to breathe in fresh air.
Pulling his head back in, Moon started to leave the room to check the next when he stopped. Had he heard a faint sound? He stayed still but didn’t hear anything and was about to move again when he heard the faint rustling sound again.
Frowning, he looked around the room. There wasn’t a closet door where anyone could be hiding. The floorboards? Not finding anything amiss on the floor, Moon looked up and noticed the attic door.
Leaving the room, he started walking toward Viper and saw Reaper carrying an unconscious woman down the steps. Glad the pregnant woman was out of the filthy house, he put her out of his mind.
“Perp hiding in the attic.” Moon nodded his head toward the room he had just left. “It’s going to be risky as fuck to get them out.”
Viper nodded. “I’ll do it.”
“I’ll do it. I’m going to need something to stand on.”
“Check the other bedroom. Maybe there’s something there you can use,” Viper suggested.
Both men turned as Reaper came back up the steps. Then Moon and Reaper split up again to continue searching the house.
Wanting to close the door as soon as he opened it, it took all his willpower not to go outside and shoot the other men.
Moon gave two whistles before he went farther into the room.
There were a crib and a playpen in the filthy room. He walked up to the crib to see a baby about a year old lying in a curled-up position. Slowly, he put out his hand to touch a soft cheek. At his touch, the baby opened her eyes.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Moon gently lifted the baby into his arms and handed her to Train.
He saw Rider lift a small boy from the playpen and continued searching the room. There were several boxes stacked against a wall.
Moon waited until Train and Rider had left with the children before kicking the boxes until the stack tumbled down. Opening a box released a wave of odor that caused him to gag.
He moved away from the boxes and managed to search the small closet before leaving the room. Outside the door, Moon doubled over, breathing in gulps of air, trying not to vomit.
“You okay?” Reaper came to his side.
Moon gave a shaky nod. “Don’t go in there. The sons of bitches were too sorry to throw the dirty diapers away.”
“Probably didn’t want anyone to know there were any kids in the house,” Viper said grimly. “Were you able to find anything to stand on to reach the attic door?”
“The crib is on wheels. We can roll it into the other room, and I can stand on it. Are the other rooms clear?” Moon asked.
“Yes,” Reaper told them.
“Let’s get it done.” Viper gave him a pat on the back as he and Reaper passed him to go into the baby room.
Moon remained stationed in the hall as they wheeled the crib out.
“They had the window nailed shut.” Viper’s face was filled with fury as they walked out. Reaper was stone-cold hard, which had a chill sliding down his back.
Rolling the crib down the hall, Moon promised himself when they flushed out the fucker hiding in the attic, he was going to bury some motherfuckers in the same boxes they had used for the dirty diapers.
He placed the crib under the attic hatch and lowered the side to climb on top of the mattress. Reaper and Viper raised their guns toward the ceiling.
Holding his gun with one hand, Moon pushed the hatch upward with a hard shove, sending it to the side.
The three men remained motionless, listening.
Moon placed his gun at the small of his back, then gripped the wood above his head, preparing to pull himself upward and get his fucking head shot off. Just as he heaved himself upward, however, someone jumped down on him, sending him falling backward and onto Viper.
Rolling to the side while simultaneously trying to catch the fleeing person darting out of the room, Moon collapsed on the floor, completely out of oxygen.
“Reaper!” Viper yelled out to his brother when his attempt to catch the fleeing figure bolted out of the room was just as ineffective.
Viper managed to get to his feet first. Moon consoled himself that it was only because the air hadn’t been knocked out of him.
Gasping, he used the crib to heave himself into a sitting position. Slowly, the oxygen started to return to his lungs.
“Wha …?” he gasped. “What in … the fuck was that?”
Viper was bent over, holding his thigh. “I think it was a girl.”