Chapter 38
There had been a somber mood hanging over the reservation that evening as Uncle was laid to rest. Vin had kept his distance from the ceremony, watching from afar. As an outsider, it felt wrong to partake in such a sacred affair.
Many surrounding communities within the reservation had converged on this spot to honor Uncle and see him off to the other side.
What shocked Vin the most, though, was that Maverick had also received a service and a send-off.
This murdering monster who had come onto their land and killed one of their most beloved leaders had been treated with respect and dignity in his death.
Vin thought about how Maverick likely received a more honorable and respectful send-off from these people who he had wronged than he would have gotten from Chainz and the rest of his comrades. It only made him respect these people all the more and fear for their safety.
The community had rallied in the face of Uncle’s death.
They had watched as Vin dispatched his killer and stood behind him with weapons drawn to oust Sean and the Chain Gang members he had arrived with.
But that show of bravery and force might have been the moment that sealed the fate of these people.
Sean would go back and report to Chainz.
He would tell him how the reservation drew on them, and Chainz would respond with force.
It wasn’t going to be Sean and ten members of the Chain Gang coming back to seize this land.
It would be the entire force under Chainz’s command, united under a banner of hatred and conquest.
The Natives might stand their ground. They might try to fight back and defend what was theirs, but Vin knew how many trained killers and thugs Sean and Chainz had fighting behind them.
They were going to be grossly outnumbered, even if every able bodied Native man and woman took up arms and vowed to fight.
The other option was to abandon the reservation, and Vin couldn’t see that happening, either.
Uncle had been right. There were far too many very young and very old members of the tribe.
They would never survive the mass exodus.
And how long would it be after they settled in a new place before Chainz or the remnant showed up to kick them off of it again?
It would be a repeating cycle of forced flight, occurring over and over again until the tribe either died out or was forced to assimilate with an outsider society, losing its traditions and identity along the way.
Vin couldn’t let that happen. Nor could he stand by and watch the entire tribe get cut down by a vengeful Chainz.
There had to be another option, some obvious alternative plan.
But as Vin racked his brain trying to think of something, anything that could be done, he was coming up with absolutely nothing.
It wasn’t only the tribe that concerned him. Deb and Jimmy were still within that compound, still forced to live under Chainz and his authoritarian rule. But for how long would that last?
Vin knew there would be consequences for Sean’s failure, both to kill him after the train heist and to secure the reservation on this mission.
It would be brutal and potentially fatal.
Vin couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction imagining Chainz bludgeoning Sean into a bloody pulp.
But without Sean, Deb and Jimmy would have no one left to protect them.
How long would it be before Chainz turned his ire on them?
But Sean was a strong military mind, and that was something Chainz needed to keep the remnant at bay, and Vin knew enough to realize he wouldn’t be content unless he was expanding his territory.
Sean was needed for that.
But Sean had also failed him, and failure had to be punished in that world.
So, what if, to send a message to Sean about failure, Chainz decided he needed to hurt or even kill Deb or Jimmy?
The bastard was sadistic enough, and the thought of it pushed down on Vin’s mind like a brick.
They were in danger, and Vin had no way to get to them, save them, run off with them and reclaim their life together.
He calmed himself by rationalizing that Sean would never stand for something like that. If Chainz had hurt either Deb or Jimmy, he wouldn’t just fall in line and start taking orders. It would be the end of their professional relationship, and Sean would either kill Chainz or die trying.
Most likely, he would die trying.
Chainz wasn’t easy to kill. He surrounded himself with hundreds of blindly loyal followers and had earned his reputation as a vicious combatant over and over again.
However, Vin believed deep down that with all the rage and hate he held in his heart, if he were to come up against Chainz one on one, he could emerge victorious.
But the problem was getting Chainz in a one-on-one encounter. He’d need to catch the big man by surprise at a time in which the majority of his forces were occupied elsewhere. But there was no way to know when or if that would ever happen.
Suddenly, it felt as though a lightning bolt had gone off in Vin’s brain. He flashed back to Sean’s initial trip to the reservation.
“Y’all have five days to clear out of here. On that fifth day, the Chain Gang will come to claim what’s ours. Anyone left standing on our land will be put down with extreme prejudice.”
“Holy shit,” Vin muttered to himself as a plan started to form within his mind.
He looked over toward the rest of the community, gathered together in the stillness of the night to honor their fallen friend and leader.
He needed to give them time to mourn, to come together as a group to grieve.
Then, once they properly and respectfully laid Uncle to his eternal rest, he would pitch his plan to them.
“This is so crazy it just might work,” Vin muttered to himself.