Chapter 19 #2
“Ghost, is Jamie still with you?”
“Yes, Pres. I’ll make sure she’s safe and I’ll be back shortly.”
Cutting the call, Ghost looks at me and Mateo.
“I need to get you two somewhere that isn’t linked to the club, and I need you to trust me.
You cannot answer your phone or contact anyone unless it is life or death.
This asshole has been playing us for long enough, and he’s been one step ahead the whole time. ”
“You think he’s the hitman? The guy trying to kill me is the guy in the junker that I’ve been feeling sorry for? The one I wanted to help is my assassin?” I can’t get my head around this development.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I think. I need to get you dropped off and then get back to the clubhouse and get everyone up to speed.” Ghost pulls the van out onto the road again, but he turns it around so that we are heading away from the club.
I feel an irrational anger that I should have been thinking of helping this guy, while all the time he was plotting my demise, and for something I had nothing to do with in Fury’s past. I know I’m a doctor and I swore to save people, but I never wanted someone dead so much in my whole life.
“I only have my SIG with me. Shouldn’t we swing by the house so I can pick up some more weapons?”
Ghost looks at me, then Mateo, and cracks up laughing as he looks back at the road ahead.
“Mateo, you’re going to have your hands full, I can tell you that, and no Doc, you don’t need more weapons.
You’ll be fine where I’m taking you. It’s not connected to the MC, and they know nothing about the place.
We need to keep it that way, so no using phones, texts, calls, social media, nothing.
You go dark from this point and stay that way until I tell you otherwise.
Is that clear?” Both Mateo and I answer him with a yes, and suddenly the reality of my situation hits home harder than ever before.
Pulling off the road and down a dirt track, he stops the van by a barn and near a log cabin. Telling us to stay put, Ghost slips from the van to stand in front of the porch and appears to be looking around.
“Okay, you two. Come stand by me a moment.”
Following Mateo from the van, we do as we’re told.
I’m far from stupid, and the difference in Ghost since he discovered who the assassin could be is more than noticeable.
Whatever he tells me to do, I’m going to do it and darn quick, too.
Everything about him shows that he has moved to some higher plane of, I don’t know, consciousness, nervous energy, existence.
The guy exudes an aura that you can’t ignore.
We’ve been standing here for a couple of minutes when he turns toward the barn.
Following his lead, we both turn too, and he tells us both to stay still.
A young woman walks around the corner, and two of the most fearsome-looking dogs are at her side.
If Ghost hadn’t already told me not to move, I would have frozen to the spot, anyway.
“Ghost, back so soon? I wasn’t expecting you this quickly.
What makes my company so appealing? If it had been Thorn, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
” She smiles at Ghost and I have to admit, I smile back at her even though she isn’t addressing me.
She gives both myself and Mateo an appraising look and then speaks to Mateo.
“Not been shaving long? You should put the cutthroat away and try a safety razor. Just until your hand gets a little steadier.”
I gasp at her brazenness and wait for Mateo to explode about his pride and joy. This was not the reaction he was hoping for from the females of the species. He explodes, and it takes me by surprise when it is laughter, not anger.
“Beautiful, fearsome, and with a sense of humor. Ghost, why have you been hiding this gem?” Mateo gives her a little bow, and I do believe she blushes.
Ghost doesn’t change or join in with any of the banter. “Salem, I need your assistance. I’m sorry to come to you so soon after meeting, but I couldn’t think of anyone better suited to help.”
“You need a safe house for the woman, and as we’ve only just become acquainted, I’m the perfect spot?
Plus, I’m already geared up to protect myself and my solitary lifestyle.
If they pass the test, they stay. If not, you take them with you.
Ghost, go stand on the porch, you two stay very still. You move, you fail.”
“Bruno, look ‘em.” The small horse, which may or may not be a Rottweiler, walks forward and sniffs suspiciously, first around Mateo, then me. He gives Mateo a second sniffing and then goes back to the young woman apparently named Salem.
The Rottweiler was one thing, but the Malinois is something else entirely. It’s not his size that scares me, it’s the way he looks at me. I think he knows what I’m thinking and probably before I’m thinking it.
“Spectre, look ‘em.”
He walks around me, and I’ve never felt so afraid of an animal in all my life.
“You shouldn’t be so afraid of him. He won’t do anything unless A, I tell him to, or B, you make a move against me, and I wouldn’t advise that.”
When he turns his attention to Mateo, he stiffens noticeably. Salem raises one eyebrow otherwise showing no other sign or emotion. When he’s done with Mateo, he looks at Ghost, as though to say, ‘we haven’t done this one’.
“Friend, Spectre. Come.” Looking at Mateo, she says, “You have a knife in your boot and one on a thong hanging from your neck, down your back. You have a handgun on your waist, at your spine. I wouldn’t go for any of them if I were you.
You’d never get one into use.” Looking at me, she carries on, “You have a handgun at your spine, too. Same applies. I wouldn’t reach for it.
Let’s go to the house, and we can discuss whether you stay or leave. Follow me.”
We follow her past the barn and along a track. The dogs walk to our side and slightly behind us. Ghost brings up the rear, apparently not a concern to either of the dogs. I sense that this could be a long talk and that Mateo and I won’t get to say a lot.