East Nine #4
Peacemaker replied, “Inventive weapons, from what I’ve gathered.”
I could hear Gage say, “Okay, let’s go over his schedule again so we do this right.”
When Gage, Finn, and Ethan went to get into the Jeep, Seb finally said, “Wait.”
I exhaled. Thank you. It was time to confess what he’d been up to.
“The pastor-pig is putting all of Blue’s donations personal use but staying pretty close to the same routine as when Johnny studied him.”
Hearing them speak that name punched me in the gut.
“How the hell do you know?” Finn asked, sounding very frustrated with him.
Peering about, Seb only shrugged.
Ethan scream-whispered, “You spied on him even though we said to lay low?”
The men around me, watching, were all nodding, liking Ethan calling him out.
“The drawing of Blue brought me some peace, but the pastor was stealing that. And I needed rest. Sleeping has been a bit of an issue for me. Hence, lots of time on my hands. Problem?”
Gage groaned, “Not likin’ it. This is getting messy as fuck.”
Avenger told me, “Lots to learn, but he will be a great Sergeant-at-Arms someday.”
Ethan asked, “So, if recon is done, what the hell are we doing tonight?”
Sebastian eyed them all.
“Don’t do it, kids,” begged Peacemaker.
My shoulders caved. “I taught them to stick together.” Fuck!
Ethan covered his mouth, then looked to the house—Sarah’s window. “I’m so glad she is safe in her bed.”
The men around me all nodded again in approval. Avenger said, “At least they aren’t draggin’ her to the shit-show.”
Finn tried, “Why don’t you all be safe in beds, too? Let me handle this.”
Peacemaker smirked. “I’ve really been likin’ this kid. He’d take a bullet for them.”
Damn, that made me proud.
“Fuck. You,” growled Seb, still proving his train had left the station and was headed toward nowhere good.
Peacemaker’s head hung forward. He’d been watching my fellow fosters for too long.
As the Jeep drove away, Avenger said, “Boss, time for a call.”
Styx was pissed as he walked away. “I’m not happy with their decision.”
Fuuuuck.
We followed him through the trees as he pulled his cell to his ear, then said into the phone, “This is Kristen’s emergency contact.
You’ve got some pups who have escaped their leashes.
I’ll send you a location so you can round them up.
The black SUV is the rendezvous point.” To us, he said, “Strip off cuts. Only black hoodies. Heard?”
Now this word “heard” made more sense to me. It was Gramps in move-fast biker mode.
We caught up to the red Jeep but didn’t let them know they were being followed. Then we parked down a dark road and hustled to the pastor’s.
“Do they plan on torturing the man here?” Hidden in more trees, a ways from the SUV, we watched my Misfits—now Nitwits—with their black bag of deadly treats, as they trampled through all this compound’s security points.
Styx pointed them all out. “Now they just triggered… Now they just…If the pastor isn’t passed out cold, he already knows they’re here. ”
We had hoped my fellow fosters would recognize they were in over their heads and abort, but they stopped at the pastor’s car and peeked in.
“Damnit. Not stopping them without force now.” Avenger took off running in the shadows.
Peacemaker followed.
Styx grumbled, “Fuck,” then told Letti and Cocky, “Go with them.”
As those two men took off running without questions, I asked, “What’s in the car?”
Styx made fists. “Little girl toys and clothes.”
“The pastor has another little girl in there?”
“No. They combed the house for a victim as soon as they noticed the items.”
Not only were these men watching over my extended family, but they had already cased a house that my fellow fosters were about to invade, rage owning them.
It was like witnessing a bomb go off inside my friends. Any trigger that had been spared evaporated. The Misfits no longer cared if they got caught. They wanted blood.
Now in the light of security cameras, four large Sinners were tackling the broken-hearted souls. My boys put up a fight because they were slightly unhinged.
Just then, something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was Sarah sneaking across a street and to the fencing…
“M-must save h-her.”
“Oh, my God.”
I heard Styx cursing behind me, but I had to break my promise to him. I now knew who I had to save. Pulling down my full ski mask, I ran faster than I ever had because the pastor had her in his sights. And a rifle pointed at her chest.
The child murderer sneered, “You’re the bitch who put nonsense in her head.”
Carrying a weapon had been so brand new to me.
Under such immense fear, I didn’t even think to retrieve it and reacted on natural instincts.
Like I had done in the water with Saleeni, time slowed.
I manipulated seconds so I could beat the slug shot that had been fired.
As I had from the seawall, I let my body soar like an athlete so I could be my dear friend’s shield.
When the buckshot slammed into my back, I knew I had succeeded.
I’m sorry, Saleeni.