Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mercury
Sutton has food waiting for us, so we fix our plates then head back in to look over the maps while we eat.
The topical map is closest to me and I carefully mark the coordinates of both the camouflaged, sealed entryway as well as the trip-wired access point.
It’s possible it’s more of a maze beneath the surface, full of honeycombs filled with traps for the unwary individual, but we’re going to be as prepared as we possibly can be.
“Sure as fuck glad that our dads had us practice with night vision goggles,” Aries murmurs as he starts separating the equipment into piles, ensuring that everyone will have the same thing.
“Don’t forget learning Morse code,” Orion tacks on. “Could come in handy if we need to use it instead of speaking.”
“Hand signals, we need to brush up on those as well,” Pisces adds.
“Who knew they were preparing us for a war we had no idea existed?” I ask the group at large.
“After the shit they saw and were forced to do, I know they wanted us to be prepared for anything,” Gemini says. “Once the others get here, we’re going to discuss all of it. While I know it’s not exactly protocol, I want Finley and Sutton to hear it as well. Forewarned is forearmed, after all.”
The man inside of me hates that the women have to hear, in detail, what we found, along with our suppositions about what the den may hold.
But I remind myself that both of them are brave and I know they’ll be assets to our endeavor, even if they feel as though they’re mostly on the sidelines.
If not for them, as well as Skippy, fuck knows how long this might have continued.
Instead, we know the players, or at least the ones who probably started the whole thing.
We just need to find out how many have bought a ‘membership’ to this sick, revolting hunting club.
I’m not sure how it can be managed, but if the chief calls us back, it’s possible that he might have some suggestions as to how we can find those who died so they can be properly buried.
I suspect we’ll mostly find bleached bones and not even all of them, but if it helps families find out what happened to a loved one, I’ll gladly donate my time to the search and rescue efforts.
Speaking of— “I think that once we get the search and rescue thing off the ground, I want to train with a dog of my own. Maybe a bloodhound or something.”
I see Finley’s eyes light up at the mention of a dog and grin. “Wildcat, it wouldn’t be a pet, it would be a working animal.”
“They don’t work twenty-four-seven,” she sasses. “Besides, that sounds like something I could do, Mercury. I may not know the trails around here, but eventually, I will, and I’m a skilled hiker. In fact, I want to help when you get it going.”
“We’ll have a kennel of dogs before you know it,” Orion states, chuckling.
“We’re going to have to have more than one, Orion,” she replies.
“The shop is still my top priority but I know if someone local goes missing, especially a child, you’ll be the first to lock the doors and hit the road.
This way, I can help too and not get stuck doing all the oil changes on vehicles that have been poorly maintained. ”
“She’s got you there, O,” Aries teases as the front door opens and both Midas and Hercules walk in, followed by Bootes, Scorpius, and Neptune.
“The others are too far out to make it in timely,” Hercules states as they stroll in. “I had them wrapping up one last job so we can all focus on getting ready for the delivery of the barndominium.”
“You can share what’s needed,” Gemini replies. “Go grab some food and something to drink. We’ll get started once you’ve eaten.”
“Appreciate that, pres,” Midas says. “Stale popcorn just doesn’t keep this physique in fighting form.”
Shit. Another Orion, just what we fucking need. I hide my smirk as Orion chuckles, glad to be in the company of someone who’ll understand him.
We’re about to start our meeting when the phone rings. Finley snatches it off the hook and quickly presses the speaker button before she sets it in the middle of the table.
“Hello?” she asks.
“This is Daniel Running Cloud, chieftain of the Blackfeet tribe. I was given a message to call someone by the name of Gemini,” the deep voice states.
“I’m here, Chief,” Gemini says. “We had one of our women by the phone. The majority of my club is here as well and I can go through the introductions if you’d like, but it’ll mostly be me and my vice president, Mercury, speaking.”
“Chief Running Cloud, I’m Mercury,” I add, so he can hear my voice.
At Gemini’s nod, I start speaking again.
“Several months ago, we moved from Texas to Montana to revive the Kings of Anarchy MC club in this area. Shortly afterward, we ran into someone we went to school with, a female, who was being stalked.”
“I presume you know who was responsible,” the Chief remarks.
“We do, but it’s far deeper than that, sir.
Not long afterward,” I start, then stop and try to figure out how long it’s actually been, before I give up, “one of her friends was found brutally attacked and left for dead. Several days later, when I was back out in the area trying to see what I could find, I found another woman, the one who answered the phone.”
“Hi,” Finley calls out, waving her hand, then blushing when she realizes what she’s done.
“She was in a bad way, she’d been shot and also struck with an arrow,” I continue. “It was touch and go for about a week or so, and she ended up spending three weeks total in a medical facility before we brought her back to our clubhouse to protect her.”
“What happened to you, young lady?” the chief questions.
“I uh… I was at the hospital getting a work injury seen to when I was abducted, your excellency,” she says, only to stop and stare at the phone in shock as a deep, rich, baritone bursts out laughing.
“Call me Daniel,” he invites. “Hearing Chief This and Chief That makes me look for my father. Continue, please.”
“When I woke up, I found myself in a shack, chained to an eyehook embedded in the floor. There was just enough give to the chain that I could get to the bathroom, but not much else. It was one of those shacks you see on property that’s been abandoned, Daniel, with broken windows, and missing boards.
Whoever took me, and they were always masked when they came by, dropped off food once a day, but it wasn’t enough to keep me full, if that makes sense. ”
“They were starving you,” Daniel denotes, his voice now hard.
“Yes. One morning, I woke up to a recording telling me that today was the day that the game started,” Finley says. “I didn’t really understand until the end, when it told me that if I successfully got away, I could leave.”
“Then what happened?” Daniel asks, as I look at my new brothers who don’t know what happened to her yet. Their anger is palpable and I see their fists clenched by their sides.
“I ran, even though they had taken my shoes. I’m an experienced hiker, Daniel, but I wasn’t familiar with this terrain at all, so I made a few mistakes along the way. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them because their animal calls kind of sucked.”
Another chuckle passes through the phone. “Still, you have a warrior heart, young lady, to have survived what Mercury described,” he emphatically states.
“After the arrow pierced my side, which is what caused me to pass out from the pain and I don’t remember much more than that,” she confesses.
I pick up the story from there. “She doesn’t realize this, but she clawed her way along the ground and did a pretty good job of camouflaging herself, Daniel. I honestly wouldn’t have spotted her but she was feverish by then and moaning, something I suspect she didn’t know she was doing.”
“And what do you suspect, Mercury?” he asks me.
“I think we’ve fallen into a horrible shitstorm, to be transparent as glass, Daniel,” I reply.
“And what does that have to do with me and my tribe?” he presses.
“We believe they may be using the caves in your mountains to hide, either themselves or their cache of weapons.” I don’t let on that Orbit found information that led us to them; that’s a story for another time.
“We’d like permission to come onto the reservation and search for the caves. We want to shut these assholes down, Daniel,” Gemini adds. “Since we don’t know your land at all, we’d appreciate it if a tracker could come with us.”
A heavy silence follows Gemini’s words and like the rest of my brothers, as well as the women, I wait, nearly holding my breath as the man on the other end of the line ponders our request. He finally sighs and I realize the weight he carries is much like what Gemini does with regard to the club.
“I must take this to my elders and gain their guidance,” he advises.
“However, I will do that now so expect a response in the next day or so.”
“Thank you, Daniel, we appreciate you taking the time to call us back and listen to what we think is going on. As far as we’re concerned, it’s gotta be stopped, and if your elders say no, we’ll find another way to get what we need.
But we have someone who is doing our technological stuff, and he’s advised that there are many across the state who are missing, including some from your reservation. ”
Good job, Gemini. You didn’t show our whole hand, but you let him know that we’re aware that they’ve been impacted by these fuckers as well.
“We’ll talk soon, Gemini,” Daniel says before disconnecting the call.
“Well, now all we have to do is wait,” Orion grumbles.
“And plan, brother. We’re going to plan for every eventuality, including whether or not they decide to help us,” Gemini asserts.