19. Gauge
GAUGE
“Where is he?” Rat asked.
“Come on,” I murmured beneath my breath.
“Dallas!” Rat exclaimed as he cupped his hands over his mouth.
The wind swayed in the darkened trees. The sun fully set, cloaking us in a darkness that stopped me dead in my tracks. I whipped my flashlight around, trying to scare off any wild animals that may have happened upon us while we were outside.
Waiting for our brother to reappear.
“How long has it been?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t fucking know,” Rat muttered as he raked his hands through his hair.
“Dallas!” I bellowed.
“He has to have less than a minute. It took us over a minute just to get the fuck out of there!”
“Come on,” I growled, “get out of there, Dallas.”
“No!” Rat yelped.
His body crashed into mine before I even saw the flames.
The bombastic boom slammed against my chest before my back hit the ground, and Rat managed to wrap himself around my head to protect from the flying debris launched our way.
Glass shattered. A door slammed open. I heard our van rocking on its squeaky chassis, and I had yet to hear Dallas’s voice.
“Dallaaaaaas!” I roared.
“Cool your fucking jets,” he said as he trotted up to us, “I took a back way out.”
What a hell of a day.
“Dallas, Jesus fuck,” Rat said as he scrambled off me. “We thought?—”
His hand came into view. “Need help?”
I clapped mine into his. “Fuck you, you know that?”
He chuckled as he helped me up with a grunt. “Yeah, I cut it a bit close there.”
I stood to my feet and pinned him with a look. “Rat?”
“Yep?”
“Go get the van and get it over here,” I groaned as my hand wrapped around my lower back. “I think you slammed me down on a rock.”
His laughter followed him all the way to the van as flames and thick black smoke rose into the sky.
Someone would see that soon, even against the night, and we needed to be out of there by the time they came around.
The van inched toward us, the tires rumbling over twigs that popped and leaves that crackled.
I reached for the driver’s side door before Dallas swatted my hand away.
“Uh, uh, uh. You’re the passenger this time, Mr. Bad Back.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can drive just fine.”
I tried opening the door, but Dallas’s hand slammed it shut.
“Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder,” he warned.
I barked with laughter, but fucking hell it hurt my back. “I’d love to see you try.”
Dallas didn’t move, though. He didn’t even stop staring at me. He just stood there with his arms folded over his chest and that dumbass stare on his face.
“Doesn’t work with me,” I said.
Rat groaned. “Just get in the passenger’s seat. We gotta get out of here.”
He was right, too. Sirens kicked up in the distance and I’d never seen Dallas move so quickly. He launched himself behind the wheel of the van and cranked that shit up while the smell of Doc’s lifeless body permeated the cabin of the vehicle.
“You good back there, Rat?” I asked as I clamored into the passenger’s seat.
“Oh yeah,” he said flatly as he stuck his head in between mine and Dallas’s. “Never better.”
“Don’t let him slosh around too bad back there, all right?” Dallas asked.
Rat wrinkled his nose. “Just get us out of here. Those sirens are getting close.”
It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. Dead bodies didn’t weird me out or make me squeamish. If anything, Doc deserved better than that. He deserved a peaceful rest. At the very least, he deserved to be returned to his family.
If he even had one.
But the rocking of the van pulled me under, and I was out like a light. Nothing woke me up. Not even the jolting of the van over every fucking speed bump we went over. I was exhausted, and not just physically.
That was until the van came to a grinding halt.
“Uh, Gauge?” Dallas asked.
I heard him, but I couldn’t move my lips to speak.
He whapped me in the chest, though, and it yanked my head up from the seat. “Huh? What?”
“Is that Nielson?” Rat asked.
“Char!” Dallas exclaimed.
That pulled me out of my sleep. “What? What’s going on?”
“Chaaaaar!” Dallas exclaimed as he shoved his way out of the van.
I rubbed my hands against my eyes before the scene in front of me came into view.
We bellied up the van to the side of the house, and standing there on the porch was Nielson and Char.
Deac was there, with his arm tightly wrapped around her while she leaned against him.
And as I watched Dallas leap onto the porch, I smiled as he scooped that woman into his arms and twirled her around.
Her giggles permeated the walls of the van, and it sent my heart fluttering.
“You gonna go?” Rat asked.
“What should we do with Doc’s body?” I asked, my voice still groggy with sleep.
Char kept looking over at the van, and I knew she was eager. Waiting for me to come out so that she could lay eyes on me.
Jesus fucking hell, my back hurt.
“I don’t think it matters right now,” Rat said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
I snickered. “It’ll matter once it hits noon tomorrow.”
He patted his hand against me. “Point taken.”
“Do we have any idea if he’s got family?”
Rat simply shook his head, though.
“Gauge!” Deac bellowed. “Rat! Get your asses out here!”
“Gotta go,” Rat said as he slipped through the front seats and worked his way into the driver’s side. “You coming?”
I nodded as I unbuckled my seatbelt. “All right, let’s do this.”
I shoved the door open and resisted the urge to wince. Fucking hell, I hoped that Rat hadn’t fucked up my back for good. My mind raced to find options on what to do with Doc. We couldn’t just leave him there, rotting in the back of our van. We were in the middle of the desert, for fuck’s sake!
“All right, everyone!” I said as I raised my voice while slamming the van door closed. “We got a body in the back of this van that’ll see triple digits tomorrow if we?—”
“Let’s meet first, Gauge. Yeah!?” Deac called out from the porch.
“Gauge.”
Her voice was desperate. A whispered plea grasping to the coattails of the wind. The cold air wrapped around me, soothing my back just before she slammed into me. She launched herself into my arms, her body locking around me as she buried her face into my neck.
I held her close, sinking to my knees as she sat there, with tears dripping against my skin.
“I was so worried about you guys,” she whispered.
I buried my nose into her soft hair. “I was worried about you, too.”
“I’m so glad you’re back.”
“Me, too.”
She nuzzled against me, and the weight of the world seemed to slip from off my shoulders. Nothing else mattered except her. Nothing except her warmth, and her gracious curves, and her forgiving arms, and her?—.
“We’ll take care of Doc,” Sheriff Nielson said as he placed his hand on my shoulder, “just unload anything out of the van that you guys wanna keep here.”
I peeked my head up from Char and saw Deac nod.
I looked up at Nielson and saw him dangling the set of keys Dallas once had in his possession.
I wasn’t sure I liked that idea. Maybe Doc’s body could tell us something.
But I was so tired, and Char felt so warm, and my back screamed out for a hot shower, and god fucking damnit, I smelled.
I mean, I was fucking rancid.
“Mace!” I barked. “Plug! Get your asses out here and unload this van!”
The two of them leapt off the porch and came running at my beckoning call. I managed to pull myself up from the ground, but I had to release Char to do it.
“Gauge,” she said breathlessly as she slid my arm around her shoulders, “are you all right?”
“Hey, hey, take it easy,” Deac said as he wrapped my other arm around his shoulder.
“What happened?” Char asked. “Where are you hurt?”
I groaned. “My back.”
“What happened? Do we need the doctor?” Deac asked.
I shook my head as we started up the porch steps. “No, just tell Rat to stop tackling me on fucking gravel.”
“Really?” Rat asked. “You’re still complaining about that?”
“Let’s get you inside,” Deac said as a chuckle reverberated across the porch, “we need to meet and talk anyway. Char and I have had a particularly interesting evening with Nielson.”
She snickered. “You can say that again.”
“Everyone! Inside!” Deac bellowed.
I wasn’t sure why in the fuck Nielson and his deputies followed us inside.
But as Mace and Plug unloaded our van, we all stood around in the kitchen.
Char and Deac helped me into a chair before Char started bebopping around the kitchen.
She pulled out drinks and snacks. She made sandwiches and divvied them out to the guys.
A pot of coffee brewed, filling the air with the most delectable smells that made my mouth water.
Deac cleared his throat as he held up his hand, commanding the attention of everyone in the room.
“All right, gentlemen,” he said as he slipped his hand back down.
“Ahem,” Char said from the sink.
“And lady,” Deac muttered.
The guys chuckled as Char nodded her head with pride, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was there. She was back. She looked okay. Better than she had in a while.
“Gauge?” Deac asked.
“Huh?” I asked as I whipped my attention back to him.
The guys chuckled again as someone patted my back.
“What?” I asked.
Deac just barked with laughter, though. “Now that I have everyone’s attention, listen up. There will be no questions or comments until we’re done spitting out the information.”
“What information?” Dallas asked.
“We have the full picture of what you guys have tripped and stumbled into,” Nielson said.
That captured the attention of everyone.
Myself included.
“I don’t really know where to start,” Nielson said as he looked up at Deac.
Deac took the reins as he cracked his neck. “Doc’s real name is Captain Ryan Murphy. He works—or, rather worked—with the ATF.”
I felt the blood drain from my face as Sheriff Nielson jumped in.
“The woman running around town, Marcie Dickerson? She’s an Internal Affairs agent. Captain Ryan Murphy was the man who vouched for her when she was early on in her career applying for federal positions.”