Chapter 9
SARGE
When my phone rang, I reached for it without opening my eyes, answering with what should have been a greeting but sounded more like a string of garbled curse words. I finally managed, “What?”
“There’s someone sleeping in my bed. Is it Goldilocks?”
I pulled the phone away from my face and blinked until the screen came into focus. It was an old friend from prison. He was also a club brother who had gone nomad right around the same time I had. “What the fuck are you talking about, Frog?”
“Clean your ears out, old man. I said there’s someone in my bed.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“So I don’t wake her up.”
“How did she get into your house?”
“She’s not in my house.”
“But you said . . . Goddammit, Frog. What are you talking about?”
There was shuffling in the background and then a loud grunt before my friend Duke’s voice came over the line. He urgently whispered, “Sarge, get your ass out of bed and come out into the hall before Frog wakes up Sleeping Beauty and she screams the fucking house down!”
I jumped out of bed and rushed into the hallway, shocked to find not just Duke and Frog but also our brother Lurk. Frog and Duke looked fine, but Lurk hung limply between them. Even in the dim light, I saw he was unconscious and nearly gasping for air.
I hissed, “What the fuck happened?” as I got closer to them.
Luna whined at Lurk’s feet, understanding that something must be wrong if one of her favorite people wasn’t greeting her.
I reached in and pulled the door closed behind me, hoping Starla could sleep through the invasion.
“Get him into my room and lay him on the bed.”
Frog and Duke shuffled toward my room. I hurried ahead to yank the blanket and top sheet back, then waited for them to get inside before quietly shutting the door.
“What the fuck is going on? Is he shot? Stabbed? Has he been sick?”
“He got on the wrong side of someone during a job, and they scooped him up and kept him for a while,” Frog explained matter-of-factly.
“They did what?”
“I thought we were keeping quiet so we wouldn’t wake the princess.”
“Her name is Starla,” I said, pulling Lurk’s boots off and sliding them under the bed.
His face was gaunt and his skin was paler than I’d ever seen it.
Lurk wasn’t one to be contained, whether it was in a room or a house.
He spent more time out on his mountain than inside his own home, so his skin tone told quite a story even without the sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes.
“Guys, I think we need to get him to a hospital. I’m not sure we can . . .”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,” Duke said, pulling the sheet up to Lurk’s chest.
I rubbed my temples, knowing that whatever they were about to tell me wasn’t going to be good. I knew it was even worse than I imagined when Frog said, “We’ve kind of got a disposal issue, so it might not be a good idea to alert . . . well, anyone.”
“A disposal issue? You brought a disposal issue to my family’s farm?”
“You were the closest brother, man. We didn’t know what to do. I put a call in to Ajax, but he’s not answering, so I called Sandi. She said she’d be here as soon as she could and will take him home with her.”
“Even if she left the second she hung up, that’s still fourteen hours from now, and we’ve gotta do something for him before then,” I said, starting to get dressed.
My friends looked incredibly rough. I frowned and added, “You two don’t look much better.
I’m going to go get supplies to take care of Lurk.
While you’re waiting for me, go ahead and shower.
Strip your clothes off and let me take them with me.
I’ll get a burn barrel started out behind the barn. ”
Without a word, Frog and Duke started undressing, and soon they were standing naked in the middle of my room.
I took all of their bloodstained clothes, along with their boots, and wadded them up to carry outside.
I glanced over at Lurk and watched his chest for a few seconds to make sure she was still breathing–he was in that bad of shape–and then I hurried downstairs to get started on my tasks while the guys cleaned up.
I looked around outside but didn’t see a vehicle, which meant they’d hidden it somewhere and walked up to the house. That told me plenty. It probably meant they’d stolen the vehicle, or maybe it had something to do with the four dead bodies likely inside it, but I could be wrong.
I almost jumped out of my skin, dropping half of the clothes I was carrying, when Ma appeared in the hallway just as I was opening the back door.
“Why are there strange voices in my house in the middle of the night, son?” She looked at the bloodstained shirt in my hand and winced before she asked, “And what the hell are you doing?”
“I’d rather not lie to you, so I’m gonna have to ask that you go back into your room and pretend we never had this conversation.” When Ma scowled at me in answer, I pleaded, “Please, just this once, let me take care of this without your input.”
“No,” Ma said firmly. “I suppose you’re taking those to the burn barrel? Don’t bother doing that. At this time of night, a fire will just cause an uproar. Put them in the old washtub I use for scraps, and I’ll get the lye.”
“Ma . . .”
“What else do we need to do? Who’s hurt?”
I knew I wouldn’t get out of this alive if I didn’t fess up, so I said, “Lurk’s unconscious. Seems to be dehydrated, and he’s beat all to hell, so I’m not sure what his injuries are.”
“And the others?”
“Frog and Duke aren’t hurt, but . . .” I blew out a breath and decided to roll with it. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? “They’ve got four dead bad guys in their vehicle hidden out in the woods somewhere, and I need to deal with that. In a bit, two more of our friends will show up.”
“Where are they now?”
“Making sure there wasn’t a tail and that everything’s secure.”
Ma was quiet as she pursed her lips and let her eyes roam around the room.
d I knew from experience that this was her thinking face.
Whenever she was faced with a problem that needed an out-of-the-box solution–and honestly, this was a perfect example of that–she had the exact same look.
I’d seen it a million times in my life. Granted, her solutions usually had something to do with a farm problem or a livestock issue that needed a quick fix with the supplies at hand, but I knew without a doubt all of that experience would come in handy now.
She proved me right when she said, “When your other friends get here, we’ll reassess, but right now, leave the others in the woods until nightfall.
In the meantime, take the tractor with the large auger attachment out to the edge of section thirty-nine and dig twenty-four holes large enough to transplant third-year trees.
Space them twenty-five feet apart. This evening, take care of the trash at the river, and then make sure you’re the one transplanting tomorrow’s delivery. ”
“We’ve got a delivery tomorrow?” I asked in confusion.
“We will. I’ve been planning a windblock on the edge of thirty-nine, and I want to get the hackberry tree line established while we leave that section fallow.
I ordered the trees through the state program over a year ago, but they called last week to ask when I wanted them delivered since they’re taking up valuable space. ”
I swallowed hard before I said, “I can do that.”
“I hope so, because you’re in charge of your own mess. Now drop the clothes in the tub and go get the supplies out of the barn. Bring back three calf kits, and I’ll help you get them set up once the laundry starts.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Go on now. You’re cutting into my sleep, and I’ve got a big day planned for tomorrow.”
Again, I couldn’t think of anything else to say other than, “Yes, ma’am,” but that seemed to be the right answer.
Ma nodded once and then clicked her tongue to get Ruckus to join her on the way to the kitchen before adding, “I’ll put together some snacks for you to carry upstairs before you bring Lurk down to my room. ”
And just like that, I dragged my mom into a list of crimes that included multiple felonies–from harboring fugitives to body disposal.
The scariest thing about the entire situation was that she had instantly become the mastermind, which told me this wasn’t her first encounter with a scenario like this.
Holy. Shit.
◆◆◆
STARLA
“I think I’m going to take a nap during lunch, so if you don’t mind, will you take Graham’s lunch out to him?”
“Sure,” I said as I studied Ma’s face. She looked a little flushed, but that was probably from the heat of the canners we still had running on the porch. However, there were dark circles under her eyes. “Did you have trouble sleeping last night?”
“When I slept, I did it with a clear conscience,” Ma replied mysteriously. “Our houseguests should wake up soon, so expect to see some new faces around this afternoon.”
“You have guests?”
“Yes, we do. Some of Graham’s friends came to visit, and a few more are on their way. They’ll be staying for a little while, so we need to make sure to take that into account with meals.”
“Yes, ma’am. How many are there?”
“Right now, there are two men sleeping upstairs and at least two more on the way. Later, if luck is on our side, there will be another roaming around here.”
That was an odd way to describe her guests, but I rolled with it and asked, “Is he having a reunion?”
“Of a sort, I suppose.”
I wasn’t sure what was with the half-answers, but I knew Ma wouldn’t appreciate me calling her out, so I just let it lie. “Would you like me to take a tray into your room when I get back?”
“No. I’ve got something in my room that I don’t want anyone to know about, and that includes you, so for the foreseeable future, my room is off-limits.”
Without thinking, I asked, “Do you have James tied up in the closet?”