15. Q #2
Just as he ended the call, a car pulled out in front of us, forcing me to ease off the accelerator. Seconds later, the van plowed into us again—this time harder than before, and I was left with two choices: hit the lady in the Buick or take my chances with the ditch.
I couldn’t take a chance on hurting the woman, so I gave the steering wheel a hard pull and slammed on the brakes, sending Rooster and me straight for the ditch.
One second there was ground beneath us, and then the next, we were in the air.
Rolling. Turning. Flipping. I felt like a rag doll as my body was jostled back and forth.
The truck collided with the hard ground, and the airbags deployed, making it impossible to see.
Not that it mattered. The truck had finally stopped and was resting on its side, leaving me and Rooster hanging by our seatbelts.
Rooster had a cut above his brow but looked to be okay as he turned to me and said, “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Just a little banged up. A bruised rib or two.”
“Same. Gonna be slow moving for a few days.”
Rooster clambered around to find his phone, and once he had it in his hand, he shoved it down his pants, deep within his boxers. “What the hell are you doing?”
“These guys are coming for us, brother. If they manage to take us, I want Big or Wyatt to be able to find us.”
“Good idea.” I motioned my hand toward the glovebox as I told him, “Grab my Glock.”
He nodded, then reached for the handle.
He was about to take the gun in his hand when three men dressed in black appeared at the front of my truck. They were each carrying AK-47’s and had them pointed directly at us. Rooster eased his hand back from the glovebox as he muttered, “This ain’t good.”
“No, it’s not.”
One of the men walked over to the passenger side of the truck, then used the butt of his weapon to bust out the rest of the front window. Once he’d cleared a path, he aimed the barrel of his gun at Rooster’s head. “Let’s move it, boys.”
“Who the fuck are you? What’s this all about?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. Now, move your ass. Both of ya.”
Neither of us was able to argue, so we both unbuckled our seatbelts and climbed through the front window. As soon as we were both clear from the truck, one of the masked men came up behind us and started patting us down. “You got any weapons?”
Before I could answer, he took my knife from my pocket and threw it to one of his buddies.
He did the same with my phone; then he turned his attention to Rooster.
He started patting him down, and I just knew he was going to find the phone Rooster had hidden in his crotch.
Hoping to distract him, I asked, “You gonna tell us what this is about?”
“All in good time.”
I was beyond relieved when he ended his pat down without finding the phone.
But the relief quickly faded when one of them came over and bound our hands behind our backs.
Once he had the zip-ties secured, a hood was placed over our heads.
Rooster and I were led over to the back of the van.
Seconds later, we were tossed in the back and forced to sit on the hard, metal floor.
None of the men spoke.
They simply got in and closed the doors.
An eerie silence fell over us as the driver started the engine, and we were on our way to God knows where.
I won’t deny that I was a bit unnerved. I’d never been in a situation like this. I’d always been on the other side of the fence, and I liked it much better that way. I hated not knowing what the fuck was going on or what these assholes wanted from us. And I wasn’t looking forward to finding out.
After a ten-minute drive, the van came to an abrupt stop, and my heart started to race when I heard the doors begin to open.
The time had finally come. Rooster and I were about to discover what these assholes had in store for us.
Our hoods were still over our heads when the back doors flew open, and we were both being dragged out by our feet.
Once I was standing, one of the men took hold of my arm and gave me a shove. “Move.”
I took a step forward and stumbled on a fucking rock. I hit the ground and was immediately struck in the side with someone’s boot. “Get your ass up!”
It was tough to move with my hands bound behind my back, but after some maneuvering, I was finally able to get to my feet.
Another hard shove and we were moving once again.
I heard the creak of metal on metal as they opened a door and led us inside.
Seconds later, I was being pushed again, and one of the men growled, “Sit.”
“How long are you guys gonna play this cat and mouse bullshit?”
“You aren’t in the position to be asking questions.”
“Then, why don’t you save us both some time and just tell us what we’re doing here.”
“You don’t know when to shut up, do you?”
I heard a slight rustle of fabric, so I knew he was about to throw a punch.
I just didn’t know where until I felt his fist make contact with my abdomen.
The wind rushed from my lungs, causing me to hunch forward.
Without giving me a chance to recover, he hit me again—square in the fucking jaw.
I was itching to give the asshole a piece of my mind, but I bit my lip and waited for him to make his next move.
“Not so tough now, huh?”
I didn’t reply.
I was biding my time. I knew it was only a matter of time before I got my payback, so I just sat there silently fuming.
I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I could hear a couple of the guys whispering in the corner.
After several moments, the whispering stopped, and our hoods were yanked from our heads.
It took me a moment to adjust to the light in the room, but after a few blinks, I was able to see that we were in an old, abandoned warehouse—much like the one Fury used as storage. Other than trash littering the floor and cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, there wasn’t much to the place.
Five men circled us. They were all still wearing their masks and dark clothing, and none appeared to be all that large in stature. In fact, they reminded me of some high-spun teenagers as they fidgeted nervously amongst one another, eagerly waiting for the man up front to make his move.
Losing his patience, Rooster gave them one of his snarky smirks and goaded, “You know, if you needed a date to the party, all you had to do was ask. Not that I’d say yes. I’ve never really gone for pussies who are too chicken-shit to show their fucking faces.”
“You guys think you’re so tough. You’re nothing more than a couple of hoodlums in leather.”
“Enough of the bullshit,” Rooster snarled. “Just get on with whatever this is and tell us what the fuck you want.”
“I want names.”
“Names of what?”
“All your brothers and everyone you work with.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I could feel my rage building inside me as I barked, “There’s no fucking way we’re telling you anything.”
“We’ll see about that.” The asshole who appeared to be in charge motioned his head toward the others as he said, “It’s time you learned your place in this town.”
While their leader stood watch, the four divided up—two on me and two on Rooster, and they started plowing into us both.
They might not have been big and brawny, but their boney-ass knuckles packed quite a punch.
After plowing away on us for what seemed like forever, they each took a step back and checked the fruits of their labor.
My head was throbbing, my eyes were almost swollen shut, and my ribs ached with each breath.
I glanced over at Rooster, and like me, he’d seen better days.
His eyelids were swollen like mine, and he was bleeding from a busted lip and a cut across his cheek.
Sounding pleased, the asshole in charge growled, “Not so tough now, huh? You ready to talk?”
“I hate to break it to ya, buddy,” Rooster smiled, revealing the blood on his teeth as he told him, “But it’s gonna take a lot more than that to break either of us. We’re not telling you shit.”
“Is that right?” The leader knelt in front of me, then whipped out the knife he’d taken from me and opened the blade. With a sinister voice, he taunted, “I think it’s time for us to kick things up a notch.”