CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

They ditched the security detail Sal had in place for Brent and MaKayla so that they could have a light footprint when they made it to the gas station. But it still required strategy. That was why Brent, the driver of his father’s Mercedes, decided to get off of the interstate one exit early and then drive up country roads until they came to the shuddered gas station. Parking three streets behind it, they got out and hurried along the narrow alleyways until they were in the very back of the station.

When they saw that the back entrance had been bricked in, along with the windows that used to be back there, they knew they had to go around the front.

“I’ll take the right side,” Brent whispered. “Pop, you and Sal take the left side.”

They all agreed and split up. But as soon as they began walking along the sides of the building, gunfire erupted from around front, forcing them to run back to the back of the building to take shelter. Then they began returning fire. Sal ran to one end of the building firing back, while Charles held down the other end.

“I’m climbing up,” Brent said. He knew they needed a view of where the threats were coming from, and the only way to get it was to go up.

“Be careful,” Charles warned his son as he and Sal took shots at the gunmen up front, then went back to their positions as the gunmen returned fire right back at them.

Brent hoisted himself up on the first tier of the three-story roof as gunfire continued to rang out. But just as he was attempting to hoist himself up to the highest level for a better view, the foot of someone on the top of the roof slammed onto his hand, causing him to clench his teeth in pain and to snatch his other hand away before that hand was incapacitated too. He was dangling by the captured hand, almost dropping the Glock he held in his free hand.

But when he saw a rifle appear from the top of the roof even before the face of the person holding the rifle appeared, he found the strength to lift up his gun and began shooting, forcing the gunman to back up.

But the gunman quickly regrouped and leaned his body over to get his kill shot. Brent knew, if he allowed him to get even one shot off, he was doomed. That was why, as soon as he saw the gunman’s face lean over the higher roof, he began firing round after round. His first shot got the gunman in the face. But he had to be sure that he was dead. There was no room for error.

He didn’t know what the status of the gunman was until the gunman stood straight up, as if he was determined to live, and then he fell over. He just missed Brent’s dangling body as he fell down onto the second-level roof. There was no question he was dead.

The gunfire suddenly stopped around the front of the building, too, and Sal motioned for Charles to run along the side of the building where he was stationed, and Sal would run along the side of the building where he was stationed. As they were doing so, Brent jumped off of the rooftop altogether and ran up front to assist them.

When they all got up front, they saw that van and that same two-tone Dodge Charger speeding out of the parking lot. The Charger was gone in a flash: there was no catching it. But the van wasn’t so lucky.

While Sal and Brent made a run for the van, shooting as they ran, Charles ran inside of the gas station.

“Donnie?” he cried out. “ Donald ?”

He began running from aisle to aisle inside of the torn apart gas station, looking for his son.

Outside, Sal and Brent were able to fire enough shots into that van that the driver was hit. The van slung right, then left, and then flipped over. They ran up to the van, only to discover that the two occupants, the driver and a passenger, were both dead.

Upset that they couldn’t manage to have a survivor they could get intel from, they then ran back to the gas station.

When they entered the gas station, Charles was attempting to kick down the door to the back room. They ran back there to assist him.

But the door gave way just as they got back there, and it flew open. Inside of the room was Donnie and a woman, both seated in chairs, both tied up with their mouths covered with duct tape.

Charles quickly removed the tape from off of his son’s mouth. “You okay?”

“How did you find us?”

“Your scary clue.”

Brent untied Donnie while Sal untied the woman. And as soon as Donnie was free, he jumped up and hugged his father. “I didn’t think you would get it. I used to call this place a scary place, but I didn’t know if you were listening to me back then.”

“I always listen to my children,” said Charles.

“Who are you?” Sal asked the woman when he removed her duct tape.

“They kidnapped her first and threatened to kill her if I didn’t get in that van at Jenay’s hotel. She’s a friend of mine,” Donnie said.

“ Friend ?” The woman was offended. “I’m his girlfriend, thank you very much.”

With her straggly blonde hair and tats, it was obvious to them that she was one of those biker chicks Donnie always went for. He was rich now. Was way out of her league now. But he apparently still liked what he liked.

“I’ll go up front in case those assholes try to make a comeback,” said Sal as he hurried back up front.

“Did you recognize any of them, Donnie?” Brent asked his kid brother.

“I only saw one of’em, and I never seen him before. As soon as they placed me in that van, they covered my face. They didn’t uncover it until they put us back here. That’s when I knew we were at my old gas station.”

“What about you?” Charles asked the woman.

“I don’t know none of them,” the biker said. “The one driving that Charger was a big man, almost my same complexion just less tan than I got. His skin was ruddy-looking and he had the most terrifying pop eyes I’ve ever seen, and was always breathing hard like he has asthma or emphysema or something. That’s all I know about him.”

“Did he say what he wanted from us?” asked Brent.

Donnie shook his head. “He didn’t say nothing. The guy that told me to get in that van at the hotel was the only one that did any talking. He was the only one I saw.”

They had him on video. They knew what he looked like. He was now dead in that van.

Charles was just glad to have his boy back. He hugged him again. “Ready to go home?” he asked him.

“I been ready!” Donnie said.

Charles and Brent looked at each other. They were still at square one with MaKayla’s case, which was frustratingly painful for Brent, but at least they had Donnie back. At least there wasn’t going to be another casualty of this ghost war in which they found themselves completely entangled.