Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Once at the top of the mountain, the fog dissipated into nothing, apparently contained by the valley behind and below.

Wolf breathed heavily through an open mouth as they crested the ridge and started down the other side. Three rooflines poked out of the trees partway down the forested slope, and he recognized the compound from the satellite map.

Brandenburg wheezed loudly behind him, his face bright red, covered in sweat. He looked like he might have a heart attack right then and there. If the sheriff was on the biker gang’s side, the gunman behind him didn’t show it, poking his back again with the gun.

Wolf listened to the man escorting him cough like he was trying to expel cigarette tar from his lungs. The man carried his rifle lazily and without much regard for what Wolf was doing. Wolf could have taken him within seconds and disarmed him, but there were ten more capable-looking men with guns to their right and left .

Snake had disappeared into the trees ahead of them.

“I see why you guys always had me manning the phones now,” Larkin said, talking again to Nichols. “Because you two were out doing shit with these guys.”

“Just shut up,” Nichols said, his voice low. “You want to survive being with these guys? Just shut up.”

Larkin scoffed. “Yeah. Okay. Bastard. Does your wife know about this?”

“Shut up!” One of the bikers said.

Larkin stopped talking and walked down the slope with long, powerful strides.

They continued walking until the terrain flattened out and monolithic granite formations had pushed up from the forest floor. Swerving around and through the rocks sculpted by nature, the buildings came into view ahead.

There was a lot of action going on. Men were tending to the motorcycles, which were twenty or so in number. They strapped bags on and wrapped things to the seats with rope. Some of them stopped to watch the spectacle of prisoners being escorted into the camp, but then they got back to work, hurrying in and out of the buildings.

There were pickup trucks, too, and some of the men loaded cardboard boxes onto them. One was already full, and two men were covering the bed with a tarp.

“Over here!” One of the gunmen behind Nichols said. “Everyone over here!”

Wolf, Nichols, Larkin, and Brandenburg did as they were told, gathering near a firepit surrounded by a semicircle of camp chairs.

They stood in a rough line facing the chaos with three guards still behind them holding rifles. The other men in the ambush party melted into action. Some stripped off their rain gear, others moved to their motorcycles, and two gathered weapons before darting inside.

Wolf eyed the three buildings. The one behind him and the one to the left had dozens of antlers mounted to exterior logs. Mitch’s antler-building description now made sense. He checked the windows, nothing but darkness inside—no signs of Savannah.

The sun was strong overhead now, and steam rose off the ground, whipped into a frenzy by the men rushing back and forth.

Looking into the distance from this high vantage point, he saw jet-black clouds to the east, the storm receding. A dirt road threaded down the mountain through the trees, past the trucks where he’d met Snake the first time, and all the way to the county road below. The two trucks were still parked there as sentinels. No vehicles approached. No sirens or flashing lights. No help was coming.

“Get the four-tens!” Snake said, coming out of a building. “Who’s got the four-tens?”

“We’ve got ’em already,” said a man packing a truck.

“Good.”

Snake stripped off his rain jacket, unveiling serpent-covered arms. He dropped it on a nearby camp chair and walked over, assessing his new captures.

“What are you guys doing?” Brandenburg asked.

“We’re leaving,” Snake said.

“Why?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re fubar here.”

Brandenburg put his hands on his hips, shaking his head. “I told you, you shouldn’t have killed Irv Hunt. I told you it was going to get out of control. His dad’s not a stable man.”

“No shit, Sheriff. I remember what you told us.”

“So…what does that mean for us?” He gestured between him and Nichols.

“It means you’re gonna die.”

The sheriff’s face dropped. Nichols closed his eyes.

“You can see how that’s the only option, right?” Snake splayed his hands. “Unless you can come up with a use for yourselves.”

Wolf eyed the three guards behind them. One of them smiled back at him, turning the barrel toward his back.

“Me and Nichols did everything for you,” Brandenburg said. “We made you untouchable for the last five years! How about that for a use ? We buried evidence. We let you do whatever you wanted. We kept quiet.”

“And I thank you for that. You did your part well.”

“No. We can help you leave. We can make sure…I don’t know…that nobody follows after you.”

“Thanks to you, we’re ghosts as it is, Sheriff.”

“You asshole.” Brandenburg started crying, shaking his head back and forth. “No. This is not the actions of an honorable man.”

“Honorable man? I’m a highly honorable man. Just not by your limited definition.”

“I’ve got a newborn,” Nichols said.

“Everybody’s got a life,” Snake said. “Sorry.”

“Where’s the girl?” Wolf asked.

Snake looked at him.

“Lawrence Hunt still has until midnight tonight to deliver your money,” Wolf said. “And then you can let her go. ”

“She’s gonna leave with us instead,” Snake said.

“Why?”

“There are men who will pay us for her.” Snake shrugged. “And she will spend her life repaying those men for their investment.”

Wolf’s insides twisted.

“You sick fuck,” Larkin said.

From the corner of his eye, a prick of light caught Wolf’s attention. A car had come into view far down in the valley. He squinted as the vehicle appeared to be covering some distance at speed, suggesting this person was in a psychotic hurry.

The car slowed and turned toward the compound. A green Honda Civic.

Lawrence Hunt had arrived.

Snake walked to the edge of the flat compound area and looked down through the trees. He pulled a radio from his belt and spoke into it.

Some of the men stopped what they were doing and rushed to get a view. One of them hollered in triumph, and another few joined the celebration.

Snake held up a hand, the radio at this mouth, and watched.

The car stopped between the trucks below, and the two men, ants from this distance, went to the window of the vehicle.

Snake turned his back on the spectacle and spoke into the radio. “Shoot him and bring the money up here.”

A few men laughed. Somebody yelled, “Hell yeah!”

Then, a voice scratched out of the radio.

“Shut up!” Snake said, holding a hand up to his men. He put the radio to his ear. “What? ”

The men went silent, and Wolf could hear the response coming out of a few different radios now.

The voice said, “He has a bomb.”