“Yes,” all three of us cut her off.
Madix rubs at his ear and shakes his head with frustration. “I can’t get a lock on it,” he admits. “My fucking ear is ringing too goddamn much.”
“I’ll check it out.”
Brant makes a hand motion to Puddles, ordering her to stay where she is, and she obeys as he follows me. We quickly make our way across the yard and to the road. As soon as we get around the bend, we spot it. An older SUV with at least two people inside that we can see. The motor is revving, but the wheels are stuck in the sludgy mud.
“Shit,” Brant breathes as we stay hidden behind a pair of trees.
“Remi said there wasn’t anything up this way other than her house, right?” he asks.
“No, but they could be lost. No one knows where the fuck to go anymore since we usually let technology do all the navigating for us,” I say.
“I don’t want to wait around to see if they get out or if they decide to ditch the car and walk. If they walk, they’ll find the house for sure,” Brant tells me, as he re-positions his hands around the gun.
I nod my head in agreement, but stop to observe the driver as he gets out of the car to stare at his back two wheels that are thoroughly caked in mud and not going anywhere anytime soon. Then the man pulls a handkerchief from his back pocket and proceeds to blow his nose. That one seemingly innocent gesture has my blood running cold.Are they fucking sick?Brant swears next to me and points his rifle in the direction of the stuck car, and I know he has the death threats in his sights.
“Do we shoot them?” I ask, the threat feeling way too real right now.
I’m struggling to picture this seemingly innocuous man as the enemy. I don’t want to go near these people, but I don’t want to kill them either. This right or wrong debate isn’t a first for me. I’ve killed as part of my job to keep myself and my squad brothers safe, and because I was ordered to. But that didn’t stop me from lying awake at night, wondering about the people who died. What were their families like? How did they get pulled into the never-ending conflict? Did they wonder about the lives of the people they killed too? When I looked at my hands, I saw them stained red with blood. I shouldn’t have to get more blood on them now that we’re out of service. I won’t take another life unless I absolutely have to.
“Don’t shoot them, Brant. We’ll save that for when we really don’t have a choice. We’re leaving anyway. We’ll just move up the time table tonow.”
Brant nods his agreement, and we both back away from our vantage point. We sprint back to the house to find a tense Madix still standing where we left him, and Remi scanning the surroundings with a fucking spyglass that looks like a prop fromPirates of the Caribbean.
Why am I surprised?
Madix sees us sprinting back towards him, and he grabs Remi by the shoulders and turns her toward the house to herd her inside. By the time Brant and I make our way up the steps and into the house, we can hear Madix and Remi arguing. It’s obvious that Madix has already come to the same conclusion that Brant and I just did, because he has his arms full of our bags and hers.
“We’re leaving. Now,” he barks at a very angry looking Remi.
“I’m not ready yet!” she argues at his back.
He turns on his heel, his face a hard mask. “You have three minutes. Then, you’re getting in that fucking car whether you walk or I have to carry you.”
In a move so smooth, I could watch it on replay forever and still not figure out how she did it so fast, Remi’s Glock 19 is out from wherever she was carrying it, and has it pointed at Madix’s chest. She’s not wearing her thigh holster, and even though shit is about to go down, I can’t help but run my eyes over her to try to figure out where she was keeping that damn gun.
“Try it,” she challenges Madix, her face deadly serious.
Shit goes from bad to worse when the rage in Madix’s face disappears, and his features go blank. Our squad called this his Jiminy Cricket look. Except we didn't mean it was the arrival of his conscious, but the death of it. When he gets this look on his face, we know that he took that plucky little cricket right off his shoulder and stomped the shit out of it. Brant and I exchange a look because we know what’s about to happen isn’t going to be pretty.
Madix goes full Ranger-mode. No more holding back because she’s Sheriff April’s daughter or because she’s a chick. His stance changes, and then before Remi can blink, he has overtaken her gun and shoved her chest against the wall. Clicking the safety on, he tosses the gun to Brant, who catches it. Then Madix spins Remi around and tosses her over his shoulder. The air escapes her with an “oomph,” but as soon as she gets a breath back, she’s screaming and cursing up a storm.
“You son of a bitch! Put me down right now!” she yells, as she struggles to get out of his hold and does her best to punch his kidneys right out of his back.
Madix doesn’t wait for us. He barges out of the house, letting the screen door smack closed behind us as he stomps toward the car, Remi’s shouting and threats getting quieter as he moves further away from the house. Brant and I stare at each other in shock for a moment before we snap out of it and kick ourselves into high gear. We do a quick sweep of the house, but I don’t know what the fuck she’d want to take, and I don’t even attempt to guess. I grab her duffel from the floor that looks half packed, and I start pulling open drawers and shoving stuff into it.
I don’t see any makeup or anything else that might be needed on this trip—or kidnapping I should say, thanks to Madix’s temper. Brant runs down into the basement, which confuses me until he walks upstairs with a cat carrier that’s now housing a couple of rats. “I can’t find Coon,” he tells me, running a distressed hand over his mohawk.
Fuck! I look around frantically, not wanting to leave Remi’s pet behind, but there’s a possible infected guy by the car who could be heading our way as we speak, so we don’t have the luxury of time.
“Let’s go.” I tell Brant, and he grabs Remi’s bag from my hand so I can grab the guns and lock up.
I grab Remi’s coat that’s hanging by the door before shutting and locking it, and then hurry after Brant. He’s loading stuff into the back of the SUV, and I’m surprised when I don’t hear Remi’s shouts ringing out of the open back door. I hand off two guns, and Brant puts Madix’s rifle in its case in the back before he closes the door and moves to get in the front of the car. I pull open the door to the back seat and freeze when I see why Remi is suddenly so quiet.
She turns and glares at me, and I warily eye the red bandanna that’s tied over her mouth. Her hands are secured to theoh shithandle above the window, and I definitely shouldn’t notice this, but the position makes her tits look fucking fantastic. Her legs are fastened to something under the seat, and I wonder for a second how Madix did this so fast. The promise of pain and retribution stares back at me from Remi’s ice-blue eyes, making my stomach clench, and not in a good way. It’s probably safe to say that she won’t be inviting any of us into her shower again anytime soon.
“What the fuck, Madix? She’s not an unlawful combatant,” I snap at him, watching as Remi gives her restraints another tug.
