Adrift: The Complete Novel (8 page)

The ten remaining toughs moved forward, spread out along fifty yards. Suddenly, up ahead, a spark lit, then caught.
WOOMPH
, went the flames as first one, then two and then three stacks roared to life. Laney’s thugs stopped.

+++

I couldn’t see the enemy through the flaming hay mounds. Averting my eyes from the glare, I focus on the periphery. My mind wavered, images from the past, screams coming from…

Shaking my head, I settled in, readying my first shot.

+++     

“Keep moving!” Johnny hissed, more annoyed than scared. He’s seen plenty of burning hay bales in his life. If his target wanted to be taken down by the light of their flames, Johnny didn’t care.

None of the men walked on the road, and Johnny stayed on the leftmost flank, affording a view of the house. He couldn’t wait to put a bullet in someone’s head.

+++

I looked at my watch, counting down the seconds to Hollie’s cue. Right on time, the booms sounded from the four sticks of dynamite we’d buried in the ground.

+++

Most of Johnny’s men fell to the ground, clods of dirt raining down all around them. Some screamed, one ran back toward the road and more than one pissed their pants. Johnny seethed.
The next motherfucker who pusses out gets a shotgun blast in the face
.

He hissed for the others to get moving. They did so, albeit reluctantly. Johnny strode ahead, marching down the middle of the drive.

+++

Breath in. Breath out. Slow pull.
BANG
.

+++

The man to Johnny’s left went down, clutching his stomach. Two more mercenaries turned and ran. Six left standing.

+++

Breath still out. Shift. Slow pull.
BANG
.

+++

Next down was the guy to Johnny’s right. The whole line stopped at the sound of the man’s scream.

“This ain’t worth it, fellas,” said another man. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Three more ran the way they’d come. That left Johnny and the only cousin he’d brought. They looked at each other, and sprinted toward the house.

+++

I lost the shot as the two forms crossed behind a flaming haystack. A form reappeared on the far side,
BANG
.

+++

Johnny didn’t look back. He had to find cover and the house was the nearest place. Safety was all he could think of. It never occurred to him that going to the house was what Daniel wanted.

+++

I waved to Hollie, our signal that it was time for me to head to the house and deal with any stragglers. I’d seen the man’s face illuminated. It was Johnny Laney. Just the man I wanted to talk to.

+++

Johnny’s large frame burst through the screen door, sending him tumbling into the house. He was up in a flash, shotgun searching. It was dark, rays of orange flickering in from the fires outside like some kind of sick horror movie.

“Where are you?!” Johnny screamed, shooting two blasts into the ceiling.

“Right behind you.”

+++

Johnny whipped his weapon around to where I’d been standing a moment before.
BOOM
. I rolled to the side, finding cover behind a couch, the shotgun blasting through the front door.

Pivoting, I grabbed a lamp and heaved it in his general direction, quickly to return in a explosion of glass, my adversary not being a novice with his weapon.

A shadow in the doorway. “Put the gun down, son.”

I heard Johnny pivot on the creaky hardwood floor and fire.
BOOM
.

My ears ringing, I poked my head out to where the voice had come from. Hollie lay in the doorway. My world went red, I reverted inward, and attacked.

Chapter 16

“Like I said, Mr. Laney, we went up there, and all hell rained down. It was like a fucking war zone.”

Max Laney stood listening, eyes blazing. “Where is my grandson?”

The scruffy survivor gulped. “He kept going. Lost sight of him after he went into the house.”

“And you ran.”

“Ye…yes, sir.”

Laney turned around. “Get out of my house.”

“What about our money?”

“I would have paid if you’d done what you were supposed to do, not run away like a coward.”

“But…”

Max Laney whipped around, much faster than his years should’ve allowed, a pistol aimed at the young man’s head. “I said, get out of my house.”

+++

Chief Knox rubbed the sleep from his eyes and grabbed his work phone. “Hello?”

“Sir, it’s Simon.”

“What the hell time is it?”

“It’s just after midnight.”

“This better be good.”

“We’ve gotten a couple calls complaining about explosions out by the Herndon farm.”

Knox’s eyes popped open. “When?”

“A few minutes ago.”

“Did you send anyone out there?”

“No, sir. That’s why I’m calling you.”

“Good. Don’t worry about it. Got a call earlier, said the State would be doing some blasting tonight. No big deal. Something about extending utilities, I think.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it.”

The dispatcher hesitated momentarily. “Would you like me to call back the people who called in?”

“That’s a good idea, Simon. You might make a decent cop just yet.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Knox ended the call, setting the phone back on his night stand. He’d gotten a call earlier in the day, but it had been from Max Laney, essentially telling him to turn a blind eye. Darryl Knox did what he was told. He owed Max Laney too much.

Without another thought on the topic, he rolled over and was asleep in less than a minute.

+++

Hands covered in blood, I ran over to Hollie. “Hollie, Hollie, are you okay?”

He groaned, moving his right arm. “I think he just winged me. Shitty shot just like his granddaddy.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, having feared the worst. After turning on the lights, I inspected Hollie’s arm. “I think you’re right. Your left arm’s bleeding pretty badly.” Looking around, I grabbed a clean shirt from the stack of laundry I’d folded earlier in the day.

“Damn that hurts.” Hollie watched as I did my best to stem the blood flow. “You do this before?”

I nodded.

“Afghanistan?”

Another nod. “That should do it until we can get you to the hospital.”

With more strength than I expected, the old man sat up. “First things first. What are you gonna do with him?”

I looked at the bloody form across the room. Johnny Laney lay in a puddle of his own blood. I winced at the sight, recognizing the carnage left by the skills I’d acquired in my past life. The assault remained a blur. I’d acted on instinct. Luckily, unlike before, this time I’d stopped short of killing the man.

“Help me up. We’ve got work to do.”

Standing up, I reached down and helped Hollie. Cleanup time.

Chapter 17

Max Laney paced, a crystal tumbler in hand, his third. There hadn’t been a word from his grandson. The rest of the cowards had apparently scattered leaving him without a way of knowing what happened.

A series of honks sounded from the front yard. Laney walked to the entryway, one hand still gripping his pistol. Some vehicle moved slowly up the drive. Squinting, he realized it was Johnny’s truck. “Finally.”

Laney opened the front door and stepped outside, waiting. The truck kept coming, then ran over a part of the perfectly manicured shrubbery, still rolling forward. He couldn’t see through the high beams, attempting to shield his eyes with a hand.

The truck missed part of curb cruising right through the dew covered grass. It wasn’t stopping. Frantically, Max Laney moved aside as Johnny truck made a bee line for the front door, finally ramming into the structure, crumbling brick and dry wall as it went. The pickup stopped, engine still revving.

Cautiously, weapon extended, Max Laney approached the vehicle. There was a burlap sheet bound over the truck bed. He ignored it and moved to the cab seeing the back of someone’s head in the driver’s seat.

“Put your hands up!” yelled Laney.

No response.

“I said, put your hands up!”

Nothing.

Moving in an exaggerated crouch, Laney closed the remaining distance, flinging the driver’s side door open. He looked down his gun sight to see Johnny, face badly beaten, his entire front covered in blood, duct taped to the steering wheel, foot stuck to the accelerator.

Laney’s eyes went wide, one hand shooting up to check for a pulse. Alive.

Next, his composure regained, he moved back to the truck bed. Someone had secured the burlap with what looked like parachord. Laney quickly untied one end and flung the sheet back. Piled inside like firewood were three of Johnny’s crew, duct taped like mummies and just starting to regain consciousness.

+++

“What do you think he’ll do?”

Hollie shrugged, causing him to wince. “I guess we’ll see.”

We’d just left Max Laney his package and were headed to a 24-hour clinic a town away. The official story would be that I’d accidentally shot him. It sounded ridiculous to both of us, but like Hollie said, “People will believe most anything you tell them as long as you say it with a straight face.”

He was right. No one batted an eye when Hollie checked himself in at the emergency clinic. All procedure. It made me wonder how many firearm accidents they handled annually.

The only downside was that they asked for Hollie’s next of kin, of which he had none, and I volunteered to give my name. They checked it against my worn military ID card, and not another word was said.

Chapter 18

They called a physician who was part of Laney’s extended family. He wasn’t happy about the late night visit, but he couldn’t say no. Max Laney was the one who’d co-signed for his medical school loan. It wasn’t the first time the favor had been called.

“I think Johnny got the worst of it. Lacerations to the face and he may have a broken cheekbone. How did you say this happened?”

Max Laney frowned. “I didn’t. Can you take care of him here?”

“I’d highly recommend he at least get an x-ray…”

“I said, can you take care of him here?”

The doctor nodded slowly, ready to say anything to get away from the lunatic. “I’ll have to put in a few stitches, and I can write up a prescription for some pain meds.”

“Fine. How about the others?” Laney pointed at the three men sitting nervously around the kitchen table.

“Looks like it was some kind of tranquilizer dart. I would’ve been worried if they hadn’t woken up, but since they’re up, the full effects should wear off by sunrise.”

Laney nodded and the three men breathed a sigh of relief. Each one had thought they’d died taking a bullet in the raid.

“Can we go now, Mr. Laney?” one of the three dared to ask.

He got a curt nod in response. They didn’t waste a second in leaving.

+++

I drove the truck slowly up the drive, taking in the wreckage in the pit we’d dug hours before. “That was a great idea.”

“We did a lot of that in Korea. Stupid Communists would roll right down the road, not taking a second look and bam, the first vehicle dropped the column stopping with them. You were the one that got us out with the hay bale idea and your shooting.”

I chuckled. “It didn’t hurt that you just happened to have a tranquilizer gun lying around along with a few sticks of dynamite.”

“What can I say? I was a boy scout growing up. Be prepared, right?”

“Right.”

Hollie yawned. “When it gets light out we can pull those trucks out and fill the hole in.”