Page 86 of Jack

Beep

“Jack, no.”

“I gotta, Mom.”

“Jay, stop him.”

“Sorry, Aunt Ev. Not this time.”

Beep

Beep

Beep

Chapter 39

__________

Jack

It took half the night to track Buck down. Nick sent me all the information he had on Randle White. For a while there, I thought I was going to be stuck in Chattanooga for a few days. Oddly enough, the same universe trying to kill me threw me a bone. Well, maybe two universes collided, and this is what fell out. Either way, it’s turning out to be a good night. Morning? It’s getting close to three am. That’s definitely morning.

The Midnight Mavericks have gotten sloppy lately. What club declares war on another club and then lets its members roam around unprotected? Maybe after, what is it now? Four or five days? I shrug to absolutely nobody. Well, unless you count Buck. He’s unconscious at the moment. So yeah, it’s nobody.

The moron at my feet decided he was going to get a drink at a bar down the street from his house, all by his lonesome.Thanks, universe. I tap Buck’s cheek. He doesn’t wake. You know whoelse won’t wake up? My ole’ lady. She can’t. Her body won’t let her. She’s trapped in a void somewhere, trying to heal because somebody came for me and missed their target.

I’m not a betting man, but I’d bet my left kidney that the unconscious man on the ground was part of it. Oh, I doubt he was one of the crew who shot up my house. This man is on camera helping a lowlife piece of dung try to kidnap my woman. He gets no sympathy from me.

The video of Joel Clark hitting Lily in the face plays on repeat in my head tonight. Seeing this man trying to communicate with Clark through the window pisses me off. I kick him in the side. Buck grunts. Oh, good. He’s waking up. Sadly, he doesn’t. This is taking too long. I need to get out of here. I grab two bottles of water from the van and twist the tops off.

“Wakey. Wakey.” I nudge Buck with my foot again and pour the water over his face.

Buck coughs and rolls to his side. His body jerks and his legs kick out when he realizes his hands are tied behind his back. He looks like a fish out of water.

“Ah. We can’t have that now. Can we? Let me help you up.” It’s not help. Trust me, it’s not. I grab Buck’s arm and pull him to his feet. I prefer a man on his feet when I face him.

“McLeod?” Buck frantically turns his head in every direction.

He won’t find help. We’re in a small field surrounded by forest on three sides and a small hill on the other. You can’t really call it a mountain. City folk might. We’re about fifty miles west of Chattanooga. I have no clue exactly where. I saw the dirt road going into the forest and decided to take it. The universe threw me another bone. This spot’s perfect.

“What are you doing?” Buck asks.

“You’ve been a bad boy, Buck. You shot up my house and shot my ole’ lady in the back.”

“I did nothing.”

I’m not convinced.

“You may not have done it yourself. You didn’t step foot on Viking property. You didn’t pull the trigger once, but youdidsend them.”

He stares at me but doesn’t speak. Good. We’ve come to an understanding. He doesn’t deny it, so it’s close enough to admitting it.

“You did, however, personally help Joel Clark try to kidnap my woman.”

He sucks in a sharp breath through his nose.

“We have you on camera behind the library in Willow Creek. You don’t belong in Willow Creek.”

---