Page 40 of Gunner

“Yeah, Prez. One minute,” Locke tells me. I nod my head as I look down at my gun. Will I need to use it today? Will I take a life for her today? It’s ironic to think this is what things have come down to but I will, I will kill for her.

“What if she isn’t here?”

“They know somethin’.”

“What if they don’t, Gunner?”

“They do!” I roar this time. I know they do. I can feel it in my gut. They know something I don’t, and they’re going to tell me. They’re going to tell me every fucking detail I want to know.

We pull up and park on the back road behind the house. I glance over and see the back door and know it’s show time.

“We hit hard and fast. Don’t let any motherfuckers leave your sight.” The guys agree as we file out of the van. We move quickly through the backyard and toward the back door. I kick it in, and we make our way inside. A woman screams until I grab her around the throat and press my gun to the side of her head.

“You look just like her,” I say as I press the gun harder. She cries when a man comes into the room. Locke moves quickly and subdues him. The others move around, checking the house as I drag the woman into the living room, grabbing a dining room chair as I go. I shove her down onto it and zip-tie her hands to the chair while Locke does the same.

“She isn’t here,” Hodge announces.

“Fuck. Fuck!” I roar as I press the gun against the woman’s temple harder. She cries louder before Remy shoves something in her mouth to shut her up. The man has already been gagged.

“You’re gonna tell me everything I wanna know. You hear me?” I growl in the woman’s face. I pull the rag free and look her in the eyes.

“You’re her mom. Where’s Natasa?”

“She isn’t here. She doesn’t live here,” she sobs.

“I know that. Where the fuck is she?” I ask once more. The woman shakes her head.

“I don’t know.” I nod toward Hodge, and he slams the butt of his gun into the side of her husband’s head. He screams around his gag as blood trickles down his temple.

“I don’t think you understand what’s about to happen here. I’m gonna ask one more time where Natasa is, and if you don’t giveme an answer I want, I’m shootin’ him in the head,” I warn as I pull the gun away from her and aim it at her husband.

“She isn’t here! She doesn’t belong to us anymore,” she cries as tears fall down her cheeks.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“We sold her!”

“You what? To who?”

“He told us what she did, what she was. She was nothing but a whore! We couldn’t have that in our family. I wouldn’t allow it. Clark offered to take her off our hands. He said he would handle her.”

“You sold your fuckin’ daughter?” What the hell is wrong with these people? How the hell could they do something like this?

“She was a whore. We couldn’t have that clouding our name.”

“So you sold her?” Anger and fury run wild in my veins. My hand slowly begins to tremble as I think about what she’s saying. Hodge walks over and grabs my arm, lowering it to my side.

“They’re dead, Hodge. Both of them,” I state in a deadly tone.

“I know, Dad. I know, but we need to find her first.”

“They sold her. They fuckin’ sold their daughter,” I scream, and before I know what I’m doing, I walk over and punch the man in his face, and I don’t stop. I don’t stop until the guys are pulling me away from him.

“Car pullin’ up outside,” Remy informs us as he peaks through the blinds.

“Gag her,” I order, nodding toward her mom once more. Locke moves in and gags her as we all move closer to the door.

“Fuck, Gunner. It’s her and some man.”

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