Page 39 of Killer Moonshine

“Hugo! My man, long time no hear,” smirked Ghost.

“Fuck you. You want me. Well, you can find me in two days’ time.”

“Two days? Wow, I can already feel the anticipation,” smirked Gaspar. “And pray tell, where should we meet you?”

“It’s an animal rescue center,” he said calmly. The men all stilled, staring at one another. “Hello? Are you there?”

“We’re here. Why an animal rescue center? You into hurting animals now, Hugo?” asked Gaspar carefully.

“You guys are such assholes. If you could contemplate how much I despise you, you would be shocked.”

“Probably not, but please enlighten us,” said Ian.

“Contrary to what you believe, I don’t want to harm innocent humans.”

“You’re right, I don’t believe that,” said Nine. “But you’re willing to harm innocent animals?”

“They’re fucking animals. Old. Buying time until they die. I don’t give a shit. If you want to meet me, you can find me at the Last Chance Animal Sanctuary.” Gaspar looked at the men and frowned.

“We know that place, but you usually have to have a personal invite.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Well, I promised a sizeable donation to a college kid working out there, and she got the university to give me an invite.”

There was a light tap on the windows, and Gaspar jumped, staring at the image of his mother and father with a big smile on their faces. His father gave a thumbs up, and Gaspar held in the laughter.

“Okay. We’ll meet you there. Then what? Are we supposed to believe you’ll come with us peacefully, Hugo?”

“I’m willing to talk,” he said with confidence. “Meet me at the giraffe enclosure at 0800 in two days’ time.”

“0800. That’s eight a.m. for you civilians, right?” grinned Ghost.

“You have no idea how much I hate you guys.” He ended the call, and Ghost raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, I think we know exactly how much he hates us. I wonder how he’s going to get the Samaan family on the island?”

“I’ll guess that they’ll either swim or think they can just walk through,” said Nine. “We need to have someone on our team at the gate. Maybe Teddy. They would never expect an old man to be with us.”

“We are old men,” grinned Ghost.

“Fine. Older man.” Nine stared at Ian, who looked like he was a million miles away. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. This shit happening with the kids. Something feels off, but not wrong if that makes sense.”

“I know what you’re saying,” said Gaspar. “They don’t seem to feel any danger, but they’re definitely feeling something. Those kids have amazing instincts, and we’re only now getting to know their true genius. If they say something is wrong, I have to believe that.”

“The question is, what is wrong? And is it a danger to all of us?” asked Nine.

“I guess we’re going to find out.”

“Where are we?” asked his wife.

“I’m not positive, but I think we’re in north Louisiana. I think we’re okay to rest for the night, maybe even a day or two. There’s no one around, and we haven’t seen or heard anything following us for nearly a week now.”

She nodded, leaning against him. They were all exhausted. When they knew where they were going, the exact location, they would be able to send a few people ahead to ask for permission to meet with the men of REAPER or whatever they were calling themselves now.

All he could do was pray that they would remember him. Or at least respect who he was. Without their help, their band of misfits would all die.

“Can we start a fire?” asked one of the men.

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