Page 60 of Defending Our Ever After

Lincoln never could stand a bully, and back when I knew him, he had the size to stop anyone he needed to. I instinctively know, he died standing up for others.

“I’m lucky to have counted your brother as a friend,” I sincerely tell him. “Tyton and his men paid us a visit earlier today and we were hoping tofinishour discussion.”

“Can I approach?” Scott asks me. “I’d rather talk face-to-face.”

“I knew your father, but I don’t know you,” Lee interrupts before I can say anything else. “Both vehicles are mine, understand?”

“My people will keep their paws to themselves,” Scott answers after a brief silence.

With that, I open the door and step out. I motion for Banks to slide over, and at the same time, Javier pops open the back door and immediately shifts to the opposite side. That way he can cover the passenger side of the vehicle and I’ll have a chance of jumping in, if need be.

Scott steps out from between two homes, handing a small hand held radio to someone out of sight, and holds his rifle out to one side.

“Pleasantries later, if you don’t mind. We could use some of your firepower,” he says without preamble, and I understand the urgency.

“We were looking for the party, if you and your people wouldn’t mind pointing the way,” I tell him.

“Mind if my friend and I ride with you? We have some, well, gifts planted along some of the streets,” Scott says, waving out another man before I respond.

It takes me less than a minute to make up my mind. “You drive, I’m shotgun. Your friend sits behind you, and one of my people will be on the big gun in the back. You don’t know them, but Banks, Javier, and I made it across this country together. They’re family now. More than that, this isn’t the first town that Tyton has destroyed, so believe me when I say that we have a vested interest in taking him down.”

Banks was listening, so as soon I turned back to the vehicle, she jumps out and climbs into the exposed portion with the mounted gun. I immediately get back on the radio to let Lee know that we would be taking the lead, so he wouldn’t run into trouble.

Just as I finish giving Lee the update, I have a gun barrel in my face and from the corner of my eye, I see that Javier isn’t faring much better.

“Here’s my problem, Max,” Scott drawls out. “I haven’t seen you in nearly a decade, but you and Jace were inseparable back in the day. And, he has been strutting his ass all over town with Tyton.”

“That fucker’s dead,” Javier growls from the back seat and Scott raises an eyebrow at me. “My girl put him down a couple days back.”

“That true?” Scott asks me and I nod.

“Like you said, I haven’t been around in a long time. We stumbled upon some shit when we made it back, and it came down to us taking him down, or leaving it for his kids to do. I’d never let them wear that pain, so, yeah. Jace’s body is in his momma’s barn. His son is in the tank with Lee, if you want to ask him about what happened. If you don’t, get that fucking gun out of my face.”

“About that,” Scott replies, giving me a smile. “We’re out of ammo, I don’t suppose you have any to spare, do ya?”

“I’ll think about it,” I tell him. “Now, why don’t you start driving before we miss the party?”

He drives up on a lawn to pull in front of Lee and starts winding through the town. I quickly notice the pattern he’s taking; two lefts, straight for a block, then another left, before he repeats that again.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard, but the town split into factions as soon as we realized help wasn’t coming. One group decided to leave before winter came. That left two main groups: one barricaded themselves inside an area of town and would ration all the supplies to their people. We stayed outside of the barricade. About every week, some of us would get together to exchange news. Then Tyton’s forward team started infiltrating the area, and sowed a lot of misinformation, exploiting our worst fears. That’s when we pulled back and waited to see what would happen.” He starts telling us what happened almost as soon as he hits the gas.

“We were all in bad shape by January, when they got here they just rolled in like saviors.” As he continues to talk, I notice the pack at my feet and I reach into it, grabbing a couple of sandwiches that Elsbeth had sent along for us, and hand them over. Scott and his friend inhale them. I only have my canteen with me, so I pass that over, knowing they’ll need to wash the food down with something.

“Those of us who weren’t imprisoned, we’d been picking off their men, but waiting for our chance. It was when we saw that big group of them heading up the mountain this morning, we converged on their headquarters.”

“Target!” Banks yells from her spot in the back.

It only takes me one glance to see the now familiar, red eagles that Tyton’s men have adopted, and before I know it, Scott is aiming our vehicle toward the six trucks.

“No,” I call out. “Pull over and let Lee get around us.”

“Oh, right,” Scott responds sheepishly, as I grab the mic for the radio.

“You want to handle this?” I ask Lee and I can hear the glee in his voice as he responds.

A single shot rings out above our heads, just as Scott makes way for the tank, and before I can call back to question Banks’s decision, I see the lead vehicle swerve to the side and the second one crashing into its rear bumper.

“Show off,” Javier mutters.

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