Page 73 of CHASE: Captive to the Dark

Chase

Some things came natural to me—honor, loyalty, trust. But where there was good, there was something deep within I allowed no one to see. It was my demons. Ones I only let out to tease when I’d done things like I had with Kit. But it was just that...a tease. They tormented me. Tortured to get out on a daily basis. There was no fear concerning what they were capable of. I’d accepted all the possibilities long ago. Shooting a man in the face at close range when you’re young will do something to you. It’ll either destroy your entire makeup, or it will reaffirm your purpose—give you strength.

Murder wasn’t something a person should be proud of, but in this town, raised as I was, Abe taught me to embrace the way we had to survive. And when the time came to step up and take care of business, nothing else mattered. Family. The importance was always pounded into my head. Now that I had one, the realization had never been so clear. I’d protect, and I’d kill to do so. I’d also lie. Which was in Kit’s best interest. As it was for all the wives and people who weren’t directly involved.

Brake lights flashed in the distance and I pushed the accelerator even harder, passing Dennis in his patrol car as he pulled over to the shoulder. Having him watch us in the distance had been the best decision I ever made. After all, this was the way it was meant to be. He was one of us…on my side, not Jim’s.

The true difference between us—not the drugs. Just because I didn’t want to have involvement didn’t mean I wouldn’t oversee the operation as my men did. It was their choice. Not one I was going to force them into like Jim and Rory. I also wasn’t going to allow the substances to be in this town. One sign of use from my men—death, and they knew it. This was a business, not a fucking free ride to fix an addiction. Our economy was our reason, but also our excuse. It gave our wives something to focus on. Something to believe in other than the obvious. It was our cover—a group of men searching for ways to keep this place afloat. Little things here and there to prove our accomplishments were working. It was perfect. After all, who would suspect a former priest? A man who really was interested in changing our town for the better and willing to go out there to prove it? No one. I was two people. One everyone looked up to. The other, the true savior of Untold by any means possible.

Faster, my SUV went, as I gained on the red truck headed for the fork. To the right would take him my home—a dead end. Left would put him on the path right past Kit’s hotel and toward the ghost town of Cedar. Out here, he was helpless. He was mine.

I slowed around the turn, glancing in my rearview mirror as Dennis kept pace behind me. We were getting closer. It wouldn’t be long now.

“Come on, motherfucker.” The weight of my gun on my leg had me reaching for it. I was in shooting distance now, but I wasn’t going to merely blow out his window. My shot was too good for that.

I rolled down the window, focusing on his tire, matching up the sights where I knew my gun needed to go. His brakes being slammed threw my focus and I jerked the wheel, moving into the other lane beside him, already rolling the other window down, too. With no on-coming traffic, I jumped up closer. A hand holding a gun thrusted out the window and I didn’t think as I veered my vehicle into his. The back end of the truck slid off the road, throwing up dirt and rocks, but I didn’t ease off. I followed through, watching as the truck veered even more, clipping a tree with the bed. The tree snapped at the force, swinging the front around to collide with another. The jolt brought the vehicle to a stop and I didn’t wait as I threw the SUV in park and jumped out. I brought my gun up to point at the dazed stranger, racing in his direction.

“Hands up,” Dennis shouted behind me, but I knew he wasn’t talking to me.

“Who the fuck are you?” I jerked the door open, cocking my gun as the man’s hand patted around his lap for his own. I didn’t see it, but I didn’t doubt it fell free of his grasp upon impact.

“Answer me,” I pushed the barrel into the side of his head, hard. “What is your name and who sent you?”

At his silence, I un-cocked the gun, bringing my hand back to smash the end into the side of his face. One blow. Two. Three. I was thirsty for his blood. I wanted to see it oozing from his mouth and nose, but it wasn’t enough.

“Get off me!” The man tried to lunge to the opposite side, but his seatbelt prevented him.

“Who sent you!” Again, I slammed the gun into his face, automatically coming back to wrestle his arm away from allowing him to try to get free. “You want to do this the hard way, that’s perfectly fine with me. I’m actually looking forward to it. Dennis!” I glanced back, barely able to hold in my excitement. “I’ll cuff him, then follow me to my house.”

The radio on his shoulder went off in the background and words jumbled as I wrestled the large man free of his seatbelt. In one hard jerk, I ripped him out of the truck, pinning him to the ground as Dennis handed me his handcuffs.

“I’ll call Jerry to come tow the truck. How’s yours?”

I turn to look at my SUV while I fastened the cuffs and pulled him to stand.

“It’s drivable.”

Dennis looped his arm through the man’s as he began to thrash with amazing strength. Yells and threats echoed, but I paid him no mind as I took in his size. He was far from average, just an inch or two shorter than my height. But he had weight on him. At least a good thirty pounds heavier than myself. What he wore gave me the impression he was a local. A lot of people in our town wore flannel and he wasn’t an exception. Red and black stripes stretched across his wide chest while we managed to get him to the car.

“We need to secure him better. You got him while I pop the trunk?”

“He’s not going anywhere.”

“Fuck you, motherfucker!” The man threw his weight forward as Dennis let go, stumbling and slamming into the patrol car. Anger had me kicking the side of his knee with all my strength. A deep yell exploded from his mouth as his body jerked in an odd angle.

“Oh….God! You broke my knee. Fuck, you broke my knee!”

“And I’m about to break the other, right along with every other bone in your body.” I pulled at his shirt as I brought him back over to me. Painful sounds poured from his mouth and he swayed to try to keep standing.

“Get him in.”

Dennis walked over as I shoved the man in the backseat and threw myself on top of him. Even with the injured leg, the stranger fought to try to prevent the inevitable. It didn’t work. Dennis managed to zip-tie his legs together and secure them to the handcuffs so he couldn’t kick. Agonizing screams tore through the interior repeatedly.

“My leg! Let me go! I promise I won’t fight. My leg!”

I shut the door, turning to the new sheriff.

“Once you drop him off, head back to work. As far as you know, his truck was abandoned on the side of the road. This never happened.”

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