Purge (Death Crusaders Motorcycle Club) (12 page)

“Jen, are you hurt?” Blade
asks. “Jen…talk to me.”

When I don’t answer right
away Blade addresses Piper. “Go make sure we don’t get ambushed on the way out
of here. This is going to take a while.”

I hear Piper walking away
down the hall. His boots are clumping in the hard wood surface. His motorcycle
boots are almost as loud and the banging of my heart against my sternum. The
constant smell of blood is beginning to make me nauseated. I try not to
concentrate on it but the smell is too strong.

“Bathroom.” I gasp. “Where’s
bathroom.”

Blade practically picks me up
and carries me to the end of the hall to the bathroom. I collapse again, this
time in front of the toilet and begin retching. Blade is good enough to hold my
hair out of the toilet and my face for as long as needed. After the fourth
round of dry heaves I begin to wish I had something in my throat to puke up.
I’ve just finished my last heave when I hear a squeak. There’s a mouse in here.
I get my head out of the toilet to look around when I hear it again, but this
time it sounds more like a soft cry. Both Blade and I look at the opaque shower
curtain. Blade motions for me to open it and he points his gun. I whip back the
curtain. Curled up in the tub is none other than Anna’s little brother. He must
be all of nine years old. Sadly today he’s going on forty after what he must
have heard or seen.

“It’s okay sweetie.” I say to
the terrified boy. He glances up at Blade who is still pointing his gun at the
boy. “Put that thing away!” I snap at him.

“Sorry.”

“Come here sweetie.” I say to
the boy as I reach out to him. “We’re on your side honey. We’ll keep you safe.”

“Are they…t-they d-dead?”

“I’m so sorry honey, there
was nothing anyone could have done and especially not you. If you had been in
that room with them you’d be…you’d be dead too.”

“I didn’t call.” He says
softly.

“What do you mean?” I ask as
I kneel down in front of him.

“I-I was too scared.” He
says.

“It wouldn’t have mattered.”
I reply.

“I could have called 911 but
I hid instead and now they’re dead because of me.”

“No,” I say firmly. “They’re
dead because of some psycho with a gun. If you would have called 911 they would
have heard you and killed you too. So it would not have helped to call anyone.”

I reach out to him again.
“Now we have to leave sweetie, just in case they come back or any other bad
guys come here to make sure the…the job is done.”

“Come one kid.” Blade tries.
“If they come back we’re all dead so let’s get out of here. There’s nothing we
can gain by staying here.”

“Can I say goodbye?” The boy
asks.

“What’s your name sweetie?” I
ask him.

“Michael…well my friends call
me Mikey.”

“Well we’re your friends so
can I call you Mikey?”

He nods.

“Okay Mikey here’s what we’re
going to do. I’m going to carry you out and I want you to close your eyes and
do not open them until I say it’s okay. Do you understand?”

He nods again and comes to
me. I pick him up and try not to groan. The kid’s heavy. As we walk out I cover
his eyes just in case he accidently opens them. As we exit the house Blade and
Piper are on high alert. Too often killers return to the scene of the crime and
while I’m pretty sure it’s too early for that, there may be other bad guys
around here. Blade and I and the kid get into the Land Rover and this time Piper
takes Blade’s truck that we abandoned here earlier. Turns out that was a bad
move. Whoever killed the boy’s family probably ran the plates on every vehicle
parked near here. We take off down the road for about a half mile when Blade
pulls off the side of the road and signals for Piper to join us.

“What’s up boss?” Piper asks
as he walks up.

Blade turns to me. “Stay with
him for a minute.” Blade instructs and gets out of the car. They walk just out
of earshot and begin talking. After a minute they come back and Blade motions
for me to join him. Piper takes over my kid-sitting duties.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“We’re trying to figure out
what to do with the kid. Someone just murdered his whole family to keep a
secret. They have to be wondering where the boy’s uncle and father must be and
they’re sure to be looking for them. Anna may not have told anyone else what
happened but they won’t want to take that chance. We need to find the kid’s dad
and uncle before it’s too late. We’ll use the kid to help us locate them and
when we do you’ll stay outside in the truck while we take care of business
inside.”

I nod. “That sounds good.
Let’s get to it.”

Piper returns to his vehicle
and Blade and I to the SUV. Blade starts the engine and I turn to the boy.

“Mikey, can you tell us where
your dad and your uncle would be right now?”

“What’s wrong?” He asks. “Are
they in danger? You gotta help them please…”

“Of course we will.” I reply.
“Where would they be right now?”

“They work together for
Donald and Son’s at the construction site on 23
^rd
.”

“Thanks kid.”

Blade picks up speed and I
pray that we’re not too late. After a few minutes we slow down and Blade
addresses Mikey.

“This the one kid?” He asks.

“Yeah…I think so…”

“Shit!” Suddenly Blade steps
on the gas and I see for the first time what’s got him worked up.

There’s an ambulance and two
cop cars parked at the end of the construction site. This can’t be good.

“Why don’t you get out and
see what’s going on?” Blade asks.

I nod and get out. “It’s
probably just a coincidence.” I tell Mikey. “I’ll be back in a second and with
you dad.”

My heart pounds in my chest
as I approach the group of officers, construction workers, and emergency
workers. I walk up to a man and start up a conversation.

“So what happened here?”

“Dude just fell off from the
tenth floor.”

“What happened to his safety
harness?”

“Probably unhooked it.”

“What ever for?”

“Sometimes you just get
tangled up and it’s easiest to just unclip to sort it out then clip back
again.”

I weave my way through the
crowd until I get to where the fallen construction worker is lying. I say a
silent prayer hoping against hope that it’ll be someone else lying there and
not the two we’re looking for. The unlucky worker is still lying on his back,
twisted in an odd position. Clearly his spine has broken else that position
would be unattainable. Surprisingly there’s no blood at all. He just looks like
someone who just fell asleep.

“What happened?” I asked the
closest man to me.

He starts to grunt something
derogatory before catching site of me. He swallows the remark on the tip of his
tongue as his slippery eyes wander up and down my body. Suddenly I feel the
need for a hot shower.

“He fell.” The pervert says.

“I hear guys unhook their
harnesses sometimes up there.”

“Are you from the insurance
company?” He asks, eyeballing me again.

“Do I look like I’m from the
insurance company?”

“You’re the union rep then?”
He asks, skeptically.

“I’m just a concerned
citizen.” I reply. “I also got a brother who works here so…”

“He didn’t unhook himself
then.” The man says.

“What do you mean, of course
he did. The safety harness thingy is right there still clipped to his belt.”

“Sometimes guys will unhook
to maneuver around or disentangle themselves but they always do it at their
belt, not at the end of the harness that is clipped to whatever platform
they’re working on. That dude still thought he was clipped. Somebody unhooked
him then gave him a little bump.”

“Who’d wan-”

I stop mid-sentence. Standing
on the edge of the crowd of people opposite me is a man in a foreman’s hardhat.
His face is in the shadows so I can’t see who it is but one thing strikes me as
odd. He’s also dressed differently than those around him. Just about everyone
has on these yellowish or tan work boots and his are black; almost like
motorcycle boots. He does have on an orange reflective safety vest and a white
foreman’s helmet. He’s wearing black jeans and a black tee shirt. The other
foreman’s are wearing blue jeans and button down shirts with the company logo
on the pocket. This guy is too different.

“Who is that guy?” I ask my
new friend.

He looks to where I’m
pointing. “He’s a foreman.”

“What’s his name?”

“No idea. Guys like him are
all over the place. They’ve been working night and day pushing us to meet a new
impossible deadline. Half them sleep here. It’s like they gotta prove they work
harder than us or something.”

“He kinda looks too-”

“Clean.” We both say at the
same time.

I’m just about to make
another remark when the guy takes a half step forwards before turning to leave.
For a split second his face is highlighted by the bright sunlight.

“Holy shit!” I gasp.

“What?” The man next to me
asks.

“I know that guy and he’s no foreman
or even a construction worker…”

“Well who the hell is he?”

“I gotta go.” I reply.

I step forwards and lift up
the yellow crime scene tape thinking I’ll just duck under it, run across the
opening, and maybe catch up to Mark before he disappears into the crowd. I get
about two steps when I feel a strong hand on my shoulder.

“Oh no you don’t.”

I turn around and it’s a real
foreman.

“Sorry miss, but you gotta go
around.”

“Oh yeah…sorry about that.”

“No problem.” He says.

As he turns to go I sprint
for the other side of the circle of people.

“Stop!” The foreman yells.

I don’t bother to slow down
as I get to the edge of the yellow tape and the rest of the crowd. I duck but
still catch the plastic tape on my forehead and for one long agonizing second I
think the stuff is going to hold. My back arches as my legs continue forward.
Just as I’m about to lose my balance the tape gives way and I lurch forwards
and disappear into the crowd grateful that no one decided to be a hero and
catch the fleeing girl. I elbow and push my way through the throng until I
burst out into the open. I look back behind me but no one is following. I look
all around me but Mark is nowhere is sight. I continue walking through the
construction site until I get to the end of the block where it ends but still
no Mark. In fact I’m beginning to wonder if I really even saw him. What would
he be doing here anyway?

I step onto the sidewalk and
turn to go back to where Blade is parked when I catch sight of a white
foreman’s hardhat. I pick it up and wadded up underneath is the bright orange
safety vest. Now I am more convinced than ever that Mark was here after all.
And now that fucker is in the wind and he knows we’re after him. He’s gonna be
hard to find. One more thing pops into my head. I totally forgot to ask who the
man was that fell to his death. Not only did I tip Mark off that we’re after
him but I failed to find out if the victim here is one of the two men we’re
looking for. What a clusterfuck that was. I walk back down the sidewalk head
hung in defeat. Because of me there are bodies stacking up and one more just
fell to his death. I’m pretty sure
his
blood as well is on my hands.

I get about halfway down the
block when a sudden screech of tires jars me out of my pity party. My head
jerks up in alarm. I turn towards the street just in time to see a white van
next to me. Remembering my anti kidnapper training from years back, I
immediately turn around to walk back the opposite direction the van was
travelling. The logic is that you can do a U-turn a lot faster than a car can
and it gives you invaluable time to escape. Problem is, by the time I pulled my
head out of my ass and saw the van it’s too late. The doors pop open and out
jump two men. One of them has a large black bag which he raises over his head.
I lift my arms up but the other guy grabs them a split second before the black
smelly bag goes down over my head and all the way down to my elbows. Suddenly a
fist slams into my stomach causing me to gasp for breath. All it takes is one
huge breath and I start to black out. The last thing I smell and taste are the
foul chemicals inside the bag and I’ve just inhaled them deep into my lungs.
What a perfect end to a bad day.

Chapter Fourteen

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

I don’t know what makes me
finally wake up; the foul stench coming off the burlap bag still over my head
or the careening van I’m still holed up in. A sudden turn tosses me like a rag
doll against the side of the van where I smack my head against something hard.
I bite back a scream and pretend to still be passed out while I figure out how
to get myself out of this situation. I’m sure Blade and Piper are running
around like crazy looking for me by now but there’s no way they’re going to
know I’m holed up in a white delivery van. I need to give them a clue that will
lead them to me. I reach up to scratch my nose and I suddenly realize my hands
are nearly free. It just takes a minute to get the duct tape off my right hand.
First order of business, scratch my nose. Then I slowly reach up and pull the
bottom of the bag up far enough so I can see out. I’m in the delivery van still
but there’s a wire mesh barrier between me and the driver and passenger.
There’s a chance I can kick the back door open and get out before they can even
stop the van and come around to the back to stop me. I do wonder though why
they didn’t just kill me right there on the sidewalk. Keeping me alive makes no
sense at all. I look around the inside of the van. There are no windows and no
sliding side door. There’s just the double doors at the back end. I just don’t
know if I have the strength to kick them open. I guess we’ll-”

“Shit, she’s awake!” Exclaims
one of my captors. “I told ya we should have give her something extra.”

“Relax, says a familiar
voice. “She ain’t going anywhere.”

That was Mark’s voice.

“I also told ya we should
have just wasted her right then and there. I don’t understand why we gotta keep
her alive anyway.”

“She’s my ex.” Mark replies.

“So…my ex is dead but if I
saw her waltzing down the street one afternoon I’d blow the bitches head clean
off and I wouldn’t be sorry about it neither.”

“You’re so full of shit. You
can say that now because the bitch is dead and you don’t have to back your
mouth up. I’m telling you, she ain’t gonna talk. She’s not stupid. Right Jen?”
Mark asks, looking back at me.

“If I was going to rat on you
Mark I would have done it the second I got back in town and found out what you
did.”

“See,” Mark says to his
buddy. “She’s an honest girl.”

“Where are you taking me?” I
ask Mark.

“We’re going to find a
companion for you so you’re not so lonely back there.”

“What do you mean?”

“We gotta pick somebody up.
He wasn’t where he’s supposed to be so we’re looking for him.”

“Back at that construction
site, was that guy’s fall an accident?”

“He stuck his nose where it
didn’t belong.” The other man answers. “So we had to deal with him. Now shut up
so I can drive.”

I’m about to complain when I
see a familiar vehicle; a Land Rover. But there are a lot of these on the streets
so this one may not be Piper’s. The Land Rover is pulling up to the
intersection on our left. We’re at a four way stop. The car to our right is
pulling across the lane.

“Wait a second.” Mark says.
“That Land Rover looks familiar.”

“There’s a million of them on
the road.” I observe.

“Yeah but not everyone has a
Harley sticker on the passenger rear window. I think that’s Blade and his
crew.”

We start to pull into the
intersection when the Land Rover beats us to the punch and enters the roadway.
Just when the vehicle gets even with us Blade just happens to turn to look our
way. Immediately his eyes pop and he points at Mark and yells something to
Piper. The chase is on.

Mark’s buddy hits the gas and
makes a hard right, sending me slamming against the side. My shoulder strikes
something hard and pain goes shooting through my limb.

“Take it easy!” I scream at
the driver.

“No can do sweetheart. Those
friends of yours catch us and we’re dead meat. You think if I scream take it
easy they’re gonna go easy on us?”

I shake my head.

“Yeah…I don’t think so.”

“Come on Mark.” I plead. “You
and Blade, you’re brothers. He’s not going to do anything to you.”

“Yeah and I got his old lady
hostage. How do you think this is going to play out?”

I know exactly how this is
going to finish. Blade is going to kill both men. The driver may be executed,
but for Mark’s betrayal he may end up being tortured or something. You just
don’t do this to an old lady; especially not the President’s old lady. They’re
both dead men.

Suddenly the driver slams on
his brakes and I go tumbling up against the wire mesh barrier that separates
the back compartment from the front driver’s compartment. If I don’t die in a
car crash I may just die from tumbling around in here. I feel like a rag doll
that’s been tossed into a dryer on high heat. Not only am I being bruised from
head to toe but it must be a hundred and ten degrees back here. My clothes are
sticking to my body and sweat is running down into my eyes making them burn.

“Can somebody please open a window?”
I holler.

“A little busy up here.” Mark
shouts back.

“Oh com-”

My sentence is cut short by a
metallic pop pop pop and three air holes magically appear in the side of the
van. Sunlight streams in adding a little light to my darkened prison.

“Stop shooting!” I scream
uselessly. There’s no way Piper or Blade can hear me.

“Scream a little louder Jen,
I don’t think they heard.” Mark replies.

“Either that or they don’t
give a damn.” The driver says. “Maybe we shou-”

A sudden explosion of glass
shuts the man up momentarily. The van slows a little, before a barrage of
gunfire deafens me. Guns are loud enough but when in a confined space there’s
nowhere for the sound to go but straight into your skull.

“What are you doing?” I
scream at the driver. “You can’t shoot and drive. You’re going to get us
killed.”

“I can fucking multi-task so
just shut the fuck up already.”

“Red light, red light, red
light…”Mark shouts to his partner.

The driver hits the brakes
again. The tires scream in protest as we skid into the middle fo the
intersection. But instead of coming to a stop he makes a hard left and our four
wheeled coffin actually comes up off of two wheels. For a split second it feels
like my world suddenly stops and we’re just hanging there on two wheels in the
middle of the street. I look out the front window and I can see the startled
faces of other motorists who are also caught in the sudden violence of the
afternoon. There’s a woman in the crosswalk who doesn’t even lift up her head.
She is completely oblivious to everything that’s going on around her. She
doesn’t even see the man lunging at her trying to get her out of the path of a
car that has swerved to avoid our van. Directly in front of us is a small two
door Honda Civic with two people in it. The driver is an Asian woman in her
twenties and the other is a white man in his forties with a clipboard. His
pencil is poised to leave a remark but our van which is about to end up in his
lap has shaken his concentration.

To our left, just off the
driver’s window is a familiar Land Rover. Blade is leaning out the window but
his shot gun is cartwheeling out of his hands and the look of shock on his face
is almost comical. Their car is on a collision course for a cyclist who picked
the absolute worst time on earth to
not
follow the rules of the road and
enter the intersection despite a caution light. He is staring right at Piper
who is gripping the steering wheel like his life depends on it. Actually a
twenty-five year old bicyclist’s life depends on it instead.

For what seems like five
seconds everyone is frozen in time. Then at the end of the appointed time a pin
drops and it’s chaos all over again. The oblivious woman in the cross walk is
tackled and dragged to the side of the road in the nick of time. The white man
in the Honda Civic grabs the wheel from the young woman and yanks with all his
might causing the small car to swerve out of the way just in time. Blade’s shot
gun eludes his grasping hands and falls to the street below. The cyclist
finally looks up in surprise and makes a sudden correction that puts him out of
harm’s way and we go shooting across the intersection narrowly avoiding the
mayhem we caused by our presence.

I find my voice again.

“Just let me out!” I scream.
“Can’t you pop the back door and let me out?”

“Not from the inside.” Mark
hollers back.

I open my mouth to lodge
further protest when we hit what must be one hell of a big speed bump. My body
suddenly becomes airborne and it feels like I’m in outer space for a split
second. Then my head strikes the van’s ceiling with an audible thud and I go
crashing painfully to the floor in a heap.

“That fucking hurt!” I shout.
“Can’t you be more careful?”

“Here comes another one.”
Mark yells.

“Another what?” I ask just as
I go weightless one more time.

I grab for anything that will
anchor by body to the floor but one more time I receive a nasty knock on the
head before falling with a thud on the floor.

“Can’t you take another
route?” I ask. “That seems like a reasonable request.”

“Are you kidding me?” The
driver asks.

“Sorry,” Mark begins. “She
can be a little hard to stomach.”

“You think?” His partner
replies. “Is this really the broad you used to date?”

“Yeah, can you believe it?”

“No, I can’t.”

“Yeah I know.” Mark replies.
“It’s times like these that makes me wonder what the hell was I thinking?”

“I’m right here you know.” I
but in.

“Oh shit!” Swears the driver.
“I think this is them, coming up on inside, two cars back.”

Mark turns around to look. “I
don’t see them.”

“Look again because I think I
saw them again.”

Mark looks again. “No I don-”
Then he catches himself. “Oh shit, you’re right, it is them. You gotta lose
them. We’re not going to be able to shoot our way out of this one.”

“Hang on.” The driver warns.
“This might get a little rough.”

“
Now
it might get
rough?” I ask incredulously. “What was that back there?”

“That was a hiccup. Now shut
up so I can concentrate.”

“A hiccup my ass…”

I look around the back of the
van for something to grab onto but there’s really nothing. The only thing is
the wire mesh that separates the driver’s compartment from the back
compartment. I hook my fingers into the tiny holes and hope for the best.

Our van comes to a screeching
halt, mashing me up against the mesh screen before the driver jams on the gas
again as he turns left as sharp and the van will allow. I squeeze my fingers
painfully during the U-turn but lose my grip completely when he punches the gas
as we come out of the turn. I go summersaulting backwards into the double doors
at the back of the van. To my shock and utter amazement they fly open on impact
and I land hard on the pavement below.

I’m told that if you are
about to be thrown from a moving car or train you should tuck in your limbs,
wrapping your arms around your head to prevent further injury. I had no time to
prepare and when I go flying out I look like a monkey with all four limbs
shooting out in opposite directions. Fortunately we weren’t going very fast.
The driver had just hit the gas seconds before so we maybe were going twenty
when I spilled out.

My first instinct is to just
lie there examining my body for wounds but I have to get out of here. Mark is
going to realize I fell out in two seconds and they’re going to come back for
me. I get to my knees, then I slowly force myself to a standing position. I
look down the road and sure enough, the white van skids to a halt. I turn to
run and just about bowl over a man with a cell phone.

“I saw it all.” He says.
“Here’s my card if you need a witness.”