Being Butch Green || ✓

Chapter 35 - A Stranger Returns

The large black helicopter stalled for a moment as it hovered over the small cabin. I peered up slightly, not wanting to move in case they saw me. It looked like a private military helicopter, with rotating machine guns either side of the body. What looked like a rocket launcher lay fixed to its underbelly.

I gulped, a solid rock forming in the back of my throat. It swayed, threatening to turn into spew the longer it sat there. I took a fleeting look at Joe who was muttering under his breath furiously; his eyes squeezed tightly shut. I frowned, wondering what on earth he was doing.

"Are you praying?" I quietly asked.

He flicked an eyeball open at me angrily. "Do you want to die!?"

I squinted at him before speaking in a low, unsure tone. "No...do you?"

"Fuck no!" he quietly hissed back.

"Both of you," Hailey whispered, raising her hands slightly. "Shut the fuck up!"

I bit my cheek, settling back down again and watching the flying machine as it clouded my view of the rolling clouds. It felt like forever by the time the massive bird had finished inspecting the house and flown off. In a jiffy, Joe was on his feet ordering us to do the same as he sprinted down the porch steps.

"Get to the shed! NOW!" he demanded, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a colourful array of keys.

Hurriedly, and without much thought, we sprang to our feet, racing after him to the massive shed. He fumbled with the lock, eventually inserting the right chunk of carved metal. Upon unlocking it, he pulled the door open with a heave.

"What's going on!?" I urged Joe, desperate to understand why the helicopter had been searching his small estate. It couldn't have been for us. Galgort couldn't possibly have found us yet. I tried to grab a hold of his bicep so I could pull him aside, but he shrugged me off and raced inside.

"They must know," he reiterated over his shoulder as he disappeared into the metal hut.

"Must know what!?" I shouted after him, reluctantly following him in.

I stopped short, gazing around the shed in amazement. It was filled with all types of secret detective equipment; the kind of stuff you would see in the back of a van in those crime movies. Lights blinked like cats in the night as a million voices talked at different quietened paces. My eyes fixed themselves to Joe as he rushed towards a small radio communication device in the corner and dialled it up.

He slid smoothly into an awaiting chair, grabbing a headset and pulling it over his head. "Mayday, mayday! Come in!"

A crackle of static silence ensured.

"Who the fuck are you calling?" I yelled at him.

Seconds passed by the time a response came crackling through.

"Over," Joe said again, nodding before continuing. "Agent Maverick here. We're in need of assistance. Helicopter at," he looked down at his watch, "nine-o-three am. Not ours. Here with fugitives."

"Fugitives!" I yelled, waltzing angrily towards Joe and shutting the dial off. "Fugitives!?" I repeated, grabbing Joe's headset off him. "Who are you!?"

"What the fuck, dude? I'm trying to help you!"

"Help you my ass!" I took a step back, huffing angrily at him.

"Look, I know who you are," he snapped, snatching the headset out of my shocked hand. "And if I don't call in backup we're all going to die."

"What kind of backup?" Hailey asked over my shoulder.