Coyote steered the truck down a dusty road, but as it approached the town, he brought it to a stop. In the distance was a cluster of citizens, mostly men, huddled at a convenience store. The engine rattled as they sat there idling and Coyote drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel, debating whether to pull over. From the backseat, Armis and Gunner leaned forward while Domino sat in the front chewing his nails.
“I don’t like the look of that mob.” Domino rubbed his chin. “We should find a way around.”
“No.” Coyote’s voice rumbled with hesitation. “One of us should go over there and figure out why they’re congregated like workers on strike.”
Gunner shook his head, “Domino’s right. Let’s go around.”
“I’ll go,” Armis spoke up. “None of those people know who I am, but if they find out what you did,” he directed at Domino. “They might kill you. Not that I’m opposed, but apparently we need you alive.”
“I tell you what.” Coyote gripped the wheel. “We’ll pull off the road where we can’t be seen, Armis and I will go talk to those people and if things get itchy, the two of you come to the rescue. Sound like a plan?”
“No.” Gunner shook his head. “If we’re going to talk to them then we should all go. Besides, it might be good if they see a familiar face.”
Domino kept chewing his nails, his gaze focused on the crowd, yet at the same time not quite looking at them. It was clear his thoughts were spinning, Armis took the moment to taunt him.
“What’s the matter? Scared they might already know what you did?”
Domino jerked his head around and snarled, “You shut your mouth.”
But Armis kept going. “How many of their daughters and sisters did you also sacrifice to keep your girls safe?”
“I said shut up!”
Domino swung his fist into the backseat but Armis dodged causing the blow to go into Gunner’s shoulder.
“What the HELL!” he growled.
That’s when Armis whipped his rolled-up cape like a jump-rope over Domino and pulled it backward so it fastened onto his neck. Pressing his knees against the backseat, Armis used it as momentum to pull the makeshift noose tighter against Domino’s throat. It happened so quickly that Gunner and Coyote took a moment to register what exactly Armis was doing.
“Knock it off!” Gunner shouted, but Armis only pulled tighter.
“Let him go!” Coyote barked as Domino gasped for air, his face becoming redder.
“He needs to die,” Armis said through clenched teeth and squeezed harder.
However, Gunner and Coyote aimed their guns at him, and for a moment he called their bluff by pulling harder, but when Coyote cocked the hammer back, Armis finally released the cape. Free from the hold, Domin doubled forward, catching his breath.
“You know I’m right,” Armis said, his narrowed gaze flicking from Gunner to Coyote. “And you’ll both regret this moment.”
“You can’t pull a stunt like that again,” Coyote warned, but Armis raised his chin defiantly.
“I stand by what I said.”
“I swear, if you try that again, I won’t bother rescuing your sister. You’ll need to find your own way.”
“Sure, except you need me just as much as I need you.” Armis leaned forward, glaring. “You know I’m skilled. You know what I bring to the table, but I can’t say the same for this piece of sh--”
“Knock it off!” Gunner growled and slammed Armis backward.
When he tried fighting back, Gunner pinned him down and they wrestled for a bit, with arms and legs tangling, both of them bumping Domino and Coyote’s seats in the process.
“Lord have mercy…” Coyote face-palmed himself, but right then, Gunner managed to gain control and pin Armis down.
“That’s enough! If you and Domino can’t control yourselves, then I’ll walk too. I’ll go back to my peaceful life across the border and to hell with all of you!” Gunner shouted.
“Hey! I’ve been keeping my word,” Domino pointed into his chest. “He’s the one that won’t let it go.”
“And I never will!” Armis shouted, attempting to sit up, but Gunner pushed him down with a look of warning.
“Hey, hey!” Coyote pounded the headrest, grabbing their attention. “Quit dancing back there. We’ve got company.”
Releasing Armis, the two of them set their sights on the approaching armed mob. They marched with intent as small clouds of dust kicked up at their feet and the sharp edges of their weapons glinted like mirrors catching the sunlight.
“Get ready.” Gunner pumped his shotgun.
“Play it cool,” Coyote said as he checked the bullets in his pistol, keeping his movements steady under the steering wheel.
Meanwhile, Armis hovered his hands over his gun holsters, waiting for the moment to take action. If things went haywire, he could pump a bullet into Domino’s skull and blame it on the mob. However, it would be too obvious considering his very vocal loathing for the man. Instead, he swallowed the urge, but he wasn’t going to let it go. He would kill Domino at some point.
“Get out with your hands up!” The mob pointed their guns at the truck as they approached.
“Domino, you should step out and introduce yourself,” Coyote suggested, but then the two of them began whispering angrily at each other when he refused. “Just do it.”
“No.”
“You’re the only one they might know.”
“I don’t care.”
“Ay Dios mío…” Gunner rolled his eyes. “You don’t have a choice, Dom. You’re a resident of this area, therefore the mob will trust you more.”
However, they continued bickering while a man leading the pack stepped just a couple of feet closer and spoke for the group. “What’s your business here?”
The man stood unusually tall, at least six-foot-five. Although his age was questionable as the shade from his wide-brimmed hat hid his face. The deep rumble in his voice didn’t reveal much either. Coyote nodded to Domino as if saying, you know what you have to do.
“Screw it!” Armis said. “I’ll step out!”
“No, it should be Domino.” Coyote shook his head.
“I don’t see him stepping out, do you?” Armis challenged.
“I’m doing it!” Domino barked while snapping his head around to look Armis in the eyes. “I’m getting real tired of you boy! You think you’re some badass? You and your sister, gun-wielding and knife throwing? One day you’re gonna meet your maker and then we’ll see who’s tough!”
“Not before you meet yours,” Armis smiled as he relaxed against the seat. “How’s your neck?”
“Christ!” Gunner moaned. “This shit will never end.”
“Not until my sister is next to me safe and sound and this prick is six feet under,” Armis said.
Domino was about to counter as his mouth opened to respond, but a shotgun firing off not only caused the four of them to flinch, but also bring them back to the immediate danger.
“Come out!” the giant man ordered. “Hands up!”
“Couple of fools,” Coyote muttered as he cracked his neck and placed his fingers around the door handle. “Guess we all better get out. Slowly.”
With cautious movements, Coyote and Domino slid out first, then Gunner and Armis. Each of them held their hands up as swirls of dust and scattered leaves played in the space between them and the mob. A few crows cawed in the distance as they took flight from the electrical wires, as if they knew hell was about to break loose.
“My name is Domino,” he cleared his throat. “I own a wheat farm not far from here. These are my companions and we’re just passing through. We don’t want trouble.”
“Domino?” a voice said and the mob parted as a short petite woman dressed in car-grease stained coveralls, pushed forward. “The one with the snipping tower?”
“Yes ma’am.”
The tall man leading the pack motioned to the crowd to lower their weapons, but he kept his trained on the foursome.
“I worked on your tractor last year. Remember? I’m Luanne and Big Bobby was my husband, but I run his shop now.”
“Yes...” Domino nodded hesitantly, the memory still not clear. “Passed away from a heart attack?”
“Yes, two years ago.” She reached up and placed her hand on the tall man’s shoulder. “This is my son Brodie. You might remember him from playing football for Cascade High School.”
“Yes. Right…” Domino’s eyes squinted, studying him. “I listened to your games on the radio. If it wasn’t for the drought, you could have gone on to play college ball.”
“The drought has robbed us all of our dreams,” Brodie replied. “But that’s not the only thing.”
“He’s right,” Luanne chimed back in. “Them government men stormed in here and took my youngest, Savanah. In fact, they took all our girls! Dragged them from our homes kicking and screaming.”
“They took my girls too and his sister,” Domino pointed to Armis. “One of them said they were taking them to Boise, so that’s where we’re heading. They also have my nephew.”
“What do they want him for?” Brodie asked, and Domino inhaled a big breath but as he was about to speak, Armis stepped forward.
“Because my sister killed four government men in self-defense. Then they hunted us down and arrested her.” An ocean wave of whispers rolled over the crowd but Armis carried on. “Domino’s nephew, Corbin, tried to negotiate trading places with her, but when they refused he fought back, and they arrested them both.”
Brodie folded his arms. “She killed four of their men! So what the hell does that make you, vigilantes?”
“No. I’m just a man who would do anything to protect my little sister. Even cross a desert with bullet holes in me.” He lifted his shirt to reveal one of the wounds. “So you can join us and save your daughters, sisters, nieces, cousins, and whoever else they took from you because to bring them home, we’re going to need an army.”
A ripple of more whispers flowed from the people, but Brodie hollered over them, his arms out, urging them to quiet down. Then he spun to stare at the foursome again.
“Except, we got one problem gentlemen. Our destinations aren’t the same.”
“How so?” Domino asked.
“Prisoners don’t go to Boise. They go to Alcatraz, as in San Francisco. None of us here have any reason to go there, so looks like you’ve got a decision to make.”
Domino cut a sideways glance at Armis and rubbed his chin. “My daughters are in Boise, so...”
“And who’s fault would that be?” Armis muttered under his breath and panic flashed in Domino’s expression.
“Do y’all really think you can get into the hospital where they got our girls?” Luanne asked.
“Yes ma’am. Gunner and I have infiltrated secured buildings before.” Coyote nodded.
“Well, you’ll be doing it without me.” Armis launched a glop of spit on the ground near Domino and dragged his boot across it. “Because I’m heading for Alcatraz.”
“We need you.” Coyote turned to him. “And you said you need us too.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that no one else but me, has a reason to go to Alcatraz. So this is where we part ways.”
“What if you help us in Boise and we help you on Alcatraz?” Coyote replied. “Because to do this, we’re going to need as many skilled gunners as possible, even if I find you incredibly annoying.”
Hearing this, Brodie grunted. “What makes him so skilled? We don’t need him, let him go so he can find his sister.”
With a smirk, Armis rolled his head back, cracking his neck in the process. He swept aside his cape to reveal the hip holsters and slung both weapons from their pouches. They spun smoother than thread on a spool as he whirled them around his fingers. Then he placed one of them back in the left holster and fired it from the hip at Brodie’s hat, knocking it clear off. With the other gun in his hand, he aimed it at a crow on a wire, splitting its feathers like dust.
Silence swept over the crowd, with only the rustle of leaves on the whispering on the wind. Brodie smoothed a hand over his head, and his eyes grew wide with nakedness now that his hat was gone. “Did you shoot my hat!”
“I didn’t like it.” Armis spun the gun around his finger again, with a noticeable flinch from the tall brute, but he proceeded to put it back into the holster it came from.
“Did that answer your question?” Gunner asked, trying to contain his smile, and Luanne reached up to smack her son across the head.
“Alright fellas, I tell y’all what, if these men are going to help us get our girls back then we need to help them too because as soon as we infiltrate that hospital, it’s going to initiate a war.”
“Mama...” Brodie objected with a slight reprimanding tone, but Luanne wasn’t having it.
“All of you know I’m right! There is no way the government is going to let us walk away with our girls. They’re going to put up a fight and come after us. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m tired of the corruption. The only way it ends is if we stop it and there’s power in numbers. With that being said, if any of you want to back out--”
“Mama!” Brodie barked. “You are not going to Boise with us and you are certainly not going to Alcatraz!”
“Like hell, I’m not! You may have outgrown me boy, but I will bend you over my knee and give you a whooping if you think you can order me around!”
“Mama, I meant no disrespect…”
“Damn right.” She glared. “Now, if you want to stay home then you go ahead, but I am going with these men to Boise, and then San Francisco.”
“Mama, I need you to stop and really think this through.” Brodie rested his hands on her shoulders. “Like you said, as soon as we step foot into that hospital, we’re starting a war and we won’t be able to turn back.”
“I have thought this through.”
“You know I’ll do anything for Savi,” Brodie continued. “I will go into that hospital, guns blazing, but we have no business going to San Francisco. Saving his sister isn’t OUR fight.”
“Son, I thought I raised you better.” Luanne sighed as she reached up and caressed his cheek. “Don’t you understand that this has been a long time coming and we all need to stand up together and put an end to these barbaric laws being used against us? If we don’t fight, then the cycle will continue and one day you’ll have daughters that you’ll have to fear for too. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why are you going against me?”
“I’m not. I just can’t lose you too.’
“And I can’t sit around here waiting.” Turning to the rest of the group, Luanne sighed, “Listen, everyone, apprehension is understandable, and no one will judge you if you’re not up for the task. But for those who want to fight, just know we’re also going to help this young man find his sister.”
“Thank you.” Armis nodded.
“Well, it’s the least we can do since you’re helping us and you shouldn’t have to save her on your own. As for the rest of you, say your prayers now, say goodbye to whoever you need to because we’re going to war.”
An eruption of cheer went through the crowd, except from Brodie. He gathered his ripped hat from the ground, dusted it off, and shrunk away from the crowd. Then, once everyone was done introducing themselves, they marched back to the small market they came from.
Plans needed to be made so the foursome hopped back into the truck and followed them.
∆∆∆
At first, the hum of the helicopter’s propellers was too loud for Everleigh, but after a while, it faded into the background as she stared out of its windows in awe of the landscape below them. So far, Boss had not explained a word of where they were heading. She only knew she was still a prisoner, thanks to the explosives attached to her wrists.
But she wasn’t the only prisoner. The earth was also one, with its dry terrain deprived of water and the freedom to flourish. From the sky, Everleigh could see just how large the expanse of the desert was. On foot, its miles were deceiving, but from above, it was an ocean of endless sand.
Yet, she and Armis trekked across it, hoping to find a better future in Oregon. Neither of them anticipated just how dangerous it would it be. Or how desperate they would become and resort to terrible ideas liked kidnapping a water witcher.
The memory of it seemed so far away now. Maybe if they had ignored him in the cantina, instead of stalking him through the desert, they wouldn’t be in their predicament now? She wouldn’t be so far away from Armis and in handcuffs no less. Then again, if they hadn’t captured Corbin, then she never would’ve gotten to know him.
And he was worth getting to know.
She closed her eyes for a moment, picturing her brother’s face and then Corbin’s. They were her purpose. Her reason to survive and escape, which meant remaining vigilant for weaknesses in Boss. Try as he might, he couldn’t keep a watchful eye on her all the time, so she just needed to wait for that perfect moment.
Opening her eyes, she studied the landscape again. Small craters formed pockets in the earth and she remembered her father showing her a picture of the moon. Its surface was just as peppered with indentations as the desert.
“We’re flying over the sulfur deposits,” Boss shouted at her as if reading her thoughts. “There are countless abandoned mines around here. One’s I could easily toss your bony ass into.”
Laughter bubbled from his throat as he glanced at her over his shoulder, but she paid him no mind as she recalled Domino talking about the mines. He had asked Corbin if he still walked the Elephant—the Elephant being the sulfur deposits. The memory caused her eyes to go wide with a small sigh of relief escaping from within her chest.
Now she had an idea of where she was headed and she really hoped Boss was taking her to Boise because if he was, then Armis would know where to find her.
Maybe her opportunity to escape was revealing itself quicker than she thought?
***
A/N:
Thanks for reading the chapter and if you've been following the story, thanks for hanging in there :)
Where do you think Boss is taking Everleigh? Should Armis lay off of Domino? And what's up with this Brodie guy?
Please remember to vote and comment so I know if you like it or what you think so far.