Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“There’s a couple outbuildings on Cole’s father’s property. He’s probably holding her there.”
“How far away from the main house?” Abe’s on the move. He kneels down next to his bed and pulls a long arm out. “I got a handgun, too. Which one do you want to use?”
“Neither. I’m a fists guy myself.”
Abe gives me a skeptical look.
I shrug. “When you’re carrying a weapon, every criminal act is bumped up to a felony.”
Abe lets out a choked laugh. “Take this then. You point and shoot. Can’t miss with a shotgun. It won’t kill them either if you’re worried about that. Would’ve thought a gang member was handy with a gun.”
“I can hold my own,” I promise, but I take the shotgun and head out the door. Abe is right behind me. He veers over to the cab of his truck and climbs up on the passenger side. A few moments later, he joins me with a Glock tucked into his hand.
I drive, and he holds the shotgun between his legs with the Glock resting on the dashboard.
“I’ll drop you off a little before the drive. You okay to go through the brush?”
He nods grimly. We don’t talk after that. There’s nothing to say. We’re going to save Josie. End of story. After Abe climbs out, I toss the shotgun in the back seat and roll down the window. I am more of a fist guy, but I’ll use whatever tools I have.
I stop the truck right before the porch. Cole’s dad stands in the middle of it, a shotgun resting in his arms, the index finger of his right hand tucked against the trigger. Of course he’s armed. It hits me as I approach the stairs that this man probably killed his son. I don’t know why, but he must have, and that’s why he came for Josie.
I raise my hands up so he can see I don’t have a gun. “I’m here.”
“Walk on that dirt path.” He points the gun’s barrel toward a well-worn trail that circles around the side of the house and toward one of the outbuildings. “I’m sick as hell to do this to you, but you brought it on yourself. Don’t try anything funny. I’ve got the whole barn wired. Your girl and Cole’s friends will be nothing more than cow mulch if you so much as sneeze wrong.”
Cole’s friends. His dad must be behind the disappearance of the other guys. I start walking. “Why’d you kill him?”
We both know I’m talking about Cole.
“Didn’t mean to. Told him to stop struggling, but he wouldn’t listen. I needed to get the devil out of him.” The man sucks in a shaky breath.
“The gambling devil?” I take a guess.
“That’s right. How’d you know?”
“Rumor was that he was throwing games and taking money for it.”
“The coach figured some stuff out and was going to report Cole to the police. I couldn’t have that, so I pulled the fire alarm and snuck in and stole the report. Blamed it on the other players because they should have stopped him.”
“Why’d you take Cole’s friends?”
“They were all in on the devil’s game. I’m saving them. Cole’s death served as a blessing. They’re all reading the Bible now. They’ll soon come to see the light, and then I can let them go, but that little reporter girl was causing problems. The police were out here asking me all kinds of things. Wanted to search the property. They didn’t find nothing because they don’t know where to look, but I knew they’d be back.”
“Too many missing people is going to cause more questions, don’t you think?”
“No one cares about you, son. You’ve got no family. No one to miss you. Josie, now, she’s someone people might miss, so I’m glad that her dad’s come. They can repent together.”
His words catch me by surprise, and I stumble. A coarse laugh tumbles from his lips. “Thought I didn’t know? I’ve got cameras too. I needed to wipe that video footage, so I needed to get her dad here. Thanks for helping me out.”
In the distance, I hear a gunshot and then a cry. I halt in my tracks and turn toward the sound. A flock of birds shoots into the sky.
“I’ve got traps all over this land. Don’t worry about the old man, though. He’ll be fine. Once he repents, I’ll let him down.”
I’m going to have to take this man down before we reach the barn. I can’t see his shadow, which means he’s more than six feet behind me. If I turn to face him, he could probably shoot me before I was able to reach him. There’s nothing but flat land between me and the barn, so there’s no cover. There’s only one option left. I drop flat on my face. He yells, and the gun comes up, but I’m already on my back, dirt in my hand. I throw it up in the air and then roll to his right. Since he’s right-handed, he has a more limited range of motion in that direction. I guess correctly because the shotgun splatter strikes the dirt next to me, but I escape. It gives me enough time to rush forward, keeping to his right. He tries to swing around, but the motion is awkward. I knock the gun out of his hands and tackle him. I grind a handful of dirt into his eyes and then strike his head into the ground once and then twice. His body goes lax.