Rachel's Rebellion (Moss Bayou) (19 page)

Gabe scanned
the area and when he looked back toward the truck Whiskers and Gill had been
loading, he found Whiskers kneeling over Gill.

“Whiskers?”

“Gill’s been
hit. It’s not good.”

He looked at
Wyatt. “Gotta do something.”

“If we can
find the shooter.”

“I’ll skirt
the edge of the bayou to the end of the fence,” Wyatt stated.

“That leaves
the other side.” Gabe pushed to his knees. “See you on the flip side.”

“Bring me
his ass,” Denny yelled.

The report
of the rifle shot through the silent darkness two more times as Gabe tried to
make his way along the fence line without being shot. Gabe heard a yelp from
someone but couldn’t identify who it was. And then he heard it. A voice coming
through loud and clear with the help of a bull horn. Someone must have called
9-1-1 when the shooting started. He’d never heard sirens. They hadn’t come in
hot. Good. He turned and ran back to the others.

Wyatt was
already standing near Denny and Mullet, weapon ready. “I heard it, too.”

“We gotta
get the boss outa here,” Mullet bellowed. “He’s been shot.”

Gabe looked
down at Denny Dennis. Sure enough, blood spewed from his gut.

“He needs a
hospital,” Wyatt told Mullet.

“No,” Denny
said through clenched teeth. “Get me up. Mullet knows where to go.”

T-Bob, who
made his way to Gill, came running up. “Gill’s dead, Denny. They got him in the
head.”

“Shit. Let’s
get the fuck out of here,” Denny muttered.

Mullet and
T-Bob helped Denny as best they could. Through obvious pain, Denny said,
“Johnson, you and Wylie walk behind us. Shoot anything that moves. T-Bob meet
us there.”

T-Bob
disappeared. Gabe looked at Wyatt and shrugged.  They couldn’t chase after
T-Bob. They had to play this out as Deke and Wylie. Besides, the shooter had
been firing at both he and Wyatt, too. That pissed him off.

“Let’s go,
Deke.”

Gabe looked
at Wyatt once more. He read the message loud and clear. Keep playing the part.
“Coming, Wy.”

They made their
way to Denny’s truck. Mullet’s was still parked on the other side. Sirens
pierced the night and gunshots erupted again. With Denny situated in the truck,
Mullet slid behind the wheel and Deke and Wylie piled into the back seat.

“Lights
off,” Denny ordered.

Mullet drove
them away from the sounds of sirens and gunfire. For several miles they
traveled by moonlight and street lights only. Eventually, Denny gave the order
to use the headlights. They left the main roads and began to travel through
dirt roads used by farmers in the days when sugar cane was a huge part of the
local landscape. Mullet didn’t bother to dodge ruts and holes and Denny moaned
with each jolt. Eventually, Mullet pulled alongside a cluster of trees. A truck
pulled in beside them. It was T-Bob Chaisson.

Once Denny
was helped from the truck, they walked as a group to what looked like an old
shack. Mullet kicked open the door with his boot, and Denny was rushed through
the door. T-Bob half carried, half dragged Denny into a second room, while
Mullet lit kerosene lanterns. Three large lanterns lit the room enough for Gabe
to check out his surroundings. It was a shack.

“We need
some help,” T-Bob yelled from the other room. Mullet ran in and shut the door.

“Well,
fuck.”

Gabe agreed
with Wyatt. He thought about the shitty situation as he eyed his boots. They
had no clue where they were. If they left, they would have to do so on foot.
Not good. When he looked up, he saw Wyatt returning his cell phone to his
pocket. He shook his head.

“The only signal
here would be smoke,” Wyatt mumbled.

Great. No
way to contact anyone. They were so screwed.

T-Bob came
barreling out of the closed door and nearly crashed into them.

“Whoa,
Nelly.” Wyatt dodged him.

Mullet stuck
his head in from the other room. “Hurry T-Bob. Hurry.”

“Brown.
Blonde. Got it.” T-Bob ran through the door.

The sound of
an engine coming to life seeped through the shack’s thin walls.

“Where’s
T-Bob going?” Gabe didn’t care if it wasn’t his business.

“We need medical
help,” Mullet said as he went back to Denny.

He turned to
Wyatt. “What’s T-Bob going to do? Kidnap a doctor?”

Wyatt
shrugged. “Knowing T-Bob, he’ll bring back a veterinarian.”

“Wait a
fucking minute,” Gabe said so only Wyatt could hear. “Bring back help is what
T-Bob was told to do. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“T-Bob said
brown and blonde as he ran out of the door.”

“Description
of the doctors?”

The
imaginary bell dinged simultaneously for Gabe and Wyatt as they both said,
“Nurses.”

“He’s going
to bring women here?”

“Gabe, we’re
not going to let them hurt any women. I promise you that.”

“I agree. I
will definitely break cover before that happens.”

“Same here,”
Wyatt stated as he ran a hand through his hair.

Gabe knew
they had nothing to do but wait. They were trapped at the moment. Motioning to
Wyatt to join him, they each took a chair next to a small table covered in
years of dust so thick it looked like carpeting. He decided to study his boots
again and leaned forward, propping his forearms on his legs. He hated waiting.
He wasn’t good at it. He preferred action. This was not an action packed
adventure at the moment.

With a deep
breath, he leaned back in the chair and it creaked under his weight. He would
give anything to be with Rachel at this moment. He wanted every moment he could
have before he had to go. The thought made him sadder than he’d ever felt. She
deserved better than him. Someone who wouldn’t give her a life that was marred
by such a legacy. Someone who wouldn’t expect her to patiently wait for him
every time he was called away. She should live her life. She should have a
family, children. She was a nurse, maybe she would meet a doctor.

His mental
brakes slammed to stop. She was a nurse. T-Bob had said brown and blonde. Brown
hair, blonde hair. Rachel had brown hair.

“Wyatt, I
think T-Bob was sent to kidnap Rachel and Heather Jensen.”

“What?”

“Rachel, who
is a brunette, is a nurse. Heather Jensen, a blonde, is also a nurse. She’s an
ER nurse.”

“Can’t be
that stupid and simple.” Wyatt shook his head as he spoke.

“We’re on
the edges of Moss Bayou somewhere. Anywhere but Moss Bayou would be too far in
an emergency.”

Wyatt stood
and began to pace. Gabe did the same. He looked at his watch. Five twenty nine.
Why had he expected it to be later? He prayed he was wrong. He prayed if he
wasn’t right, Rachel and Heather were both at the hospital where they were
safe.

Rachel
paced. She paced back and forth between the kitchen and living room of her small
apartment. Which didn’t really help. Her apartment was small. She couldn’t sit
still, she definitely couldn’t sleep. She paced. Her phone remained silent.
Never ringing or vibrating or indicating a text had arrived. The silence
surrounded her with a choke hold. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was
almost six and still nothing. It had been hours since she’d gotten Gabriel’s
text. She did exactly as the text instructed. She called Dex Greer. When she
found he wasn’t on duty, she hung up and dialed his home number. As she waited
for someone to answer, she worried about how she was going to explain this to
Dex. She needn’t have worried. When she told him she had a message from Gabriel
Deacon, he seemed to jump. Obviously, the police chief knew what was really
going on.

She wanted
to know if Gabriel was hurt or well. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted
him here to hold her. She thought about calling Lily but changed her mind. Two
worried women were not better than one. Besides, she wasn’t exactly sure what
to make about Lily’s attraction to Wyatt. Did Lily feel more than just a little
chemistry? She wasn’t saying. She wouldn’t even say if they’d slept together
that night at the hotel. Totally not Lily Quinn.

A faint
thump sounded from somewhere outside. Her pacing had traveled her back into the
kitchen so she turned and headed for the living room. She would look through
the window. The noise was probably a neighborhood dog. As she made her first
steps into the living room, the front door crashed open. A splinter of wood
flew toward her as she went to run.

“Don’t
move,” the big man said. He was holding Lily roughly with one hand and pointing
a gun at her with the other. Lily’s face was wet with tears and twisted in
fear. Wearing a pair of white shorts and a yellow cami, Lily looked like she
had been home in bed. She was barefoot. How odd that she chose that moment to
think they were dressed similarly. Lily staggered as the man dragged her beside
him.

Rachel,
stunned by the man, stood frozen in place.

“Lily?”

“Shut up, we
ain’t got time for no visitin’ so move it.”

Rachel knew
she had seen the man before, she just couldn’t recall where.

“What do you
want?”

“You a
nurse?” The man waved his gun closer to Lily. “She says she ain’t.”

Rachel
nodded slowly. “I’m a nurse.”

“Get in the
damn truck.” The gun waved closer and she forced her bare feet to move. She
heard Lily’s whimper as the man moved in behind her. At the door, he stopped
them. Taking out a pair of handcuffs, he ordered Rachel to cuff one of her wrists.
When she hesitated, the gun went to her forehead.

“Put the
cuff on. Now.”

Putting the
cuff on her left wrist, she figured her right hand needed to be free. She was
right handed. Once the cuff locked around her wrist, the man jerked Lily from
his side and pulled at her right arm. Lily yelped.

“Shut up.”
The man positioned Lily at Rachel’s side. “Cuff her to you.”

Rachel
looked up at the man. Her eyes went to Lily. Lily was definitely in a place
where she would be of no help at the moment. She stood eerily still while
silent tears trailed down her cheeks. Her eyes seemed to stare straight ahead.
With another glance at the gun pointed straight at her, Rachel reached out and
secured the cuff around Lily’s right wrist.

“Move it,”
the man ordered them.

He pushed
them out the door and into a waiting pickup truck sitting on the street. The
sky was still mostly dark and the sun provided no light for witnesses to see
them. That thought turned her stomach inside out. When she stepped on a rock,
it was her turn to yelp. Trying to stay strong, she focused on simple tasks.
Walking, sliding into the truck after Lily, all in an effort to keep focused.
She noted the truck was dark colored, maybe blue and then noticed the steering
wheel. It was a GMC of some sort. Older model, definitely. She would tell
Gabriel… Her heart sank. Gabriel was somewhere out there and unable to help her
and Lily.

They drove a
short distance from her apartment and then took a dirt road almost directly
across the road from PJ Nites. A tractor path. She remembered it. It was the
path that led to where Kurt Fowler had torched Jesse Quinn’s motorcycle. The
truck raced over the ruts and holes, turned corners at speeds that threw her
into Lily and Lily up against the big man. Grabbing Lily’s arm with her right
hand, she held onto her and followed the path lit by the truck’s headlights.
The dirt roads became narrow, overgrown paths and then the paths became barely
noticeable as they made their way farther and farther away from houses or
businesses. A sharp turn followed by another race over ruts and holes led them
to a clearing surrounded by trees. Next to the trees were another pickup truck
and a rundown old building. The sun was just beginning to rise and she could
make out a body of water just to the back of the old building.

The truck
slammed to a stop and the big man jumped out. He opened the passenger door with
a jerk, pointed the gun and ordered them out. Rachel eased her way out of the
truck and turned to help Lily do the same. Thick grass and sticks poked her
bare feet but she clamped her teeth together, refusing to make a sound. Once
Lily’s feet hit the ground, the big man grabbed the center links of the
handcuffs and dragged them quickly into the old building.

Rachel felt
herself flying through the door as the man yanked on the cuffs. She came to
rest with a hard thud up against another body. A man’s chest.

“Rachel?”

As quick as
lightning, arms surrounded her as another voice called to Lily. She focused her
eyes. The arms around her belonged to Gabriel. She felt her knees buckle.
Gabriel’s arms tightened around her. Standing ever so close was Wyatt who held
Lily protectively. Gabriel and Wyatt began yelling at the big man with the gun.