Rachel's Rebellion (Moss Bayou) (20 page)

“T-Bob, what
did you do?” Wyatt asked.

“Why are
they here?” Came Gabriel’s question.

“Sorry Deke,
can’t talk. Need the nurses.”

Rachel felt
a jerk on her arm and tried to hold onto Gabriel. The big man they had called
T-Bob yanked harder. She and Lily stumbled free.

Another door
opened and the man she knew to be Mullet Guillot stepped out. He took one look
at her and Lily and then yelled at T-Bob.

“You stupid
moron,” Mullet waved a fist in the air and then pointed at Lily. “You got the
wrong blonde. She ain’t no nurse.”

“Sorry, Mullet.”
T-Bob hung his big head.

Mullet shook
his head. “Maybe she can help the nurse.” He then looked at Rachel. “You need
to get in here and do some nursin’, Missy.”

She was
dumbfounded. Or, like Lily, maybe she was in shock. “Nursing?”

“T-Bob, get
those handcuffs off,” Mullet barked and then turned back to Rachel. “Yeah,
Missy. Nursin’.”

“Take it
easy,” Gabe’s voice came from behind her. It was deep and low near her ear. She
wanted to turn around and fall into his arms. He would take care of her.

“She gotta
work first, Johnson,” Mullet said. “You can have her after.”

Rachel was
led into the other room. The only things that registered at the moment were
Gabriel was known as Deke Johnson here and a large man lay on a cot inside the
small room.

“I made it
back, Boss,” T-Bob told the man.

With Lily
standing freakishly quiet beside her, Rachel looked at the man on the bed. It
was Denny Dennis.

“Need help,”
Denny rasped out.

T-Bob pushed
her forward. Denny was bleeding from his belly.

“Fix him,”
ordered Mullet.

“She’s not a
doctor, Mullet. Besides, she has no supplies,” Gabe said from the doorway.

“He needs a
hospital,” Rachel whispered. “I don’t think I can help him here.”

“What do you
need?” Mullet asked. “Shouldn’t you be checkin’ him out?”

Rachel
leaned forward and moved Denny’s shirt away from the wound. An ugly hole was
situated near the man’s navel. Blood traveled from the hole, down his side, and
pooled on the dingy sheet covering the cot. She glanced at Denny’s face as she
automatically grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse. He was pale. Deathly
pale. His pulse was erratic and weakening. She went to the wound once more.
Definitely penetrating trauma. Her brain kept telling her to remember emergency
protocol but she felt helpless. While his airway seemed unobstructed, his
breathing was obviously labored. She had no way of monitoring his blood
pressure. There was no way to tell if he was bottoming out or not. His internal
injuries could be simple or could be catastrophic. And the blood loss … She
just had no way of knowing. She watched as Denny’s eyes closed. He took rough,
shallow breaths. He was probably not going to last much longer.

“I don’t
have the necessary equipment,” she mumbled. “No way to monitor his blood
pressure. His bleeding needs to be stopped. He most likely has internal damage
that is bleeding into his belly.” She looked at Denny once more. “He probably
needs surgery.”

Mullet
grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room. Gabriel followed as did Wyatt
who had an arm around Lily.

Rachel felt
Gabriel’s arms pull her to him as Mullet stormed back to Denny. She wanted to
bury her head and cry. The tears refused to fall for some reason. She heard the
low rumble of Gabriel’s voice, realized he was speaking, but she couldn’t make
out the words. With her head on his chest, she tried to understand the words.
Her eyes opened and she saw Lily standing in much the same manner as she was.
Her head on Wyatt’s chest with her eyes were closed. Then she realized Gabriel
and Wyatt were whispering to each other. Knowing it was okay that she didn’t
understand the words, she closed her eyes.

About an
hour had passed and she continued to hold on tight to Gabriel. They had went
from standing to sitting to standing again as Gabriel and Wyatt checked out the
surroundings. She and Lily hadn’t spoken since Mullet had thrown them out of
Denny’s room an hour before. Suddenly, the door to Denny’s room flew open and
Mullet rushed to where they stood.

“You get in
there and tend to the boss,” He ordered her.

“I don’t
know what I can do,” she whimpered.

“I found a
couple of towels that will help with the blood. You need water or something?”

“Mullet, she
said she doesn’t know how to help Denny.” Gabriel’s voice boomed over her head.

“You better
think of somethin’,” Mullet hissed out. “Denny dies and it’s on you, Missy.”

Before
Rachel could form a response, the door flew open and a bald man barged in.

“They’re
fucking cops.” The bald man pointed at her. “She’s his woman.”

************

Whiskers stared
them down as Mullet let out a string of words guaranteed to make a pimp blush.
Gabe stepped closer to Rachel. Wyatt was still holding Lily protectively to
him.

“Cops?”

“I had to
hide while the cops crawled all over the place at that dock. Remember?”
Whiskers yelled. “They’re cops. I heard it myself. Heard the cops looking for
their own.”

Mullet
pulled his gun from the waistband of his jeans. “You a cop?”

Gabe didn’t
answer.

Pointing the
gun at them, Mullet asked again. “Are you cops?”

Neither he
nor Wyatt responded.

A loud moan
from the other room pulled Mullet’s attention away.

“Mullet,”
T-Bob yelled.

“Watch ‘em,”
he told Whiskers and left them standing there.

Gabe tried
to do a quick take of the situation. Whiskers had pulled out a gun and was
pointing it at them. Not good. Rachel and Lily were right in the line of fire.
His eyes met Wyatt’s. With a shake of his head, Wyatt revealed he was obviously
thinking the same way.

A few
minutes passed as they stood frozen in front of Whiskers. Mullet walked back
into the room.

“Denny’s
gone.”

“Fuck,” said
Whiskers.

Mullet
turned to them and pointed. “I want
them
cops dead,
Whiskers.”

“Wait a
minute, Mullet,” Gabe tried to reason. “We’ve been here. Right here with you.”

“If Whiskers
says y’all are cops. Y’all are cops.” Mullet gave Whiskers a nod.

Whiskers
raised his hand to take aim and Gabe pushed Rachel behind him and reached for
his
Glock
now at the small of his back. Wyatt did the
same.

“Looks like
we got us a standoff,” Wyatt told them as he moved his body in front of Lily’s.

T-Bob
entered the room with shots firing wildly. Grabbing Rachel and keeping low,
Gabe returned fire and ran for the door. Pulling Rachel behind him, he had no
idea if Wyatt was getting out with Lily. He ran for cover behind Mullet’s truck
and pulled Rachel close. Wyatt slid on the grass beside them as he half carried
Lily.

“How we
doing, Deacon?”

“Not good,
Hawke. We’ve got to get the women out of here.”

“I got
Mullet’s keys,” Wyatt said with a grin.

“What?”

“The bastard
laid them down after getting Denny situated earlier.” Wyatt shrugged. “I took
them.”

“Now we have
to get them into the truck and drive out of here without being shot,” Gabe
retorted. “Got a plan?”

“None yet.
You?”

“Yes, don’t
get killed.”

“That’s a
good plan. How much ammunition you have left?”

Wyatt felt
the front pocket of his jeans. “Another clip for the .45 plus what’s in the pea
shooter.”

Gabe reached
into his pocket for his own snub nose revolver. “Here.” He handed it to Wyatt.
“Use the pea shooters to keep Mullet and friends busy while I get Rachel and
Lily into the truck.”

Wyatt
nodded. “Ready?”

“Go.”

As Wyatt
began firing the guns toward the old shack, Gabe helped Rachel and Lily into
the backseat of Mullet’s truck. He told them to stay down on the floor. He shut
the door quietly. As Wyatt continued to battle with the little guns, Gabe
opened the passenger door. Looking in Wyatt’s direction once more, he saw him
drop one of the pea shooters when it shot off its last bullet.

“Go, I’m
right behind you.” Wyatt fired off another shot.

Gabe slid on
his belly over the passenger seat and then the center console of the truck. He
prayed Wyatt kept them occupied long enough for him to sit up. Another shot
sounded near the truck and Gabe knew from the sound the other revolver was now
empty. Wyatt’s .45 was the weapon now. Taking a deep breath he sat up and
positioned himself behind the wheel. Mullet’s seat was pulled forward so he
quickly reached to adjust it.

“Come on,
Wyatt,” he yelled as he started the engine and through it into Reverse.

Wyatt
appeared in the open door and stood on the running board still firing shots
toward Mullet and friends.

“Hold on,”
Gabe yelled.

With a heavy
foot, he gunned the engine and the tires spun momentarily on the grass before
gaining traction. He backed away from the shack as fast as he dared with Wyatt
still on the running board. After a few yards, he threw the truck into Drive as
he yelled for Wyatt to get in. With Wyatt safely in the truck, he laid his foot
on the gas pedal and shot through the overgrown grass and weeds. He didn’t know
where the hell he was going. He just knew he was going.

“Wyatt,
check on them.”

Gabe steered
them through what was barely a path as Wyatt turned to check on Rachel and
Lily. Both were still huddled on the floor. Neither had made even the slightest
sound. Fear stabbed him in the heart. Had she been shot? And then, thankfully,
Wyatt spoke in a soothing voice.

“You can get
up now. It’s okay. Come on, Rachel, honey. You need to have your seatbelt on.”

Gabe could
see Rachel’s dark head pop into the rearview mirror. He let out the breath he
was holding.

“Come on
Baby,” Wyatt kept his soothing tone. “Fancy. Sweetheart, it’s okay. Sit down
and let’s get your seatbelt on.”

With them safely
sitting on the backseat, Gabe focused on the path. Still racing through the
woods and overgrown weeds, the truck rocked and jumped over ruts and holes.
Some were bad enough to slam his teeth together.

“Beauty,
tell me you’re okay,” he finally said.

“I’m okay,”
she whispered.

“Shit, we
got company,” Wyatt muttered.

“It’s not
like we had time to disable the other trucks,” Gabe commented.

“I think the
women should stay down,” Wyatt advised. “They might start shooting at us
again.”

“I agree,”
Gabe answered. “Even though they can’t seem to hit anything smaller than the
Hoover Dam.”

“Tell me
about it. You know how hard it was for me to only aim for air?”

Wyatt helped
Rachel and Lily drop to a slouch on the seat that still allowed for their
seatbelts.

“We have to
get back to real roads,” Gabe barked as the truck rocked roughly through
another hole.

“There’s a
tractor path coming up on the left,” Rachel informed them.

Giving her a
quick glance in the rearview mirror, he had to smile. His Beauty was coming
back to life.

“Okay.”

“It will
take you straight out in front of PJ Nights,” she supplied. “It’s the way T-Bob
drove us in.”

“We need to
ditch Mullet’s truck. ASAP.” Wyatt shifted in his seat. “Or we’ll never make it
to Dex Greer.”

“Your old
truck only has the front seat,” said Gabe. “The Mustang is still at Bank
Shots.”

“My car,”
Rachel said.

“Honey, your
little hybrid just won’t give us the speed we might need.” Wyatt turned in his
seat to give her a smile.

“I’m sorry
my car is a two-seater.” Lily spoke quietly.

“Fancy, I’m
so glad you’re coming back to me,” Wyatt said as he turned in his seat.

“Lily’s
right,” Gabe responded. “Her Z4 has the power but not the seats.”

“Drive to my
brother’s place,” Lily told Gabe.

“What?”

“Jesse’s SUV
will work. I know where the keys are.”

“Before we
do anything we have to lose our tail,” Gabe told them. “Hang on.”

Giving every
muscle in his leg the command to hold tight, he pressed the accelerator to the
floor. A few hundred yards flew by in a blur and then he was slamming the
brakes. Bayouside Drive was right on them.

“Wait for
it,” Wyatt said casually as he glued his eyes to the right. “And…all clear.”