Bare Back (7 page)

Chapter 12

Kelli
 

Mitch. He keeps running through my head. I’m just worried about him, that’s all. Just worried. He’s going to be fine. He’s trained for situations like this. I’m not. I had every right to run.
Besides, I don’t even know for sure if they have him. Hiking my way down the deserted road, the sun beats down on me. By now it’s got to late afternoon. Almost twenty four hours since Mitch and I made love. No, had sex. Sex. It was just sex, I keep repeating it, hoping I’ll believe it. I haven’t seen a car on this road all morning. Keeping to the side, so I can jump into the brush if needed, I keep walking. I have no clue where I am, how far I’ve gone, nothing. If only I had told him I loved him too, or not been so brash back in the cave. He would have been there with me and we could have fought off Cameron and the Gessatti brothers. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation. I’m sure he has a girlfriend waiting for him at home, or a wife. I never even thought to ask. Just slept with him. Now what? What if he dies and it’s my fault? Will she hate me? Will his parents? I dread that conversation. ‘Hi Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun, I know we haven’t seen each other in ten years, but hey, I ran into your boys. Yea, I slept with Mitch and then Cameron killed him.’ They hated me before, they’ll hate me now. Then again, Cameron has lied to me before. So maybe he’s doing it now too. Maybe they don’t have Mitch. I don’t see how one guy could outwit Mitch. Yea, that’s it, he probably got away and is trying to locate me now. I just need to keep moving.

Hearing the sound of approaching vehicles, I dash into the brush and lie down on my stomach. My clothes are torn, bloody and dirty. The dust I kick up in my rush still lingers in the air, making me want to sneeze. The black Dodge Ram pulls to a stop about where I had been walking. Behind it pulls up two Durangos. I count ten men jumping from the vehicles. There’s ten men all together. Does Don Gessatti really need all this force for just me? Ten guys? All wearing black, heavily armed? They gather around the hood of one of the Durango’s. All of them have on black cargo pants, tight black shirts, cowboy hats and guns. Lots of guns on their waists, like some old school cowboys. The dust finally does me in and the sneeze comes and I can’t stop it. Shit, ten heads instantly turn my way. They begin to creep forward, hands at their sides. Pushing myself up, I sprint towards the trees, trying to put as much distance between me and them as I can.
“Sugar,” I hear, yelled out at my back. It stops me dead in my tracks. Mitch is the only one who calls me that. Ever. Turning around, my heart sinks to my stomach as I see Dodge standing there. Relieved, but not, it kills me to think that Cam was right and that they do have Mitch. Tears falling down my face, I turn directions, rushing into Dodge’s open arms. Crying into his shirt, he just holds me.

“Mitch?” is all I can get out between sobs. I can hear him sigh as he pushes me out to
arm’s length. Cupping my chin with his big hand, he looks into my eyes.
“We’re going to get him out of there, okay? He’s going to be fine. You have to trust me. We have the money the Gessatti’s are looking for. Mitch found it and hid it before he was taken.” I look at him dumbfounded. Balling my fists at my side, my fury eats at me.
“Mitch had the money the whole time and didn’t think to tell me? Are you kidding me? That sick bastard Gessatti was going to let Cam-.” I can’t even bring myself to say it. “That son of a bitch. He better hope you find him first, because I’m going to kick his ass.” Dodge and the guys around us snicker, trying to keep a straight face on, which only makes me angrier. Giving Dodge the look of death, he stops.
“We’ll find him, I’ll even hold him for you. But come on, we have to get you somewhere safe before we get up there.”
“Do they really have him?” I ask. Dodge remains silent, looking away. That’s all the confirmation I need.
 

“No,” I say, standing my ground. “I’m going with you. Give me a gun, I prefer Glocks.” The group of guys all
go silent, looking between Dodge and I as we stare each other down, wondering who will flinch first.
“Mitch will kill me if I let you anywhere back near that place. I can’t do it. I promise I’ll bring him to you the second we’re done. We’re all Rangers, most of us Ex-Military. Please Kelli, let us do our job.” Stomping my foot, I cross my arms over my chest, silently staring Dodge down. I know I’m acting like a spoiled child, but there’s no way in hell they are doing this without me. I have to help or I’ll drive myself crazy wondering what’s happening. Besides, this is my fault anyways.

“Kelli, Mitch is going to kill me, you know that right?”
“I’m going to kill you if you don’t get me a gun so I can go take down these assholes, then find his pathetic ass right now.” The other men all took a step back, but Dodge held his ground. His eyes scanning over my body, he laughs, turning to the Ram he had gotten out of. Pulling a bag from behind the seat, he lays a Glock and a long sleeve black thermal on the bed cover.

“Shirt’s gonna be big, but I’ll be damned if I let your ass follow us in pink.” Now his turn to be stubborn, he crosses his arms, leaning against the truck watching me. Unintimidated, I stalk to the truck, stripping off my torn shirt, leaving it on the ground. The shirt is baggy on me, but anything that fits that
man’s hulking form will be baggy. My knife is in my leg holster, the gun I’ll just hold. Ejecting the clip, I make sure the ammo is full and grab an extra clip from the pile I see in Dodge’s bag.
“All right boys, hope you have a plan, let’s go.”  I grab the bag from the backseat, the one I had seen Mitch carrying back in the woods. That jerk had the damn money the whole time. I hike the bag of money up onto my shoulder, turning back the way I came.
“What are you doing?” Dodge shouts at me, ripping the bag from my arm.
“I know which way I’m going, so you’re going to follow.” Both of us stare off with the other. Someone behind Dodge clears his throat.
“Sir, she may be useful. We can give her the bag and use her to distract the Gessatti’s while we try to get to Mitch.” Looking over at the tall blonde man, he looks more like an Abercrombie model than an officer of the law.
“You want to use me as bait? Are you really, truly sure they even have him? His brother and Paul had me, they only sent Ricky after him. He can take that goon with his eyes shut and one hand tied behind his back,” I shout at him. Everyone stays silent. Looking back at Dodge, I can see it written all over his face. He nods.
“Dodge, talk now.”
 

“We sent a local over to the Park Ranger out station that Mitch called us from. The Ranger, Mitch and Ricky were all gone. There was blood on the floor. We had someone dig into Park Ranger D
rake. He’s dirty. Really dirty, and working with the Gessatti’s. We think that he turned the tables and let Ricky go, taking Mitch with them. He did tell me that the cabin you were being taken to was up this way, but didn’t know exactly where. We tracked this place down through a fake holding company that the Gessatti’s own. It’s in their mother’s maiden name. They have him, and we know it. I’m sorry. But we’re going to get him.” He looks over to the man that suggested I be bait. Drake is one of them? I told him everything. Where we were, what was going on, who we were looking for. He knew all the details. He’s how the Gessatti’s managed to find us in the first place. Guilt washes over me. It’s my fault for trusting him to help us. I brought this on us. Dodge yelling gets my attention.
“Jones, it ain’t happening. This is ‘The Kelli’,” he says, using those corny finger quotes. All the men sort of nod and ‘Oh’ as he says it.
“What do you mean, ‘The Kelli’?” I ask, mimicking him.
“He may have confessed one drunken night that he’s always been in love with you and you’re the one that got away. We all know who you are. We also know his temper. If anything happens to you, we’re done for. He’d hunt us all down one by one and it wouldn’t be pretty.” A few of the guys laugh nervously. If the situation weren’t so dire, I would have laughed too. But all it does is sit on my shoulders, eating at me, adding to my guilt. Why couldn’t I just tell him I loved him too? Why did I have to be so damn stubborn back in that cave? I felt something special when we made love. But my stupid walls. The stupid walls protecting myself from him hurting me again wouldn’t go down. I couldn’t let him in and now I may lose him forever.

“Well he isn’t here and I’ll do what I want. You’re not going to stop me. Give me the damn bag back. Let’s go. If they have him, he’s probably in the room I was in. Window high up in the room, but ground level from outside. Too small to fit through, you got any C4? We just need a little bit, to blow the window out enough for him to fit through. From what I saw, there’s only one way in and out. That’s the front door. There’s a large picture window in the back, no door. The whole place is basically one open room, with stairs going to a second floor.” Jones smiles, straightening his stance.
“At your service ma’am. I’m the explosives expert here. Sounds like this may be an easy rescue. Nice easy open layout and all, yea, we got this. Mitch is going to owe us some drinks after this. But at least I’ll have some fun! I love blowing shit up.”
“No, no, no. We’re not doing anything. Damn it Kelli, Mitch told me you were stubborn, but hell. If you don’t care about our wellbeing when we find Mitch, then you better damn well care about his and that of our team. You will stick to my side like glue, do you understand me? Do not move more than twelve inches away from me at any time. I can’t protect you if you’re too far away. Got it? That’s the only way I’ll let you do this and not tie you up and throw you in the back of my truck.” Though he was trying to sound intimidating, it just came out as sweet. He’s worried about his friend, but more so, worried about what his friend would go through if he survived and I didn’t. That’s a true friend. Something else I feel like I’ve been lacking in my life. I have a few friends here and there, but no one who would throw their lives on the line for me like this. Mitch was my first and last best friend.

My chest aches at the thought of him. Wondering what is being done to him, if he told them where he left the money, does he know Cameron is in on this? Though there’s animosity between the two brothers, this may break Mitch’s heart. It will definitely hurt their parents. This is one score I’m ready to settle for good. I’m so done with Cameron lurking in the back of my mind and life. Snapping out of my thoughts, I follow the guys to the trucks. Jones pulls out a small black case and begins assembling something the looks like a large belt. As he molds a small piece of C4, he explains to us that he needs three minutes to get this laced around the window, set the timer and get out of the way. I’ll have to get at least five minutes of distraction out of the men that are there.
“How many guys do they have?” Dodge asks me.
“Well when I left, it was Cameron, Don and Paul Gessatti. But someone was pulling up the driveway when I was running to the woods. I don’t know how many people there were. We have to assume one of them was Mitch and one was Ricky. Your guess is as good as mine right now. If you’re saying Ranger Drake is working with them and wasn’t at the outpost, then maybe him too. That would put us at five of them. So, we’ve still got them out numbered. I think we have a great chance at pulling this off. We also have the element of surprise.” Nodding silently, Dodge seems lost in thought.
“Ok, let’s roll out,” he says, walking away, gun in hand.

Hiking through the woods, we stay close to the road. Searching for Gessatti’s guys, we try to make sure they don’t see us, in case they are out searching for me.
“Do you think that with there only being a few of them that they will be looking for me?” I whisper to Dodge.
“At least one or two of them. My money is on Drake. He’s expendable to them. They can’t just let you go. You know too much.” I nod grimly. All men were on alert, trying to walk silently through the brush. The ten men fanned out across the area with me right next to Dodge like he made me promise. I hate to admit it, but I feel a little safer. I’m a good shot, but these Gessatti’s don’t mess around. I have a swollen face to prove it. As we near a bend in the drive, the men one by one all take a knee. They are wearing ear pieces to talk to each other. I’m the odd man out that can’t hear the conversation. Dodge quickly answers with an affirmative, then looks at me.
“Stay put.” He slowly creeps about twenty feet away from me, staying low to the ground. Then I hear it. Heavy footsteps stomping their way through the underbrush. Out of nowhere, Drake appears. My breath catches. Looking back and forth, he scans the trees and bushes around him. Not even trying to be quiet, I smile to myself. He’s so dead. Dodge sits still, like a lion hunting its prey. The moment Drake steps past him, he springs up, wrapping his large arms around Drake’s neck. The park ranger struggles, trying to loosen the grip on his throat. Within a minute, it’s over. Dodge let’s go and allows the man’s body to drop to the ground. Pulling handcuffs from his back pocket, he latches them onto Drake. At least the man is still alive. The way he fell, I thought he was dead. But Dodge is a man of the law, so arresting him must be his main priority.

“He’ll be out for a while, and even if he wakes, he can’t go too far. I may have accidentally broken his leg,” he says, smiling as he returns to me. We continue making our way, knowing that we must be close. Once again, a few minutes later, the men all take a knee.
“They can see the cabin. They are all going to spread out, fanning around the front. Jones will plant the explosive while Benton watches his back. The rest of the guys will watch our backs while we head to the cabin. I’ll be off to the side where they can’t see me, but I can see them. If anything starts to look wrong, hit the floor. You hear me? You dive for the ground so I can have a clear shot.” I nod, trying to calm my fears. I have to walk to the door, knock and try to get five minutes of conversation out of Don without him taking me inside. I can do this. I have to do this. For Mitch.
“Kelli, seriously. You don’t have to do this. I can do it. You can stay in the woods where it’s nice and safe.” Shaking my head, I stare at him.