“They set me up with a two-room shithole. Once I have you, Reaper will come running. I’ve already found a small place just for us.”
Ginny started to take her hands out of her pockets, stopping when Slate opened his jacket to show the gun that was tucked into the front of his pants.
“I was just going to take my hands from pockets. I’m not carrying a weapon.”
Slate’s hand went to the butt of his gun. “Slow and easy.”
Slowly taking her hands out, Ginny showed him that they were empty.
Slate removed his hand from the gun, letting his jacket swing closed. “Let’s go,” he ordered.
“If you want me, you’ll have to come and get me,” Ginny told him.
“Works for me. Butcher, get her.”
There was nothing attractive about the man who Slate expected to carry out his bidding. The man was so ugly, his features were so mismatched that they each had their own personality. Ginny had to hold back a cringe as he took a step toward her.
Butcher froze hearing at a warning growl.
“I warned you not to move. I would advise you to run, but I don’t want to go to heaven with your deaths on my conscience.”
Butcher took a step back as another dog came out from behind Matthew and Isaac’s forge.
Slate wasn’t frightened at the sight of the two dogs, but Butcher remained in place.
Slate started to reach for his gun, but then he froze as another dog came out of the woods, close to his side.
“I wouldn’t try for it, Slate. Moses trained Lobo to attack anyone with a gun. You wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger with a stump for a hand,” Ginny advised. “Even if you take out Lobo ….” Ginny gave a low whistle that brought out four more dogs from their hiding spots, with their fur raised and their teeth bared.
“I have enough bullets to take them out,” Slate threatened, yet he didn’t make a move for his gun.
“Let’s go, Slate.”
“Shut up, Butcher. We have enough bullets to take them,” Slate insisted. “Take your gun out first. Then I’ll take mine.”
“You go first..”
“I hate to interrupt you cowards making fools of yourselves, but the dogs are the least of your problems.” Ginny raised her hand in the air, having no need to look to see who came out of the woods behind. Slate had no idea who he was dealing with, thinking he could outmaneuver her family.
Slate’s eyes widened as Tate Porter halted next to her, carrying a shotgun pointed at him. Butcher was greeted by Dustin Porter with the muzzle of his rifle planted in his cheek.
“In case you didn’t hear me cocking my rifle, I’m right behind you, ready to blow your fucking head off if you so much as twitch,” Greer Porter told Slate. “Please twitch.”
“You can’t touch me … All of you will go to jail.” Slate slowly raised his hands in the air.
“You must have missed the signs when you cut across Porter land,” Greer lied, berating him.
“What signs?” Slate started to turn his head to look over his shoulder at Greer, only to have his head crushed with butt of Greer’s rifle, sending Slate to the ground.
“The fucking ones that say trespassers will be shot.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Reaper saw the car coming around the corner just as he was about to make the turn into the Colemans’ driveway. The speed he was traveling, he could keep going in the lane he was traveling in and turn around when he had an opportunity, which was what any sane person would do, or do what he was going to do, which was speed up and hope he made it alive through the oncoming lane, which was totally insane.
He took the insane route. It was quicker.
Veering off, the side of his jacket rubbed the pavement before he managed to straighten the bike. Going up the steep driveway, he then nearly plowed into a car that had the trunk up with the emergency lights blinking.
Reaper’s already pounding heart went into overdrive. He didn’t recognize the car, and if the car had been broken down, it would have been the bottom of the driveway, not near the steepest part of the driveway.
Parking his bike and getting off, he pulled his gun out in one motion as he ran up the steps of Silas’s home. Instead of barging inside, Reaper went to the side of the door and gently turned the door handle. He mocked himself for being careful now, instead of when he came charging up to the house. Anyone inside could have taken him out from a window at his lack of caution.
When his phone vibrated, he was tempted to ignore it, but he wanted to make sure it wasn’t Ginny.
It was a text from Ginny.
I’m at Matthew and Isaac’s workshop.
Jumping off the porch, he started toward that section of property, not bothering with the steps. As his feet hit the ground, Knox’s squad car pulled into the driveway. Knox and Lucky were still getting out of the car when Viper, Rider, Razer, and Shade roared up behind Knox’s car.