Trouble Travels in Threes (Trouble, Tennessee 3)

“In a few minutes, Draegan and Mac will walk in here so we need to make you presentable.” Vin reached over Markie’s head and cut him down.

As soon as Markie collapsed to the floor, he realized he wasn’t able to move as quickly as he’d anticipated. His arms were numb. His legs weren’t as mobile as he’d hoped.

Vin snarled. “Let me guess. You spent the last few days contemplating the many ways you’d kick our asses if you had a chance.” He squatted next to him. “Here’s your chance, Markie.”

Trying to push up from the ground, Markie realized what it meant to be helpless. Instead of thinking about the upcoming meeting between the McCalls and Vin, he considered something else. He thought about the women they’d saved over the years, how broken and battered so many of them had been when they’d first arrived in Trouble.

He knew for a fact Serena’s husband had held her as a domestic slave. When she’d first come there, Doc had told them he wasn’t sure how she’d survived. She’d been sleeping in a dog cage for nearly a month, forced to sleep beside her husband’s bed while he had numerous affairs with countless women, women who were very much aware of her presence there and yet none of them did anything to save her.

Draegan had made a difference in Serena’s life. His friendly flirtations had given her confidence. The other women in Trouble had embraced her, too, supporting her as women should support one another.

Thinking of Serena and the strength she’d demonstrated, Markie pushed away from the concrete floor, but it was no use. The strength he wanted and the strength he possessed were two entirely different elements.

“Save it, Markie,” Vin said, nodding at one of his brutes. “Show ‘em in. Tell ‘em they’re a little early but since they are, they might as well join the party.”

“You’re not planning to release me,” Markie said, already coming to terms with what was about to happen.”

“No.”

“What do you plan to do to them?”

“I’m going to kill them of course,” Vin replied, sneering.

“Why kill them?” Markie could barely speak. His throat was dry and his tonsils seemed to crack with each spoken word. “Why not try to negotiate your brothers’ releases? Maybe Draegan and Mac could help you.”

“Help me?” Vin laughed. “Are you forgetting what happened here?” He looked around the basement and shuddered. “My crazy brothers have killed here. They’ve made their drugs here. They destroyed lives here.

“This place is the like the cops put in the files. It is the land of horrors, a wicked forest. It’s like hell. You enter but you can never really leave.”

“If you let me live and let them live, they’ll—”

Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Puppuppuppow!

As soon as the first guns were fired outside, Vin’s erratic behavior became more unpredictable. He grabbed Markie by the arm and dragged him across the room. “Get up, damn you!”

“Look at the big man, now.” Markie grunted and laughed at the same time. “You look like a lost little boy who is waiting on mommy to show

up so he can hide behind her apron.”

Vin snarled. “You’re one to talk! Your name has been sitting at Cobalt’s top spot for over a decade and the reason you’re drawing air now is because my brothers failed the initiative! They couldn’t kill you because they were afraid of the retaliation. You’re alive today because—”

“Because he’s our brother.” Draegan stepped out of the shadows as if he’d been there all along. He was swinging that automatic rifle of his like he carried it down the street every doggone day.

“Your brother?” Vin threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t you mean lover? Isn’t that what you and Markie were? Isn’t that why you took him in?”

“Lover?” Markie looked confused then. “No. We’re more like family. We were never—”

“Shut the fuck up, twink.”

“I’m about tired of the name callin’,” Markie said, trying to muster up strength so he could at least aid in his release.

Vin pulled his weapon then and grinned at Draegan as he aimed the pistol at Markie’s head. “You showed me yours. Now it’s my turn to show you mine.”

“You can take him out,” Draegan said, inching closer. “There’s not a doubt in my mind. But Markie, when he does, I want you to know this. I’ll take him out and then I’ll go after every last one of his useless brothers.”

Vin’s wicked laughter rang out. “You will, will you? And how do you propose doing that exactly? See I have an escape route, a means of leaving. You?” He laughed again. “When you entered…” His voice trailed and he acknowledged Mac approaching from the left. “Excellent.” He made a throaty groan and added, “Well boys, this is the way things end for you. I can leave here without so much as a scratch. You, however, cannot leave without triggering an explosive that will blow this godforsaken house to bits.”

“I see,” Mac drawled, glancing over Vin’s shoulder. “Allister, did you get that? If you don’t mind, leave the door open over there.”