Chance Taken

A dumb plan coming from a dumb man. He must know I won’t come alone.

“Come alone or both her and her sister die right now,” I hear a gun cock real close to the receiver.

“Chance! It’s a trap!” Veronica yells into the phone. The thump and whimper that follow make my blood boil and my heart freeze at the same time.

“I’m on my way,” I tell Gazz. “And she and her sister better be well when I get there.”

“You better hurry. I ain’t got much patience left,” Gazz says and hangs up.

Tank is looking at me questioningly, as Ace and the two guys that circled the whorehouse wall come to meet us beneath the trees and tell us the place seems deserted. I signal them all to follow me deeper into the trees.

“That was Gazz. He has Veronica and her sister and wants to exchange them for me,” I tell them.

“No way,” Tank says, automatically voicing his thoughts aloud, I’m sure, so I ignore it.

“She’s in some container, near the interstate and the clubhouse,” I say and turn to my dad. “He says you know the place.”

“Hang on,” Tank says. He calls Hawk and has me tell him everything too.

Hawk takes several long seconds to think after I’m done.

“It’s that place they took Axle’s woman to that time,” he says. “You remember, Tank?”

“This is no time for a trip down memory lane,” I cut in.

“They use it for locking up the women they abduct in the area before shipping them out to other states,” Hawk says. “It’s where they train them, I think.”

To be obedient sex slaves, he means, and he sounded just as disgusted by it as I feel. Imagining that happening to Veronica, to feisty, firecracker, justice warrior Veronica, feels like a wrecking ball just hit my stomach. So I don’t imagine it.

“Where is it?” I ask.

“It could also be the place some of the survivors ran to,” Hawk says instead of answering my question. “It’s only about a mile away from their clubhouse, in the middle of a pretty thick forest that borders the Interstate. It’s next on our list of places to hit. We’re going there as soon as the heat around the clubhouse dies down. Tomorrow night, most likely.”

“We’re going now,” I say, nodding curtly at my dad who’s shaking his head. The silence that falls over us is loaded and heavy. I spend it trying my hardest not to fucking demand they tell me where it is. I’ll go alone if I have to. That much I know.

“Send the coordinates,” Tank finally says, and I let out a deep exhale. I didn’t even realize I’d been holding my breath.

“Alright. But be careful,” Hawk says and hangs up.

“This is insane, Chance,” Tank says. “We’d need at least fifty men to storm that place and hope to succeed. We’re expecting casualties when we hit it.”

The solemn way he admits that makes Ace and the other two groan and adds yet another layer of impossible weight onto my chest.

“Are you saying no?” I ask.

I’ll be expected to obey the order if he gives it. So I’m praying he doesn’t. And I never pray.

“He’ll kill her if I don’t show up soon,” I add. “You know that. He won’t wait long.”

“She means something to you, huh?” he asks and grins faintly.

I nod.

“And will you listen if I tell you we’re not going after her tonight?”

I don’t answer. I can’t, because I don’t know.

He waits a few moments for my reply, then finally sighs.