Coal (Regulators MC 3)

The three of us run up to the door, not bothering to knock as Ice tries the doorknob first. When he turns it, the door opens. Another bad sign. We all know BJ keeps his house and his girl locked up safe when they are home.

Ice gives the hand signal for us to pull our guns, and Hammer and I do. Then I try to prepare myself mentally for whatever it is we are about to walk in on.

Prez goes in first, with me on his heels, and Hammer following the both of us.

Hammer calls out in a loud voice, “BJ? Brother, you here?”

There is no response as we move through the house, into the living room first, and then spreading out to start checking every corner.

Hammer tries to call out again, “BJ! Lisa! Any of you home?”

A small, muffled sob sounds from somewhere in the back, and the three of us take off racing in that direction. Past the kitchen, down a wide hallway, past the bathroom, to the last door in the hallway—their bedroom.

The door is shut, so Hammer puts his ear to it to listen. None of us hear a thing, so Hammer tries calling out again.

“Lisa honey, you in there?”

This time, the sob is louder, followed by a moan, and it definitely isn’t a moan of pleasure.

Hammer twists the knob and eases the door open an inch to peek inside.

“FUCK!” he booms a second later, throwing the door open and running inside.

Ice and I follow him, only to stop in our tracks at the sight before us.

Lying on the bed in a large pool of blood is our brother. The way he has been killed is beyond horrific. Skewered, literally. A pole shoved through his buttocks vertically until it comes out of his neck, behind his head.

Another muffled sob sounds to the left, and I see Hammer kneeling by Lisa, who is bound by her blood covered hands and wrists, with a gag in her mouth. I watch in shock as Hammer pulls out a switchblade, making Lisa flinch away, as he tries to calm her fears.

“Don’t flinch, sweetheart. I’m just going to cut the gag off you, and then we will untie you.”

Lisa nods then holds herself very still as Hammer cuts the gag off. The moment it drops from her mouth, she starts wailing in pain.

“BJ! He killed my BJ! What am I supposed to do without him?” Her gut-wrenching sobs are of heartache and unbearable agony.

Sawing at the rope on her ankles, Hammer tells her in a soft voice, “I know, honey, but you gotta stay still so I don’t accidentally cut you. We need to get you out of here and to the hospital.”

Hammer looks over at us. “Call the cops. We’ve all got alibis, so they can’t try and pin this shit on us.”

My stare locks with his until he breaks the look to finish cutting off the ropes.

“We call the cops now, and then they’re gonna make it difficult for us to take this bastard out.”

Ice snaps, “Not if we hurry and get the motherfucker.”

I turn my head to look at Ice standing by the bed, staring at the sight of Big Jim skewered like some kind of human shish kabob. Acid burns up my throat as I look at our dead brother and hear his woman wailing for him from the other side of the room.

BJ was one of the good guys. He deserved to go out after a long life with his woman with lots of babies, not on a stake.

“Jesus, Lisa, how bad is it?” Hammer asks just then.

Not realizing Lisa is hurt herself, I walk over to look closer at her bloody hands. I had stupidly assumed she touched BJ before being tied up. Now I can see, as she sobs in pain, that her fingers have been cut off. All ten of them.

“I came home and found him with BJ, so I tried to run and call the cops on my cell phone. He caught me before I could make it out the door and said I had to pay for trying to call someone while he was working on his delicacy.”

“Where is he, Lisa?” I ask.

“He thought he heard someone walking up to the house, so he put a gag in my mouth and took off. But really, no one was here.” Her breath hitches, and she tries to speak through her tears. “He’s long gone.”

Hammer snaps, “Enough talk. We need to get her help now.”

Ice walks over to her, helping me and Hammer lift her to her feet, and then I scoop her up in my arms and carry her out of the house. I sit on the house’s front porch step and listen as Ice calls 911 and asks for the police and an ambulance while I hold a shaking, sobbing woman in my arms.