The Camp (Chateau 2)

“So, you’re with me?”

“You know I’m always with you, brother.” He watched me, his eyes unblinking. “I guess that means I’m about to retire. What do people do in retirement?”

“No idea. Have a couple kids? Go on trips? You’re asking the wrong person.”

“Well, what are you going to do?”

“I haven’t thought about it.” This had all happened so suddenly, and if I survived the attack, I had my whole life ahead of me.

“I guess we get old…and fat.”

His joke made me smile. “I don’t think the girls will stick around if we let that happen.”

He stared at the floor for a while, his mood suddenly somber. “You’ve got a good woman, Magnus. She’s earned my respect.”

“Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

“I owe her my life…since she saved yours.”

Thirty-Five

Nothing Between Us

We knew we had to move quickly. We couldn’t take days or weeks to organize our crew and make a plan. The best chance for success was to hit them when they didn’t expect us to come.

We rounded up the remaining men we had and made some calls. We had access to weapons and horses, so we had everything we needed to do this.

“You said there were thirty men?”

I nodded.

“We’ll bring at least fifty. We’ll have one man sneak ahead and attach a bomb to the front gate.”

I had a better idea. “Then you’ll announce to everyone that we are there, and also, exactly where we are. I think we should come from the rear.”

“Come from the rear how?” Fender asked. “There’s no road.”

“Exactly. We’ll sneak up on them, and they’ll have no idea. We can make it by horse. We don’t need to bring wagons or anything else.”

“I guess that could work…”

“I know the way. We can move in the dark. When we reach the fence, we can climb over. They won’t even know we’re there.”

He sat across from me on the couch and looked down at the maps. “Was Napoleon killed? Or just wounded?”

“No idea. I’m not even sure where Raven shot him. I didn’t have time to look. I just got out of there.”

“We’ll assume he’s alive, then. But if he was bleeding badly and couldn’t get to a doctor, he probably wouldn’t have survived. Did they kill the physician at the camp?”

“As far as I know, they killed everybody.” Except me.

“Will you be able to do this tomorrow night? You can go home and get some sleep, and we’ll leave tomorrow afternoon.”

“Yeah, that works.” I just needed a few hours of rest, and I would be recharged. There was so much adrenaline and vengeance in my veins that I was so pumped, I might not be able to sleep at all.

“I have a couple horses. Can we use yours?”

I nodded.

“Alright.” He stacked his maps and paperwork and closed his laptop. “I’ll let you get some sleep.”

I walked into the other room and found the girls sitting together on the couch in the other living room. I stepped inside and looked at Raven. “Let’s go home.”

She hugged her sister, and they both got up and joined us in the front room.

Fender turned to me. “Just in case things go south, the girls should stay at your apartment. Napoleon knows where I live.”

I nodded in agreement.

Raven’s expression quickly changed, looking at me like I’d betrayed her. “What does that mean? What’s happening?”

“Fender and I are taking a group of men back to the camp tomorrow night. We’re gonna kill them all, free the girls, and then walk away from the business.”

Even though I was finally giving her what she wanted, she didn’t seem to care. “And you expect me just to wait here for you? I’m coming with you.”

It didn’t surprise me at all, but she would never talk me into it. I turned to Fender and said goodnight before I headed to the front door.

Raven walked behind me, chasing after me. “I’m coming with you. That’s final.”

I walked down the steps to my bike in the roundabout. “Raven.” I turned back around and gave her my focused stare.

She halted when she saw the look in my eyes.

“You can’t come with me this time.”

She shook her head, her eyes furious. “I want to free those girls as much as you do.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“You think I care? After everything I’ve survived at this point, you think this is too much? I protect you, and you protect me. That’s how this works. That’s how this has always worked.”

I appreciated her loyalty to me, but without proper training or experience, she wouldn’t be able to assist. “We’re going to sneak into the camp with fifty men. We’ll be armed and prepared. You don’t have the skills for this.”

“But I had the skills to shoot that asshole from a hundred feet away, and I’ve never shot a gun in my life. Come on, give me more credit than that.”