Harmon twisted and tried to kick at him. “Oh, for God’s sake, stay still,” Drake said quietly, “otherwise I’ll just knock you out, and I don’t want to do that.”
“Please knock me out. Daddy’s going to be pissed when he finds out you caught me.”
Harmon was right, Huey would be. “Okay, I promise to beat you up some to show you put up a good fight if you tell me how many others are in the woods.”
“Two.”
“I count one,” Drake lied.
“Keith’s up a tree. You musta missed him. He’s got a crossbow.”
“So, were you told to kill me?”
“I wasn’t going to, I swear. I was just going to wing you.”
“That was mighty nice. But after I was shot up and you brought me to visit our fathers, what would happen?”
Harmon looked away from Drake. So basically, he was a dead man walking. How nice to know his family loved him. “I think I need to really help you, Cuz. I don’t want your dad mad at you, so I’m going to have to put on a really good show. What’s more, I think I need you out of the game for the next few days.”
Drake pulled out the roll of duct tape from his backpack and slapped a slice over Harmon’s mouth. “Now just remember, I could have shot you in the kneecap, but since you were only going to wing me, that doesn’t seem fair, now does it?” Harmon’s eyes went wide with terror.
Drake cut him out of the zip ties so he could smash his hand down onto the forest floor, then grabbed his rifle, made sure the safety was on, and slammed the butt of it into his cousin’s hand, satisfied when he heard bone crunch. He pulled out another zip tie and refastened his hands, ignoring Harmon’s groans of pain.
He pulled the rifle over his shoulder and went on to the next target.
Since his little family confab with Harmon, the one in the tree was now taking a piss from one of the limbs. Like that wouldn’t be noticed. Obviously, Huey and his dad weren’t hiring the best and the brightest. Drake picked up a rock and aimed for his back. The man screamed as he went spread-eagled into the forest floor, dick first.
“Keith!”
The third man came thundering through the underbrush to his friend. Again, proving that Huey’s hiring practices left something to be desired. Drake used the butt of Harmon’s rifle on the yeller’s head and watched him drop like a stone next to his friend who stank of urine.
“Don’t kill me,” pee-boy begged.
Drake surveyed the damage, his leg was a compound fracture. The guy he’d just hit would be out with a concussion. Unfortunately, none of these three were the tattoo guy.
“How many guys does Huey have working for him?”
“A lot?”
“Keith, I need a number,” Drake said patiently as he zip-tied the man’s hands.
“I’m Harmon’s friend. I don’t know about his daddy’s operation.” He pointed to the unconscious man. “He does.”
Drake took that man’s rifle and Keith’s cross bow. He was collecting quite the little arsenal. He pulled out more duct tape and placed it over both men’s mouths. He didn’t need his dad given any sort of advanced warning that he was coming for a chat.
One hundred yards from the clearing, he got a bad feeling. He used the binoculars to check on his dad. The Escalade was gone
He took out Trenda’s cell phone and called his mother’s number. It picked up on the first ring.
“This Drake?”
“Hi Dad, thought we had a date.”
“Heard a ruckus in the woods. Thought it might be wise to skedaddle.”
“Thought you were going to come alone. After all, we were just going to talk.”
“Hell, Drake, if you just wanted to talk, you’d do it on the phone. I hear you have some pretty fancy training. Heard you were one of them there SEALs.”
Drake rubbed the back of his neck.
“I talked to some of your prison buddies. It seems like you’re looking for a ticket back to Pikeville.”
“A man’s gotta make a living. Especially when he has a family to take care of.”
It hit Drake like a ton of bricks. His mom had actually handed over her cell phone to his dad. She had to have known that he was going to try to kill her son.
Some fucking family.
“Where’s Piper?” his dad asked in an oily sounding voice.
“She’s safe.”
“She’s my daughter. She belongs with her mother and me.”
“Don’t lie to me old man. You didn’t ransack Trenda’s house looking for Piper out of paternal love. What the fuck is going on?”
“She’s a minor. For the next year and three months, she is your mother’s and my responsibility. Wanda’s worried about her.”