Page 21 of Saint
“Oh, for fuck’s sake girly. Shut your mouth. You’re not moving from that shed!”
I decide it’s time to pull out the big guns “Ranger won’t be happy to find my covered in pee with a bump on my head and half frozen to death” I pause to let all that sink in and can hear them start to argue again “I need to pee and I can’t do it with my hands tied together! Let me out of here!”
“How do you know about Ranger?”
At last, some progress. I have them rattled. “Who else would want me? No one else even knows I’m here. He promised me weeks ago he’d come for me. Took his time I’ve got to say. I can tell you though, that man has quite the temper and he won’t be happy to find me looking anything other than perfect.”
“Yeah well, it’s been hard to get to you with those fucking Hell’s Keepers hanging off you all the time. It’s you he’s not going to be happy about though girly with that new tattoo on your hand.” This last comment has me worried now. Looks like Ranger really did find a way to get into the country. I was hoping that I’d just be passed onto a middleman which might be one more opportunity to get away but it looks less and less like getting away is going to be an option.
“He’s not going to be happy with me regardless. But you, you could keep yourselves safe by letting me pee somewhere else and getting me some water to clean myself up with.” The thugs go back to arguing for a few minutes and eventually I hear one of them approach the door.
“Move back from the door and sit down. I’m going to open this door. If you try anything, I’ll knock you out cold and I don’t care what Ranger thinks.” Moving back from the door I sit against the back wall of the shed.
“I’m sitting” I call out. The door is shoved open and it hits the shed wall with a bang. Thug two grabs me by the wrists and hauls me up, dragging me forward out of the shed and causing me to stumble and fall again. He just keeps walking, dragging me behind him. Taking advantage of the fact that I can see, I try to look around discreetly to get my bearings. It seems we’re on top of a hill so no matter which way I run, I’m going to hit water. Which is good. Not so good is that fact that I don’t know which island I’m on or how far it is back to the edge of the lake.
“You can pee here” he says gruffly.
“Not with my hands like this mate. Untie me.”
Eyeing me sceptically, he leans forward. For a moment I think he’s actually going to untie me. That is until he reaches out and starts to undo my jeans. “This job might have some perks after all” he leers.
I scream. “Get your hands off me!” It’s right at this point that thug one comes running over and to my disappointment, he’s followed by Ranger. I don’t know when he got here but I’m now terrified. He has steam coming out of his ears when he sees my jeans half way down my thighs with thug two’s hands pulling them down. Without so much as a thought or a warning, he pulls a gun from his jeans and shoots him in the head. My ears are ringing from the noise and I’m on the ground with my jeans around my knees and my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming. Ranger turns on thug one and I realise this might be my last opportunity to save myself. While they’re busy fighting it out, I pull up my jeans, slip the ropes from my wrists and sneak into the scrubby hillside, trying to put as much space between Ranger and me as possible.
It doesn’t take Ranger long to notice I’m gone. Maybe a minute. But then I hear him. He roars out my name in a fit of rage and I hear him shoot off another round. I assume that’s the end of thug one and that I’m next. He starts plundering through the scrub searching for me and screaming at me to come out.
“I didn’t come all the way here to play hide and seek with you Jade! You belong to me and there is no way I am leaving this fucking country without you. I’ve moved heaven and fucking earth to get here and I intend to take what’s rightfully mine. Don’t make me come in there and find you. I’ve let you have your way long enough. I’ve got a hell of a lesson to teach you woman and on a nice deserted island like this, I’m going to take my time and enjoy it!”
I shudder at the thought of what he might do to me but I keep moving, crawling on my belly as quickly and quietly as I can always moving downhill. Listening out for him crashing through the scrub, I notice it’s suddenly very quiet. Shit, he’s gone into stealth mode and I am now being hunted. I crawl as far under the nearest bush as I can get, watching and listening for any sign of him. He’s called Ranger for a reason and my chances of evading him are slim. I know I’m going to have to go on the attack to have any chance of surviving this, but how do I attack when I’ve no weapon and he’s twice my size? Perhaps if I can get back to the shed I’ll be able to find a weapon on one of the Vipers. Actually this is my only chance really but I need to know where Ranger is first. It’s risky but all I can think of is to throw something downhill and hope he hears it and falls for it. As long as he’s not already on top of me, it might work. I peer through the bush surrounding me looking for his legs. As far as I can see, he’s not near me right now. Gathering up a handful of loose stones and bark I suck in a deep breath and stick my head out from under the bush. No Ranger. I stand and throw everything downhill as far as I can and take off running at an angle back up hill moving as quietly as I can.
He doesn’t say a word but I can hear him crashing through the scrub heading downhill. I know it won’t take him long to figure out what he really heard. Reaching the clearing and the shed I find both Vipers dead on the ground. I search one and come up with a knife and move over to the other and find a small handgun in an ankle holster. My luck runs out at this point. Ranger is behind me, almost on top of me. I hadn’t heard a single footstep. “Drop it Jade’.
Desperation kicks in and I lose all sense of fear. He knows I have a gun but does he know about the knife? It doesn’t matter now. As I stand quickly, I spin trying to take him by surprise. I bring my hand up and drive the knife into his ribs as hard as I can. Ranger staggers back a couple of steps as I take off running in the opposite direction. It doesn’t take him long to regain his composure though. I feel the burn of a bullet in my left shoulder before I even hear the sound of the shot and stumble forward landing hard on my side. He’s on me quickly, grabbing my hair and dragging me up to my feet as he yells in my face. The pain is excruciating but adrenalin keeps me in survival mode. Ranger hasn’t realised that I still have the handgun in my right hand. I have no idea where his gun is. Right now he could have it fair in my face and I probably wouldn’t see it. I’m literally blinded by fear. Without any thought I bring the gun up beside me until the barrel bumps into body and I shoot. Once again he stumbles back a few steps and I can see that I’ve shot him somewhere around the ribs, maybe higher. Blood is pumping from the wound and he fumbles with it trying to apply pressure. His face is a mixture of pain and rage as he tries to yell at me. No sound comes out of his mouth though…only blood. I take all this in in a matter of maybe ten seconds before I realise I need to run.
The pain in my shoulder is agonising but I know I can’t stay here. Deciding to let gravity do most of the work I start running down hill and I tumble, stumble and fall all the way to water. I know enough to realise I can’t swim like this so I stumble around searching for a log or something that will hold my head out of the water as I kick. Eventually I find an old fallen tree that has washed up against the bank and gotten stuck there. It’s almost dark and I have to get moving before I freeze to death out here. I push and shove until the log is freed, throw myself over it and start kicking. Surely Saint is out looking for me. He’ll find my phone, he’ll find me. These are my last coherent thoughts as the pain in my shoulder takes over and I drift into unconsciousness.
Saint
I can’t believe she’s gone. I’m furious! Furious at whichever motherfucker took her, furious at Ranger for going after what’s mine and furious at myself for letting it happen. I should have had a prospect wait for her while she was in the salon.
Dublin and I ride to the old campsite to find the whole club waiting there for us. Smoke is holding what’s left of Jade’s phone in his hand. “This Ranger bloke must be a fucking idiot if this is where he brought her. He didn’t even head out of town. However, this means she’s hopefully still local. You can see here that there’s a couple of sets of footprints and it also looks like a boat was launched from here.”
“Maybe they figured they’d hide out on one of the islands for a night or two hoping we’d head straight out of town” says Bull scratching at his beard “I say we grab a couple of runabouts, split up and start searching the lake and the islands”.
“She’s out there somewhere. I can feel it. Let’s move!”
We ride back to town and round up trucks and runabouts. By the time we get back to the lake it’s starting to get seriously cold. Smoke takes one look at me and takes charge. “Right – split up into groups of three. I want us to spread out along the length of the lake and move across to the islands. You’ve all got spotlights and weapons, keep your phones on and your eyes open. If you hear or see anything, send a group message. The outboards will be making enough noise, we don’t need to add phones to that. Now get going. Message when you hit an island. Saint, you’re with me – let’s go!”
We’ve got six runabouts and we all head off putting several hundred metres between each of us. Smoke and I head straight out from the campsite, moving at a glacial pace and keeping our eyes and ears open. We zigzag back and forth across our area for about twenty minutes. There’s been several false alarms but ultimately, no Jade. When we’re about fifty metres from the island in front of us we hear a gunshot. It’s so hard to say where it’s come from as the sound bounces off all the surrounding high country. Messages go back and forth – it’s not us so it must be them. It’s decided that each group will investigate whichever land mass is closest to them.
It’s not long after that we hear another shot and then it all goes quiet again. Not long after that, we hear two more shots. My mind is going in circles trying to work out where the shots all came from. Finally, I think I’ve pinned it down to the largest of the islands and direct everyone to head that way. We spread out and make our way slowly uphill. The terrain is rough and scrubby and there’s not much cover. We don’t know how many we’re dealing with or what weapons they have. To add to that, it’s almost dark. After ten minutes Bull sends a message. He’s found three bodies, thankfully none of them Jade but one of them is Ranger. The rest of us run full tilt to the summit where we find two dead Vipers and an almost expired Ranger. He’s bleeding profusely from his wounds and from the mouth. It looks like he’s been shot and there’s a knife hanging out of his side. Bull has pulled him to his feet to start interrogating him but I lose all control as soon as I see him. I run at him shoulder charging at his ribs where he’s bleeding from. “Where the fuck is my woman you lowdown cunt? What the fuck have you done with Jade?”
“Your woman? Fuck you Keeper! She’s mine. I shot the traitorous bitch and I reckon I’ll be seeing her in hell real soon. Cause hell is where you go when you kill someone. Bitch shot me, she can’t escape me now” My anger explodes and I don’t think, I just do. I grab hold of the knife hanging out of his side and yank it upwards. Ranger falls to his feet only to be dragged backup by Bull “This is just the beginning cunt. Bull, Smoke, take him back to the hole and string him up. Keep him alive though, I ain’t done with him yet. Turning my attention back to Bull, I drag Ranger’s head back up and look him in the eye. “Jade isn’t the one who’s gonna kill you though asshole” Bull lets him drop and Smoke calls order. His voice is low and serious. He keeps an eye on me as he speaks.
“Okay, we know Jade’s been shot but seeing as he didn’t say she was dead, she’s probably bleeding heavily and either running or hiding. Spotlights on, fan out and look for blood trails. Call out to her and call her Jack so she knows it’s us. We didn’t see her on the way up the hill so there’s a chance she ran down the other side. Dublin – take Tags and go back to your runabout. Head around the island to the other side and see if you can spot her from the water. Bull and I are out of here. Look out for each other”.
It’s dark and we can’t see a fucking thing. Reign is beside me trying to keep me calm but I don’t want to be calm. I’m angry and I’m scared. The great Michael Saint has finally found something to be scared of. I’m scared, no, I’m terrified of losing Jade. This tiny woman has flipped my life upside down in the best possible way and there is no way I can do the rest of it without her. We are literally running blind up here. The spotlights aren’t proving helpful in finding any kind of trail and she hasn’t answered any of our calls. I stop and drop to my haunches momentarily allowing myself to think the worst. With my head in my hands I roar to the night sky. Instantly Reign is beside me, hauling me up. “I’ve got you Dad. Jade’s a fighter. Look, she shot Ranger and ran. She’s looking for you, waiting for us to find her”
Our phones all buzzed at that moment and there were shouts from the water. “Got her! Saint we got her!” I’m calling Dublin as I run to the lake “I’m almost there”.