Chapter Nine

  Breakfast consisted of a couple of gas station coffees and, with a little insistence on Keeva’s part, some Hostess snack cakes. Dorian opting for the doughnuts while Keeva chose the cupcakes. Figuring it was best to weigh down their stomachs with something as they’d have a busy day ahead of themselves. The two already sleeping like shit otherwise as they’d opted to just stay in the car for the night. Choosing a parking lot not far from the dock as they woke up at sun rise before starting off towards the office. Now, as they sat finishing their breakfast, they watched as Pat’s head turned to regard them. Sckened with cynical disdain as his own car pulled up to the office. Dorian and Keeva stepping out of their vehicle just as Pat leaped from his.

  “You got a lot of fucking nerve coming back here!” Pat snapped, punctuating his curse by smming his hands into Dorian’s chest.

  Catching himself with one foot stepping behind him, Dorian only turned to regard Keeva as he could feel the smile curling on her face. He saw the way she casually draped herself over the driver’s side door. Arms crossed as she rested her head on her forearms.

  “Either she leaves and you go with her Pat said as he came closer to Dorian. Stepping into his personal space as he gred up from under his brow and sshed a finger towards Keeva. “Or I get the police down here and send you two packing since your boss didn’t seem to have enough problems on her hands.”

  “Go ahead and call them then,” Keeva called out from her perch. “While you’re at it you can expin the truck situation and they can run it by our version of events.”

  Watching as Pat’s head snapped from Keeva to himself, Dorian wagged his brows and kept a still face as he reached inside of his pocket. Producing his phone, Dorian pulled up the manifests and the GPS data they’d taken the night before. Laying out all of their evidence pin enough that it took only a change in Pat’s expression for him to realize what he was looking at now.

  “It was pretty clever. I mean you practically hid a tree inside of a forest by keeping the missing trucks here because why would we go looking for them if they were here the whole time?” Dorian asked, watching as Pat backed away from him. Dorian pressed forward to maintained their prior distance. “Which certainly makes me look like an ass for sticking up for you too. Nicole was prepared to just throw you to the wolves with the shipping manifest alone but I figured there’s only one person that needs to pay for this, not a whole dock, right?”

  Pat’s shoulders bobbed slowly as he drew in a deep deliberate breath through his nose. His chest rising and falling in measured succession as he pulled his lips back into a ft line and his eyes diting into bck circles. A clear sign of the adrenaline coursing through his veins as Dorian pressed his advantage and his distance further on Pat.

  “Because that’s what you were looking at just a few hours ago really.” Dorian said again as he crossed his arms over his chest. Locking his gaze with Pat as he watched for any sudden changes in his body nguage. “We call up your boss and tell him that the shipments aren’t missing they’re just te and he comes in and clears out the whole dock for fucking with his product just to send a message. Because that’s what you’re actually hauling here at the end of the day. Millions of dolrs’ worth of drugs in one container, a few million worth of guns in another and God only knows what’s in the third. We didn’t bother checking. But that’s where you’ve been off loading the product meant for the distributers. On those missing trucks that you cim to have no idea where they are.”

  Watching as Pat flexed his hand into an open palm and then a closed fist, Dorian searched his form, wondering if there might have been a pistol on his person. Figuring it best to nip this right now, Dorian reached behind his back, produced his own pistol. Pointing the barrel to the ground as he cocked his head to the side. His gaze flicking over to the car then back to Pat.

  “You can expin your reasoning to your boss once we take you to him ourselves. But at least tell me if I’m correct.” Dorian began and watched as Pat looked like he considered running. Perhaps thinking he was a dead man either way and maybe he could reach for his gun or sprint down into the dock yard. To Dorian’s surprised, Pat approached him, his head nodding on solemn defeat. Falling in line in front of Dorian as the two walked towards the car. “My theory as to the why of it all is that you wanted the distributors to get taken out first because that’s where I’d check if things went wrong if my product went missing. Figure once they’re gone, you’d have the opportunity to fill that gap for them and reap the reward. Shorten the supply line and take a bigger cut. Am I right?”

  “Yeah…” Pat began, his voice trailing off as he grabbed hold of the rear door on the car. “Something like that.”

  “Hold it.” Keeva said as she pulled herself form her perch and circled around the car. “Face Dorian and keep your arms out to your side.”

  Pat followed her directions and kept his hands away from his hips as Keeva began to pat him down. Starting at his ankles as she pulled up the pant legs and moving onto his hips as she paused and reached into the waist behind his back. Pulling out a small pistol as she set it on the roof of the car. Another pull revealing his wallet from his back pocket while a third pulled his phone from his front.

  “He’s clear.” Keeva said and nodded into the rear passenger side for Pat to take his seat. “You can either behave yourself in there or I can cuff you and shove you in the truck, choice is yours.”

  “I’ll be on my best behavior just… can I ask one thing before we head out?” Pat asked, his voice soft and pleading before he looked to where Keeva set his phone on the roof of the car. “Can I call my wife? I wanna let her know that I’ll be te coming home tonight.”

  “As long as you understand that we’re choosing to bring you in alive out of professional obligation,” Keeva started as she picked up the phone and handed it to Pat, putting herself between where she’d set Pat’s pistol and Pat who graciously accepted the phone. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not afraid to bust out your knees if you try anything.”

  “Thank you.” Pat said with a knotted brow, his head hanging low and solum. He unlocked his phone and began to dial, turning away from Keeva and Dorian though never straying further from the car as he circled around and waited for the person on the other line to pick up. “Hey honey! Yeah, I’m at work right now and it’s an absolute shit show so I just wanted to let you know I’ll be coming home te tonight… Yeah not till super te maybe the middle of the night. Yeah, if it comes down to it, I think I might just end up sleeping in my car… Okay I love you too honey.”

  Hanging up the call and handing his phone back to Keeva he drew in a deep breath and sighed as he wagged his brows at her. Keeva stepped aside and took Pat’s belongings one by one. Slipping his wallet and his phone into her pockets while handing the pistol off to Dorian who secured the safety and checked to ensure the chamber was empty before putting it into the glove compartment.

  “Pretty heavy duty for a Honda, don’t you think?” Pat said as he looked at the door, his hands running across the thick frame where the bullet proof gss sat.

  “Were not much for conversation so I suggest you make peace with that.” Dorian said just before Keeva shut the door on him and tossed Dorian the keys. Dorian catching them and understanding that he would be driving while Keeva took her spot in the passenger side. Dorian taking his seat in the driver’s side.

  “Figure we drop this one off and grab a beer before we head out then?” Keeva offered as Dorian started the car. “Maybe grab one before and we could just shove this one in the truck for a minute till we get back.”

  Before he could suppress it, Dorian let out a snorting ugh under his breath at the though. Keeva seizing on this opportunity as she pointed at Dorian and gaped with a smile.

  “That was a ugh!” Keeva teased.

  “That was not a ugh.” Dorian said.

  “That was so a ugh, Pat back me up here!”

  “Are you seriously asking the prisoner to side with you on this!?”

  “He’s the only other person to witness it anyway!”

  “He’s also about to be not our damn problem in about thirty minutes!”

  “That was a ugh…”

  “It was a snort.”

  “Which is a type of ugh…”

  “You two are pretty chatty for people not much for conversation.” Pat droned behind them, promptly killing the conversation.

  Dorian drove out of the dock yard and started down the road. Perhaps just to spite him all the more, Dorian chose not to turn on anything to cut through the silence that now consumed the car. The only real noise being that of the engine as he picked up speed to get onto the highway. Keeva occupied herself with her own entertainment as she pulled her cigarettes from the glove compartment and lit one. Inhaling the smoke before rolling down the window and blowing it out. Dorian figured she as trying to enjoy this while she could, knowing that Nicole likely wouldn’t tolerate this once the two of them were home.

  As the smell of the smoke wafted back at Dorian, he couldn’t help but find himself somewhat soothed by the admittedly acrid smell. Thinking to himself that he’d long since kicked the habit, he’d no interest in starting back up again though he was willing to tolerate the smell for now. To her credit, Keeva went as far as to offer one out to Pat, silently flicking one out of the pack. A courtesy to the damned, Dorian supposed.

  Taking the offer, Pat leaned across the center console and took the cigarette in hand. Letting Keeva light it for him. Taking a deep breath as he inhaled the smoke before exhaling out the window just the same. Dorian watched Pat in the rear view as he seemed calm now. A far cry from the quick burst of adrenaline that shot through him per their earlier encounter. Perhaps he was just choosing not to think about it. What his fate might entail. Maybe it was the nicotine that offered him some soce in this moment. Before returning his attention to the road, Dorian caught the slight smirk on Pat’s face and the wag of his brow as he drew another breath from the cigarette.

  Dorian was about to ask him what was so funny up until his face recoiled away from the window catching a buck shot. The gss spawl spitting small shards into the car as Dorian recoiled the same way he might from a pan of grease spitting at him. The bullet proof gss catching the rounds as cracks spider webbed in all directions but obstructed his view of the shooter. Though the damage wasn’t enough to punch through the gss itself nor was it enough to obscure his vision of the shooter.

  “Shit…” Dorian cursed under his breath and saw Keeva already pulling the slide on her pistol to load the chamber.

  “Floor it!” Keeva demanded as she rolled down the window the rest of the way.

  “On it!” Dorian replied as he smmed his foot down on the gas and heard the engine rev to life. The car lurching back as the torque threw the car forward and well ahead of the shooter. Another barking bst from the shotgun hitting the side of the car with the pellets shredding into the door but going no further. The pellets of the buck shot vaporizing the driver’s side mirror leaving Dorian to track the shooter’s movements via the rear view and other side mirror.

  The shooter sat passenger in the what Dorian saw was in a lifted truck with a grille guard over the front. The engine revving up to life as it ripped around traffic to keep a steady bead on them with the passenger sticking himself out the window to steady another shot. If they were here for Pat, Dorian thought to himself, they wouldn’t be trying to shoot through the back window. Meaning they’d likely try and aim for the tires.

  Turning his attention over to Keeva, Dorian needed to know what he was working with in this car. Armor pting was one thing but if the tires blew out on them then they were dead in the water. Instead, he watched as Keeva turned herself around to position herself with her back to the dashboard and her feet locking into her seat. Her hand sticking out the window with her head peering just enough out to aim. Dorian thought better of any questions he might have and just tried to assume it best to avoid getting shot.

  Even more important would be any effort taken to avoid smming headlong into traffic as Dorian wrenched his wheel to the side. Narrowly avoiding a head on collision with another car right in front of him. The resulting jolt causing Keeva to lose her bance as she was flung into the car, draping over the center console with her hand still holding her pistol.

  “Keep it steady!” Keeva demanded.

  “Were in the middle of fucking traffic!” Dorian retorted as another barking bst smmed into the car. Both of them instinctively ducking from the shot before trying to find where the shooters were.

  “Shit where the hell did the truck go?” Keeva asked as she brushed a lock of hair from her face, her eyes searching the horizon as best she could with how the back window caught a few stray pellets from the shotgun.

  “KEEVA!” Dorian shouted as he turned his head in time to see the barrel of a shotgun pointed directly into the car. The barrel nearly resting on the window frame from where Keeva opened it. Dorian smming his foot on the brake as the tires screeched and squealed with the rear fishtailing out to either side just as the shot belched another torrent of fme and led. Much of the shot missing the car and nding in the concreate barrier separating the nes while only a few stray shards grazed the hood of the car.

  Sparing her a gnce, Dorian saw the way her face went sck with her eyes sinking into her skull. The expression of adrenaline clear in her dited pupils as she took a moment to compose herself again. Doing so in the span it took to turn her attention to Dorian as her expression steeled. Nodding her thanks for Dorian’s quick work as she flung herself out the side of the window. Holding onto the seat to keep herself stable as she took aim with her pistol.

  Just behind the two of them, Dorian could hear Pat chuckling under his breath. His smile fading away as he brought the st of his cigarette up to his lips and took a drag before flicking the butt to the floor. Stomping it out on the carpet as he blew the smoke forward.

  “Call them off…” Dorian demanded. Watching as Keeva fired off a few shots, careful to aim for the tires of the truck as even he knew that firing into an open road was apt to catch someone in the cross fire. Her aim managing to strike the back tire as it blew and fttened which only proved beneficial for the truck as it was now side by side with him. “Call them off!” Dorian snapped.

  “Would if I could but uhh…” Pat said as he held out his empty hands. “I don’t have my phone on me.”

  “Piece of shit!” Keeva growled and reached inside the glove box to produce Pat’s phone and handed it off to him. The phone in one hand as her pistol dug in between his eyes with the other. “Call off your fuckin goons or I swear to god!”

  Watching the exchange in the rear-view mirror, Dorian saw the way Keeva growled and snarled at Pat while Pat only smirked up at Keeva. Gingerly taking the phone from her hand as he reached up another to tighten the straps of his seat belt. Just behind them through the rear window, Dorian saw why. Before he could react, the truck behind them had already gained enough momentum to sm the front bumper into the back of the car. Their vehicle spiraling out of control as Keeva was tossed around the cabin. Her head smacking against the floor as her body was twisted between the seats. The tires screeching as it tried to gain a purchase on the road just before all momentum arrested.

  The st thing Dorian remembered seeing being yellow of the median for the off ramp. His mind instinctually bracing him for impact as he shut his eyes, grit his teeth and held his arms up to protect his head. The sudden jolt of his body as the seat belt locked into pce and scraped across his skin hard enough to leave a burn. The airbags of the cabin deploying around the passenger side. Though this would prove to be of little help. For a moment Dorian could have sword he felt Keeva’s head smack into his with a hard thunk. The only proof he had of this being what he thought was Keeva’s hair wafting against his face as she was flung away from him.

  The chaos of the crash coming to a still moment as Dorian could no longer hear the engine. The only sound being that of the way the metal clicked and hissed as the car came to a stop and slowly cooled down. Something dripping from the engine onto the road, god only knew what though. All of this accompanied by the sound of the rear passenger door opening and words said that Dorian couldn’t quite make out.

  Opening his eyes, Dorian took stock of the state of the car. His own body locked into the seat by the seatbelt around his chest. The window still shattered but remaining intact in the door frame. His body ached as the nerves burned from where the seatbelt sshed into his skin while his head throbbed form where Keeva no doubt collided with him. Though this pain became secondary upon turning to face her now.

  Seeing her slumped against the crumbled in passenger side door, lips parted and head lolling back as though she were simply resting. Though the blood coming form her brow and staining her white hair suggested this was the furthest thing from sleep. The stream of blood dripping from her head, down her chin and dropping onto her shirt with arming consistency. Dorian’s stomach dropped as he tried to release himself from the confines of his seat. His leg smming into Keeva’s knee as he tried to get her to stir.

  “Keeva…” Dorian said with a grunt of pain, even speaking was difficult. The thought of a potential broken or bruised rib crossed his mind before he returned his attention back to Keeva. Smming his foot into her leg again, harder this time. “Keeva! Wake up you stupid bitch! Wake! Up!”

  Again and again, Dorian kicked her leg till he eventually saw her draw in a sharp breath from those parted lips. Feeling a wave of relief upon seeing her chest rise and fall with short and shallow breaths. Her fingers slowly curling but barely enough to be perceptible. Dorian thinking he would have missed it were he not searching for any sign of life. This moment of reprieve stolen from him upon hearing the door to the driver’s side open. Pat standing outside the car to greet him with a lit cigarette in between his lips and two of the dock workers fnking either side of him.

  The realization hitting Dorian all at once as he repyed Pat’s conversation in his head. “… it’s an absolute shit show… I’ll be coming home te tonight… sleeping in my car.” The series of coded phrases meant to say something without saying it. Shit show, coming home te, sleeping in his car. It was easy enough for Dorian to put together now as he realized Pat told his rescue team that he was being taken in a bck car and he was in danger. Clever bastard, even Dorian had to admit that much.

  “You know I finally remembered where I recognized you from.” Pat said as he approached Dorian, taking an offered out pistol form one of the dock workers the cigarette bobbed up and down in between his lips when he spoke.

  Dorian trying to smell anything like gasoline over the smoke as he watched Pat approach with the gun. Feeling him press the pistol into the side of his head as he ground the barrel against his skin. Pat’s other hand holding out in demand as the other dock worker pced something inside of it. A burp bag from the looks of it now that Pat set it in his p.

  “You pissed off some very big people in the underworld. Does the name Ashley ring a bell to you?” Pat asked as he backed away but kept the pistol trained on Dorian’s head. “You can either put the bag on or I can have these two shove it around your head and zip tie it around your neck.”

  Looking down at the bag, Dorian felt like he was crawling into his own casket as he dug his fingers into the rough cloth. Ashley’s face fshing in his mind’s eye before he shoved the image away. Taking the bag in hand, Dorian turned his gaze over to Keeva. Her breathing so subtle that he would have taken her for dead had he not seen her gasp for air just a moment earlier. Returning his attention to the bag, Dorian raised it to his face, stopped for a moment and considered his actions. Deciding to py along, he slipped it over his head and followed the lead of the men who yanked him out from the car.