“Who? Why would you need security?”
“Better question is how?”
Huffy hurried into the bedroom. Bonnie followed him. He opened the closet door, pushing the hanging shirts to the side. Pressing on the wall, a little panel opened. There were buttons inside. Huffy pushed one, and Bonnie watched in awe as the closet floor dropped slightly before siding aside. He pushed another button, triggering a light to shine on a set of stairs.
“Whoa.” It was like being in one of the mystery movies she loved to watch. She’d never imagined real everyday people had secret rooms like this.
“I’ll get LB. Go on down.”
“Let me help.”
“It’s easier if you’re out of the way.”
Bonnie reluctantly descended into the hidden room. The air dropped at least ten degrees. Once she was at the bottom of the steps, a motion sensor light came on, illuminating the room just enough to see. The space was much bigger than she’d imagined. There was a double cot against one wall. A stack of blankets lay folded on top of it. A small space heater sat on the floor near the foot of the cot.
The most impressive thing, however, was a set of monitors lining the opposite wall. Four black screens faced her. The keyboard rested on the desk below them. Huffy’s voice, even at a whisper, startled her.
“Move those blankets for me.”
She hurried to the stack, setting them on the carpeted floor. “What is this?”
Huffy laid her father on the cot before turning to the space heater. He flipped the switch on and a low hum filled the space. “This is my safe house.” He sat down at the desk, immediately flipping switches. The screens came to life. Different black and white images moved in each frame.
She spotted a figure crouched by her tailgate. On another screen, two men moved between the trees. They didn’t bother tried to conceal their identity. She spotted Preacher coming out of the trees with two additional men behind him. There were six men in total. Her father was in no condition to fight, even if he wasn’t unconscious. The odds weren’t in their favor.
Huffy picked up a small black briefcase from under the desk. Inside was a satellite phone. He punched in a number and waited.
“Hey, it’s me.”
Bonnie could only hear his side of the conversation.
“Trouble. Six. At the cabin. Donald Perry Jones, aka Preacher. Affirmative. ETA? Sooner is better.”
He disconnected the call. He spun in his chair to face her. His features looked the same, but he was a different person. “Who are you?”
“Special Agent Joshua Cavanaugh.”
“Holy fuck. Are you shitting me?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You’re a dirty cop? Is this some sort of setup?” Bonnie pulled her Ruger from her pants, pointing it at Huffy. No, not Huffy, an agent.
“Whoa! Keep your voice down. Lower that.” He nodded at her weapon. “I’m on your side. If I wasn’t, I would have killed you both before we even made it to your truck.”
“Then how did they find us?” she demanded as she put her gun back in her waistband. “You said they didn’t know about this place. No one did.”
His face contorted as if he had a revelation. He leaned back in the chair, rubbing his hands through his hair.
“What?”
“Your truck. It never even registered to me. It has built in Wi-Fi. That must be how they found us. The only person who knows about this place is one another agent.”
“So, if you’re not a dirty cop, explain yourself.”
“I will when this is over. I have reinforcements on the way.”
“How do you know you can trust them?”
He chuckled. “He’s my father.”
He came from a family of law enforcement. She came from a family of criminals and alcoholics. No wonder she was drawn to him.
“They’re just outside the cabin.” He pointed to the monitors. “I don’t want them inside. I want you to stay down here with LB. I’m going up to keep them out. I need them paying attention to the cabin and not the road.”
“No way. I may not have been a patched member of Dad’s club, but he trained me to use a weapon just like his guys. I can help.”
“Fine, arguing will only waste time. Stay low and do as I say.”
She followed him back up the stairs, gun aimed at the floor, as ready as she could be for anything that came their way. The first shot came through the front window. Suddenly bullets entered from all the windows. Bonnie felt like she was in a war zone.
“Get down!” Huffy yelled while pushing on her head. She looked around; there was shit for cover. The cabin had windows on every side. Huffy scurried over to the fireplace, popping a few rounds out of the broken window. She opened the fridge and freezer door to give her body some shield from the bullets raining in from the living room. She returned fire through the nearest kitchen window.
Huffy roared behind her. “Are you okay?” she yelled over the deafening gunfire.
“I’m hit.”
“How bad?”
“Arm. Just a graze. I’m all right.”
“I need more ammo.”
“Back in the bedroom. Pull the bin from under the bed.”
She ducked down, rushing to get the bin to help Huffy. She dropped to her knees, dragging the plastic container. She peeked inside to be sure it was the right one. It was filled with different types of ammunition. It was too heavy to carry the whole container; she grabbed a box for each of them. Not bothering to push the container back under the bed, she turned around right into the bad end of a gun.
“I need you to be nice and quiet for me, Bunny.” Preacher stood before her. She looked around for a way to outmaneuver him. The space was small, and outrunning a bullet wasn’t something she had much faith she could do.
“Only my dad calls me that.”
“Let’s go.”
He grabbed her hard. His long fingers wrapped tightly around her arm below the shoulder. His nails dug into her skin painfully. They walked out of the room. Preacher was lifting his gun. He was going to kill Huffy if she didn’t warn him.
“Behind you!” she screamed. Huffy spun and dropped to the ground all at once. His reflexes were impressive. Preacher squeezed her harder, smashing his other fist into her face.
“You stupid bitch!” he spat. Her cheek bone felt like it exploded. Bursts of light filled the room. She felt her knees give way. Preacher yanked her back up, pulling her in front of him as a shield.
“Huffy, it doesn’t have to be this way, boy. Just tell me where LB is.”
“Oh, we both know it’s too late for this conversation,” Huffy answered from the other side of the couch where he was hidden.
“You’re smart. That’s what LB always liked about you. I, on the other hand, don’t. I never trusted you.”
“I don’t get it, Preacher. Why?”
“You really don’t, do you? We’re barely gettin’ by with gun sales. I’m tired of it. Drugs bring in so much more profit. I need more guys. I can’t keep sneakin’ around on my own. LB wouldn’t listen to reason after takin’ over.”
Bonnie’s head was swimming. Preacher tried to kill her dad over drugs. He was just another lowlife drug dealer. Her dad wasn’t a law-abiding citizen, but he was still her dad, and she loved him.