Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) (38 page)

"I already know what you have in there," Sally said. "It's a piece of crap."

I looked at her. "You have a gun?"

She nodded then opened the case. "Holy shit!" I said. "That's a cannon."

Sally reached over then waited for Petra to nod. She picked it up. "Desert Eagle 50. I bet you hate it."

Petra nodded.

"Way too big," Sally said. "Too heavy to carry, too hard to lift, horrible recoil. It's a well-built gun, but completely ridiculous. Sell that thing and buy something you can hold. I would rather you not bring that today."

We packed everything up. Petra brought her gun.

"Petra," said Sally. "I really don't want that gun along today. Please put it away."

"The gun range we're going to is at a dealer? One that might buy it?"

* * *

We arrived at the gun shop and range, traveling in two cars. We got out. Everyone grabbed a gun case or two. "The owner is an old friend," Sally said.

"Former lover?" I asked.

Sally laughed. "No. Friend of my dad's."

We stepped into the gun store. There were a few customers milling about, all men. Six women walking in carrying gun cases earned us some attention.

"Hey, Bud," Sally said to the man behind the counter.

"Sally," he said. "You brought some friends to flirt with an old man?"

"They're more likely to flirt with your wife," she said. "How is Mary?"

"Mary is good," he said, laughing.

Sally did a round of introductions. "Bud," said Sally. "We need three lanes, if you have them, and some ammo. Plus my friend Petra here has something she wants to get rid of."

Petra set her case on the counter and rotated it to Bud. He sighed even before opening it. "I received some bad advice," Petra said.

Bud opened the case and pulled out the gun. He looked it over. He turned to her. "You'll get more if you sell it yourself."

"I don't want the responsibility," she said. "I'll take whatever you feel is fair."

He put the gun back in the case and closed it. He offered a sum. "Or if you have an active buyer's permit, we can talk trade for something more appropriate for you."

"Why don't you hang onto it for now, Bud," Petra said. "And I'll see how I feel after we shoot some of Sally's guns."

He nodded and put the gun case behind the counter.

* * *

We spent a couple of hours at the range. Except for Petra, all of us did poorly at first, but then we each got the hang of it.

In the end, I was glad we had come, but I decided I had other options. Guns weren't my cup of tea. Petra decided the same thing, as she sold her gun to Bud without discussing a trade. We talked with him for a little while before leaving. He was a nice guy.

We got to the cars and helped Sally load her guns. "You guys didn't like it," she said.

"I'm glad we came," I told her. "Thank you. Ever since the break in, I've thought about it. Now I know. I have other options that I feel a lot better with." I paused. "I may ask to go shooting again, but I don't want to buy one."

"Maybe the
y
left," Karen said.

"I don't believe Vincent has ceded the area to me,"
Renea
said. "His grudge is too deep." She looked around the room. "But perhaps he has become intimidated by the forces. I don't believe he will have had the same success recruiting as we have had." She looked at Sally. "Thank you for joining us."

Sally nodded.
She'd learned to travel to
Siriena
in record time.
All of us were gathered in Andrea's tower.

We'd been sending scouting expeditions out, staying within an hour's walk of the castle. We hadn't seen anyone. We'd gathered to discuss our options.

The conversation went around and around.

I sighed. "Perhaps we need to draw him out."

"We've tried," Petra said.

"Maybe we've been using the wrong bait." I looked at
Renea
. Petra followed my gaze.

"No," she said. "We couldn't get her
away from danger
."

"If Vincent's grudge is with
Renea
, then it's time he thinks
Renea
has grown complacent. I believe
Renea
needs to be seen heading to town." I looked at Petra. "You're about the same size. A wig and the right makeup might do the trick." I looked at Kelly. "And I could pass for Kelly. I'm a little too short, but I bet they wouldn't realize that, especially if I wear boots with a heel."

* * *

Three days later, Petra disguised to look as much like
Renea
as we could make her, and me looking at least passably like Kelly, we
left
the castle. And stepped onto the trail south to the town.
We had discussed taking the horses, but neither of us was a good horsewoman, and we didn't want to abandon the horses if we flushed our quarry and had to evacuate. We expected the twenty-mile walk to take until early afternoon, but at least we wouldn't have to walk back.

Three hours later I said quietly to Petra. "Bingo."

"Yes," she said. "I believe you're right.

There was a tree down across the trail. It looked like the perfect spot for an ambush. The woods on either side were thick, and working our way around the tree was going to be a pain.

We stopped about twenty yards from the tree. I scanned the brush on either side of the trail but didn't see signs of anyone. "It looks easier on that side," I said pointing right. "I think the tree goes a long way towards the left."

"Game path," Petra said. I nodded, and we exited the trail to the right, following the game path. We had gone twenty yards off the path when there was noise to our right. We both were startled but turned to face it. Twenty yards away were four men descending from a tree by hanging onto a rope. We didn't realize why until it was too late.

The ground around us reached up to swallow us. By the time the men reached the ground, Petra and I were dangling in a net ten feet above the ground. The rope the men had come down went up into a tree,
through
a pair of
pulleys
, and then down to our net.

"You have got to be kidding," I said, struggling with the net.

"Get out of here," she said quietly.

"If you order, I'll go," I said. "But I think we should wait and see what happens."

The men tied off their end of the rope. I guess they intended to keep us here for a while. They were chortling and speaking a language I didn't know.

"Henchmen," Petra said. "I can throw you at them, they would never know what hit them."

"I think we should save that trick," I said. "There is no one here worth killing, and we can leave whenever we want." I pulled my knife and tried sawing at the net, but soon realized it was made of steel, not rope.

We glared down at the men. They laughed. Then one of them walked the rest of the way around the tree and began loping down the trail. "Gone to brag and fetch the boss-man, I'm thinking," I said.

"If Vincent or Jeremy arrive, I'm popping home. Give me three seconds then throw me behind him." I paused. "Unless you want to negotiate."

From our vantage point ten feet above the forest floor, I had hoped to get a better view, but the woods were so thick I still couldn't see very far. I got bored quickly. Unfortunately, so did our captors. Two of them went to the rope holding us in the area and began lowering us, then retied it when we were six feet off the ground. They tied it back off.

"Oh
oh
," I said. "They got bored."

"We can take them," Petra said. "No one will see our trick."

"You're the boss," I said. "I think we should wait, but your call."

"I love you," she said quietly. "Let's wait."

Waiting, it turned out, wasn't fun. One of the men reached over and grabbed my foot and pulled on it.

"Hey!" I yelled, trying to kick at him. "Knock it off!"

He pulled
us a short distance then let
go, which meant Petra and I started swinging back and forth. The three men started laughing. Every time we got close, the first man grabbed my foot and pulled us into a higher arc, and then he put some spin into it.

"Bastard," I said. "I'm getting dizzy."

"Done waiting?"

"Yeah, but these guys aren't going to get away. Give me either a good ten seconds or right away if you see a sword come out."

"Whenever you're ready," she said, gritting her teeth. "My aim is going to be bad."

I popped home, straight to the dojo, and grabbed my two-hander. I steadied myself for a minute, getting over
the dizzies
, when I felt myself pulled back. As soon as I felt her, I began swinging the sword.

I was back in the forest, and a man's head fell to the ground, the body spitting blood as it toppled over. I glanced around quickly. His buddies were slow to react, and I got a solid slice across the next one's shoulder, then spun, crouching, and slashed the third one from shoulder to groin. I rolled away, stood up, then spun in a circle, taking the second man's head. The third man was on his knees, screaming, and I walked up behind him and beheaded him.

I looked up at Petra. She was swinging back and forth while spinning. I walked over, reached up, and brought her to a halt.

"I'll port home," she said.

"Let me lower you first," I said. "They might think the idiots let us down and we got away."

I walked over to the rope, braced myself, and untied it. I slowed Petra's decent as much as I could, but she still banged into the ground. I helped untangle her from the net.

Looked over at the three men. "I've never hurt anyone before," I said. "We didn't need to kill them. We could have both left."

"
Renea
and Kelly couldn't have," Petra said.

"I know." I thought about it. Then I kicked one of the bodies. "Assholes."

I turned to face Petra. "So, do we wait to see who comes, or do we leave?"

There must have been something in my face she didn't like.

"Honey, do you think you can summon Sally?"

"We don't know where she is," I said. "She might be in the middle of writing a ticket or something."

"I want you to pop home and call her. You have five minutes and I'll pull you back."

I nodded and popped home. I dug my phone out and called Sally. I woke her up.

"What?" she said.

"Are you alone?"

"Felicia?"

"Sally, I just killed three men. Are you alone?"

"What? Yes. Are you all right?"

"I need you," I said. "Get some clothes on. You have about three minutes." Then I hu
n
g up and walked to the bathroom.

I was splattered in blood.

I started washing the sword. I was still scrubbing at it when Petra pulled me back.

I kept scrubbing. "Honey?"

"She's alone," I said. "You bring her. You can, can't you?"

She turned me to face her. "You bring her, Petra."

She nodded and looked away. There was a pop, and Sally was standing next to us. She was wearing jeans and a poorly buttoned blouse. She looked around, took in the scene,
then
turned to me.

"Felicia, are you all right?"

"Yes," I said. "Are they dead?"

"Yes, Felicia, they're dead."

"You didn't check. Don't you need to check?"

She exchanged looks with Petra then looked at me. "Their heads are three feet from the rest of their bodies. They're dead."

"You should check," I said. "They could be zombies or something."

Sally walked over to me and stared me in the eye. "Petra, what happened?"

Petra gave her the story in Reader's Digest Condensed form.

"I need to sit down," I said. I walked over to the tree and sat down with my back against it, staring into space. They both followed me and crouched down in front of me. I looked at Sally. "Do you have to arrest me? Am I going to prison?"

She laughed.

"It's not funny!"

"No," she said. "I'm sorry. Cop humor. It can be pretty dark. Felicia, this is outside my jurisdiction. I patrol Minneapolis. And this is not Minneapolis."

I thought about it. "I'm not going to prison."

"No," Sally said. "You're not going to prison."

"If this were Minneapolis, would I be going to prison?"

She thought about it. "I don't know," she said. "You can't claim self defense because you were able to leave and come back. You could argue you were defending Petra, but she could have left, too. If that had been
Renea
in the net, then you would have been completely justified in defending her. Given three to one odds and a credible belief
Renea
were in real danger, use of lethal force would be a judgment call by the district attorney. So I don't know."