Revenge (9 page)

Mercer’s anger boiled up again.
 
“I tried to tell you this was coming.
 
You chose to ignore me instead of getting ready.”

Ellis started to say something back, but Danni intervened. “Stop it.
 
Both of you.
 
We need to do something about this.”

“All that needs to happen is him leaving,” said Ellis.

“Too late now.
 
If you hadn’t kept me locked up I would have been gone by now.”

“Yeah, you leave and the rest of us have to clean up your mess.
 
I remember that story.”

Danni yelled, “What did I just say?
 
Knock it the fuck off.”

Both men were silent.
 
Mercer thought hard.
 
Mercer had no love for Ellis, but he couldn’t deny the man was right about one thing.
 
He had brought trouble into town.
 
It should be him that put a stop to it.

“Danni, is Crazy Ivan still living in that hut on Route 9?”

“Far as I know, but he mostly keeps to himself.”

“It’s time to stop by and see him.”

Ellis stopped talking into the radio and turned to Mercer.
 
“No.
 
You are leaving.”

“No, Harvey.
 
I’m not.”

Mercer got on his bike and fired up the engine.
 
Danni got on the back and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“You need to get someplace safe,” he told her.

“Safest place is with you.
 
Always has been.”

Mercer hit the gas and the two of them took off down the street, leaving Ellis behind.

D
anni hung on tight as Mercer rode fast out of town and through the thick trees.
 
She’d never been to Crazy Ivan’s before, but she knew Mercer and Specs had been there many times.
 
They used to ride out and buy illegal fireworks, but the rumor was that Ivan dealt in things much more powerful than fireworks.

When they reached the dirt road to Ivan’s shack, Mercer slowed down the steep hill leading to a structure than could barely be called a house.
 
Most of the windows were busted out and covered with wood and cardboard.
 
The roof to the front porch was partially collapsed.
 
Anyone going inside would have to duck just to get in the front door.
 

Mercer stopped the bike a good hundred yards from the house.
 
He revved the engine a couple of times.
 
Hunched over, Ivan came out of the house and stood tall once he cleared the porch.
 
He was a withered old man in a stocking cap, old bathrobe, and cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and carrying a shotgun.

“One more step and I blow off balls,” Ivan said, in a thick Russian accent.

Mercer shut off the bike.
 
“Ivan, it’s me.
 
Mercer.”

Ivan raised the shotgun.
 
“You police?”

“Jesus, Ivan.
 
It’s Mercer.
 
I used to buy fireworks from you.”

“Lots of boys buy fireworks.”

“I used to come here with Specs.”
 
There was silence, the name meant nothing to Ivan.
 
“The football player.
 
You used to come into town just watch him.
 
He died a long time ago.”

Ivan lowered the shotgun.
 
“Donald?
 
Why you not say his name?”

Mercer turned to Danni. “Did you know anyone actually called him that?”

“Took me a year just to learn his real name,” she chuckled.

They got off the bike and walked toward Ivan.
 

“We need help.
 
Firepower.
 
What have you got?”

Ivan turned and motioned for them to follow.
 
Danni was worried she’d have to get inside the house, but instead, he took them around back and led them to a large shed that was in much better condition than the house.
 
They went inside and Ivan opened a large metal box.
 
Inside was a collection of fireworks that looked deadlier than a small pistol.

“Jesus Christ.
 
Not fireworks.
 
Firepower.
 
Guns, goddamn it,” said Mercer.

The old man didn’t seem to notice Mercer’s frustration.
 
“
Da
.”
 

He led them to another metal container and opened it with his foot.
 
Inside, there was a single pistol with a few clips.

“Is this all you have?”

“
Da
, this gun I have.”

Danni said quietly to Mercer, “I don’t know anything about guns, but that doesn’t look like enough to take on these guys.”

She was right.
 
Tank’s men had automatic weapons, and what Ivan had to offer wouldn’t hold up.
 
Mercer cocked his eyebrow, he had an idea.

They left Ivan’s a bit lighter on cash, with a canvas sack strapped to the bike.
 
They swung onto the bike and took off.
 
As they got into town, Mercer kept to the back roads.
 
They were headed towards Danni’s house, keeping an eye out for the MC thugs.
 
Mercer took the curves fast, wanting to get back as soon as possible.

They came around a corner and saw Glass, one of the new members Tank had brought on.
 
He was bulky man with fantastic muscle definition beneath his leather cut.
 
He had a short mohawk and a large scar that ran from the corner of his mouth and up his face, right up to his sunglasses.

Glass spotted them, but Mercer had already grabbed the gun out of his jeans and fired twice.
 
Glass took off across the street.
 
Mercer rode past quickly and fired two more times.
 
Glass chased them, pulling out his own gun, but couldn’t get a good shot from the bumps in the road.

Mercer had to think quickly.
 
Even without being on the back of a bike, Danni wasn’t good enough with a gun to take on Glass.
 
She had fired a pistol once in her life, during a drunken camping trip her senior year.
 
He formed a plan, but they didn’t have a second to spare.
 

He turned his head back slightly so Danni could hear him over the roar of the engine.
 
“I’ll turn the corner.
 
You jump off and get back to the bar.”

He turned the corner and she jumped off.
 
He was about to pull away, but she grabbed his arm.

“Take this.”
 

She handed him something from the bag.
 
He took it and nodded to her.
 
He hit the gas and took off.
 
As he came back around the corner, he saw Glass coming towards him.
 
Instead of reaching for his gun, he grabbed the large tube Danni had given him.
 
He lit the fuse and the mortar shot out of tube, hitting Glass straight in the chest.
 
It exploded in his face and he went flying off his motorcycle.
 
He crashed hard against the pavement and the bike skidded across the street.
 

Mercer stopped and walked over to injured man.
 
Despite the loud crash, the street was empty.
 
No one had come to investigate.
 
Mercer put his boot on Glass’s badly bent arm.
 
The man in was in bad shape.
 
The firecracker had burned him badly and the fall off the bike had broken his left arm.
 
Glass moaned, which turned into a sick gurgling sound.
 

“How many men did Tank bring with him?” demanded Mercer.

Glass said nothing.
 
Mercer pressed down harder and he screamed.

“How many of there are you?”

“Four.
 
Besides me.
 
Tank and three others.”

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know.
 
Just out looking for you.”

Mercer stepped even harder on his arm.
 
Glass screamed again.

“I don’t know.
 
Please, I swear.”

“Please?
 
Are you asking for mercy, you son of a bitch?
 
You were hunting me down to kill me and now you want me to take it easy on you.
 
Fuck you.”

Mercer stomped hard on his arm and the broken man screamed louder than ever.
 
Mercer looked around, but the screaming still hadn’t attracted anyone.
 
He took out his gun and pointed it at Glass’s head.
 

“Take off your sunglasses,” he told Glass.

Glass did and Mercer saw that one of his eyes was milky white.

“You don’t have to do this,” Glass begged.

“Yes I do.”

Mercer fired twice, hitting Glass in the forehead both times.
 
The dead man lay with his back, blood spilling out onto the pavement.
 
Mercer got back on his bike and took off towards the bar.
 
He kept an eye out for gang members and cops, but didn’t see anyone.
 
He parked his bike in back and came in through the rear office.
 
Danni was sitting at the desk, smoking a cigarette.
 
When she saw him, she came around the desk and threw her arms around him.

“I was so worried.”

He rubbed her back. “It’s OK.
 
I’m here now.”

“Did you kill him?”

“Things are going to get a lot messier.
 
We’re survivors, Danni.
 
I need you to keep it together until this is over.”
 

“What if the cops come looking for you?”

“No question about it.
 
The cops are going to come around, but stay strong.
 
They can’t connect anything to me.
 
Head back to your place. I’ll meet up with you later.”

“Just come with me in the truck.
 
Leave your bike here.”

“No way.
 
I’m not leaving my bike anywhere, but there’s something I need to tell you.
 
Right now, these guys don’t know about you and I plan on keeping that way.
 
I don’t want them to know they can get to me through you and put you in danger.
 
I need you to keep a distance for until this is settled.”

“Please don’t.
 
I finally got you in my life.
 
I’m not letting go.”

He kissed her passionately, his hands sliding up her back and into her dark hair.
 
Her arms went up so she could hold his face in her hands.
 
He didn’t want to stop kissing her, ever, but he knew time was short.

She spoke first.
 
“Please don’t leave without me this time.
 
Just promise me that.”

“I swear.
 
I’m not going to make the same mistakes again.
 
It’s going to be different this time.”

He took her to her truck to make sure she got away from the bar without anyone seeing her, then got his bike from the back.
 
He meant what he said.
 
He wasn’t going to leave town without her.
 
It was the truth, but it wasn’t the whole truth.
 
He had gotten lucky with Glass.
 
He had used tricks to win.
 
Some of those tricks might work again, but Tank was tougher.
 
He wasn’t going to go down so easily.
 
Mercer honestly didn’t know if he could take him.
 
At least he would die knowing he hadn’t lied to Danni.
 
When this was all over either, she was leaving with him or he was going to be buried in this damn town.

***

Mercer lifted the heavy garage door.
 
It took a lot, but he managed to get it open.
 
Inside was a dirty mess.
 
Tools were spilled on the floor and everything was covered in dusty grime.
 
There were cigarette butts and empty beer bottles everywhere.
 
Kids, thought Mercer.
 
They probably came out here to party, not knowing the sacred ground they were desecrating.
 

Inside this garage, Mercer and Specs had built their first bikes.
 
They had toiled countless hours, pouring their sweat and blood into their passion projects.
 
Listening to music and talking about girls.
 
It was in this garage that they’d become true brothers.

There wasn’t much to see left there.
 
Everything of value had been taken out long ago, either sold by the owner or stolen.
 
A glint from the dim light bulb caught Mercer’s eye.
 
He was wrong, there was one thing remaining.
 
In the corner there was a picture of Mercer and Specs.
 
Young and full of life, standing next to their bikes.
 
The glass in the frame was broken into a spider web.
 
For half a second Mercer considered taking it with him, but instead he took it off the wall and put it in a metal trash can.
 
He lit the corner with his lighter and watched it burn.
 
The past should stay in the past.