Free Patriots & Tyrants (Rebels & Lies Trilogy Book 2) by Brian Cotton Page B

up speed. Harvey looked around with the
great vision that the man upstairs had blessed him with. He saw no one in
pursuit. Even still, he didn’t allow his attention to waver.
    In the back, nobody
spoke. Kaspar moved over to Krys and began to rub at her shoulders. She had
already taken her mask off and tears were running down her cheeks. While he
continued to rub on her, he felt an instant fit of guilt deep within. He didn’t
really know Steinner that well, he knew that the man was a good soldier, but he
was just thankful that if anyone was going to die, that it wasn’t Krys. He
couldn’t, for obvious reasons, make that assertion out loud.
    For his part, Buck
didn’t make a sound, didn’t even take his mask off. He just sat there, shaken.
He started to rub his hands together and then slammed his balled fist to the
side of the vehicle. Kaspar moved in to try and console him, even though what
he really wanted to do was knock the kid’s lights out, but Buck pushed him off.
    “It wasn’t your
fault,” Kaspar said.
    “Fuck you it wasn’t.”
Buck replied.
    “Listen, we got
ambushed. We were caught off guard. It would be a hell of a thing for anyone to
put that bomb together under that pressure.”
    “I’m fast…this is
below me. I screwed it up again and now a man’s dead. Don’t try to make me feel
better.”
    “Okay.”
    “Listen, everyone!”
Harvey cried from the front, his voice boomed through the intercom speakers
above. “We’ll talk about this later, right now, we’ve got to pick ourselves
back up. Buck…we’ll talk later, too.”
    Buck folded his arms
across his chest and slouched in his seated position. He wanted to jump out of
the vehicle, right here, and just end it. He would never be free from his
father’s grasp. And, if he quit, then what would happen? Steinner was dead now
and it was all his fault. He knew it, tried to accept it, and would eventually
take ownership of it. He didn’t need someone like Kaspar trying to tell him
that it wasn’t his fault. In the end, it didn’t even matter, Steinner was gone
and nothing could bring him back.
    He just wondered when
it would be his turn.

.
14
    X sat at the table and
studied his cards. The hands on the table right now had a variety of messages
strewn across. Deciphered, they read something along the lines of: Shipment
ready for pickup any heat on our end?
    This is where the
little game that they created got challenging, much like playing actual Texas
Hold Em poker. He stared at his cards and rubbed at the stubble on his chin. He
started to play a card, but held back. Instead, he folded.
    “Don’t have shit.” he
cried as he slammed his cards on the table.
    “Pussy!” Sugar said
with a laugh. He threw down a card. It changed the message on the table to: Shipment
ready, no heat.
    Reed, seated at the
head once again, wasn’t so sure about that assertion. To his surprise, no other
members of the crew had been interviewed, yet. They were careful to search the
warehouse where they met every day for any kind of surveillance, but didn’t
find anything obvious. They were all sure, though, that the room was bugged.
Everyone was under the hope that their little card game was enough to disguise
their communications.
    The leader stuck his
arms underneath the table and, quickly, pulled a card from under his sleeve. He
pulled his arms back up and threw down the Ace of Hearts. Everyone’s eyes grew
wide when they saw it and the room went silent for a moment. That card was
played when there was heat on them, and Reed believed that Sullivan guy was
still hot on their trail.
    “You fuckin’ cheated,
dog.” Pepper cried out.
    “What are you talking
about?” Reed demanded.
    “You stuck your damn
hands under the table and pulled that card out!”
    “Please.”
    “I think I saw it,
too.” X said.
    For a moment, the look
in X’s eyes scared Reed to death. He had that look that said “I will fucking
kill you” which must have harkened back to his