BORRASCA - Bagian 5 - Chapter 10 (English)

Kimber stirred next to me. Before I could stop her she rolled onto her back and started to sit up.

“Whoa, slow down! Easy, easy.”

“What happened?” She looked down at her sweater in a panic. “Did I get shot?”

“Yes, with a Taser. You can thank Jimmy Prescott for that one.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God, Sam. Are you okay? Did he… What happened?”

“I’m fine.”

Kimber stood up and looked around the room. “He’s gone?”

“Yes.”

“Okay… Listen, Sam, I- “

I waved my hand dismissively. “I know why you did what you did, Kimber. Prescott is a key player and it’s smart to listen to someone that high who wants to flip informer.”

“Yeah…but was it worth it? Did he give you any good information?”

“He gave us the location of the new camp they’re using.”

“So it’s true…” Kimber said excitedly. “Do you trust him?”

“No. But I trust these coordinates are correct and I trust that he really does want the sheriff out.”

“Did he tell you anything else?” She asked.

I couldn’t admit to her that after everything she had done to protect me from it, I’d found out the truth anyway.  “No. Just a lot of bullshit and random tangents. You know Jimmy.”

“So what’s the plan? We go in there, guns blazing?”

“Yes.” Liar. She wouldn’t be coming on this particular suicide mission.

“When?”

As soon as I get my package from Chicago.

As soon as I get you somewhere safe.

“As soon as we have a plan.”

“Okay. And…did he say anything about Kyle?”

I didn’t have the heart to say it out loud. I simply shook my head.

Kimber nodded and was quiet for a few minutes. I watched her inner struggle. I remembered Kimber well enough to recognize that she was searching for something inside, something to fight for. It was such a Kimber thing to do.

“Okay.” She finally nodded. “Okay, what do we do now?”

“We need to inventory what’s in the trunk so I know what I’m working with.”

“We.” Kimber corrected.

“Yeah, we.”

“Okay, what else?” she asked.

“Well, I don’t think Prescott is the only person who knows what room we’re in at this motel. Let’s go down to the front desk and see if they’ll swap us to a room at the back of the building. On the first floor, if possible, in case a quick escape is needed. We’ll keep parking in the front, though.”

“Yes, right.” Kimber was nodding. “Very clever, Sam. I’m almost impressed.”

“Yeah, I guess I’m smarter than I look.”

“That’s not what I meant. You’re different when you’re you, you know. Without the drugs you’re cunning. Strategic. It’s going to make all the difference in the end.”

I shrugged. I really didn’t know who I was, yet. I was cold a lot, and very stiff. My movements felt unnatural. The sunlight that covered the walls of the room from dawn until dusk everyday was garish and off-putting to me. Everything felt very raw and sharp and unfamiliar. But for the first time in so long I was able to remember every minute of my day. My motivations were also much clearer and more coherent. Keep the monsters dead. Kill my father. And above all maintain Kimber’s safety at all costs.

We pulled the car around the back of the building and inventoried Kimber’s arsenal that afternoon. There were two bulletproof vests and 27 guns in total: seven rifles, two shotguns, and 18 handguns including the Beretta I always kept on me. Kimber had 460 rounds of assorted cartridges.

I spent most of the following two days pretending to plan with her and waiting for my package to arrive from Chicago. I was beginning to feel so guilty for planning to leave her behind that I wondered if maybe it was even cruel. She wanted vengeance. She deserved it. But Kimber had already suffered so much; she shouldn’t have to die for revenge, not when I could do it for her. The death I would receive at Borrasca was a death I didn’t deserve: an honorable one. I could live with that.

And then one day Kimber got a call from the front desk while I was in the shower. The package had arrived and I wasn’t there to intercept the front desk from letting her know. I hated hiding anything from Kimber, especially now, but I knew that if she found out about the mysterious package she may realize that I was planning something without her.

When I came out of the bathroom the package was sitting on my bed, unopened. Kimber was draped casually over the arm chair, watching something on TV as if nothing were wrong. I could only be so lucky. I didn’t comment and gently moved the box to the area between the bed and the wall where I kept my duffel bag.  I took a deep breath. I’d almost been dreading this day because now that the package was here, things were going to start moving very quickly.

“Two days.” I said out loud.

“Two days?” Kimber asked without taking her eyes from the screen.

“We do this shit on Wednesday.” I couldn’t believe I actually knew it was a Monday. It was the little things that continued to impress me.

Kimber kicked her feet off the bed and sat up in the armchair. “Are we really ready?” She asked.

“We’ll have to be. Our plan is solid and we’re running out of money. We need to make a move; we can’t just wait for them to forget we’re here.”

“Do you think we should drive a few towns over and pick up more ammo?”

“No. If we can’t do it with 500 rounds, we can’t do it at all. I need Prescott’s number so I can ask him when the sheriff will be on the mountain. I’ve mapped the coordinates he gave us and it’ll take just under 40 minutes to get there.”

“I’ll find out.” She said and pulled out her phone.

“No. I don’t want him having access to you anymore. Once was bad enough.”

“Sam, I can handle this. I got us this far, didn’t I?”

“Kimber…you know what that man has done.”

“Yes. Better than you do, Sam.” She said bitterly

“Give me the number.”

We stared each other down for a few minutes, both refusing to back off.

“Why are you trying to take me out of the equation?” She asked finally.

“I’m not.” I lied.

Kimber glared at me angrily and then threw her phone at my head. “Get it yourself.”

She sat back in her chair and watched me as I picked her phone up from the floor and imported the number into my own. “I know you wouldn’t leave me at this fucking hotel, Sam.” She said.

“Of course not, I wouldn’t go without you.” Liar!

“Fine. Then I need to tell you that before we kill Jimmy I want him to tell us where they’re keeping Kyle.”

“What?” I sent the text to Prescott and then pulled the 9mm out of from under my pillow where I kept it and checked the clip for the hundredth time, counting the bullets. “What do you mean, ‘where they’re keeping Kyle’?”

“I told you about this but I’m not surprised you don’t remember. Kyle isn’t at the Landy’s; he- he hasn’t been for years. Otherwise I would have gone and got him when we first came into town.”

“Jimmy told you this?” I asked.

“Yeah. He said he- he’s either in a home, or a care center, or a hospital, or…or something. Maybe not even in Drisking at all, Prescott wouldn’t tell me. But I know he knows and he promised to tell me if we could kill the sheriff. I assume you plan to kill Jimmy, too, and I want to know where Kyle is before you do.”

I nodded. I had to give her this. I would give her this. I’d make sure to beat it out of Prescott before I killed him. How to get that information to Kimber before I was gunned down, I didn’t know. And I had precious little time to figure it out.

My phone chimed. It was Jimmy.

JP: Who the fuck is this?

Me: Sam Walker.

JP: Where’s the Destaro girl?

Me: You talk to me now.

JP: Hey, it really is you

Me: When will the sheriff be at Borrasca?

JP: Nobody calls it that, prick.

Me: When the fuck will he be there, Jimmy?

JP: Your daddy is heading up to the stables tomorrow morning. I assume he’ll stay awhile. Has a couple girls he really likes up there right now. You know how it is when you get a new piece.

“The sheriff is going up to the mine tomorrow morning and he’ll probably be there a few days.” I told Kimber.

“Perfect.” She said, but her tone betrayed her. I could hear uncertainness in her voice. And fear. I wished I could tell her that she was safe and that nothing was going to happen to her. But she couldn’t know that yet.

“We’ll make our move Wednesday morning, just before dawn.” I said. “It should be dark enough to see yet still maintain decent cover.”

Kimber nodded then stood up and began to pace around. “We need to do a lot of prep tomorrow. Figure out how many guns we can carry and how much ammunition we can fit in our pockets. Reloading takes time when you aren’t trained. Maybe tomorrow we can go over the firearms you’ll be carrying and I can familiarize you with how to quickly reload clips. We’ll want to prep those early. Maybe tomorrow night.”

“Good idea.” I said as impassively as I could. I knew that by tomorrow night I would be gone.

But I needed to do something first, something I had been thinking about ever since the dreams I’d had in the throes of withdrawal: I needed to see my mom. I wanted to let her know that I was still alive and I needed to know if she knew what her husband was doing to people. I just couldn’t accept that she did. And even if that were true, I believed that my mom would never hand me over to the sheriff if she thought he could hurt me. She loved her kids too much.

I looked over at Kimber and realized that today was the last day I was ever going to have with her. I needed to get her out of town but not now…not yet. It was our last day together and I didn’t want to spend it arguing. There would be enough of that tomorrow.

My phone chimed again and I looked down to see another text from Jimmy.

JP: you finally makin a move, kid?