EMP Catastrophe - Hamilton, Grace (best books to read for beginners txt) 📗

sat up further, trying to see what they saw. When Max rounded the corner of the building and came into sight, he looked ill. His hands were up in the air to show he didn’t have a weapon, but there was a sickly sheen of sweat on his cheeks. His eyes appeared sunken, and the gash on his forehead had begun bleeding again. He staggered closer to the group of men. “Let my nephew go,” Max said. “I’m here, aren’t I? Let him go.”

The door to the gas station banged open, and a lithe man sauntered out. He had an unwrapped candy bar in one hand, and he grinned at Max. Matthew could only assume this was Colin from the tattoos around his shaved head. “We caught ourselves a live one, boys! Nice to see your pretty face, Max,” Colin said as he munched on the candy bar. Chocolate was smeared on his hands. He threw the wrapper onto the ground. “You look much better than when we left you. Far too healed up for my liking. Who took the time to bandage you up, huh? Was it that nice sister of yours? Come closer, traitor. Let’s take you down a peg.”

Matthew swallowed hard. If Colin thought Max looked healed, he could only imagine what Max had looked like before he’d arrived at the hotel. Plus, how did Colin know about Kathleen? Had Max talked about her while he was in prison? Matthew let out a shaky breath and tried to steady his trembling hands. He glanced at Jade, who had her eyes pinned to the scene. Wyatt made no movement. Matthew knew what he had to do. Wait.

It was the hardest thing he had ever done.

“You can beat me to a bloody pulp if you like, Colin,” Max shouted, “but if you laid one hand on the kid, I’m going to take it personally. You made a deal, and if you went back on it, you’ll have to pay.”

“You’d know all about backstabbing, wouldn’t you?” Colin said and approached Patton. He crouched down until he was face-to-face with the boy. “This kid here has one tiny nick on his neck. I can make it wider if you don’t behave, traitor.”

Rage filled Max’s face. He took a couple of steps closer. “Don’t you dare.”

“You know what we’re going to do to you, Max?” Colin asked, still studying Patton’s face. The group of men snickered, as if they already knew and couldn’t wait for Colin to give the big reveal. “We’ve got an exciting surprise for you. I think we’ll take you back alive to the cartel’s compound. They like to make examples of people, and you’ll be the perfect example of what not to do. A live traitor that we can all have some fun with.”

“We have to take him all the way back?” the big man asked suddenly, sounding shocked. “Alive?”

Colin broke eye contact with Patton, stood, and looked at the big man. “And why wouldn’t we?” he asked.

“He’s another mouth to feed,” the big man grumbled. “Just kill him and take a picture as proof. I don’t want to haul him all the way back just to prove a point.”

The man with the cigarette laughed. “What are you gonna take a picture with, idiot? Got a camera anywhere? Place to develop photos? A phone? What a dumb suggestion.”

The big man shifted as if realizing he’d made himself an object of ridicule. “Hey, I’m only saying it seems like a waste of time and resources to bring back a traitor that the big boss is gonna string up anyway.”

“Maybe you can paint a picture of him then,” the man with the cigarette continued, taking a drag and blowing a plume of gray smoke into the air. “Van Gogh, are you? I’ll get you some watercolors.”

“Enough,” Colin broke in. The playfulness on his face had disappeared, leaving only a sharp anger that sent chills up Matthew’s spine. Whoever this Colin was, he was a terrifying specimen of a human being. One that shouldn’t be messed with. Like a starved dog, kicked to the point of becoming feral. “Max is my task. I’m calling the shots here. I don’t want a picture of this singing bird. I don’t want a portrait or even a piece of him cut off as evidence. I want to drag him alive back to the big bosses to prove what we accomplished. I want my reward, and the only way I’m going to get it is if we bring him back still breathing. Mangled, sure. But breathing.”

The big man let out a groan. “The big boss won’t care, believe me.”

“I have to prove myself to them,” Colin said, almost to himself as he took a step away from the group of men and closer to Max. “The cartel takes care of their own, but only if they work to earn it. I haven’t chased this little bird across the state just to be accused of not earning my reward.”

On the sidewalk, Max had gone very still. He closed his eyes for a moment, as though collecting his courage, and then strode closer to Colin until he was within the circle of the men. “I’ll willingly go with you, no questions asked, if you let Patton go. I won’t put up a fight.”

“Oh, but we want you to fight,” Colin said. “Don’t take all the good parts out of it. I don’t want you to give up. I want your nephew to see just how weak you are.” His hand curled into a fist and he drove it into Max’s stomach.

Max gasped and buckled over, clutching at his middle. Patton let out a cry and surged toward Max, but the big guy held him back. “Let me go!” Patton yelled, pounding at the man’s hands that were wrapped around his shoulders. “Let me go!”

Matthew looked at Wyatt, hoping it was time. Colin had a maniacal grin on his face as he began to circle Max, seeming to