Once Quiet (Jack Widow Book 5) Read online

  He waited.

  The horses ran side by side and he saw one was empty. The other had a man’s body on it, slumped over.

  When it got closer he saw half of the face was missing. It was King. Had to be.

  Someone had shot him in the head with a nasty bullet. Must’ve been a sniper rifle, he figured.

  Widow was unarmed except for a Mag flashlight, which wasn’t a long-range weapon. It was no match against a professional sniper. He prayed that he wasn’t facing a professional sniper.

  Widow rode closer to a cluster of trees and stayed behind them. He looked to the cattle. They were running and clobbering into each other. They would’ve been stampeding, but they were too boxed in. They were between the river, the forest, and the gunshot.

  They were scrambling in every direction.

  Widow looked and he saw a human figure. He looked as hard as he could in the dark. It looked like Casey. He was staying down, staying low among the cattle.

  Widow studied the horizon.

  Where was the sniper?

  Then he saw him. The sniper fired another round at Casey.

  They were about forty yards ahead of him and up a slight hill, near an outcropping with one large broken tree. The top half was toppled over, still attached to the trunk.

  Widow hopped off the bike and dropped it.

  He turned to look at Casey, to make sure he wasn’t hit.

  The sniper fired again. The gunshots CRACKED through the sky again and again.

  Widow saw Casey dodging between cows. Two cows were hit instead of him. Widow saw them topple over like large boulders falling off a cliff.

  He heard the cattle call out. Their cries sounded almost like human screams.

  The sniper was toying with Casey. Widow ran toward him. Keeping his head down low, but still gaining speed.

  He saw the sniper fire again. Another gunshot BOOMED! And another cow screamed out.

  Widow saw two men. One sniping, the other laughing.

  The sniper was crouched down on his knee, following Casey with the rifle’s scope.

  As Widow closed in, he heard laughing and cackling coming from them both.

  Then he heard the sniper say, “I got him in my sights.”

  “Kill ‘em! Let’s get to the house! I wanna see that Mrs. Sossaman up close.”

  The Maglite was a fantastic clubbing weapon, but Widow didn’t use it for that.

  When he was five feet away and running at full speed, he whistled at the sniper team.

  The one standing up turned and looked at him and said, “Huh?”

  Widow didn’t use the Maglite as a club because he used it as a distraction.

  He flicked it on and blinded the watcher who was standing. Then he threw a huge fist his way and broke the guy’s cheekbones. He didn’t know which one, but he was sure it was more than one. The guy he hit was scrawny and basically had no body fat on him. He went flying off his feet and into the roots clambering out of the ground by the trunk of the broken tree.

  The sniper was utterly surprised. He didn’t even turn with the rifle, which would’ve been the smart move because Widow was still several steps away and unarmed.

  Instead, the guy looked right at him.

  Widow shined the Maglite in his face and then threw it at him. He followed close behind with the same fist. He was above the sniper so he punched his face straight down. The guy’s head nearly twisted off. He toppled over the rifle and spit out a couple of teeth.

  Widow snatched up the rifle. It was an M40 sniper rifle, an old Marine type. He racked the bolt back and cleared out the empty casing from the breech. Then he racked it back, chambering a live round.

  The sniper on the ground said, “No. Wait.”

  “For what?” Widow said, pointing the M40 at the sniper.

  “We ain’t got no beef with you.”

  Widow glanced over to his left, saw Casey scrambling to his feet. The cows crowded together and pushed into the bend, near the riverbanks.

  Widow looked back at the sniper.

  He asked, “You kill King?”

  “Who?”

  “The old man. You blow his head off?”

  “That was an accident. I missed. I meant to scare ‘em is all.”

  Widow stayed quiet, pulled the trigger.

  The sniper rifle BOOMED! one last time in the night sky and echoed as it had before. This time the cows didn’t scatter. But the sniper’s head did. It scattered and splintered and shattered into too many pieces to count.

  Widow pulled the bolt action and ejected another casing. He rechambered the rifle and pointed it at the younger watcher. He waited, but the young one was out cold.

  He lowered the weapon and called out to Casey.

  “Casey? You okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I think so,” he said. His voice cracked as his breath returned to normal. Then he stumbled up on his feet and over to Widow.

  He looked at the dead guy. He said, “Oh man! You killed him!”

  Widow stayed quiet.

  “Thank you. I’m grateful. They deserve to die.”

  Widow lowered the rifle to his side and looked over at the young one. He looked at his face and felt glad he didn’t kill the guy. He was young, practically a minor. He wasn’t much older than Casey.

  Widow combed through his pockets. He didn’t find any ID, but he found zip ties in the kid’s back pocket.

  Casey stepped up close behind Widow and looked at the young watcher.

  He said, “Oh man! He used to go to my school.”

  “You know him?”

  “I don’t know him, but he’s got a bad reputation. Him and his uncles. They’re weird.”

  “How many uncles he got?”

  “There are two and his old man. His old man is the weirdest one. They say he was arrested for sex with kids or having kid porn or something.”

  Widow said nothing to that. He took the zip ties and remembered the photograph of Lucy Escobar again. She was restrained with zip ties.

  He used the zip ties to restrain the kid. Hands behind his back.

  Among both watchers he found a Glock and a Beretta, both fully loaded.

  He walked over to Casey and asked, “You know your way around here good, right?”

  “Of course. It’s my land.”

  “Good. I came here on your dirt bike. It’s back that way. I want you to take it.”

  Widow paused a beat, trying to catch his breath. He hadn’t realized how hard he’d run.

  Then he said, “Don’t ask questions. Take it and stay off the driveway and head back to the main road. Get to town. Go to the police station and wait for me there.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t ask questions. Do this for me. Got it?”

  Casey nodded.

  Widow asked, “You know how to shoot this?”

  He handed the Glock out to him, butt first.

  “Of course. I grew up in the country.”

  “That’s good. Take it. Keep it hidden. Don’t let anyone see it. You understand?”

  Casey took it and looked at it and nodded.

  “Casey, it’s only for self-defense. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  “Now, go. Be careful. Take it slow.”

  Widow watched as Casey walked to the direction of the dirt bike.

  Casey lifted it and started it up and switched on the headlamp and took off. Widow watched him until he was lost to sight.

  CHAPTER 54

  THE WATCHERS HAD MADE IT INTO THE HOUSE. It wasn’t a problem. It was easy in fact. The one busted through the door. And the other came in through the back.

  The wife had had a gun, but once they showed that they had two guns and pointed one at the kid, she surrendered.

  Then they heard the gunshots.

  Escobar asked, “What were the gunshots?”

  She drew her Glock.

  The watcher who was in charge pointed his at her and said, “We’re sorry about this. But we’ve had a
change of heart.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  The older watcher pointed his gun at her. He said, “We sorry, Mrs. FBI. But we figure there’s no more reason to play nice with you.”

  Escobar moved and shifted from side to side. She pointed her Glock at one and then the next.

  Crispin reached over to Carson and pulled him close.

  They were standing in the living room.

  Miranda was glancing at the kitchen. She was inching toward it in a desperate attempt to get away.

  Escobar said, “I don’t understand? We had a deal? Qatal told me I could trust you.”

  “Lady, we don’t know no Keytal.”

  “I’d say you’ve been led astray,” the other said.

  “What?”

  The older brother said, “Lady, this Keytal guy, he lied to you. We ain’t never heard of him. My guess is you paid him money too. And he said anything to get it too.”

  “I didn’t pay him. He’s a good man. He told me the truth.”

  The watchers didn’t know what she was talking about, but they also didn’t care.

  They inched toward her. She continued to dance from one foot to the other, pointing the Glock at one brother and then the other.

  Then the brother in charge pointed his gun at the family, huddled together.

  He said, “Toss the gun or I’ll start picking them off.”

  Escobar looked at the family. She didn’t know what to do. Which didn’t matter because her moment of thought cost her.

  The older brother shot her in the gut and stepped aside, to his right.

  Her Glock went off. A reaction. She fired it once. The bullet went into the wall behind the older brother and she dropped to the floor, dropping her gun.

  The older brother walked over and kicked the Glock off into the darkness under the furniture. Then he looked at the two women and the boy. He said, “Now for some fun.”

  The other brother said, “Who goes first?”

  He was asking his brother which of them had first turn with the wife. But the older brother wasn’t looking at her. He stared at the boy.

  He smiled and said, “Oldest goes first.”

  CHAPTER 55

  “SEND THE BOY OVER TO ME,” the oldest watcher said.

  “What?” Crispin said.

  “You heard me.”

  No one spoke.

  The older brother said, “Go on. Send him over.”

  “What you doing?” asked his younger brother.

  “Shut up!”

  No one moved. No one said anything.

  The oldest watcher said, “Send him over. Don’t make me ask again.”

  Crispin looked down at Carson and signed to him.

  The older brother stepped forward, said, “What’s that? What you telling him?’

  “He’s deaf. I’m speaking to him,” Crispin said.

  “He deaf? You mean that boy can’t hear?”

  Miranda said, “That’s what deaf means.”

  “You shut up, lady! No one is talking to you! If we want some tacos or some quesadillas, then we call on you.”

  Silence fell over them.

  Miranda said, “Widow will get you, Señor.”

  “Widow?”

  Then the other brother said, “Hey, is that the name of the stranger? The big guy? Where the hell is he?”

  “We don’t know,” Crispin said. “He took off.”

  The second brother looked at his older sibling and asked, “You mean he took off?”

  Crispin nodded.

  “He left you? Here alone?”

  The brothers looked at each other and started laughing.

  The second older one said, “He ain’t coming back. That guy heard the gunshots and took off. He abandoned you.”

  The older one said, “Now, back to what’s mine. I’ve been watching your boy there. And I think I’d like to have a little one-on-one talk with him.”

  Everyone stared at him, including his brother.

  He said, “Don’t look surprised. And don’t be judging me either.”

  The brother said nothing. He didn’t approve, but he had suspected. Deep down somewhere. He’d just ignored it all these years.

  “Send him over to me!” The oldest brother said again.

  Crispin looked at Carson, so that he could see her lips and she shouted, “Now! Run!”

  Carson took off running toward the stairs.

  At the same time, Crispin pulled the MK25 out from under her shirt. She started to point it at the older brother, but she wasn’t fast enough.

  The other brother stepped forward and punched her square in the face.

  She dropped the gun before she even fired it.

  The older brother stepped forward and picked up the MK25. He tucked it into his back pocket.

  He said, “Why, thank you, brother.”

  His brother nodded.

  “Now watch these hags. I’m going to find the kid.”

  “You’d better get him.”

  “He ran up the stairs. Don’t worry. Where the hell can he go?”

  CHAPTER 56

  HIS MOM HAD TOLD HIM never to climb onto the roof from his window. His window was the only window that had a ledge that jutted out so that he could reach the roof. But she had warned him it was too dangerous.

  But this time, she had told him to run straight for his bedroom and climb out onto the roof. She told him to hide up there. She told him that no one would get to him.

  Carson ran as fast as he could into his room and over to the window.

  The window was easy to unlock, but it was heavy. And it felt stuck.

  He pushed and pushed. He tried lifting it, but it wouldn’t budge.

  Then he sensed a voice following him.

  The man behind him said, “Little pig. Little pig.”

  Carson started to panic. He could feel his heart racing.

  The man said, “Oh, little pig. Here I come.”

  Carson could feel the vibrations of the man’s footsteps coming up the stairs. He was nearing his brother’s room.

  Carson had to get to the roof. He grabbed an electric guitar from out of the corner of his room. He loved that guitar. His mom had bought it for him. She used to tell him that one day he could take lessons on how to play.

  He liked the electric guitar because if he turned up the volume, then he felt like he could hear each chord that he struck. Even though he couldn’t. What he felt was called the bass or the vibrations.

  Carson took the electric guitar over to the window. He remembered seeing old music videos on his iPad of a band called Nirvana. He liked to watch them. He remembered the singer destroying his guitar on stage.

  It looked hard to destroy.

  Carson pulled the electric guitar from over his head and crashed it through the glass on the window. Then he tossed the guitar and grabbed a blanket off his bed. He knew the glass was sharp and dangerous. So, he threw the blanket over it and slowly climbed out the window.

  He heard the man behind him, in his doorway.

  The man said, “There you are, little pig.”

  Carson reached up and grabbed the ledge. He jerked himself up as fast as he could.

  The man grabbed for him, but missed.

  “Oh, little pig. You are playing hard to get.”

  CHAPTER 57

  JACK WIDOW HAD NOT BEEN A GREAT SNIPER.

  He was no kind of champion sharpshooter, but he could shoot straight and he was pretty damn good. Maybe not a world champion, but he could hit a target.

  The problem wasn’t his shooting. The problem was his breath. He had run back to the house and he had reached the end of the driveway, when a thought occurred to him. What if there was another sniper in the house, waiting for him to return?

  So far, these guys were a joke. He’d killed a guy who had once looked like the young one and he hadn’t been that old himself. Therefore, Widow figured that he was one of the uncles that Casey mentioned. Which meant there were at
least two more and chances were they were in the house.

  He confirmed that fact when he stopped at the edge of the driveway and the horseshoe, concrete part.

  He stopped and crouched down and then flattened himself all the way to a prone position. He looked through the scope at the house. The lights were still out. The house was mostly too dark to see into.

  But then he saw the bedroom window at the top corner shatter. And Carson climbed out onto the ledge and hung there for a moment and then climbed up on the roof, like he had done it before.

  Widow watched, tried to control his breathing.

  The scope was dodging all over the place.

  Then he saw a stranger. One of the uncles or the father. Whatever.

  The guy had a gun in one hand and he half leaned out Carson’s broken window. It sounded like he was shouting profanities at the kid.

  Widow watched and waited.

  The guy stuffed his gun into his pants so that he could use both hands to get a grip on the ledge. He pulled himself out onto the ledge and up to the roof.

  Widow smiled. The guy stood up tall and was completely visible in the moonlight.

  Widow took a breath, held it, and squeezed the trigger.

  The M40 BOOMED! one more time. And Widow saw a cloud of red mist explode where the guy’s head used to be.

  He watched the body take an involuntary step backward and tumble over right off the roof.

  The guy hit the ground with a splat that Widow could hear from where he was.

  He looked through the scope again and saw Carson was looking right at him.

  Widow stood up and waved at the kid. He seemed to recognize Widow, even from that distance.

  CHAPTER 58

  WIDOW FELT CERTAIN NO ONE WAS SNIPING HIM. If there had been, he would’ve shot back at him. No one did.

  Widow ran toward the house, without stopping. He disassembled the M40 as fast as he could, not as fast as he would’ve done back in basic, but he was running full speed to the house.

  He dropped the bolt action and the scope and tossed the magazine all into different directions.

  He took out the Beretta that he had taken off the dead guy and checked it as quickly as he could. The best way to do that wasn’t to dry fire it, but to just fire it. Noise wasn’t his concern any longer. So, he fired a round into the barn door as he ran.