Page 52 of West (The Moral Compass 1)
“South, you got to help me, Bro. Shit’s gone down. I think North is dead, and I don’t know about Mum. You need to get someone out to the house now.”
“Woah, West, take it easy. Mum’s here with me. I know what’s happened, and there is a team on their way, but I fear it’s too late for North and the girls. Mum saw North’s body from the upstairs landing and then made it out through her escape room. She’s okay but, as you can imagine, she’s shook up.”
“Okay, good, but not good. How far out is the team?”
“About thirty minutes.”
“Right, so can you keep Mum there and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid? And I need you to get me some fucking firepower, and I need it here in the next hour. I’ll send you the coordinates. Better send some guys, too.”
“Done,” is all South says, and the phone goes dead.
I’m still pacing when Mac waves. “Another call.” He switches over to audio.
The same voice from beforespeaks,“Estimated time of delivery is sixty minutes. We had some issues with getting them into the van.”
“Okay, we are ready at our end for receipt. Does the boss need anything done?”
“No, just be ready, and no fucking up.”The line goes dead.
“Okay, so it sounds like Sutton and Kara are still alive and fighting back. That’s good, right? It means they are not badly hurt?” I ask desperately.
I can’t lose her. I can’t even begin to think about the fact my brother is dead. I will have to deal with that when this is over. I have to save them both or his death will be in vain.
Forty-five minutes passed and, later than I wanted, there is a knock at the door. I look through the spy hole and see six men all carrying big holdalls. Six men I know. Six men from my old platoon. South came through. I open the door and they settle in, unpacking their guns, rifles, grenades, and a whole host of “party” equipment. They don’t speak until everything is unpacked and shared out between us.
“Okay, Boss, what the plan?” Zed asks. He was my second-in-command in all of my missions and operations back in the day. This guy is like granite. He’s the hardest man I’ve ever met. He has zero fear but a heart as warm as the sun.
“Well, Zed, my plan has gone to shit. The girls were supposed to be safe at the house with North. I was supposed to be here observing and then going in to get the girls out and see to Ralph in the long run, but somehow it all got fucked up. Now the girls are gone, and I’ve got a group of females over the road waiting for God knows what fate. My heads gone, and I don’t have a fucking clue what to do. I’m too close to this, Zed. I need you to take over. Just for a bit. Just so I can get my shit together. I’m not giving up, but I can’t be the one to make a wrong decision and get all those girls killed. I just can’t.”
“Fuck, West. This chick has got under your skin. But never mind, I’ll gladly take the reins for a while. Give me two minutes, and I’ll have a plan.”
Zed disappears into the bathroom, and I hear him having a pee. He comes back out, sits down, and goes through his plan. It’s good, better than I could come up with right now. We have five minutes to go before the delivery is supposed to take place and only another ten minutes before we put our plan in place.
Chapter 40
Sutton
“Areyoufuckingjokingme? What the hell are you doing here? What’s going on?”
“Language, Sutton. You know I don’t like you using language like that.”
“Really? Now you’re fucking bothered about my language? You’ve never fucking bothered before. You’ve never been bothered for years, Mother.”
“Now, now, Sutton. Don’t get excited. Idon’tgive a shit! I just don’t likeanyoneswearing at me like that. It doesn’t end well,” Stella says coldly. “So, this is your trusted friend, Kara.” She is on her feet and walking over, taking us both in, looking us up and down.
She flicks her fingers over Kara’s hair and drags a perfectly polished red nail down my cheek. Fuck, I would love to punch her in the face. I look at the two men stood watching and realise, if I do, they will just give me another kicking.
“Take off your clothes,” she demands.
“What? What do you mean? We’re not taking off our clothes. Absolutely not,” I argue with her.
She snaps her fingers, and the two guys walk over and start pulling at our sweatshirts.
Shit, the phones!
“Okay, okay! We’ll take off our clothes, but not in front of them. It’s not a strip show.” She nods in response.
I walk over to the back of the room and turn my back, eyeing Kara to do the same. She follows, and we undress down to our underwear making sure the phones are now firmly tucked between our legs right beneath our lady parts. I nod to Kara. We turn and walk back to where we were slowly so that we don’t dislodge our contraband.
