🔫 Chapter 16  🔫

                        Quba's pov

  Not only did the winch lift the quad bike off the ground and positioned it onto the back of the earthroamer, but it also helped to keep it in place there. The cover fits over it, and I was amazed at how it fitted perfectly as if it were made to go there, and I wouldn't have any difficulties with it. I sighed in contentment and got around the steering. I drove for the rest of the day and park at a secluded spot when it was approaching nightfall. I hadn't realized that the camping pad that Keeble had said came with his truck wasn't attached to it because of everything that's happened, but if I know my brother well enough, he wouldn't be purchasing property in Montana without making careful plans.

  The next morning, I got up early and decided to try and cover the rest of my journey today. I drank my tea, ate snacks and fruits, and didn't stop throughout the journey. Camping was the only time we got to spend quality time as a family. It was the only time mom didn't complain or curse too much, though the trips wouldn't have been a trip with her if she didn't find something that displeased her. I saw two SUVs turn onto the road I was going to take to the place we had camped at before, and I drove past and slowed to a stop a short distance away.

  After a few minutes, I turned and drove to where the two SUVs had gone and  drove slowly along the dirt road. The dust from the vehicles helped me to see that they were not too far in front of me, and I drove slower and followed until I came to the wide intersection I remembered so well. The vehicles seemed to have headed in opposite directions from the overgrown path that led to where I was going. For some reason, I felt like the SUVs looked out of place in this environment, so I looked about cautiously as I drove, keeping my ears peeled for unfamiliar sounds.

  When I reached near to where we had camped the year before, I turned the vehicle facing the way I had come, parked, holster both guns, put on my pair of gloves, and got out. I locked the earthroamer, took down the quad bike, and rode to the exact location where we had spent four wonderful days and three nights. It was well overgrown with nothing but trees of all sorts growing all around, I breathed in deeply and exhaled aloud. I rode along the stretch of wooded areas we had gone to gather wood. We hadn't camped anywhere else in this state. It had been our last week of vacation, and we drove straight home afterward.

  Bushes' growing over a pile of wood caught my attention, and if I didn't know my brother Keeble, then I would have ride on by the creepy looking thicket. I rode up to it, took up a piece of stick, and  eased the bushes aside to see if anything else besides wood was there. A green plastic glimmer underneath from where the sun shone on it and I hopped off of my bike and inspected further. I was expecting a bigger camping pad, but it was small and will probably be the right fit to attach to the trailer coupler. It matched Keeble's truck in color and bore the same license plate.

  I heard a phone ringing and dropped the stick in fright. With my heart pounding, I push the quad bike with all my strength out of the sight of the two men walking in my direction and stooping down beside it straining my ears to hear the men's conversation. "There is nothing here but trees and bushes, but we'll do a thorough check before heading back to Regan." A man who bore the resemblance of Dré spoke aloud into his phone.

"Did you see who was driving the overlander that came behind you guys?" A male voice asks through the phone.

  "They've probably headed elsewhere. There are different paths here, so we'll just look around some more and then head back." Drè almost twin told the person on the phone while I quietly took out one of my glocks and pushed the safety off.

  "Oh, I see." The man states.

"Can't say I wouldn't mind finding that sister Drè is pining over before the others do, I really want to see what makes her so special that she was offered as collateral to Mavuto." He says, and my mind began to go a mile a minute in thought.

They were now walking past where I was behind the thicket of bushes and was looking this way. "You better stop trying so hard to find that woman and look for the money! If Mavuto finds out you're the one who unalived Keeble and we're working against him, we're all doomed!" The man on the other end of the line exclaims angrily.

  Both men laughed, and my stomach curled in pain at how casual they were, discussing my brother's demise and laughing. "I've heard that Mavuto went into some kind of shock upon seeing her photo. Many of his top guards have no idea why, so they have a bet going on amongst themselves. I would most definitely be enlisted to be in his top elite if I find her." The man says proudly, then added.

"Drè can go and fuck Chavel if they release her, I'm tired of the bitch."

"Boss is calling, bye." Says the man on the other end of the line.

It took a few seconds for everything that was said to sink in, and I poked my head around the bush to see them walking away. If you kill a man from behind, it's because you're a coward, but you will have the privilege of them not haunting you. Where I read or heard that thought I had no recollection in this moment, but I would rather test how truthful the thought is than let my brother's killers continue breathing. So I crept cautiously up behind them and shot him several times in sequence while pushing him on the next man who turned in fright. Thankfully, he dropped onto his friend's face, so I didn't see it either when I shot him several times likewise.

  I hurriedly hooked the camping pod to the coupler at the back of the quad bike and rode it a few meters away. With a determination like steel, I walk to where the men lay on top of each other and checked to see if they were dead before straining and pulling them both to where the camping pod had been behind the chopped woods. I didn't care if the money was under the ground and not in the camping pod, I needed to get away from this place quickly, so I got onto the quad bike and rode cautiously back to the earthroamer.

  A quick glance around showed no one in sight, so I attached the winch to pull the quad bike up in place and then start the vehicle to see if the camping pod could fit in the coupler and just like that it did. I was so surprised and glad that I didn't have to toil to get it connected that I stood for a few minutes just staring at it. A bird whistles over head, got me around the steering hastily, and I drove off towards the main road. I didn't drive out, though. I drove for a while amongst the trees until I spotted the top of another SUV parked along the roadside. I reversed, turned, and drove the other way, thankful that the earthroamer drove so quietly, unlike other vehicles.

Though I'd be taking the long way back, I'm sure I'll be much safer. In my mind, I replay the men's conversation over and over thinking carefully. It's clear Mavuto did not know who I was when we met, and he was now looking for me, but if Drè's brother and his friends is connected to Regan's mafia and working for The-Stepper mafia that means a lot of betrayal was going on in The-Stepper organization. While I don't know how everything works within mafias, maybe Mavuto was protecting Keeble and my family, and they unalived Keeble and was now looking for the money without him knowing. The real question is how they know to come and look for it in Montana. 

  I turned off the freeway and drove into the small town. I found a gas station, full my gas tank, then drove around the town a bit. There was a park and a few people were walking their dogs. I don't know why I love these backwater towns so much rather than the cities, but I just always feel a sense of belonging. I wrote Mavuto's two phone numbers in my left hand middle and got out of the earthroamer. I pulled my hoody over my head, pocketed the keys, and walked to where two women sat talking, one holding her cell phone in her hand.

"Good evening, sorry to trouble you both." I greeted them, saying.

"Good evening, my dear." The one wearing a pink sweater replies while the one with her phone looked at me with disdain.

Well, look at this racist, I say in my mind and ask her pointedly. "Can I borrow your phone to make a quick call? My battery is dead, and I'm here to teach free dance classes to a set of elderly women."

She blinked, unlocked her phone, and handed it over. "Thank you so much. You look like you can dance." I tell her, and her face immediately lights up.

To be continued...