Shattered Justice (43 page)

Jayce lifted his aching head to look at Marlin through the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut. He knew he was bleeding. Could taste it, see where it splattered on his clothes. The ropes binding his wrists behind the back of the chair burned, cutting into his flesh. The pain from the bruises and cuts on his face, and probably several broken ribs, was intense. But he didn’t let any of that show on his face.

No way.

Instead, he just smiled.

Marlin snarled and punched Jayce in the side with a meaty fist. Jayce couldn’t hold back a grunt, but that’s all he let out.

As much as Marlin enjoyed beating people up—and he did enjoy that a great deal—what he relished most of all was his victims’
suffering. “Beat ’em and break ’em.” That was his motto, one he carried out with pleasure.

But Jayce was determined. Marlin could beat him to a pulp, which he’d already pretty well done. He could even kill him, which Jayce figured he was going to do. But he wouldn’t give the crud the satisfaction of knowing how much it hurt. All he’d give him was silence and smiles.

And prayer.

As crazy as it was, every time Marlin belted him, Jayce found himself praying for the creep. Not pretty prayers, mind you. But they were prayers all the same.

Wham!
A fist drove into his face.

God, show Marlin what a crud he is
.

Punch!
Another hit to the gut.

God, save Marlin, even if he’s a puke and doesn’t deserve it
.

Crunch!
An uppercut that slammed Jayce’s jaws together so hard he thought his teeth would shatter.

God, stop Marlin before he kills anyone else
.

“Come on, jerkface.” Marlin snarled in his ear. “Give it up. Go ahead and cry. You know you want to.”

Jayce forced his head up. Pried his good eye open.

And smiled.

A string of swearing scorched the air, and Marlin spun and stalked away. Jayce waited until he turned a corner, then let his head fall to his chest as a long, deep groan escaped him.

Oh, man. If he got himself killed, Deputy Dan would never forgive him.

Jayce grinned then winced at the pain that rewarded that action. He only hoped Dan figured out what had happened.

Please, God, I know I don’t know You well, but please. Don’t let Dan think I left him like that
.

He’d been sound asleep when Marlin and his goons jimmied his bedroom window, slipped in, and grabbed him. They’d gagged him and trussed him up like some kind of
turkey surprise, then dragged him out the window and threw him in the back of their truck.

He’d figured they were bringing him here, to the meth lab. And he’d been right. The stupid siblings, Dicky and Jay, jerked him out of the truck bed, dragged him in here, and tied him to the chair. Then they went to sample the lab’s product while the fun got started.

All Jayce had to do was survive long enough. Because if Marlin was anything, he was predictable. Jayce had seen it happen too often with others to doubt it. First, came the beating. Then, if the beatee survived, came the gloating.

Just let me make it to the gloating, God. Please … for Shannon
.

Marlin actually stopped hitting him sooner than he’d expected. Of course, he could just be taking a break. All that swinging and smashing was probably pretty tiring.

Heavy footsteps drew Jayce’s attention. Marlin was coming back.

“You ready for another round, jerkface?”

Jayce didn’t reply.

Mock regret painted Marlin’s features. “You know, I wanted to take it easy on you. I mean, if you’d cooperated, I would have made it quick. Not so painful.”

He shook his head, grabbing a hank of Jayce’s hair and jerking his head up. “But no, you gotta sit there playing the strong, silent type. So here’s what I wanna know.” He stuck his face into Jayce’s. “Who you trying to impress, jerkwad? In case you haven’t noticed, it’s just you ’n’ me here.”

“No.” Jayce wanted the word to come out solid. Confident. Unfortunately, his voice wouldn’t cooperate, and it came out ragged. Hoarse. “It’s not.”

Another tug at his hair almost made him grimace.

“What are you talkin’ about?” Fury filled Marlin’s face, and his voice dropped to a low, dangerous level. “You told that idiot deputy where we are, didn’t you?”

Jayce cleared his throat. “No.”

Marlin jolted Jayce’s head. “Then what are you talking about?”

Jayce eyed him.
Well, here goes nothing
. “God.” He smiled. “God’s here, Marlin.”

He let Jayce’s hair go, disgusted. “God! Give me a break. You really buy that religion crud?”

Jayce shook his head and immediately regretted it. “Not religion. God.”

“Oh … I get it.” A sneer curled Marlin’s lips. “This is because of your little friend. Shannon, wasn’t that her name?”

Jayce wanted to swear. To pull out every foul thing he could think of to throw at Marlin to keep her name off his disgusting lips. But that wouldn’t help anything.

Stay cool. Just. Stay. Cool
. “Yes. That was her name.”

Marlin nodded, walking over to a cooler and flipping the lid open. He pulled out a can of beer, popped the top, and took a long drink. He carried the can back to Jayce, holding it out to him.

“Care for a last drink, puke?”

Jayce forced his cracked, bleeding lips into another smile. “Nah. You can have it.”

Marlin stared at him for a minute, then a low chuckle escaped him. He took another drink. “I gotta give it to you, Jayce ol’ boy. You’ve got guts. Just like your sweet little Shannon and her brother. They had guts, too. Real guts.” He angled another sneer at Jayce. “Too bad it got ’em killed.”

Jayce’s heart pounded in his chest. This was what he wanted. Marlin talking. Bragging about what he’d done. But Marlin’s words did more damage than his fists ever could. They pierced Jayce’s heart, shredding it, leaving it bleeding and dying.

The way Shannon and Aaron had been left.

Jayce closed his eyes against the flood of grief that slammed into him.

“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when I figured out what they’d
done.” Marlin was really picking up steam now, getting into the story. “There we were, off-loading our supplies from the truck and taking them to the lab behind the old man’s place, quiet as you please.

“ ’Course, we threw some nice, juicy steaks to those mutts of his, first. Kept ’em plenty occupied. We’d just finished brining stuff in, when I heard this old man’s voice tellin’ me to stop right there and put my hands up.” He snorted. “I turned around, and you know what I saw?”

Jayce forced back the bile that rose in his throat. “No. What?”

Marlin threw back another swallow of beer, swishing it around in his mouth before he swallowed it. “That old man standing there, holding a rifle on us. And your little pals were behind him.” Marlin walked to grab a chair and drag it over so he could sit in front of Jayce. “Apparently Deputy Dan’s brats snuck into the back of our truck, then slipped out when we reached Brumby’s.” He arched a brow. “Gutsy but stupid. Almost as stupid as getting Brumby all worked up.”

Marlin leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees. “Not real neighborly of them, was it? I mean, getting the old coot killed like that?”

Jayce flinched, and Marlin smiled. “Yeah, wish you coulda been there to see it. That old man actually thought he was in control.” Marlin’s lip curled. “Thought I’d be afraid of his little rifle. But I haven’t been afraid of guns for a long time.” The hollow look in Marlin’s eyes was chilling. “Not since I took my dad’s gun away from him, the gun he always used to threaten me with.”

He sat back in his chair, taking another drink. “And you know what I did with it? I used it. On him. Killed him dead. Cops thought it was a suicide.” He lifted his beer can in a mock toast. “Here’s to the cops, may they always be too stupid to see things aren’t what they seem.”

“So you killed Brumby.” Jayce didn’t know how he got the words out past the rage choking him.
God … God, are You there?
“And Aaron.”

Marlin’s slow smile reminded Jayce of pictures he’d seen of gargoyles. “And your sweet little Shannon? Oh yeah.” He rolled the words around in his mouth, savoring them. “I killed them all. Had my own little gun in my pocket, so I took the old man out first. Shannon and Aaron took off running, of course. But it wasn’t hard to catch ’em. And thanks to Brumby’s gun, it wasn’t hard to kill them. Then all I had to do was call the good deputy’s office, say I was the old man and that something terrible had happened.” This time he toasted himself. “Man. I’m so good it’s scary.”

Jayce couldn’t hold back the sob that tore from deep within him. Nor could he hold back the heated obscenity he spat at Marlin.

“Hey, now.” Marlin held his hands up in front of him. “Come on, pal. Let’s be fair. After all, it’s not my fault your little friends are dead. It’s yours.”

“You’re crazy!”

“Naw, man. I’m not.” Marlin ran his finger around the rim of his beer can. “If you’d stuck with the plan instead of trying to be part of some family, this never woulda happened. But you had to go and let outsiders into your life.”

Marlin threw the beer can at Jayce, hitting him in the face. He stood, towering over Jayce, and his words came out on a vicious hiss. “You shoulda known better, Jayce.” He grabbed Jayce by the chin, forcing him to meet his burning glare. “You never shoulda let Shannon and Aaron into your life. Or that deputy. You gave me no choice, man. You know too much. I couldn’t just let you go off and be a happy little family. You shoulda known you’d get them all killed.”

He’s right. It’s your fault they’re dead
.

Jayce had let himself believe the voice was gone for good. That it was back now, hissing through him, was pure agony. “It’s not true!”

Marlin stood back and crossed his arms. “Yeah. It is. But don’t worry, Jayce. I figured once you realized you’re the one
who got your beloved Shannon killed, you couldn’t live with yourself.” He turned and picked up a piece of wood. “So I’m gonna do you a big favor.” He smacked the wood into his palm. “I’m gonna set you free.”

Not again
.

Dan couldn’t believe he was here again. Facing a hostage situation. But this time it wasn’t a stranger being held. It was a boy he knew. Cared about.

His fingers curled into a fist.
Jesus, please … don’t let this end like—like the last one. Don’t let Jayce end up like Sheila. Like her unborn baby. Lord, I’m begging You. Please, save my boy
.

My boy
. Dan let those surprising words roll around inside him, and he had no trouble embracing them. Jayce
was
his boy. And Dan didn’t just care about him.

He loved him. Like he was his own son.

“We’re all set.”

Dan turned. Sheriff Grayson had slipped up beside him. “I’ll go in the front. That’s closest to where Marlin’s holding Jayce. You have the others come in from the back and side doors at the same time. That’ll give us the element of surprise.”

“Where do you want me?”

Dan turned to Annie. Kodi sat at her side, that happy puppy grin on her face. Well, she
should
be happy. She had found the lab for them. The lumberyard was big enough Dan worried it would take too long to find where the lab was located. But when they arrived, Annie held the pendant and Jayce’s shirt out to Kodi, letting her gain the scent.

“If he’s here, it’ll happen fast.”

No sooner were the words out of Annie’s mouth than Kodi shot forward. Usually, the dog ran free when she searched. But because of the danger of being discovered, Annie had her on the leash. It was all she could do to keep up with the dog. Dan and the officers followed, watching with a
mix of amazement and admiration as Kodi honed in on her target.

It had taken ten minutes tops for her to lead them to the lab.

It was located in a large metal building near the back of the lumberyard. Dan climbed on top of some barrels to look in a high window. He could see the meth lab set up at the back of the building.

But what he saw just below the window made his blood boil. A bleeding, beaten Jayce, bound hand and foot to a chair. Murphy sitting in a chair facing Jayce, slugging beer and laughing.

It took every ounce of self-control for Dan to not storm into the building and to wait the ten minutes for everyone to get into position. But now they were ready.

“I want you to stay here with the EMT squad, Annie. Out of danger.”

“Kodi and I can help—”

He cut her off. “I’m not kidding. These guys have already taken my children from me. I can’t risk letting them take my sister as well.”

Dan knew she wanted to say more, but thankfully, she just nodded.

“Let’s go, Dan.”

He turned and followed the sheriff to the building, taking up his position just outside the front door. He tensed, gun at the ready, waiting for the signal. Prayers flew to heaven with every heartbeat.
God, be with us. Keep us safe. Let me be in time—

“Go!”

The word shot from the radio on his shoulder, and Dan hit the door full tilt. As it flew open, he charged inside, his gun poised, and drew a bead on a startled Marlin. “Freeze! Police!”

He could hear the command echoing throughout the building as other officers rushed in. Apparently, Marlin heard it, too. As Dan drew within ten feet of them, Marlin reached into
the pocket of his pants, then dropped to hide behind Jayce.

Dan barely took two more steps before Marlin stood again, this time with Jayce held in front of him, a knife at the boy’s neck, a handgun pointed at Dan.

He’d cut Jayce free only to use him as a shield.

Jesus, please … no!
Dan forced his voice to be steady. “Let him go, Murphy.”

“Such a dilemma, eh, Deputy? You can’t shoot me without going through our boy here. And you know I’ll cut him before I die.” He pressed the knife against Jayce’s neck. “Now outta my way.”

Dan could see blood trickle down Jayce’s neck.
God … Father … please
. “Not gonna happen. Put the gun down and let him go.”

“Freeze!”

Marlin turned his head, and two more deputies came behind the thug, guns drawn. Dan held out a hand. “Don’t fire! He’s got a hostage.”