Lisa Ch. 07b: Jessica

She had several from Tracy, and the other band members asking her to let them know she was okay. And to her surprise she even had one from Sean and one from Corey both telling her to have the men call them. It was urgent.

She dialed Beth's number and got voicemail on the first ring. Jessica assured her that she was fine and would call her later. She spoke with Tracy and Dave briefly, reassuring them that she was fine and would see them soon.

"Okay. And ah, Jessica?" Tracy asked near the end of the conversation, "Did you ... ah, make out with anyone in the parking lot?"

Jessica felt heat sting her cheeks.

"Why do you ask?" Jessica managed to mumble.

"Some folks said they saw you kind of surrounded ... by men."

Jessica paused, her mind racing.

"Ah yeah." She said. "Um, my husband is home. He ah, came home and surprised me and he got a little carried away in the parking lot."

"Oh ...oh!" Tracy said, her voice relaxing. "Honey, I'm so happy for you! Well, that explains everything ... thank God ..."

"See you later then ..." Jessica said and hung up, mortified. She wasn't sure she'd want to show her face around that bar again.

She looked at her phone and decided that she didn't want to call anyone else. She went to the window and looked out. The men were out of sight. The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day. And then an idea struck her. It would be a great time to sun tan.

Excited by the prospect she ran to Jim's bedroom, found the skimpiest bikini she could, grabbed a towel, a blanket and a book . In the living room she found a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote 'sun tanning out back' and left it on the dining room table.

She decided to go out the back door because that was closer to the grassy knoll that she wanted to lay on. She squeezed through some bushes and found herself in her own personal paradise. Spreading out her blanket, Jessica lay down and sighed.

A gunshot jolted Jessica out of a deep sleep. She bolted upright, rubbed her eyes and looked around. She was beginning to think that she'd dreamt the gunshot when four more rang out. Jessica jumped to her feet and pushed through the bushes. She was pretty sure all the wild dogs had been destroyed. She was not happy to consider that there could be more of them.

She jogged to the front of the house and was about to round the corner of the house when she heard what sounded like flesh hitting flesh and then a voice she didn't recognize growled "I'm going to kill you like the lowlife scum that you are. Right after we find that whore that you double crossed us for, and cut her into pieces while you watch!"

"I told you, she's not here." She heard Riley say, but his words were slurred. Jessica skidded to a stop, and then crept up to the corner of the house. Fear gripped her when she saw a group of armed men standing in a semi-circle around Riley, Angus, Jim, Josh and Angus. Her men were kneeling on the ground and she could see that their arms and legs were bound with rope.

Riley glared up at the large, bearded man in front of him. Angus was half crumpled on the ground, Jim and Josh's heads hung lifelessly in front of them, and Scott lay on the ground.

The front door of the house opened and Jessica ducked back. Peeking around the corner cautiously, she saw a man descend the porch stairs and walk towards the others.

"She left a note ... sunbathing out back." He announced. The bearded man pulled his arm back and punched Riley so hard that Riley dropped like a bag of bricks. Jessica gasped, throwing her hand over her mouth and ducking back against the wall.

"That's an old note." She heard Jim mumble. Jessica looked around the corner again.

"Shut up asshole." A man nearest him ordered, and lifting his rifle he brought the butt down on the side of Jim's head. Jim flopped to the ground.

"No ..." Jessica whispered and anger flashed through her.

"Find her." The bearded man said and Jessica saw one man move toward the barn, one man toward the kennels and another in her direction. She ran to the back of the house, paused at the far back corner, saw no one and decided to run for the bushes at the far end of the property. They lined the driveway, were close to one of the men's cars and they also held a stash of hidden weaponry. Staying low she jogged to the car. At the car she looked over the trunk to see the remaining men taking turns kicking Riley, Angus, Jim, Josh and Scott. Fury seared her veins. Suddenly she realized that she had to move. The man who'd come to the house would be rounding the corner to the back at any moment. She crouch jogged to the front of the car, squatted lower and took a chance on making it to the bushes without being seen. Diving into the bush, she flattened herself on the ground and waited. She listened and the only sound she could hear was the sound of the attackers boots connecting with her men's bodies. She lifted her head a little and saw the man looking around the back of the house. After a few minutes he disappeared around the side again.

Jessica pulled her phone and dialed Sean's phone number.

"Hello ..." Sean answered.

"Sean, it's Jessica. Someone's here and they're beating up the men." She whispered.

"Shit! Daryl, fuck!" Sean said.

"Daryl?" Jessica asked.

"They're going to kill them Jessica. Christ, we were trying to call you guys since last night. Daryl expected the men to come on a job and they didn't. Daryl's men got massacred and now he blames Riley. Christ! We're coming, right now. But I don't think we'll get there in time."

"I'll try to hold them off." Jessica said.

"What! No Jessica, they'll kill ..." Sean shouted but Jessica hung up the phone and began shifting the branches that lay over the hole where the box of guns and ammunition was buried.

Jessica pulled the gun belt out, pulled the two six shooters out, loaded them, slid them into the gun belts. Then she grabbed two rifles and a shotgun, loaded them. The men had included several saddle holsters in the box. She slid three over her shoulders with the two rifles in them, and the third in the middle of her back with the shot gun. At the bottom of the box lay a huge hunting knife in a sheath. Jessica considered taking it but then remembered what the men said about it being more dangerous having a knife then not. Shutting the lid she scanned the area and didn't see anyone in her vicinity. With a growing sense of urgency Jessica crouch ran from the bush to the front of the car. The guns on her back weren't the most comfortable things but Jessica quickly concluded that in order to be useful in any way she needed as much fire power as she could muster.

Looking over the hood of the car Jessica's heart clenched. The men were all on the ground, blood flowing from gashes on their faces. Her mind raced. There were four men standing over them. She cursed herself for not thinking to count how many men were originally in the clearing. She'd seen three leave ... had that been three in addition to these four, or were some of the three included in the four ... or were there even more somewhere? And how could she distract the gunmen. Lure them away from her men? She heard the dogs barking up a storm at the kennel. Maybe she could make her way there ... let the dogs loose. Would that distract them? It would likely get the dogs killed. She could sneak into her SUV and try to take the gunmen on a chase. Her keys were in the house but there were spares in the vehicle.

None of these options sounded like really good distractions to Jessica. She ducked a little as a man came into view from the direction of the barn.

"She ain't there." He said. Another man came from the direction of the kennels

"Not there either." He said.

The man who'd gone around the house came from the corral, "Here either."

"Well fuck!" the bearded man said. "Never mind then. We don't have time for this shit. Get him up." He ordered pointing his gun at Jim.

One of the men yanked Jim up by his arm. "On your knees." He yelled.

"And the others." The bearded man said.

The other gunmen yanked everyone up. Jessica gasped. The men's faces were battered, cut and bloodied. Angus' eyes looked almost swollen shut.

"You'll just have to die knowing that we're going to find that bitch and she's going to have a slow, painful death. We're going to have our fun with her, knock all her teeth out so she can suck us off without biting us, cut her tits off, one tiny piece at a time ..." he was yelling into Riley's face.

"We told you we weren't coming ... we told you, Sean and Corey told you, Paul told you." Riley mumbled, apparently unable to move his jaws. "She had nothing to do with ..."

"Shut the fuck up!" The bearded man yelled and back handed him. He reached out and stopped him from falling to the ground. "Get up and come here!" he ordered grabbing Riley by his arm and dragging him with him. Turning him he shoved him to his knees in front of Jim. "You didn't show up and I watched my people get blown away ... murdered. So, you're going to watch your men die ... one at a time before you go. And we'll start with the baby. That's Jim isn't it ... the baby of your fucking clan?" he demanded placing the barrel of his rifle to Jim's forehead.

"You prepared to meet your maker boy?" he demanded. ... to be continued