Authors: Bryan Smith
Dez pulled back a little after they left the interstate and began traveling more lightly trafficked back roads. Echo’s nerves were fried. A part of her had expected this whole thing to end in disaster before now. Every time she looked at her rearview mirror she was sure she would see blue lights popping up behind the Impala. If that happened, Echo meant to take off and leave Dez to her fate. Sure, Dez could probably give the cops her tag number and name, but so what? She hadn’t actually done anything illegal yet, and they wouldn’t be able to prove she’d had any intention of committing a crime. It would be Dez’s word against hers.
The turnoff was just ahead now. Echo’s hand went to the blinker, but she didn’t immediately flick it on. She still had a chance to extricate herself from a potentially very messy situation. She could drive past the turnoff, accelerate and try to lose Dez on what were, for her, unfamiliar roads. It wouldn’t be difficult, and she would be able to just slip back into her normal life. Of course, that would mean continuing to deal with the fallout of Casey’s infidelity.
She held her breath as the turnoff loomed.
That cheating motherfucker.
Her hand hit the blinker and she twisted the wheel to head down the short dirt road to her house. A glance at the mirror showed that Dez had already taken the turn behind her.
Well, this is it
, she thought.
I’m committed now.
It was the resurfacing of her rage against Casey at that critical moment that swayed her. She had almost forgotten her anger after meeting Dez, whose story made her own tale of woe pale in comparison. And then the ride here had been so fraught with fear and doubt. But now that the risk of law enforcement-related complications no longer seemed imminent, the personal drama that had consumed so much of her time earlier in the day no longer seemed remote.
Her hands were locked tight around the steering wheel as she guided Casey’s truck to a stop outside the house. An image of Casey between Ella’s legs made her grind her teeth. She thought about how mad she had been in that first moment of revelation.
Mad enough to kill.
A knock on the window next to her made her shriek. She glanced at the window and saw Dez. She had been so consumed with her own rage she hadn’t heard her get out of the Impala. Echo forcibly unclenched her fingers from the steering wheel and worked the truck’s gearshift to put it in park.
Dez grinned as Echo got out of the truck. “Motherfucker could scream his head off for days out here and nobody would ever hear. This is perfect. It really your place?”
“One of them.”
Dez laughed. “Listen to you. ‘One of them.’ Like you’ve got houses coming out of your perfect ass. What’s up with the mad face?”
“I was just thinking about Casey again.”
Dez nodded. “You want revenge. I know what that’s like.”
Echo realized she was on the brink of saying something that could set her down a course she might later regret. She heaved a breath.
Fuck it.
“I think I want to kill him.”
Dez reached out and clasped hands with her. “If that’s what you really want, I’ll help you do it.” She put her face close to Echo, dropped her voice to a breathy whisper. “We’ll make a great team.”
She kissed Echo lightly on the mouth.
Echo shivered. The Dezsexuality effect was kicking in again. But—
“Dez…there’s something I have to tell you.”
Dez laughed softly and licked her lips. “Oh? And what would that be?”
After a brief hesitation, Echo spat out what she had to say. “Dez…you’re a fucking goddess and I’ll definitely have sex with you, if that’s what you want. But you should know I mostly prefer fucking men.”
“Yeah, I’d already figured that out.” Dez smiled. “Honey, I don’t care if you fuck guys. I do too. Sometimes. But you should be more like me when it comes to men. Use them and throw them away. Treat them like the trash they are.”
The comment brought a reluctant smile to Echo’s face. “They
are
trash.”
“Speaking of trash…” Dez twirled her key ring on a forefinger and started back toward her car. “It’s time to take out some.”
Echo hurried after her. The bright light of the full moon provided ample illumination in the rural landscape when Dez opened the trunk lid. The bound man stared up at them with hopeless eyes. A foul odor wafted out of the trunk, making Echo crinkle her nose and wave a hand in front of her face.
“Gross.”
Dez made a clucking sound. “Did you shit yourself again, Stu? Jesus, you’re disgusting in so many ways.” She reached behind her and tugged out the small handgun wedged into her shorts at the small of her back. She aimed it at Stu. “Untie the rope around his ankles while I cover you.”
Echo crinkled her nose again. “I don’t want to touch him.”
Dez glanced at her, her expression harder now. “Just do what you’re told.”
Echo frowned. “Are you threatening me?”
“Of course not. We’re a team, like I said. But I’m the team leader and I expect you to do what I tell you. Stop fucking around and untie him.”
Echo felt a fresh prickling of fear in those moments. She had still only known Dez a few hours. Anyone else in her position would never have allowed things to go this far. There were just too many unknowns in play. The woman could be a pathological liar. She could be a mass murderer. This man might not even be a rapist, but rather just the latest in a string of unfortunate victims. It was even possible Dez meant to kill her after finishing off Stu.
But it was too late for second thoughts. All she could do was take Dez at her word and hope she was being straight with her. She had no doubt the story Dez had told her had been embellished in some small ways, but hopefully at least the gist of it was true.
She sighed and bent toward the trunk, feeling around in the gloom for the knot securing the thick rope around the big man’s ankles. The odor was even worse at this range, making her eyes water as her fingers found the knot and began to pull at it. It came loose with surprising ease. She guessed tight knots hadn’t been necessary with the man’s hands cuffed behind his back. Once she had removed the rope from his ankles, she tossed it into the rear of the trunk and stepped back.
Dez smiled as she addressed Stu. “Now wriggle around and flop your fat ass out of there, motherfucker.”
Echo glanced at her. “Do I need to help him out?”
Dez shook her head. “Might be hard to believe, but tubby can wiggle his way out when he puts his mind to it. It ain’t easy. His fat face turns red as a fire engine, but he eventually gets it done. Isn’t that right, tubby?”
Stu’s only answer was a muffled groan of despair, but he did begin maneuvering his body around in a series of awkward exertions. The force of the effort caused the Impala to shake hard enough to make its springs squeak. After several minutes, Stu got himself positioned so that his big belly was hanging over the edge of the trunk. Before doing anything else, he shot a sorrowful, desperate look at Dez.
She laughed heartily. “Do it or I rape you with the tire iron again.”
Echo thought,
What? Did I really hear what I think I just heard?
Stu pitched forward, sliding out of the trunk and landing on the soft ground with a heavy thump. He remained facedown where he had landed for several moments, his body heaving and his lungs working overtime as he struggled to breathe through his nose.
Echo frowned. “Maybe I should cut away the duct tape. It’s like you said, nobody will hear him scream out here.”
Dez glared at her. “No fucking way. He’ll only say a lot of bullshit and the motherfucker’s already had his day in court far as I’m concerned. So what if he can’t breathe? That’s his problem, not ours. Help him stand up.”
Echo cringed at the thought of getting close enough to take another good whiff of the rancid load of shit lodged in the seat of his jeans. She knew, however, there was no point in arguing with Dez.
She knelt next to Stu and helped him get into a sitting position, an effort that required another series of grunting, wheezing exertions from the bound man. Dez was right about what his struggles would do to his face, which had turned a shocking shade of bright scarlet. Echo made eye contact with him and felt a reflexive twinge of pity. Whatever the poor bastard had done to wind up where he was, he was beyond pathetic now, a threat to exactly no one.
She touched his shoulder. “I’m gonna hold on to your arm and help you stand. You ready to try?”
Dez made a disgusted sound. “Don’t talk to him like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like he’s some mistreated little child. He’s a fucking monster. Stop screwing around and get him on his feet.”
Dez’s tone was thick with barely restrained fury. Regardless of its true source, there was no denying her rage was genuine. It was true she didn’t know Dez very well, but she knew even less about this man. Whatever the whole truth about him was, odds were he was no saint. One way or another, he was probably getting what he deserved. Or maybe that was just what she had to tell herself to get through this situation.
And if the latter was true…well, so be it.
She got herself into a squatting position next to him and hooked her hands under an armpit. “All right. Let’s do this. On three. One, two, three—”
Stu groaned and strained mightily as he got to his knees. Echo struggled just as hard to get him upright, feeling the worst of the strain in her shoulders and thigh and calf muscles. But he finally managed to get his feet planted beneath him. A moment later he stood fully erect and his face looked redder than ever.
Then he took off running toward the nearby stand of dense, dark forest.
Dez doubled over, howling with laughter.
Echo gaped at her in disbelief. “He’s getting away!”
She felt an intense terror at the thought of Stu getting to the woods and subsequently finding his way to safety. He didn’t know her name or exactly where he was, but the cops wouldn’t have too much difficulty figuring it out. And if that happened, her life as she had known it was over. This time there would be no plausible deniability regarding her involvement with Dez’s plans for the supposed rapist.
Dez was still laughing.
Echo slapped at her shoulder. “Jesus fucking Christ! We’ve gotta do something.”
Dez smirked. “Watch this.”
She pointed the gun into the air and squeezed the trigger. The close range report made Echo flinch, but her physical reaction was mild compared to Stu’s, who tripped over his feet and landed facedown on the ground with a heavy thud.
Dez cocked an eyebrow at Echo. “Come on. You can’t tell me that shit’s not funny.”
Echo couldn’t help smiling. It
was
kind of funny.
There had been a Three Stooges-like physical comedy aspect to the awkward, slow motion tumble Stu had taken upon hearing the gunshot. And now he was trying to get to his feet again, but he was having a hard time of it, unsurprising for a handcuffed man of his girth. He got close a couple times, but his feet slid out from under him each time, prompting more gales of laughter from Dez. Echo began to feel a renewed camaraderie with her. Soon she was laughing just as hard.
Dez shot her a mischievous grin. “All right, enough of this. Let’s get him inside and start having some real fun.”
She became all business then, at least for a while. There was no more laughing until after they retrieved Stu and got him situated inside the house.
On the plus side, the power was on. Echo never let it get turned off, even after a renter had vacated the premises. So at least they wouldn’t be operating in the dark, which would have been a huge negative for the undoubtedly bloody antics Dez had in mind. The downside was there was no furniture in the house. But Dez did some rooting around in the garage and found two old metal folding chairs. A rolled up old tarp also looked like it might come in handy. Ditto a rusty old axe hanging from a peg on the rear wall.
Dez shook out the tarp. “No use getting this place all bloody. We could use it as a permanent home base.”
Echo frowned. “Home base. What do you mean?”
Dez shrugged. “I figured we could do some traveling together. You know, just if you’re up to it. Drive around and see the country. Get into adventures and shit. But then we’d always have this place to come back to and figure out our next move.”
Echo was still frowning, but this time because she found the idea strangely appealing. After all the insane shit that had happened today—and was still happening—it might be nice to get away for a while. And Dez would probably make for a fun traveling companion, at least as long as they didn’t wind up killing people wherever they went.
Dez pointed the gun at Stu and ordered him into one of the chairs. He sat down heavily and stared at the floor, all hope obviously lost.
Dez looked at Echo. “Hit him.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” Dez smiled. “Hit him. Hit him as hard as you can. Just wind up and really let him have it. Show me you have the guts to see this through.”
Echo didn’t say anything.
She looked at Stu, who was still staring at the floor. She thought again of her own lack of a personal stake in whatever it was Stu might have done. But then she thought about Casey and what he had done, how he had betrayed her, and that did the trick again. Her blood began to boil as she approached Stu. She curled a hand into a fist as she took up a position in front of him.