“Fuck you, man,” Jessie said. “You act so brave with all these men around you but step into a room with me and it would be a different story.”
He tutted and shook a finger in Jessie’s face. “Don’t test me.”
“John,” Colby said. “Look, we get it. We saw what you were capable of back in Eureka.”
“Oh that? That was nothing. Watch this!”
“They’ve done nothing wrong,” Nina said. “You don’t need to kill them. They’re innocent.”
He hemmed and hawed. “Perhaps you’re right. If the problem you have is with who is innocent and who is not, maybe you would like to join them.” He walked up to Nina and went to touch her and she slapped his face before Jessie got between them.
John touched his red cheek and smiled, sucking air between his teeth. With a nod of the head, three of his men charged in, shoved Jessie out of the way and began dragging Nina over to the group. Colby rushed one of them, shooting for his legs and lifting him off the ground only to be cracked in the back of the head with the butt of a gun. It was chaos for a few minutes as they fought back. Dylan even tried to take out John with a knife but he was shot in the shoulder. He hit the ground and Zeke rushed to cover him from any further fire. There was none. It was a warning shot. John quickly took control.
“Stand down!” He eyed them with venom. “Anyone else want to be a hero?” he asked. He had his gun out and was waving at them. “The next bullet goes in his head,” he said pointing it at Zeke. Nina was thrust to the ground with the other ten who were begging for mercy.
Rubbing the back of his head, Colby staggered to his feet. “Come on, man. What do you want? What do you need? We can get it. Anything.”
“Anything?” He chuckled. “You hear that, Tyler. Colby can get anything. But that’s the problem, Colby, I don’t want… anything.”
“Of course you do. You’re all the same. Captain Evans. You. You want control.”
“Control?” His brow furrowed as he spoke through gritted teeth. “Oh you’ve got me all wrong. I don’t want control. I want to burn everything to the ground.”
Colby looked at him. He was mad. Out of his mind. “Take me. Let Nina go.”
Alicia stepped forward. “Colby.”
John’s eyes bounced between them. “Huh. Of course you would be connected.” He looked back at Colby and walked up to him, getting really close.
“Just take me. Let Nina go. Please,” he said.
Jessie was coughing hard.
“Giving yourself up for a Strickland. I must say… that is noble.” He took a deep breath. “Or maybe you are doing it for your brother.” Jessie was on the ground, pinned beneath multiple boots. He wriggled but it was useless. Another one of their men was holding his legs. John began to laugh. “No. I think you will stay alive. For now.”
He clapped his hands, and within seconds, ropes of liquid fire shot out of the flamethrowers, covering and consuming the group on the ground. Nina disappeared in a blaze of fire, her screams echoing. Colby and the others were held back, forced to watch as flames engulfed the knot from multiple angles. Screams dominated. Jessie cried out Nina’s name. They didn’t die immediately. It was a slow and painful death. Colby closed his eyes, unable to look.
Jessie was yelling. “NINA!!”
Colby opened his eyes and looked at Boone. There was no delight. There was no horror. It was cold, hateful and unmoving in the face of death. How had he reached this point? Had the sins of Bruce brought him to this place?
When the cries were silenced, the smell of burned flesh filled the air.
“And that is all she wrote,” Boone said, nodding slowly as he looked at the flames. “It’s a beautiful sight, is it not?” He took out a cigar and crouched by one of the bodies and used the flames to light it. He blew out smoke from the corner of his mouth as he walked back to Colby.
“Now I want you to go back to Eureka and tell the city council what you’ve seen. Describe it in vivid detail. Tell them that Humboldt belongs to me now. If they don’t leave Eureka, they will suffer the same fate, and trust me, you can dive into Humboldt Bay, drop and roll, and use blankets, but these flames. These ONES! They won’t go out. Am I clear?”
Colby nodded.
It was a comparison to the attack on the city. The horrors of a fire that could be put out with one that couldn’t.
“That’s a good boy.” He patted him on the side of the head in a condescending way. “Go on now, go on your way.” His family and friends parted, and one by one they backed up. They released Jessie, and Colby helped him to his feet. He was a mess. Tears streaming down his face. He needed Zeke just to carry him out otherwise he wouldn’t have moved. Dylan held on to his bloody shoulder, anguish masking his face. No one glared at them but no one took their eyes off them. Colby expected Boone’s men to do the same thing to them, but they didn’t. That didn’t stop him from looking back over his shoulder as they made their way back to the truck.
Kenzo looked as if he was in a state of shock.
Clearly he had no idea what he was walking into.
He didn’t glare, scowl or answer Colby when he tried to talk to him. He simply stared ahead. What kind of sick game was this? Capturing and releasing them? Twenty had gone out, and now only nine would return.
Boone stayed where he was, watching them from afar, singing the chorus to the Johnny Cash
