Twins of prey 1 3 the co.., p.16
Twins of Prey 1-3: The Complete Trilogy, page 16
Throughout their life they both had faced death and escaped enough times to know what it looked like. This time though there was no escape. No air, no life.
“At least we’re together,” Tomek said laughing inappropriately.
Even with the water closing in the room around them, Drake couldn’t help but to find some humor in the fact that Tomek was the one being all sentimental about them dying in each other’s presence.
“Yup,” Drake replied at a loss for words as they both exhaled mist through their lips and sucked in what might have been their last breath.
As their last drags of air processed through their lungs, the burn of holding onto the carbon dioxide after effects filled their body. Drake sunk down to the floor in the dark feeling it against the bottom of his feet and used what power he had left in his muscles to push off against it rocketing himself upwards to the ceiling in a failed attempt to find air. There was no air pocket to be found as his head slammed against the bark ceiling.
The banging of his head combined with the lack of air left in his blood caused him to suck in a large amount of water. Drake felt the water fill his stomach first and then his lungs. He knew this burning was the last feeling he would ever have. Giving up his fight Drake let his body go limp and begin to sink again accepting the inevitable.
Not expecting to feel anything else, he only felt the life being sucked from his body. Twisting and turning he felt the rush of death as if he was sliding out of the darkness into a white, bright tunnel. Was it the afterlife, was it Heaven or was this his personal Hell?
The feeling was so real, as if his soul had been removed from the pains his body had succumbed to. Drake looked up into the bright light, it hurt his eyes, but it was to glorious to look at none-the-less. Having been so close to death many times in his young life he knew that this time he had actually died. This time was different from all the rest. This time he had gone from darkness to light in just a few seconds. Drake looked deep into the light until it burned his eyes and then blinked.
Why did I blink?
Why is there pain?
He thought to himself.
Drake realized the bright light he continued to stare at was not Heaven or even Hell, it was the sun. Turning his head away from its glare he looked to his right where to his surprise Tomek was standing. Next to Tomek was a dark figure that seemed to be shadowed in the brightness. Drake thought perhaps it was the Devil himself, but as his eyes adjusted to the light he saw a man. A man wearing a full camouflaged ghille suit full of the ferns and grasses that littered their valley. A man with a beard that was clearly white along the edges where the paint that was used to camouflage his face had rubbed off. A man holding a handmade leather-wrapped bow that had a stone-headed arrow adorned to the string. Tomek was standing next to him as if they had known each other for years. Drake wiped the water away from his face to see that Tomek was standing, with Uncle.
Drake shot up to his knees taking in his first real deep breath since before the water casket closed in on him.
“Uncle?” Drake asked looking at Tomek.
The man took a step forward towards them and quickly answered the biggest question on both of their minds.
“Hello boys, it is good to see you again. You must be hurting and tired. No, I am not your Uncle, but he is my, was my, twin,” the man explained.
“The name is Hawkins, most around these parts call me Old Man or Old Man Hawkins or just Hawkins is fine by me,” Hawkins said introducing himself formally. Both of the twins sat there looking at the man as if he was Uncle with a different tone of voice.
“I am sure Uncle never explained too much about me to you and that is okay. You see the day he found you, there was a reason he could not just let a set of twins die. He had me and he saw us, in you.”
Astonished from both being alive and by the fact that looking into the face of Hawkins was as if they were looking into that of their dead Uncle. However the more he talked, the more they both knew that Hawkins was different than this twin brother. Hawkins spoke with a more educated tone and a much softer voice.
“Quite a pickle you boys have gotten yourself into the past few days, huh?”
“Wait, you have been here the whole time?” Tomek asked.
“Well, I don’t know when you all started picking the fights with the sheriff, but as soon as I knew what was happening, I figured I would hold true to my word.”
“Your word?” Drake asked.
“That Uncle of yours, you see, many a time, many years ago he saved my ass from, well let’s just say much like you I owe my life to him. In return, I told him I would look in on you two after December of last year. Only problem is you guys are not that easy to find.” Hawkins said grinning while giving the twins a compliment.
“Tom, um er, I mean your Uncle told me that you guys would be fine on your own, if left alone. Well, when that dipshit jug head Deputy Coleman came in to my store scrounging up camping supplies for the lot of them I knew it was about time for us to meet,” Hawkins explained.
“You are a little late don’t ya think?” Tomek asked sarcastically.
“Well, hell you must be Tomek,” Hawkins answered with a slight chuckle. “And that makes you Drake.”
Both boys just stood there in silence, neither one of them in possession of any sort of weapon. Looking at this new acquaintance, it was clear to both of them that he was an outdoorsman. It was clear to both of them that if not for him opening the oak tree door they both would be dead. It was at that point that Drake clearly put together the connection between the feeling he assumed was his soul being ripped from his body and what was actually happening.
Hawkins had gotten the door open releasing the pressure that had built up inside the room. This open portal created an instant geyser which must have sucked their bodies right out of the cabin blowing them into the grassy area below. The cabin expelled them as if they had been swallowed by a whale and shot out it’s blow hole. So as Drake thought he was sliding out of his body through a tunnel to the afterlife, he was really just being sucked out of his wet grave into the open.
“Congradu-freaking-lations you know our names, but how are we supposed to trust you?” Again Tomek continued on with his less than tactful conversational ways. “Forget this Drake, let’s go find that bitch.” Tomek said while turning his back on the both of them and starting to walk away.
“You do realize I could of left your rotten little ass in that hole to die right?” Hawkins asked loudly.
“What do you want, a hero parade?” Tomek replied showing zero respect to the man who was at this point in time just as responsible for him being alive as Uncle was.
Drake grabbing his brother’s arm as he passed by him looked at Hawkins and asked, “Again, why should we trust you?”
“Well, that Uncle of yours had just about everything figured out. The only thing he didn’t think might happen is this little tiff with our local yokel sheriff department. By the way, nice work with each of them. Well except your sister that is. I figured you couldn’t kill her even if you had the chance,” Hawkins said.
“Is she...?” Drake interrupted.
“Alive? Your sister? Trustworthy?” Hawkins relaxed his stance and sat down on a piece of log laying his bow on the ground to the side.
“Yes to all three.”
With that, both boys dropped their guard as if in some way, without any proof, they knew Uncle’s twin was telling the truth. Maybe it was the fact that if a sixty-plus year-old man could track them and the sheriff throughout the wilderness, observe every battle and stay unnoticed the entire time, then the same man could have killed them himself if he had wanted. Any man that could accomplish this type of stealth was either a friend or an enemy of Uncle’s and at this point they had no choice but to embrace Hawkins as a friend.
“Now I don’t expect you guys to call me Uncle,” Hawkins explained. “While we do look the same, I am in no way the same person as he. Just as I am sure you two are very different.” Hawkins stopped there expecting a counterpoint from Tomek but the boy remained silent. Hawkins continued, “In time you will come to understand why your Uncle viewed the world in the way that he did. But going forward, you must know that your simple hidden way of life must be put on hold. Your sister is going to need help in the near future.”
“We would be dead if that bitch had her own way and now you want us to help her?” Tomek finally broke into the conversation as Hawkins had expected earlier.
“I know and I am sure she had her reasons. Yet I will tell you this, family is the only bond you never choose. It is time to make things right between you all,” Hawkins said.
Drake, who had remained silent almost the entire time, looked at Hawkins slowly and deeply. Scanning him from head to toe. Other than being a good amount thinner than Uncle, there was zero doubt in his mind that he was indeed the twin that he claimed to be. However Drake knew there was only one way to be certain. The letter.
“Where is the letter?” Drake asked Hawkins.
Hawkins looked back at him with the same grin that Uncle made when one of the boys had perfected a new skill. The same grin that Uncle made when they first learned to tie their boots, tie a fishing line, filet a bluegill or shoot a deer. The same prideful grin that Uncle was known for was now on the face of Hawkins.
Drake was not the only one to notice it.
“What letter?” Tomek asked.
With that, Hawkins reached into the breast pocket of his camouflaged undercoat and removed an envelope. The back had been sealed with a wax stamp that left the imprint of TH standing. Tom Hawkins, Uncle.
“This letter?” Hawkins said handing it over to Drake. Tomek immediately attempted to snag the parchment from his brother hands but was unsuccessful.
“How did you know he had a letter, Drake?” Tomek asked.
“It seems Uncle shared secrets with us both, you knew of Annette. I knew of this letter.” Drake’s answer annoyed his brother. Tomek was either unaware of the hypocrisy of his feelings or simply did not care. Either way Drake felt somewhat good now knowing that Uncle trusted him with secrets just as well as his loose cannon of a twin.
“I watched him write it at the table late in the night, before his last trip to town for medicine.” Drake explained.
“Yes, that was the last time we spoke. He came to my store sat down and we had a long chat, a few whiskies and hell we even played a little guitar. He left me with the letter and the instructions of delivering it to you this spring.” Hawkins said.
“I kept my promise and will continue to do so but for now it is time we head to Pine Run. You can get settled into the loft above the Hawk’s Nest and when all is ready we will sit down with that sister of yours. I do not know if I can fix everything that has been done, but I know I can at least keep you all from killing each other.”
“The Hawk’s Nest?” Drake asked.
“Yes, it is my store and my home.” Hawkins replied.
“No, we live here.” Tomek defiantly said.
“Look around you, there is no more here for you. You do not have to stay with me but at least come back to my store and see what I have to offer. Plus, clearly Henderson has the drop on you and clearly she does not mind killing you. She is better than you, well trained and much smarter. Your sister is everything you are not, you need her.” Hawkins said in a stern convincing matter.
Tomek was hearing the old man talking but was not listening to the content. He thought he knew what was best for him and his brother and right now it was finding their sister and killing her.
“Look here, old man, I came into this world screaming and covered in some bitch’s blood. I don’t mind going out the same way.” Tomek said.
The crassness of Tomek’s words raised the eyebrows on Hawkins and for the first time he got a true sense of how damaged of a young man Tomek truly was.
Drake who was now standing behind them both, quietly commented causing both their heads to turn and look at him. There Drake stood with the letter open, dangling at his side as he had just finished reading it.
“We are going with him.”
5 Letter
6 Traffic
“Pine Run badge 455 with a traffic stop,” Henderson called out to dispatch.
“455 go ahead,” replied the county dispatcher.
“I’ll be out with a four-door Pontiac Sunfire, metallic green in color occupied two times in the 1500 block of Cole road.”
“Break for a plate number,” Henderson continued.
“Go ahead with the plate 455.”
“Michigan plate, Robert King Larry 8, 3, niner”
“Clear” finished the dispatcher as they begin to run the vehicles information.
Henderson repositioned her spotlight on the back of the suspect car as she exited her patrol vehicle and walked forward towards the driver’s side door. While it was not customary for the sheriffs themselves to be working road patrol on a Friday night in a light drizzling rain that was just enough to be annoying, she was the only deputy in town until the mayor gave her the budget to hire more staff. She worked the busiest call hours in an attempt to provide the best service she could to Pine Run. Upon reaching the back of the vehicle, she touched a piece of the green metal just above the left taillight leaving her fingerprints on the vehicle just in case this normal traffic stop for speed turned out to be anything but a simple warning. Ironically it was the former sheriff himself that had taught her that trick. A man who was concerned with her safety more than his own it turned out. Or so it seemed at the time.
Upon reaching the window, she looked inside at the two subjects, both younger teenage black males, close to being juveniles in age. Of course this was not illegal in Pine Run but it was out of the ordinary. “Good evening, I am Sheriff Henderson with the Pine Run Sheriff’s Department do you have your license and registration available?” She asked.
The driver who seemed calm and collected simply said “Yes, Officer,” while handing the requested identification and paperwork out of the vehicle. She glanced over the young man’s license noticing he had just turned eighteen and was registered out of the Detroit area. It was a warmer than normal night and both boys sat there shirtless and sweating as if they had just run for miles. As calm as his voice was, his body told a different story.
“Long way from home tonight aren’t you?” She paused to look at the license again and read his name “Mr. Tower, Mr. Lykus Tower?”
“Yes, Officer, I am her visiting my cousin, Jacoby,” Tower replied motioning over towards the other subject in the passenger seat.
“Hey, Jacoby, you have any ID on you?” Henderson asked.
“No ma’am,’” he said unwilling to make eye contact staring straight forward into the vehicles black carbon fiber like dash.
“Why is that?” She asked.
“Father Niko takes all that stuff from us when we get to camp and keeps it during our stay,” the boy replied.
“Ahh I see, you are one of Niko’s boys. Well does he know you are out here away from camp at this time of night?” Henderson asked the still awkwardly acting passenger.
“No ma’am,” he replied.
“Then I would guess right about now you are more scared of him than me huh?” Sheriff Henderson joked knowing it was the truth.
“Yes ma’am.”
Tower interrupted Henderson’s next line of questioning, “What was the reason for you stopping me, Deputy?”
Henderson decided to go ahead and ignore his little power trip game which was an obvious attempt at not letting her speak to Jacoby who belonged back in camp with Father Niko.
“So should I call Father Niko right now and have him come pick you up or, can I trust your so-called cousin here to return you as soon as we finish up?”
“I swear to God we will go right back, I promise I am being totally honest with you,” Jacoby said.
“Deputy Henderson,” The driver again interrupted.
Not willing to play his game still Henderson quickly corrected him.
“You mean Sheriff Henderson?” She said confirming the driver was aware of exactly who he was speaking with.
“Yea, whatever, Sheriff Henderson,” He said while rolling his eyes.
“Last I checked this bunghole of a country town is still in America and unless you are arresting me I am free to go correct?”
If the subject matter was not enough then it was certainly Tower’s tone of voice which caused Henderson to step back from the vehicle and rest her hand atop of her weapon. Up until this point she had planned on letting them go and following them back to Niko’s camp, but now the game plan had significantly changed.
“You are not free to go at this time you are being detained for speeding. Cole road has a fifty-five mph speed limit and I clocked you at sixty-nine just as you passed Lovejoy Road about a quarter mile back. Just wait right here and I will return with your identification and papers in a minute.
Walking backwards the rest of the way to her patrol vehicle she kept her focus on the individuals in the front seat. Knowing that dealing with Niko’s boys was never easy but this situation was worse than most.
Father Niko Allen ran his Christian youth camp in the woods on the west end of Pine Run. Originally the grounds had belonged to a bustling summer camp where wealthy parents sent their kids to discover nature so they could live child free for the summer, but as years had gone by and Michigan’s economy changed, the camp had fallen on the same hard times as everyone else and was forced to close. Father Niko bought the one-hundred and sixty-three-acre parcel full of numerous out buildings and ponds. The river and cabins transformed the forgotten property into his camp for saving the troubled youth of America. Father Niko never changed the original name of the camp. Lucky Trail had become a significant part of the Pine Run community.
Lucky Trail was a place where troubled young boys could come and live with Father Niko away from their home environments. Throughout their stay they transformed from wild young boys who suffered from a lack of parenting and over all respect for the world into young productive and disciplined men. Almost every child that came into the world of Lucky Trail did so from a history of crime and juvenile delinquency. It was Lucky Trail that took them in, taught them to adapt, taught them to trust in a higher power, and taught them how to become men. Father Niko was often graced with the worst and he turned them, he turned them all. Henderson had thought a few times over the past few weeks that Father Niko and Lucky Trail may have been the only place that could have saved her brothers.
