A Powerless World | Book 4 | Outlive The Darkness Hunt, Jack (feel good novels .txt) 📖

were unlocked and opened. There before him in the dim light of dawn was Hank Strickland and clan.

Chapter Twenty-Two

As Colby hopped out, he noticed the three guards were dead. The Stricklands weren’t the kind to knock people out, let alone the type to help Rikers, but here they were, in the flesh. “Thought you had decided to bail again,” Colby said.

“We never bailed the first time. We were there. I just decided to see how it played out. Of course, there was the matter of Alby, but that’s now resolved.”

“So he’s dead?” Jessie asked, jumping down.

“As dead as my three sons.”

Colby rolled his shoulders to work out the aches.

Jessie scowled. “Sonofabitch.”

“Jessie,” Colby said. “This is not the time.”

It was just his way to blame Hank even though Colby had been the one to hand him over. It was easier that way. Easier to process than the idea of a Riker turning on his own kin.

“Yeah, most would just say thank you,” Hank said. “Now are we going to have a problem?”

Jessie stared at him, not hiding his disgust. The Stricklands might have risked their lives to save them but that didn’t change the disdain for their family. They could forgive but no one would forget. There was too much water under the bridge between them to pretend they were anything more than bitter rivals.

“No. We’re good.”

“I thought so.” Hank handed Colby an AR-15. Derek, his eldest, handed out rifles and additional magazines to each of them, but was reluctant to give one to Jessie after his comment. Hank took it and handed it to him but held on to it a few seconds longer.

“We’re good,” Jessie said a second time to make sure he was convinced.

Hank nodded and released his grip.

“Time to get out of here then. We can’t go via the main access gates so we’ll be crossing the bay to Fairhaven.”

Colby looked back at the city. “Dylan is still here. Alicia too.”

“There’s no time to get them. The next shift is due here any minute now. They’ll see this and raise the alarm. You want to risk your neck to go get your family, be my guest, but we are leaving.”

Hank turned to walk away.

“I thought you wanted to help?” Colby asked.

“We just did,” he said over his shoulder.

“And Nina?”

Hank stopped walking and looked back, annoyed. “They’ll pay for taking her life but not here, not now. There are too many.” He only had brought eight of his family members, a mixture of sons and daughters.

“Then when?” Colby probed for an answer. Timing was everything and if there was a window of opportunity this was it. “Because right now they don’t know we’re out. If ever there was a time to strike back. It’s now.”

Hank made his way back to him, he looked frustrated, disturbed even. “Let me make something clear. What I’m doing right now is because of my wife, Ruth. Because she believes you mean well. Because she wanted me to help last time and I didn’t. Because she acknowledges what you did by turning over Alby couldn’t have been easy. And because for some strange reason she wants to see an end to the feud between our two families. Me? If I had it my way, I’d leave you all in there to rot. But that’s me. My wife is different.”

“Thank God for that,” Zeke said with a smile, looking back inside the shithole they’d emerged from.

“So we can do this dance until the next shift rolls in or we can leave now. But don’t think for a moment that what I’ve done here evens the balance between us. Alby might have been a fat fuck who filled three seats on a plane but he sure as hell doesn’t equal three of my boys. You all still owe me two, and maybe not today but eventually I will come and collect on that debt.”

Colby looked off toward Highland Avenue, one of the main stretches that snaked its way through the heart of town. Hank directed them to Redwood Highway. From there it would be a skip and jump across Bucksport, around the back of the burned down mall and they would be at the water’s edge.

“I’m not going,” Johnson said as he made his way down to the ground from the truck.

Colby offered a confused expression. “If you stay here, he’ll throw you back inside.”

“This community needs me. He’s painted me in the wrong light and I need to correct that.”

Colby rubbed his tired eyes. “I’ll admit not everyone agreed but there were more than enough in agreement to warrant what came next. Johnson, you’re better off leaving.”

“There has to be a way around this. I’ll go speak with Wilder. See if he can’t change their minds. I mean, he was the one that recommended me for the position.”

Colby shook his head. “You don’t get it. Someone like Asher won’t ever be convinced. Men like that only understand one thing. A bullet in the skull. If he’s been working behind the scenes all this time to bring about this takeover, he’s not going to step aside for anyone and that includes Dan. Now I’d like nothing more than to handle this matter without more bloodshed but it won’t end that way. As much as I disagree with Hank, he’s right. There are too many right now. We need to regroup. Think. Assess the situation and then deal with it.” Colby went to follow the others.

“By then it might be too late.”

“For what? All Asher’s doing is stepping into your shoes.”

Johnson leaned toward him, stabbing a finger at the ground. “You said it yourself. John Boone doesn’t want to control this town, he wants to burn it to the ground. Like I said. You might think Asher has aligned himself with these people but he hasn’t. He wants control. Boone doesn’t. Whether it’s me or him at the helm, that timeline is still in effect. Now by my estimate, by tomorrow he will attack.”

“No,