Dirty Secret

Chapter 37

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***

The next day,the healer came by to treat our wounds. It was an older woman, around fifty with braided salt and pepper hair just like their leaders. She didn't say much, and when Jeremy tried to make conversation with her, she simply said," I'm hungover and I haven't slept enough."

Jeremy went for a morning run after that without me. He said he wasn't hungry for breakfast. I got the sense that he was still upset about last night. I followed the trail back to the clearing to see that the crowd was almost a quarter of what it was yesterday. There was a table with food presented much like a buffet.  Older  women ran in and out of a bigger cabin next to Raph's with pots of food in their hands.

"Where is everyone?" I asked a woman who held onto a plate of what looked like exotic fruit.

"They're still sleeping. They won't be around for a few hours, help yourself though. There's coffee."

I poured myself a cup and then loaded a plastic plate with some food. It would have been cold but the fire was still going. I sat on a log whilst I ate and tried to not think of Brett. A little while later, a woman dressed in nothing but a fuzzy blanket came out of Raph's cabin. She did not spare me a look, she picked up a half empty bottle of beer from beside the fire and disappeared into the woods whilst chugging it.

Right behind the cabin, I caught sight of someone gesturing for me to come. I could not make sight of their face, but a bare tanned arm gestured  for me to hurry. I stood up and looked around to see if anyone was watching me. Through the window in the cabin I could see that Raph was naked, on his phone so it could not be him asking me to come. I approached the back of the cabin with caution. From an open window, I could hear Raph speaking but not well enough. The man exposed himself from behind the shutters, it was the main patrol from the night we had arrived, the man with the scar on his face.

"Uhhh-yes?" I asked.

He didn't say a word. He just pointed towards a hole in the wall.

"I don't understand."

He pointed towards his ear, and back at the hole.

"Um...what?" did he want me to listen? He walked away before I could ask for any more clarity. I kneeled down and put my ear to the hole. I could hear Raph speaking like I was right beside him.

"I told you, Pat. The time for negotiations is over. I made it pretty clear what I wanted from the very start....the land just before the southern border, right after Deadman's Creek, 20 miles of forest for my secondary home..."

I suddenly realized who he must be talking to. It was The Serenity Pack that owned that territory, he had to be negotiating with Brett's dad.

The 'why' part of the equation came pretty quickly however.

"It's a fair exchange, we've been smelling your guys all over our borders. You can get the boy and the girl anytime you like, I'm keeping them comfortable right here for you, but bring the contract, will you? I'd like to get this over quickly, I'd like to get started on the building"

I had heard enough to understand what was going on. The gut feeling we had about Raph was true from the start. This wasn't a man that hands out favors, even if he was his own in debt. He was negotiating to give us to The Serenity Pack for land and we were sitting ducks. I could not understand why one of his own guys had exposed him, but I did not stick around to find out. I feld back to the cabin just as Jeremy was coming back.

"We have to get out of here-now!"

"Calm down-"

That only infuriated me more," there's no time," I burst into the cabin and grabbed my backpack," The Serenity Pack knows we're here."

"Wait what? How do you know?"

"I heard Raph on the phone. He told them we're here, he's doing an exchange with them, us for the land at the southern border."

"Shit," Jeremy rubbed his head," fuck! I knew coming here was a mistake."

"Let's go then,now!"

"We can't just go! You heard what he said last night. They can smell The Serenity Pack around their borders, they could be surrounding us-"

"So well scent it out, if they are coming, than its from the south, we go the opposite way, we go north-"

"I just need to think!"

"We don't have time-

There was a knock on the cabin door. We both stared at each other in silence.

Jeremy sucked the air and opened it to reveal Raph.

"Good Morning," he greeted with a smile wide enough to reveal that he had no idea what was going on," I came to invite our guests for some breakfast, if you haven't eaten of course."

"Thank you, we'll be right down," Jeremy nodded but Raph was looking at me.

"Are you alright? You look a little shaken up."

"Yes," I nodded," Im fine, just hungry."

"Better hurry then, people are beginning to wake up. If you want any bacon, I'd get there soon."

"Okay."

He spared us one last smile and walked off.

"We can't go there," Jeremy shut the door," for all we know, The Serenity Pack might be there waiting for us."

"Let's go," I demanded," North to Texas, no more wasting time."

"Alright, but how well we get past the patrols."

"I think it might be easier than we think."