Carrion (The Bren Watts Diaries #1)

Chapter 61

The clock had struck midnight by the time we reached the farmhouse. We had a quiet drive, only broken by Payne's puttering as he tried to mess with his bandages while wiping the blood off his face.

Logan had his eyes on me the entire ride, gaze narrowed, on the brink of speaking his mind, but he held back his tongue instead. I was glad for the latter. I knew what he was going to say, but I had no mood for it. He would say that I didn't tell him that it would happen, but time was not our friend, and it was running out. I had to take drastic measures, and it worked.

I had placed a sack over Payne's head throughout the ride. Margot and Felipe stood waiting at the front porch, looking worried, but they let out a sigh of relief when they caught sight of us still alive. I was the first one out the door, dragging Payne behind me. I didn't want to give him any hints about where he was.

I gave a curt nod to Margot. She sidled beside me, grabbing a small bottle of chloroform from her pocket, and poured a good dose on a handkerchief. We both held our breaths just as I pulled off the bag over Payne's head. Margot wrapped the handkerchief over his nose. I had to hold down his wrist and shoulders as he struggled, but he went limp after half a minute.

"That should hold him until morning," Margot said.

Margot had surprised me when she revealed that she knew the ingredients for chloroform and that we could use it as an alternative to hitting Payne over the head repeatedly to make him sleep, which seemed counterintuitive. It wasn't like in the movies where you could walk off without a mild concussion after a bump on the head (which you definitely would). I didn't realize we had collected most of the ingredients here and there without noticing, solvents for adhesives, alkaloids, and rubber. I thought Steve had more use with it since he was the mechanic of our group, not a sedative.

I had no intention of killing him to protect our plan. All I had to do was leave him with nothing, no cars, no guns, no radios, waking up in the farmhouse with us already inside the walls. He had to walk to the walls himself, and that's where I stopped caring about what would happen to him. Besides, he's a big boy. He could protect himself.

Alfie and Felipe carried Payne to the top floor with Margot not far behind them. She said something about checking on his bandages to make sure it was clean.

"How's Gabe?" I asked her.

"Almost there," Margot said. "Had to give him water."

"So he's awake?"

She nodded and smiled, said, "Go easy."

"I'll give him five. Then I'll talk to him."

I stepped inside. Aria walked over to Yousef, who curled up beside the fireplace, and wrapped her arms around him. Henry was by the couch, having fallen asleep waiting. He jumped up when he saw us, shouting, "You're back!"

"Yes, we are, kiddo," Miguel said, sauntering over toward him and gave his hair a ruffle. "Go get your things ready. We're leaving in ten minutes."

"Bren. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Logan asked me. He pointed toward the empty dining room.

I nodded and followed him there. I glanced back to see Felipe and Alfie carrying Payne up to the second floor. Luke gave me a nod that said he'd provide us with some privacy while he followed after the two men.

"You could have gotten him killed," Logan said, though his voice sounded tired.

"Good thing he didn't."

"At least let me know in the future? That way, we won't die of a heart attack."

I chuckled. "Fair enough."