Salt Pillars

Chapter 15

At the party the previous night, Tony had taken his offer of peace with Ryan to the next level by inviting him out with his group to hunt for Cole. The truth was that even though they had been at odds, he respected Ryan for his courage to stand up to him. It was better to recruit a strong soldier into his unit then to risk facing off with him in the future.

Although Ryan was skeptical of this offer at the time, he felt that it would be taken as a sign of weakness or a flat-out insult if he refused. And now, as the guys rode out together, he was glad that he had come along. There was a familiar sense of comradery that came with hunting in a pack. Jen and Joe were great people, but they were not warriors like this group of athletes. The thrill of the pursuit was exhilarating — electrifying — it was a sensation that Ryan had known all too well from his days in lock-up and he thrived on it.

Tony led the group based on a tip that Cole had gone home to his grandmother's trailer, so the guys rode bicycles across town toward Crystal Pines Trailer Park; some of their machismo was lost with the image of five large dudes riding on skinny bicycles.

As they rode, Ryan reflected on one of the last conversations that he had with his friend Alex while they were incarcerated together.

They had spoken in length about the nights when Ryan used to sleep over Alex's house to avoid conflict with Ryan's mom's new boyfriends. Ryan and Alex would stay up all night to sneak out to the convenience store and try to steal whatever they could grab while the other distracted the clerk. "What was his name...? Amad or Ameer, the angry Persian? He really hated you."

"Whatever, everybody loves me, just ask your sister," Ryan jested.

"Hey fuck you, don't talk about Macayla."

"Oh my god Macayla — I still dream about those little shorts that she used to wear."

"Shut the fuck up; that's my sister."

They laughed.

They talked about all the things they were going to do together when they got out — the places that they would go — the bar on the corner that they would open and run together as old men drinking and whoring their lives away.

"I'm serious man" Alex said , "I'm done with all this crap, all this criminal shit. This life isn't for me. After I get out, I'm done fucking around. I don't ever want to come back to a place like this."

Ryan agreed with him, but deep down he doubted his own resolve. Ryan was his father's son and in that there was violence and an inherent disdain for authority. The truth was that Ryan loved the life of an outlaw and he hadn't any intention to give up the thrill of it any time soon.

This was the last time that Ryan saw Alex alive before he found his body in the gym. The image of his best friend lying twisted in his own blood, burned in his mind. It was his fault.

That was the first time the raging anger that stormed inside of Ryan was truly calm. He didn't understand it at the time, why everything had gone quiet then like the eye of a hurricane, but he understood it later when he found Alex's killers underneath the stairwell.

The entrance to Crystal Pines was barricaded with debris, four boys, armed with aluminum baseball bats, came out and met them at the gate. The leader had long red hair and a black sleeveless wife-beater shirt that stood in contrast to his white pasty arms.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Tony?" the kid asked.

"Wow! You guys have quite a setup out here." Tony smiled but the kid didn't smile back. "We don't have any beef with you Shane..." Tony said almost apologetically — almost, "We're just looking for Cole."