The Cabin Is Always Hungry

Arc 2 | Finders Keepers (3)

arc 2 | finders keepers (3)

finders keepers

part 3

john glanced at his watch, realizing it was almost midnight. leo perused through his various torture tools like a surgeon inside an operating room, picking up and feeling the weight of a mallet. john gave his shoulder a gentle tap and a shake of his head. leo’s shoulders slumped, and they regarded eddie.

“hey, man, we’re gonna take a break,” leo said casually, like they’re going on recess. “but you better use this time to take a breath and think about your choices, you know? it better be the right answer, kapish? you don’t look so good.”

eddie didn’t answer as he took in labored breaths. his cheeks had already puffed up from the four teeth that leo extracted. his right eye was bruised when john punched him repeatedly with brass knuckles. his pinky and ring fingernails were torn out, and he was soaking wet from the waterboarding.

i had to walk out a few times and enjoy the lake’s serene waters under the moonlight. still, eddie’s muffled screams inside the visitor’s center cut through the woods’ silence.

throughout all that, the only information they got from the man (between the sobs and the whining) was that he was approached twice by an undercover agent before to spy on mercer and his organization. he denied them both times. but when leo pressed on who those guys were, eddie swore he never knew their names and had never seen them. even i could tell he was lying. it wasn’t enough for the men; they wanted to leave with a name. a face, if possible.

john pointed at art and his brother. “you two watch him closely,” he said before leaving the office with leo.

they went to the mess hall, where john picked out his phone and dialed mercer’s number. he picked up within three rings.

“yeah?” mercer said on the other line.

“he’s not talking yet, boss,” john said. “we’ve got a rat, though. he confirmed it, but he didn’t give any names. said he’d never seen them before.”

john and mercer continued to talk on the phone, but from what i could glean, it seemed like this mercer fellow was in full panic mode because of some meth lab that exploded in the docks in portland, kneecapping almost a quarter of his profits. i guessed even mob bosses had loans to pay now that the feds were breathing down his neck and threatening him with decades in prison.

over in the other room, scottie shuffled on his feet. he leaned to art, “hey, i got to use the restroom,” he said.

“but we’re watching him,” art said, pointing to eddie. his head hung low, still taking in labored breaths.

scottie guffawed. “you think he’s gonna escape when he’s that fucked up?”

art shrugged. “what is it then? number one or number two?”

scottie winced. “number none of your business, art.” he walked out of the room. “i won’t take too long.”

“better be fast, scottie.”

scottie waved him off. “yeah, yeah.”

with the bathrooms inside the building not working for a few years, scottie went out of the lodge, hobbling toward the only outhouse nearby, which was near the docks. on the shore were stacks of overturned metal dinghies abandoned when the camp closed. all of them were still in good condition.

back at the visitor’s center, john was still talking to mercer. i doubt he realized his younger brother left the premises.

“tired of this shit,” scottie muttered under his breath, fallen leaves crunching under his boots. “we got an emergency.” he mocked john’s voice. “it’s going to be an all-nighter. you ready for this?” heaving a sigh, he stopped in his tracks. “scottie, you idiot, i could have just hung out with carla. maybe get laid instead of being stuck in the middle of the fucking—”

a twig snapped by the edge of the wood.

scottie turned, listening.

i could feel the goliath clenched the axe’s handle as he stepped behind a large tree. still, he’s a lumbering brute. he could never be that sneaky. i had to purchase a trait for that.

scottie stepped closer toward the tree line, peering into the darkness. the goliath didn’t move. he either got creeped out or the “call of nature” overpowered him when he started dashing toward the outhouse. “hold it, hold it!” he mumbled with each step.

fortunately, he reached it, dropped his pants, and sat on the toilet. he tried to ignore the lingering smell inside, but given he’d be there for at least a few minutes, he couldn’t hold his breath that long.

the goliath turned to me, but i shook my head. “wait,” i ordered him again.

meanwhile, art was left alone with the prisoner. he fished out his phone from his back pocket and started playing a candy crush knockoff. spat a curse when he lost too many moves and didn’t get to the next level.

“fucking stupid piss of shit app.”

john huffed. “i think that’s the point,” he said. “mercer’s gonna make an example out of him.”

“that bad?”

john said nothing and looked out the window with a good view of the lake. “we’re gonna have to get evelyn and the kids, too, once we’re done here.”

leo gritted his teeth. he didn’t like what he heard. “they’re nice kids.”

john shrugged. “like mercer wanted. an example, even if he’s family.”

“cold.”

eddie crept toward the windows facing the woods. luckily, the windows were unlocked, and he quickly slipped out into the night. he threw art’s phone and stomped it on the ground. he picked out the sim and threw it into the bushes. he probably didn’t want the number he dialed to go back to mercer.

once the cool air entered his lungs, he ran for the van, almost circling the visitor’s center until he reached the front. he found the driver’s side door unlocked.

“come on. come on.” he looked at the glove compartment and the overhead console for the keys. nothing. he slapped the wheel out of frustration. “shit!” he spat. “shit, shit, shit!”

for a brief moment, i felt terrible for eddie. i had a sneaking suspicion that the number he dialed was probably his family or maybe his accomplice. the undercover agents, maybe? could he really be working for the dea?

i projected my consciousness back to the mess hall and found leo had joined john near the windows. the latter was staring right at something across the lake.

“huh. that’s interesting,” john murmured suddenly.

“what?” leo asked.

“you didn’t tell me you have neighbors.”

leo tilted his head. “um, we don’t.”

“then, what’s that over there?”

john pointed across the lake.

pointed at my cabin’s faint lights on top of a shallow cliff overlooking the lake. in the darkness, it stood out like a beacon.

shit. i quickly shut off the lights, which only made it look worse.

john winced. “you definitely saw that, right?”

“yeah. that’s...not there before,” leo said.

“are you sure?”

“my brother and i came down here eight days ago for a potential sale. we checked around the lake, too, but that building has never been there.”

“are you sure?”

“i grew up around here. no one is supposed to own a property around cedar lake except us. we’re too close to the national forest, and half of the feds own the area.”

“well, someone’s staying over there. maybe you missed it?”

“i don’t know—”

“can they hear us? see us?”

“i doubt it. the lake’s too big for that.”

“good. it looks like they went to sleep.” john headed down the hallway toward the office. “let’s finish this.”