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Guns weren’t his specialty. Unlike Ryder or Jake who had military training and were more familiar with weapons, Benny knew just enough to get the job done. But his accuracy was second to none. What he shot at, he hit.
He walked over to the dead body, and grimaced. Two dead men. He couldn’t leave them out here. He grabbed this one and shouldered the burden in a fireman’s carry. He’d have to make two trips.
When he got to the lodge, there was a second bike parked next to his. Ken’s. Well, he wasn’t surprised. Titus was unlikely to leave him out here with no backup. He whistled softly, and a man stood up in the shadows of the lodge. “About time you got back,” Ken said. “Been keeping the fire going for you.”
“Kind of you,” Benny said. There were two other men with Ken, which did surprise him. “I get a whole team?”
“More that there wasn’t enough space in the vehicles for everyone,” Ken answered. “There’s not much that we couldn’t handle between the two of us.”
“True enough,” Benny conceded with a laugh. “There’s another body out there, if someone wants to go fetch it. Might take backup, but I don’t think there’s anyone else.”
The two security guards nodded and headed out the way Benny had come. He noticed they both had weapons. A year ago, they wouldn’t have. He shook his head. “I take it the rest of the team headed into town? How’s Ryder doing?” he asked.
“Still hanging in there,” Ken answered. “Never seen a man heal that fast. Surprised he made it, to be honest.”
Benny nodded. “Benefit of having a mate,” he answered, keeping it simple.
“Something to see,” Ken agreed. He looked at the dead body. “You know him?”
Benny shook his head. He took out his phone and snapped a picture. “Let’s get him downstairs,” Benny said. “Add him to the bodies already there.”
“We did some exploring,” Ken said, and he picked up the man effortlessly. Benny grimaced. Maybe he should add more weights to his exercise routines. He carried the body down to the basement. “This place is huge, actually,” Ken continued. “This is the worst part of the building. I think they left it bad in case authorities showed up while they did improvements to the rest of it.”
That made sense, Benny conceded. He hadn’t been able to see how they could use this as a training ground for any length of time in its current condition. “Find anything interesting?” he asked. He snapped pictures of the other dead. There might be someone who cared.
“Not really,” Ken replied. “Looks like any Army barracks. Lots of bunks, lockers. Not much else.”
Benny nodded. “Let’s get the other body down here. And then we’ll fire the place.”
The two guards had brought the other body down, and Benny snapped a picture of him too. Campbell, but he wasn’t sure which one. Logan, he thought. But, best to know for sure.
Ken had built up the bonfire just as he’d said. Benny snickered. Obviously, Ken believed anything worth doing was done to excess. But that was a step toward a believable fire at this old abandoned lodge.
They made short work of the rest of it. A bit of extra gasoline on the bodies below. Benny hesitated, but he went ahead and lit an additional fire down there with the bodies. The only reason for an investigation of this fire would happen was if someone filed an insurance claim. He could almost guarantee the pack would not be doing that. And then the bonfire was encouraged to move toward the lodge.
It was sweaty work, but the end result was a smoldering fire that was eating away at the lodge. Benny looked around the area. The lodge was set in a large open area. He didn’t think a fire would reach the forest around it. The forest was wet. “Anyone hear a weather forecast?” he asked.
“Storm moving in tomorrow,” Ken answered.
Benny nodded. Well, the pack could send up a team to make sure that the fire was both complete and didn’t get out of control. But for now he felt an increasing urgency to head into town. Ryder was an hour or more ahead of him. The situation in Penticton wasn’t good, and there was all of those wolves headed their way. He pulled out his phone and called Titus for an update. Heartened by that report, he called Jason.
“We’re as good as we can be,” Jason said. “Jessie’s smart.”
“She OK? I was afraid she’d get sucked into Ryder’s pain,” Bennie asked.
“Close,” Jason admitted. “But she took your suggestions literally, and we’re throwing a barbeque as we speak.”
Benny laughed. “Really?”
“She said either you knew what you talking about, or it was a hail Mary pass —my words, not hers — but either way we were going to do it. So you tell me. Did you know what you were talking about?”
Benny snorted. “Not going to admit to anything,” he said.
“Well, she asked me about Mei, and then she tried to duplicate what happened at the campground,” Jason said. “And fuck me, she’s done it, I think.”
Benny frowned, not completely following him. “What?”
“Dandelion burst,” Jason said succinctly.
