The Survivors: Book One - Page 181/203

"We've set up a hooch near the parking area. Follow Doug. He's the one with the red vest and shoulders so wide we could land a plane on 'em. Let's get this over with as quickly as possible."

The mood had turned somber, but Kenn couldn't help the swagger in his step as he walked on the boss man's right. They followed the board members who had no trouble catching up to Doug. His limp was the only reason Kenn didn't consider him competition.

Big-nosed, deeply tanned Kyle was on Adrian's left and Kenn wondered what the stocky goon thought about those words, grinning to himself. Probably hated it, but he could eat shit and die. Nothing he could do, but suck it up.

The thought made Kenn feel like laughing. The two men hadn't spoken a word to each other in 2 full days, since the first gun class he'd taught, where they'd both said too much, barely avoiding a fight. Now Kenn was about to be given some authority and he planned to rub it in every chance he got.

"Stay close to this guy. He has a nasty temper, and I'm sure this type of proceeding isn't new to him."

Kenn hid a disappointed look at the words. They were just chasers for a prisoner?

"The punishment might be," Kyle stated, pulling his black cap tighter over his dark curls, and Adrian nodded, but didn't smile.

"True. Don't let him intimidate the girls. They're already scared; afraid he might sneak back and hurt them in retaliation."

Kenn saw them exchange a look that said the violator wouldn't be able to come back because he would be dead. Jealousy flared up in Kenn, made him push a little, test his new place before it was official. "Can I ask or should I wait?"

Kyle listened openly, waiting. A refusal would mean they had read too much into Adrian's words. Kenn might not be empty clothes, the birds proved that, but there was still something wrong with him.

"Two counts of sexual assault, two counts of death threats against women and kids, and two counts of physical assault. Those are all death penalty crimes here and he knows it."

"Sorry about your luck," Kenn thought, gloating silently, but he immediately brought the Marine out when they stepped into the big tent and saw the defendant's huge, tattooed body. Leon was easily 270 lbs.

As he and Kyle stepped to each side of the sullen biker, they exchanged a look that said truce - for Adrian's sake. They would do this together and be hard from the beginning. It wouldn't take much for this to get out of control, the pierced suspect wasn't even handcuffed, and both men were very aware of how little they liked Adrian being close to this guy. Anything could go wrong once the verdict was in.