Don’t let the Secret Out

Just arrived at the station, where Chief Arran waited to give him a job. Arran waited in his office with a paper sitting next to his computer on the desk. Marcus walked into his office after knocking on the door.

“Come on in, Marcus.” Arran announced to him, while typing on his computer.

“Yes sir, you called me?” Marcus asked, sitting down in the chair in front of his chief.

“Yes, I did. I have a job for you.” Arran started, sliding the paper to Marcus. “I need you to take this to Alli Owen. She is an agent undercover in the countryside and she can’t come up here to get this. It’s going to be a little bit of a challenge since there is a group that has tried many times to get information from Alli and us. Last I knew the group had one leader and two followers. The man goes by the name of Dexter Bates. His followers on the other hand we don’t know their names. You must watch your back, Marcus, Dexter has taken agents and has tried to get them to break. You need to be very careful. Do you think you could handle this?” Marcus listened very carefully to what his chief wanted him to do. Nodding his head, Marcus picked up the paper and folded it and it in his left front pocket.

“I can do this, sir. Alli Owen will have this and I will return back once completed.” Arran smiled at Marcus and stood up from his desk. Reaching over they shook hands before Marcus left the station. He went to his car and read the paper once he sat in the driver seat. He read the whole thing and put it back into his pocket. Off to the countryside to meet up with Alli  he went.

It took him seven hours to get to his location. There were so many open fields with tons of horses running in their pastors. He saw a girl riding a horse around her yard and even some teenagers playing football near the road. He kept going until he got to the town where he saw the police station. He pulled up into the parking lot and walked inside to the officer of the town.

“Excuse me, sir?” Marcus walked to him and stood there nicely in front of the officer.

“Oh, are you Marcus?” The officer asked, shaking Marcus’s hand.

“Yes, I am. Chief Arran sent me down here to meet up with Alli. I need to give her something.” The officer led Marcus to his office and handed him a sticky note with an address on it.

“Here you go. This is where she lives but she is mostly in the woods near thebarn with her horses.”

“Thank you, sir.” Marcus took the sticky note and went to leave before the officer told him one more thing.

“Be careful boy. Dexter is always watching the people here. Watch your back.” Marcus cracked a smile before he nodded her his head and walked out. He looked at the sticky note and went down the block by foot. He tucked it back in his pocket with the other paper he had. He didn’t want bring so much attention to himself by driving around in his black car. He walked down the street for about ten minutes when a group of men walked in his direction. One of the men was taller with a beard, white tank top, and ripped jeans with brown hair and eyes. While the other two men were a little shorter but had the same clothes as the taller man. The taller one turned around and started walking backwards. Marcus moved out of the way but one of the shorter men grabbed Marcus by the back of his shirt.

“I’ve never seen you around here. Where are you going?” The taller man turned Marcus around so they were facing each other. WIth a devil-ish smile he looked down at Marcus’s pockets. “What you got in your pockets?”

“I’m sorry, but I have to get home to my family.” Stepping away from the group, he tried to walk away but the men just got in his way.

“You’re not going anywhere boy.” The taller guys pulled Marcus back but he turned around and punched the man in the face and fled the scene. He kept running but he could hear the group shouting at him as they followed him. He kept running but he wasn’t fast enough. Someone tripped Marcus and he fell onto the ground face first. He felt someone pick him up from the ground,which was the taller man.

“I knew there was something wrong about you.” The taller man wrapped his arm around Marcus’s neck and walked with him down the road like they were friends. “Let’s go have some fun.”

He laughed as he took him to a farm where all you could hear was cows mooing and horse naying. Marcus looked at him, as they took him into a barn with some of the horse inside it. The man tossed him inside and snapped his fingers to the other men inside. They nodded and pinned down Marcus to a support beam. They searched for him and found the sticky note stuck onto the paper. Handing the paper to the taller man, they released Marcus. Without thinking, Marcus grabbed the papers from the taller man’s hands, ripped them and tossed it into the horse watering trough. With the papers ruined and none of them could read them which made the man very pissed.

“It’s fine.” The taller man turned to Marcus and looked him dead in the eyes. “You know what was on that paper, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.” Marcus replied.

The taller man reached into his pocket and pulled out a good amount of money to show Marcus. “If you tell me what was on that paper, I will give you this money.”

“I don’t want your money.” Marcus stood his ground and denied the money.

“Very well then…I guess you left me with no choice…beat him.” Watching the man take a step back as one of his followers grabbed a whip that is used for the horse to punish Marcus. The taller man watched with a smile as they beat Marcus. Trying to not yell out in pain Marcus gritted his teeth as hard as he could. His body couldn't take it any longer and he lost consciousness. The men tied Marus down to one of the support beams and left him while he was out.

Marcus was out for a while before he regained consciousness. His back and chest were killing him, he was in a lot of pain while he adjusted himself. Looking around in the barn he heard a horse running just outside. He didn’t notice that the taller man had snuck inside the barn when Marcus wasn’t paying attention. He didn’t notice he was there until a gun went off. The bullet didn’t hit anyone, it was more than just a warning or the man getting Marcus’s attention.

“Look who is finally awake…are you going to speak?” Stepping in front of Marcus, with the muzzle of the gun under his chin. Marcus looked at the man’s gun and noticed it was the one he had in his back pocket before getting pinned down. “You like guns? Don’t you?”

“Like I said before, I don’t know what was on that paper. Plus, that’s not even your gun. It’s mine that you took from me.” Marcus leaned forward, moving the muzzle of the gun pointing right in the middle of his neck. “I don’t know!”

“That’s what they all said so you’re no different! Tell me what was on it!” This man wasn’t going to give up and most certainly he was not going to let him go. Marcus sat there quietly and just looked at the man. He was getting very impatient with Marcus not answering his questions. He was getting very furious and hit Marcus across the face with the gun. “You will break and tell me what and who that was for! You understand!”

“I don’t know who or what it was from or about!” Marcus fell silent for a second before yelling back at the man. He wasn’t going to break so easily and most certainly he wasn’t going to give up the information that was meant for Alli.

“Guys!” The man called his followers and waited for them to show up. Once they did he gave them an order.”I think this boy needs to learn another lesson…make sure he spills it. If he doesn’t…kill him.”

Marcus looked to the men before watching the taller man walk away and out of the barn. One of the men untied him from the beam but tied his hands together in front of his chest. They also tied his feet together so he wouldn’t be able to get up. The men punched and kicked Marcus in the chest, back, and even a few times to his face. Marcus took what he was given but he started to get triggered on what was going on. He snapped, he swung his legs and he tripped one of the men to get him down to his level. By doing so he wrapped his arms around one of the man’s neck and strangled him.

The other man tried to get Marcus to let go but he wouldn’t let go. Marcus pulled his arm closer to himself as it got tighter around the man’s neck. The man was gasping for air and trying to get Marcus to let him go so he could breathe. Marcus wouldn’t let go and he ended up killing the man after a couple minutes of him fighting back. When the man stopped fighting back Marcus released his neck and just stared at him. With one dead, Marcus still had the leader and the other follower left before he could leave.

“Dexter! Sir,” The man called out, stepping one foot out of the barn door. He kept looking over his shoulder to make sure that Marcus wasn’t getting up to get him. He did this until the tall man walked in.

“What did I tell you about using my name!” Dexter grabbed the man by the neck of his shirt and yelled into his face.

“I-I know sir but the boy…he killed him.” The man looked at Marcus and then down to his dead partner.

“Oh, did he now?” Putting his follower down he approached Marcus with a sinister look on his face. He just looked down at him before grabbing him by the back of his shirt. He began dragging him out of the barn and into the woods behind the barn. Marcus wiggled around but it was no use, Dexter’s grip was very strong. As he kept dragging him along he heard branches snapping and saw things moving in the woods. Dexter just kept on walking and sooner or later they came  to a spot that was surrounded by trees with targets on them. Marcus looked at them and noticed that most of them had bullet marks in the center of the targets.

“Now, nobody has ever killed my men…so I’m going to finish you after I show you that I never miss.” Dexter took back out the gun and put some bullets into the gun. He pulled the trigger and hit every bullseye on one of the targets. Marcus started to get worried and he really didn’t wanna die this way. Not without his wife. Dexter turned to face Marcus and pointed the muzzle of the gun right at Marcus’s heart. “Cya ya partner…”

Marcus closed his eyes when he heard the trigger go off. He didn’t feel the bullet hit his skin nor did he feel any pain that hadn’t already been there. He felt the ropes on his ankles and wrists loosening so he opened his eyes. There was a female woman standing in front of him with a handgun in her hand.

“Good thing I saw ya.” She helped him up onto his feet when he saw Dexter laying on the ground with a pool of blood surrounding him. “Oh, don’t worry he’s gone. And you’re brave for not breakin’ and livin’.”

“I don’t understand how you knew I was here in the first place? I never called for help or anything.” Confused and just overwhelmed with everything that had just happened to him.

“I was tryin’ to get to ya when you were in the barn but I couldn’t carry ya out. You were knocked out so I couldn’t. Plus I needed less people there for me to get ya.” She explained, wrapping Marcus’s arms around her neck to help him out of the woods. “I’m very sorry I didn’t get ya sooner.”

“You’re good. But what’s your name?” He asked, limping with her out of the woods.

“I know ya but you don’t know me? I’m Alli and ya must be the agent that had something for me. They keep trying to send guys here but none make it to me or back home.” Alli explained, taking Marcus to her place which was just down a long dirt road. “I’ll get ya taken care of before sending ya home to whoever ya live with.”

“I don’t have my keys or anything on me. They took them from me when they were looking for the document. I think I just need to get myself together before I hit the road.”

“What did they do to ya? Ya must report the other man for what he had done.”

“It’s okay, Alli. There is no need to-” He started as Alli stopped and stood in front of him. She didn’t look like she would take a no for an answer.

“Listen, they have killed more people than I can think of. Ya are going to tell me what they have done to ya while they held ya there. Understand?” She raised her voice and looked with intention to get the answers she was looking for.

Marcus sighed before explaining everything to her in great detail. He told her word for word what they said to him and exactly what they did to him as well. He even told her what was on the paper that he was supposed to give to her. There was only one thing he didn’t tell her, that he killed one of the men after he was getting the second beat down. She stood there with a straight face which turned quickly into an expression that said she was sorry for him.

“I didn’t know that is what they did. I thought they questioned ya and left ya to die in the barn. I’m very sorry ya had to go through that. I understand what pain ya went through.” She held his hand and looked off to the side as she spoke in a mother-like voice. Marcus just pushed down the thought of his father and the things that he used to do. Some of what had just happened were things that his father would do to him on a daily basis.

“I think it would be best if I went back home to my wife and kids.” He suggested trying to walk on his own but his body was a little bit too weak to hold himself up right. Being covered in black-n-blue marks and loss of blood wasn’t working well with him.

“I’ll call her and let her know you are somewhat okay and that you’re going to stay with me until ya are well enough to go on your own. Alright?”

“Alright, Alli.” Marcus gave in and allowed her to take him to her place which wasn’t that far now. They just had to go a little further down the dirt road and they would be there. “Let’s go.”

They walked a little further and came to a nice, good sized, white house. There was also a medium sized barn near the edge of the open yard. There was a white horse that walked up to the fence and walked next to Alli. It walked very nicely and even tried to rub its face on Alli’s shoulder.

“Down girl, I gotta get him inside.” She didn’t stop to do anything with the white horse and went right into the house. Walking in, she made him sit down on the couch while she grabbed a cloth from the kitchen drawer. She wetted it and patted Marcus’s cuts and scratches on his face very gently. She went very easy but hard enough to get the dried up blood off him so she could see how deep they were.

“They’re not deep enough for stitches so I think I’ll just do butterfly stitches.” She went out of his sight but came back with a first aid kit. Sitting the kit down on the table she gave Marcus come butterfly stitches which were pretty much a piece of medical tape that held the cut together. She did that to the top left side of his forehead and the right side of his chin as well.

“Thank you.” He said, once his face was taken care of. He was in distress when he tried to stand up. He started getting chest pain and having trouble breathing.

“Are you okay?...Sit down.” Alli held him still before making him sit back down on the couch. He had his arm wrapped around his chest when he felt something out of place. He looked up to Alli full of worriedness as he tried to catch his breath.

“Alli…” Having trouble breathing he was having a hard time telling Alli what was happening. She used Marcus’s phone since she didn’t have one and called his wife. His wife must have been sleeping since it took her a while to answer the phone. Once she did, Alli didn’t waste any time.

“Ma’am, I hate to tell you but your husband had an injury and he’s not doing very well.” She turned to face Marcus and watched him sit there on the couch.

“Who are you though?” His wife asked, with her voice more confused than worried.

“I’m Alli. Your husband was sent to give me some information but he ended up getting in trouble.”

“Oh?...He told me he had to go to work…I was sleeping…” His wife said over the phone. “Is he awake and breathing?”

“Well…he’s awake but he’s having trouble breathing. I’m not sure what to do. I never had this happen before.”

“Get the medics…that’s what you do…” The wife explained.

“That means I’ll have to leave him alone at my place. I don’t feel that he’ll do so well by himself.” Keeping an eye on him Alli walked around nervously with the phone to her ear.

“Just keep him on the couch and he’ll be fine…”

“Wait, how do you know he’s on the couch?”

“I was sent by my chief to give him a hand since they just got word that he was being taken by Dexter and his followers…I’m just pulling up to your house and I saw him sitting on the couch…”

“Oh! I’ll meet you outside.” Alli hung up and went outside her door to see Marcus’s wife getting out of her black car with an older man.

“This is Derek Shepherd and I’m Rose, Marcus’s wife. I came as soon as I had word.” Shaking Alli’s hand.

“He’s right inside and I would like to talk to you, Rose, if you don’t mind.”Alli walked with Rose down to the white horse that tends to follow the girls. She pet her horse’s head before sighing. “Listen, he’s not doing very well. They found him and confronted him about my information. I can’t come out of hiding or they’ll kill me like they did to my parents. He took him and tried to get him to spill the beans which he clearly didn’t but I feel bad for the pain he was going through. He was having trouble breathing and he wouldn't tell me what happened until I convinced him to tell me everything.”

“Sounds like him. He doesn’t do very well with getting hurt. He went through hell until he was sixteen years old. He doesn’t like being touched near his neck either and it sends him back to the man that used to strangle him at night. He just doesn’t wanna be broken down again.”

“Oh, my. I-I didn’t know that. Most people who come here are strong mentally and physically, they break within a couple hours of arriving here.”

“Yeah, he just wants to put it out of his head but he has scars that remind him of what had happened to him. He’ll never forget.”

“I’m very sorry for him and I hope he is alright.” Alli glanced towards the house, saw Marcus and Derek walking to the car. Seeing him walking made her feel well but now knowing he is mentally unwell made her feel uneasy. “At least he’s walkin’ around and he seems to be doing well.”

“Yeah, he seems to be. Well, thank you for helping him out, Alli. I’m very glad you were able to save him.” Rose shook Alli’s hand and went towards the parked cars.

“No problem, Rose Shepherd.” Allie went to get her horse before leaving the scene. Rose followed Derek and Marcus to their car. Went back to their part of town, after getting him checked out. They found out it was just a bruised lung that was causing his issues but it would heal on its own. He was put in bed rest for a week just to make sure he didn’t hurt himself anymore than he was already.