Betrayal
Chapter Thirty
A few minutes later, Vin and Ezra made it back to the cabin. They weren't
hearing any gunfire. They cautiously approached, seeing the other guys there.
Ezra caught a movement behind Chris and saw Mounds raising a gun to fire at
Chris's back.
Without thinking, Ezra took aim and fired. Hitting Mounds in the hand, causing
him to cry out in agony and drop his gun. Before he could react, Josiah and
Nathan had him in handcuffs, after wrapping a cloth around his injured hand.
"How is everyone?" Chris demanded.
"I'm alright. Just have a bullet graze on my arm," answered Josiah.
"I think we're all good. I don't see any of us bleeding," said Nathan.
"What about you Ezra? Vin?" asked Chris.
"We're okay. Right, Ez?" replied Vin.
"Yeah. I am just ready to get to my nice feather bed at my place of residence,"
said Ezra.
"We need to call the closest coroner, to pick up the bodies of three of Mounds'
men," said Buck. Within two hours, the bodies had been picked up, and they were
all back on their way to the ATF helicopter. The ATF were going to send three
helicopters, one for each dead body. And, transport them back to Denver. But,
they were going ahead and taking Mounds back with them.
THE NEXT DAY--AT THE ATF OFFICES
Ezra and the other six men had spent hours being debriefed by Orrin and the
D.A., having to tell them everything that had happened. Edward Mounds was being
held in an ATF holding cell until his arraignment. When they were finally back
in their office, Ezra was more than ready to go home.
"I'll drive ya," said Chris.
"That is quite alright. I will be fine on my own," Ezra answered.
"Well, I'll be over later."
"I would much rather you weren't," Ezra said.
"We need to talk."
"Chris, I would rather not have this discussion. But, since you insist, let's
have it here." Ezra wasn't ready to be alone with Chris, so he'd have to have
the discussion in front of their teammates.
"Ezra, we can fix this. It was only the one time, with Mary. I swear!"
"I do not care if it was once or one-hundred. I will not tolerate being cheated
on. Look, Chris, I still care for you. I would not be averse to trying to repair
a friendship in the future. But, there will never be any more us."
"Oh, I get it. You just wanna shack up with Vin. How long have the two of you
been together? Since before we even broke up?!" Chris demanded, his voice angry.
"He never cheated on ya, Chris!" Vin said in Ezra's defense.
"You can't be with him! You're supposed to be with me!"
"Chris, Brother, calm down," said Josiah.
But, Chris was seeing red and charged at Vin. Before a punch could connect,
Chris was grabbed in a bear hug by Josiah. Manhandling him, Josiah plopped Chris
into a chair, snarling, "Stay!"
"We're going to have a talk and get this settled. You cheated on Ezra. You
ruined your relationship. Nobody else. Now, if and when Ezra's ready to move
on, I want you to let him. He deserves to be happy, even if it's without you.
Understand?" Chris's eyes sparked with anger, but he nodded. He heard the truth
in Josiah's words.
"Good. Now, how about we all go home and get some rest?"
"I'm all for that!" sighed JD.