Boomtown (12 page)

  “You’re sniffing me again aren’t you?  Get your coffee and some pancakes and sit down.” He ordered, shaking his head at me.  I held on a little longer, and placed a kiss between his shoulder blades.  His body seemed to relax while doing this, making him seem not as mad as he was. 

  I decided not to argue with him and did as he said.  He brought his food and coffee, as well as the syrup. 

  “Ember is on her way over.  I need to talk to her.”  I said to everyone.

  Max groaned and I glanced at him.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “Ember is driving me nuts.  It was kind of nice to wake up and not have her knocking at my door for once asking if she could get me anything.” He answered. 

  “Max, what do you think we all went through when we heard you were injured?  We didn’t know how bad you were hurt, whether you were alive, where you were.  Nothing, they told us nothing.  Ember was dying inside.  She held up fairly well, but when they finally called and told us that you were ok, and would be on the next flight home, she broke.  She was seriously broken; I haven’t seen her cry like that since your parents died.  It was not pretty.  Give her a little slack.” I scolded him. 

  He looked at me for a couple seconds, and then his face fell.  “I didn’t even think of that.  I just thought she was being annoying.  I never knew.  Thanks Chey Chey, I’ll talk to her.” 

  I nodded, and started to eat.  Ember walked into the house a few minutes later, using her key to get in.   

  “Hey y’all!  Is that pancakes, who made these? I know it wasn’t Max, he sucks at pancakes.” She said, grabbing a plate full and sitting down across from Janie. 

  “Me.” Sam said, “But it was nothing special, just Hungry Jack mix.  Anyone could do that.” 

  “Cheyenne is a kickass cook.  I don’t think it’s fair that y’all both can cook.  So why was the door locked? It’s never locked.” 

  “Cheyenne nearly had a break in last night.  If it wasn’t for one of the men I had watching her, he probably would have gotten in.” he answered her question.  “I’m having an alarm system installed today at two.  Gabe will be here to watch the house while I’m gone.  If y’all go out, make sure Gabe knows where y’all are going.  And send me a text as well.  Also, I want you to make sure you get double of everything you will need for Janie and you, and you can keep it at my place, just in case we need to go there.” He said as he went back to eating, like he didn’t just drop a few bombs on me. 

  “Who the hell is Jack?” I sputtered.  “And what do you mean double up.  That’s like moving in with you. And who is this Gabe yahoo?” 

  He gave me a half grin and started to explain with amusement, “Jack and Gabe work with us.  They were in our old unit and got out when I did.  And you just said last night that it was hard to just bring a two year old over, so I want to make it easier in case we need to go there.”  He stood up, tossed his plates into the sink and headed for the kitchen area where I heard his voice, apparently talking into his phone, unless he was talking to himself.   

  Ember and I glanced at each other, and then both turned to Max simultaneously.  He gave a big huff, knowing our looks for what they were. 

  “He doesn’t like explaining himself, and it’s really hard for him to talk about how he ended up where he is at today.  The guys didn’t like the way we were ambushed when I got hurt, their contracts were up, and they all decided to get out.  James will be done after this last deployment he is on. Same with Dougie.  We are all going to work with Sam at Free.  It’s funny how we all met each other and had the same interests in motorcycles and cars.” 

  Most of what he said was the truth, but we could tell that something was fishy about the explanation of why they were all working with each other the way they were at Free.  Guess we had some more things to dig into.  Max got up and left too, placing his dirty dishes in the sink with the rest.  Guess they didn’t do dishes.  Damn. 

  I collected the rest of the dishes off the table, and tossed them in the sink with the rest while I went about cleaning Janie up.  I let her down, and then went to the sink to help Ember tackle the mountain of dishes that had stacked up.  Janie ran off towards the living room where I could hear the guys, and I finally got Ember alone.  Time to come clean.   

  So that is what I did.  I told her everything.  Not skipping any details.  I told her about meeting Sam at the bar, not being a virgin anymore, unprotected sex, and condoms.  When I was finished she sat staring at me, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. 

  “Say something!” I pleaded. 

  “I don’t know whether to congratulate you on losing your virginity, or yell at you for keeping this from me.” She said. 

  Apparently congratulating won out, because she started squealing and jumping up and down, grabbing around my waist and making me bounce with each of her jumps. 

  A throat cleared behind me and we both stopped jumping and turned.  Max, Sam, and Janie, who was in Sam’s arms, were in the doorway staring at us while we made fools of ourselves. 

  “Better get used to this Cap.  They are weirdoes.  This is tame for them.  Just wait until they start talking to each other in Cooke Monster and Elmo voices.  It gets downright whacko.” Max said laughingly 

  “We haven’t done that in at least a year, Max!” Ember said, “Stop embarrassing Chey.” 

  “Whatever.  We are heading out.  Me and you need to talk later.” Max said to Ember before turning around and walking away. 

  “We are heading out, come meet Gabe before we go.” Sam instructed, and left too. 

  “Ember, I do believe he just gave us an order.  Hop too!” I said, slapping her ass then taking off before she could retaliate.  I heard her pounding behind me, and put on some speed, not stopping until I had Sam in between her and me.  I stuck my hand to my nose, stuck my tongue out and made the nanny nanny boo boo gesture.  We dodged each other for a few seconds, jumping over the couches and dodging Sam and Max before I finally noticed the intimidating looking guy right in front of me.  Ember jumped on my back, which made me stumble into the guy, who I assumed must be Gabe.  He steadied us, and that’s when Ember noticed him.  Slowly her feet slid to the floor, and she stared in shock at the guy in front of her.  Her cheeks went a deep shade of red, and she sputtered out a “Sorry.” before she backed off completely and went to stand by Max. 

  So this was Gabe.  Wow, he was kind of scary. I gave a wobbly smile and offered him my hand.  He took my hand, shook it and let it go.  I felt Sam come up behind me and wrap his fingers into the waist band of my pants.  He pulled me into his side, and said, “Gabe, this is Cheyenne, James’ sister.  The other one is Max’s sister, Ember.  Cheyenne, I want you to remember what I told you, if you don’t see Gabe, don’t go anywhere.  Make sure you call me and keep me informed on what you are doing.  I’ll see you when you drop off your stuff at my place.  Gotta go.” 

  He wrapped his hand in my hair, gave me a deep wet kiss, and let me go.  He blew a raspberry on Janie’s tummy, she squealed, and then he handed her off to me.  Janie cried, reaching for Sam, but Sam was already out the door with Max following.  I heard his bike roar to life and him take off without another word, leaving Ember, Janie and I alone with Gabe the frightening.   

  Janie was wailing at the top of her lungs, big crocodile tears running down her face, and snot mingling with the tears. 

  “Ummmm,” I said to Gabe, “I need to go get some shoes on, and afterward we need to hit Walmart so I can get Janie some stuff. Is that alright?” 

  He nodded, but wasn’t really paying attention to me.  He was staring at Ember, who was doing her best to disappear into the couch.  I took pity on her and said, “Hey Ember, do you mind taking Janie and getting her dressed? “   

  She nodded emphatically, and took a still wailing Janie out of the room and down the hall.  I stared after them, and felt a little pang in my chest.  She missed her daddy, any male attention she soaked up like a sponge, and it didn’t help that Sam was good with her. 

  I headed into my room, slipped on some tennis shoes and pulled my hair into a bun on the top of my head.  I got Janie’s diaper bag ready and we all headed out to Wal-Mart.  Three hours later, we arrived at Free and took everything to Sam’s duplex, rearranging some stuff so everything would fit, and not look like we had just bombed his house with baby stuff.  I laid Janie down for a nap, and left Ember with her because she was hiding from Gabe.  They were doing googly eyes at each other while they thought the other wasn’t looking.  It was actually kind of cute; I would have to see if I could talk Ember into coming out of her shell around him.

SAM

  “The prints are Justin’s, Sam.” I heard over the phone. “And I know what you are going to say, but they are his.  And the weird thing is they were left there on purpose.  He left them in the shape of a smiley face.  No other prints anywhere else on the page.” 

  “Justin’s been dead over a year. Something isn’t right.  I was the one who identified the body, and it was his body.  I’m positive.” I said to Elliot, our resident computer geek, and ex-Army Ranger that served under my command. 

  “Well it may not actually be him, but if that’s the case, then it is someone who would have had contact with him enough to have his fingerprints.  Then took his fingerprints and had a mold made.  There is no logical explanation.” Elliot said, sounding just as frustrated and confused as I was feeling. 

  “Thanks for everything.  When will you be getting back here?” I asked

  “I’ll be back late Sunday night.  I just got Hummingbird into her new place, and all that nice fun stuff.” He answered. 

  “Alright.  I’ll see you soon.  I’ll call you if I need anything else.  Keep your phone close.  Something is fucked up here.” I said, stating the obvious. 

Next on my list was to call James and inform him what had happened last night. 

  The secure line rang four times before it crackled and a disembodied voice that sounded like Dougie.  “Oh Captain, Our Captain!” 

  Yeah, that was Dougie.  I loved that kid.  I hadn’t been able to teach him as much as the others, but what I was able to teach him he soaked up like a sponge.  He was a very smart kid, almost super genius smart.  He also had a great sense of humor.  He was easy going, and a genuinely fun person to hang around. 

  “Hey there DD, how’s Kayla doing? How old is she now thirty?” I asked.  Kayla was his 2 year old, going on twenty.  She had a lot of spunk, and acted a lot like her daddy.  We used to watch videos of her that his family had sent to him.  James and he used to compare videos of their little girls.  They both ended up having them about a month apart. The women that they had them with both ended up doing the same thing as well, so they were really quite close.  She was staying with some of his relatives until he got home.  He planned on joining us as soon as his tour was up, which happened to be four more months, just like James.

  “She’s turned into a little diva with a capital D.  My mom is counting down the days until I get home.  She can’t handle much more, she could barely handle me.  My cousins are giving as much help as they can, but they all have a bustle of kids of their own.  So, I hear you are goin’ out with little Chey Chey.  How did that happen?” he asked wickedly. 

  “Ugh, not you too!  I know James’ already told you how we met, so I don’t need to explain it again.” I said stubbornly. 

  “Aye Aye, Captain.  So did you find out anything more on what’s going on with her?” 

  “Yes, that’s actually why I am calling.”  I took a deep breath, “Do you think I could talk to James first though? I have an important question I need to ask first.” 

  “Yeah Cap, here he is.” He said, sounding a little more serious. 

  “Alright, Cap.  What’s up?” James asked 

  “I have two things I need to talk to you about.  First, I wanted your permission to marry your sister.” I told him.  Oh god, it would kill me not to have his consent, but I would do it anyway, with or without his support. 

  A deep breath was taken from James, and then he expelled it and said, “I never thought I had to warn you off my sister.  But I’m glad I didn’t.  There is no one that I’d love more to be with my sister who means the world to me.  Isn’t this a little sudden though?” 

  “Yes and no.  I knew I wanted her forever when she walked into the bar that night.  We have spent almost every moment we could together this last month.  I have never in my life felt as good as when I am with her.  She seems to make it possible to breathe again.  I haven’t been breathing for years, and finally I can take a full breath.” I explained.   

   “I didn’t ask for you to write a poem.  But as long as you treat her right, I have no problem.  What was the other news?” James asked.

  “Your sister got another note yesterday.  This one was left at the back door.  She saw him deliver it.” I said solemnly. 

  “You’ve got to be fucking shitting me! To our back door?  Please tell me you moved her out of there.  God. My baby is there too.  You have got to take them back to the compound.  I’ll try to get back home as soon as I can.  They will have to give me leave for this.” He said sounding as frustrated as I felt. 

  “I told her to double up on her stuff and move it in.  We will be at my place tonight.  But that’s not the worst of it.  There were prints on the note.  They belonged to Justin.” I said. 

  A long pause sounded over the line.

  “No.” he breathed out.

  “Yes.  They were his.  Elliott checked them three times.”

  “Elliott thinks that it’s possible that someone got a hold of his prints and had a mold made.” I told him, giving him everything that Elliott had just told me.

  “Okay, we’ll keep an eye out.  Watch out for my family. “James said as he hung up.  I hung my head and let my hands dangle in between my legs.  I sat like this for fifteen minutes contemplating what to do next.

“Sam?” I heard a soft voice call from the doorway.  I looked up and there she was.  Cheyenne.  My heart picked up a little at just the sight of her, just like it did that night I first met her at Deacon’s.