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Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 20

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Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 20
A Raid  and Mission in the works

Based

on a post by Break The Bar. Listen to the
► Podcast
at Explicit Novels.



Let’s review the

Returning Dramatis Personae

Of House Black:

Harrison

'Harri' Black; Sheriff of Black County, 'Jason Momoa-looking motherfucker'
mountain man (mixed heritage), former Army MP

Erica

LaCosta; Fiancée of Harri, Leo's sister, Italian Tattoo Artist, Dark Brunette

Kyla

Bautista; Trained dancer, Pilipino Spy, Harri's Deputy Sheriff, Raven hair

Ivy

Gauthier; Quebecoise stripper, half-tattooed, Dirty Blonde anal queen

Vanessa

Peters; Construction Forewoman, Daughter of Brent Peters the head of the
construction project, Brunette

The Natives:

Kara

Swiftwater; Harrison's high school sweetheart that ended poorly, community
leader of the local Native band, Raven hair

US Military

Lieutenant

Colonel Miriam Abarbanel; Military friend of Harri's, Air Force Lt Col, Jewish
heritage, Commanding Officer for Valhalla Hills construction and the Oregon
Quaranteam research project

Captain

Laura Bloomberg; Air Force JAG serving as Miriam's second, Blonde

Guns of Thunder Bikers

?;

Leader of the gang, somewhere in his mid-fifties. Served as a Marine in the
Gulf War, and the early invasion of Afghanistan. Father of Kashm.

Chuck;

Young, dumb, relatively attractive biker. Dating Kashm.

?

'Neck Tattoo'; Neck tattoo of eagle and American flag.

Garret;

Older biker, dangerous hippy vibes.

Kashm;

Short Persian woman with an attitude, daughter of the Guns of Thunder biker
boss. Big tits, hourglass figure. Dating Chuck.

Militia/Sovereign Citizens

Big

Paulson; Sovereign Citizen from the Golden Beaver group

Referenced Characters

Abigail

'Abi' Jónsson; Harri's Personal Trainer, Co-owner of Valkyrie Falls women's
athletic retreat, Icelandic Personal Trainer and Crossfit Competitor, Tall
Athletically Muscular Blonde

Danielle

'Dani'; Australian stripper, Brunette

Josie

'Joss the Boss' Draper; Professional Wrestler, Athletically Trim Blonde

Leo

LaCosta; Harri's best friend and former roommate, Italian carpenter, Erica's
brother

Macho;

Rescued daschund puppy, named for his big balls, mascot and beloved pet of
House Black

Mary

Duncan; Attended high school with Harri, former cheerleader, Husband has
disappeared while looking for work, left to join a 'commune' with her kids

Sara

Sigurdsdottir; Co-owner of Valkyrie Falls women's athletic retreat, Icelandic
Personal Trainer and Crossfit Competitor, Tall Athletically Muscular Blonde

Vanessa

Peters; Construction Forewoman, Daughter of Brent Peters the head of the
construction project, Brunette

Back to the story,

Most of the big warehouse

area was in the dark, a trio of work lights pointing right at us making it hard
to see much beyond the little ring of bikers. I'd been right that Chuck had
been the one shouting at me earlier. His nose looked like he'd gotten it mostly
back into place, and he was holding a ridiculous-looking Desert Eagle with two
hands pointed right at me. Neck Tattoo, whose name I never got, had a shotgun
pointed at me and the old hippy-looking biker Garret had what looked like an AK
of some sort covering us from the side, though he was back in the dark so I
couldn't tell what exactly.

Georgie Boy, who I'd fought,

and Kashm weren't there.

"What do you want from

me exactly?" the boss asked.

"You said you've been

having problems with the Sovereign Citizens. I've interacted with the idiots up
at the Golden Beaver, but I assume if you've had real trouble it would have
been with whatever group is behind them. That's my best guess on who just
murdered a ton of people and kidnapped more," I said. "I want to know
what you know about them. Especially if they have a headquarters."

"How the hell are we

supposed to know if this asshole is even telling the truth?" Chuck
weaseled.

"What fucking reason

could I possibly have to make up shit like this?" I countered. "I
already know you're here, dumb fuck. If I wanted you out, I could make that
happen. I don't."

"Harri," Kyla said

quietly. "Perhaps ignore the child and speak with the adults?"

"She's not wrong,"

the boss grunted, then turned to Chuck. "Shut the fuck up."

Chuck clearly wanted to bite

something back, but he just grunted.

"I need to know where

these assholes are," I said. "We don't know what they are going to do
with women and children."

The boss rubbed at his chin

over his gaiter, his eyes flicking into the dark towards Garret and his AK for
a long moment. "I... understand your need," he said. "Let me
talk to my people. Wait outside."

"But,” Chuck started.

"Please," the boss

said firmly to me, but he was already turning towards Chuck.

Kyla backed out and I

followed her, the door shutting behind us.

"Do you think they know

what we need?" Kyla asked me as we stepped back over towards our truck.

"I don't know," I

said, sighing in exasperation. "They're hard to read."

"What are we doing if

they decide not to tell us? Or say they don't know?" Kyla asked.

I cracked my knuckles and

grimaced. "It's the ticking time bomb scenario," I said. "I
learned it in the courses to become an MP. Is it ever appropriate to torture
someone? Even if we know for certain that they know the
location of a time bomb that will go off and kill dozens or more people?"

"I know it," Kyla

nodded.

"I figured," I

sighed. She probably had even more training on that sort of thing than I did.
Hell, she probably had a better theoretical grasp on 'enhanced interrogation'
than I did, too. She was a trained spy, I was just an infantry lug at heart.
"If they say no, we could try and shoot our way through and keep one
alive. But one or both of us get fucked up in the best realistic scenario, too.
Then we don't even know if what we're told is the truth or not."

"We could try bribing

them," Kyla suggested. "We have the money to make it
worthwhile."

"Not if they won't tell

us on principle," I said.

The door opened before we

could continue or come to a decision, and the boss stepped out and walked to
us. He was wearing his cut over a leather jacket and his boots crunched in the
gravel of the parking lot in a way that made me think of all sorts of cinematic
moments where a deal was made with a devil.

"We don't know where

they are," he said. "But, we can make some calls. Someone will know,
and we know people that you don't."

"Thank you," I

said.

"Don't thank me

yet," he said, raising a finger to stop me. "If I do find out where
they are, it's going to cost you."

"What price are you

going to put on a bunch of hostage women and children taken by domestic
terrorists?" I asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep the sneer out of my
voice.

That, I knew, landed a hit.

He'd served in Afghanistan at the start of the war, while I'd served in the
middle, but we'd seen a lot of the same things. Bad men do bad things, and it's
supposed to happen over there. Not here. Not at home.

"I'll tell you the price

when I have the information," he said.

"You should have my

number," I said. "I gave your daughter my card."

"I know. She has

it," he nodded. "You will hear from us if we find something
useful."

I grunted, not thanking him

again. He nodded, and I nodded, and then he glanced at Kyla and nodded as well.
He walked back to the building and went in, closing the door and audibly
locking it behind him. We got into the truck.

"One lead," Kyla

said, putting her hand on my knee as I started the truck. "And just the
first. We'll find her."

"Them," I said.

"We'll find them."

"Harri," she said,

her tone dropping seriously and forcing me to look at her. She was staring deep
into my eyes. "We'll find her. Stop lying to yourself."

I had to suck in a breath

from my nose and let it out, getting the engine started and pulling us back out
onto the pothole-filled road. "It's been almost fifteen years. I can be
over her and still care about her."

"And you can fall in

love with her all over again, too," Kyla said. "And with all the evil
in the world around us, there are silver linings. You had Erica and Ivy and Vanessa,
but you still allowed me in. A stranger. And now you are going to be the father
to our child, and I will love you forever. But I want a man who is not afraid
of himself, Harri. And especially not of his emotions. My father pretended to
be emotionless because he thought it was strength, and I barely know who he is
even now. Our team, our family, is going to get bigger. Three more women to
reach the minimum number to keep you properly protected. Minimum.
Don't tell me that you would rather the government system match you with more
strangers before you would take Kara."

"It's not just my

decision," I said.

"No, it's not,"

Kyla retorted. "It's hers as well, but from everything I've heard, she was
the one digging the hole you two are in and so she needs you to give her
permission to get out of it. So when we find her, you are
going to tell her what you feel, and what you want. And then she can
choose."

"Fine," I said as I

pulled the truck onto the highway and started speeding to the next destination
I had in mind. "Fine, Kyla. I'll tell her. I can risk a bruised
heart."

"Good," Kyla said.

"Then let's talk about Miriam."

"That's a completely

different thing," I said. "I've already talked to her and she says
she's holding off on contacting the person she'll partner with until things are
stable. She says it's complicated, so there's someone she's planning on
partnering with."

"You haven't considered

that you might be the one it's complicated with?" Kyla
asked.

"How am I complicated?

She could just set it up and it would be done," I said.

"You are not an

idiot, Harrison," Kyla said. "Of course it's complicated, and keeps
getting more complicated. You were already partnered with two women when you
two reconnected, right? And since then you accidentally imprinted Vanessa, were
assigned me, got engaged with Erica, and got into three gunfights while
technically under her watch so far. Not to mention asking her for
help with your ex-girlfriend, getting into a quarantined city to help a woman
from a whole bunch of athletic women who fawn over you, and the giant elephant
in the room that you saved her from sexual assault over half a decade ago.
It's complicated."

"So what am I supposed

to do then?" I asked. "Just call her up and say, 'Hey, Miriam. I know
things are complicated and we've only ever been friends, but if you want to
imprint on me I'd be really interested in that."

"No," Kyla said.

"Because it really is complicated, Harri. You just need to be open to her,
and not lie to yourself that it won't be you. She needs to ask you when she's
ready."

"So I need to offer it

to Kara, but wait for Miriam to ask me," I said.

"Exactly," Kyla

said. "It's like dating. Some people need to be asked, and some people
need to do the asking. You, my love, haven't dated in so long that you just
don't have any instincts about these things. All of your romantic instincts are
built off of how your father treated your mother, not in seduction or the
chase."

That one hit home a little as

my mind ran through my romantic situations since I left home for the military.
There had been a few hookups, particularly when I'd been stationed in Germany
and then while I'd lived in Portland with Leo, but I'd never chased anyone.
Never really pursued. I'd offered dates, sure, but even then had I ever been
the one to make an approach?

"Now let's talk about

Josie," Kyla said.

"No, let's not," I

said and shot her a look. "Or any of the Valkyrie Falls ladies. That's not
on the table right now."

"Fine," Kyla said,

holding up her hands in surrender. "That's fair, at least for now."

I sighed heavily and Kyla

chuckled in her chest. "Call Erica and give her an update," I said.
"Please."

"You're right,"

Kyla nodded. "She'll want to know you're finally coming around on
everything."

"Not what I meant,"

I said.

"I know, dear,"

Kyla said, taking my hand from the steering wheel and bringing it down to grip
her thigh. "But I either need to break you down and get you to laugh, or I
need to fuck you in the back of this truck. You need to release some of the stress
you're carrying or you'll be too tight to do what comes next."

"You know, everyone

thinks Ivy is the crazy one," I said. "But sometimes you are right up
there with her."

"I know," Kyla

smirked softly. "But only with you."

I looked at her in the dark

of the cab as I drove through the hills along the empty highway.

"Now," she asked.

"How are we going to beat an entire bar of rednecks into telling us what
we want to know with only two people?"

The Golden Beaver was empty.

Well, not empty. It was dead.

Kyla and I came back out with

our eyes watering and instinctively covering our mouths even though we had
masks on. She staggered about a dozen steps into the parking lot and ripped her
mask off to throw up. I could feel my own stomach recoiling as well but managed
to keep it down through sheer stubbornness and already feeling a little
deadened to the scene after checking the houses at the Rez.

It hadn't been an execution

inside the bar, it had been chaos.

Multiple dead, scattered

around the bar. Clear signs of a fight, but none of it had really been near the
door. The fight had started inside. And based on the state of one of the bodies
I had a feeling about what had happened. Someone had shown up sick; the blood from
the ears, eyes and nose were giveaways even if he'd gotten shot in the chest
with a shotgun. So someone had come in sick, and an argument had started; if
the pandemic was fake, there was nothing to worry about. But then why was Jim
(or whatever the guy's name was) sick? Maybe it was real.
Escalation. Fear. Anger. Firearms.

"That wasn't close to

all of them," I said as I leaned against one of the support posts for the
front porch.

"I think I counted

eight?" Kyla said after spitting the taste of puke out of her mouth.

"Could be more behind

the bar, or upstairs," I said. "But yeah, about that."

I blew out a long breath,

shaking my head. Another dead end. Hadn't I made that joke to someone about if
this happened? I couldn't even remember, now.

"I'm going to take

another look," I said. Kyla nodded, and I went back inside. The bodies
weren't rotting yet but weren't exactly warm either. I'd been in that room
yesterday, so it must have happened that night or sometime early in the day. If
there were survivors they probably left infected, if they weren't already. Some
of the crates and pallets of stolen supplies looked like they'd been raided but
there was still plenty left. It was just covered in blood.

Nine bodies, counting the

bartender behind the bar. He was the least damaged and had died holding a
gunshot wound to his neck and bled out all over the floor. I cracked open the
beer fridge and fetched out a chilled bottle of vodka, carrying it with me as I
headed up the rickety stairs to the second floor. The upstairs, which I had
never seen, was mostly just a hallway with bedrooms lining either side of the
building. I called out but didn't get any answers so I started kicking in
doors. They were all empty, though they had been occupied.
Some of them still had stuff strewn about in the messy way of a single man
living in misery, others looked like they'd been cleared out recently. At the
end of the hall, one of the doors had bloody handprints on the door handle, and
I only had to nudge it open with my foot.

Big Paulson, the massive guy

with the ginger beard, was looking back at me with glassed-over eyes and pale
skin as he leaned back against the bed on the floor. I thought he was dead
until he coughed, blood dripping from his lips. He had a syringe on the floor
next to him, and whatever he'd taken had knocked him into next week.

"Can you hear me,

Paulson?" I asked.

He blinked agonizingly

slowly, his eyes completely unfocused.

"Paulson, what happened

downstairs?" I asked more firmly.

He let out a little groan and

then tipped sideways, going loose. The side of the bed he'd been leaning
against was soaked in red. His upper back was shredded by what must have been a
shotgun blast.

"Fuck," I grunted,

stepping back. He was dead, his body just hadn't realized it yet because of the
drugs.

Back outside, I cleaned my

gloved hands with the vodka and then took a swig before offering it over to
Kyla. She gave me a look. "Pregnant," she reminded me.

"Shit," I said.

"Sorry."

"It's Okay," she

said. "You've got a lot going on."

We did a quick tour around

the back of the Golden Beaver, checking in the side building and the barn.
There was plenty of random junk that would probably be useful to someone, but I
was mostly concerned about the chickens that were still roaming in their fenced
area. That and the feed in the barn.

"What do you think are

the chances that these guys were already rescued once before from a situation
like this?" I asked.

"I don't know what you

mean?" Kyla asked me.

"Mrs. Branston's

chickens. We went to buy eggs from her and found out she was dead, but her
chickens were missing," I said.

"That wasn't me,

Harri," Kyla said.

I frowned. "Jesus,"

I said. "That was Dani. It was right before you joined us. Fuck, it feels
like it was so long ago. And it was so like what we were doing with the welfare
checks... Shit."

"Shush," she hushed

me, coming over and rubbing my back.

"Fuck," I sighed,

going down into a crouch as I took deep breaths. There was just so much wrong
in the world.

"Compartmentalize for

now, Harri," Kyla said. "We're in the field. What's next?"

I shook my head, still

crouching, and then sucked in a breath and let it out in a rush. "Okay.
Priority One is the kidnapped civilians. This place is a bust, so our only real
lead are the bikers and they are working on it. Priority Two..." I
hesitated as I processed. When lives were in the balance, it was hard to judge
secondary priorities because they fell so far short of the primary.
"Priority two is locking this place down," I said. "Call Vanessa
and see if her kitchen staff want to add fresh eggs and chicken farming to
their daily routines. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for a couple of construction
workers to slap together a coop and yard. Then we call the National Guard. The
inside needs to be cleared out or folks will come here looking for supplies and
get exposed all over again."

"Good," she nodded.

"And then we take care of us, and then we sleep."

"I can't sleep until I

hear from the bikers," I said.

Kyla shoved me hard enough

that I fell back from my crouch and onto my ass. I looked up at her startled.
"You will rest," Kyla told me. No, she ordered me. "Because when
we get the location and you go hunting, I'm not letting you do it
sleep-deprived. My child, Erica's child, they aren't losing you. Do you hear
me?"

"I hear you," I

croaked. I stood up and rolled my neck. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be

sorry," Kyla said. "There's nothing to be sorry for. You just need to
listen, which you are. Now, you call Vanessa and I'll call the National
Guard."

"Okay," I agreed. I

wanted to hug her, or kiss her, but we both knew that we'd been exposed to
whatever was still floating in the air inside the bar, and there had been a lot
of blood.

Vanessa was in on the chicken

plan and had workers in full protective gear out to us in under an hour, during
which Kyla made me try to nap in the bed of the truck while she kept watch. I
might have gotten a few minutes, but it wasn't restful. One of the workers had
built a makeshift coop in the bed of one of their pickup trucks and it took
another fifteen minutes to catch the chickens and get them loaded up. We put
the remaining feed into the back of my truck for transport.

The construction workers were

just about to leave when the National Guard truck rolled up the beaten path,
ploughing through the rickety palisade gate on one side because of its width.
They were from another unit that wasn't managing the Rez situation and were
also hazmat-geared since we'd reported a multiple-casualty event. We gave them
the rundown, and my best guess at what had probably happened, and the
frustrated Lieutenant started shaking his head and didn't stop until I stopped
talking.

There was a quick argument

over whether the chickens needed to be destroyed or not until I looked him in
the eyes and asked, "What chickens?" multiple times and he caught on.
It helped that I probably had some crazy eyes going on.

The Guard took over the site,

and the workers left, which meant Priority Two was now fulfilled. I didn't have
the energy to argue with the Guardsmen over what would happen to the supplies
inside the bar, or the valuables that I was pretty sure had been looted from
the community. Later I would regret that since I could have gotten them
sanitized even if I did it myself and then pawned them off to the bikers to
fuel their market.

Instead, Kyla and I spread

our arms and legs and let the Guardsmen spray us with sanitizer from a device
that looked like it was designed to spray weed killer on a lawn, and then we
got into the truck.

"Bring me home,"

Kyla said. "To our home."

"Okay," I nodded

and started up the truck. "Tell Erica and Ivy that that's where we'll be,
and they can stand down their watch. They shouldn't be in any danger."

Kyla called while I drove,

and soon we were pulling onto the site and checking in with the Airforce goons
manning the gate. They asked me some questions; they knew about the Rez since
their fellow security were still out there, and I told them what I could. They
needed to know that it was possible we'd get hit heavier than last time if the
Raiders were escalating. That immediately got the Sergeant in charge of the
gate for the night interested and I could see the gears in his mind working,
but I was too tired to ask any questions.

I got us up to the compound

and Kyla and I both stripped in the dark before heading into the RV and piling
into the shower. We rinsed and scrubbed each other, completely non-sexual. When
we got out she put on one of my clean shirts and I slipped on some shorts
before collapsing onto the bench seating.

"Don't sleep yet,"

Kyla said to me, making me blink my eyes open. She was on the phone and said
something quietly then hung up. Then she climbed onto my lap, straddling me and
starting to kiss me softly. "We need to have sex," she whispered.
"Both of us. I know you're not in the mood, and neither am I, but we need
to."

"Okay," I agreed.

We ended up naked and she was riding me right there when Vanessa came in.
Usually, she would have been home already since it was well past midnight now,
but she'd been managing the chicken situation since it was a bit of a special
scenario. Now she kicked off her boots and stripped right there in the entryway
of the RV before climbing up to kneel next to us and pull my face around to
kiss her.

"You don't mind?"

Vanessa asked Kyla.

Kyla shook her head with a

smile, running her fingers through Vanessa's brunette locks for a moment.
"He needs us," she said. "Like the hospital."

I ended up in bed with them

both snuggled up with me. It hadn't been hot, or sexy, but it had been loving.
They had taken care of me more than physically, and I found myself staring up
at the ceiling of the RV feeling a lot more clear than I had an hour before.

At some point I must have

drifted off because I woke up to my phone ringing. Vanessa was already rolling
out of bed to go get it from where I left it on the kitchen counter, and she
came back and handed it to me without answering before climbing back into bed,
still naked.

I thumbed it open. "What

have you got for me?"

"Three skilled shooters

and a civilian chopper will be on site within twelve hours," Miriam said.
"Any progress?"

"The Sov-Cit cell is

dead," I said. "Outbreak and internal violence. My biker pals are
checking their contacts, but they said they'll be asking for something in
return. I'll handle it."

"Alright. They found

more survivors on the Rez, do you want the full update?"

"Email it to me," I

said. "I'm trying to get my head right for when we have a location."

"Okay," Miriam said.

"I can't get you more shooters for an assault in under 48 hours, but I can
have a QRF with medics ready to roll for when you need a lift out of there with
your objectives."

"Thanks," I said.

Then Kyla put her hand on my thigh and squeezed, and I looked at her as she
gazed at me pointedly in the dark. "I appreciate all the help, Miriam. And
I want you to know I appreciate you a hell of a lot, too."

"Well, good,"

Miriam said. "Now stay alive for you to get the chance to actually show
it. I think we might be up to you hiring Gordon Ramsey to cook me that dinner
you owe me."

"Get some sleep," I

told her.

"You too," she

said. "And make sure you tell me when you're going operational."

"I will," I

promised.

We hung up.

"What was that, 'I

appreciate you?'" Vanessa asked, dropping her voice to mimic me.

"Harri and I had a talk

about Kara and Miriam," Kyla said.

"I've been informed that

my seduction game isn't up to par with a world that is heading the way it
is," I sighed.

"I dunno, you did pretty

well with me," Vanessa said, and I could hear her smile in the dark. I
turned and kissed her, and then settled in to try and get back to sleep since
it was only about four in the morning and I'd gotten maybe two hours total.

"So when are we talking

about Josie and the Valkyries?" Vanessa asked.

I grunted and pulled the

pillow from under her head, planting it over her face as she broke into a
laugh.

I woke up again, this time to

my phone ringing on my chest where I'd set it down when I hung up with Miriam.
Both Kyla and Vanessa groaned and I blinked my eyes open to see that there was
a soft blue glow coming in through the cracks at the edge of the RV window
shades. "Fuck," I groaned but grabbed my phone. Unknown number.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Good morning,

Cowboy," a woman's voice said, and it took me a second to place Kashm's
sultry tone to her face and name.

"What do you have for

me?" I asked.

"We have a location and

my father is working on confirmation that it's the right group," Kashm
said.

"And what's it going to

cost me?" I asked.

"We'll discuss that when

we meet," she said. "10 AM in the grocery store parking lot."

"Okay," I said.

"I'll be there."

"I hear you had a lady

cop with you last night. I thought you were single, cowboy."

"You'd be surprised what

my life is like," I said. "But don't go getting any ideas. I'm a
little busy right now and wouldn't make a good date."

She laughed and hung up the

phone.

"Who the fuck was

that?" Vanessa mumbled.

"Biker gang leader's

daughter," Kyla mumbled.

"How do you know

that?" I asked, then shook my head. "Never mind." She would have
put the pieces together.

"Is she hot?"

Vanessa asked.

"She tried to get me

seriously maimed, if not killed, the last time I saw her," I said.
"It's just banter."

"Banter can lead to

more, and she definitely pushes your buttons to get you flirting like
that," Vanessa said.

"I put a shotgun to her

tit and used her as a human shield to walk myself out of the biker den," I
reminded them.

"Maybe she's into

that," Vanessa said.

"Jesus Christ,

stop," I groaned, turning over to lay on my stomach and press my face into
the pillow.

Both of them leaned in and

kissed my shoulders and then rubbed my back, their hands meeting and making
them both snicker as they realized they had the same thought to soothe me.

"Go to sleep," I

groaned.

They did. I think.

The drive out to the grocery

store wasn't any longer than usual, but the heavy, dark clouds in the sky were
making things feel more on edge. At any minute the sky was going to open up and
drop a torrential downpour, and with that rain would come thunder and
lightning. The wind was causing a constant rush of rustling from the trees
already that cut through the noise of the truck engine and into the cab.

Kyla and I pulled into the

grocery store parking lot to find it much less busy than usual; apparently, the
storm was keeping most people indoors for the day. Who knew that rain was a
better influence on quarantine than all the public pandemic messaging could be?
We hadn't dressed in our police 'uniforms' and were in simple jeans and
sweaters.

It wasn't difficult to find

the delegation from the Guns of Thunder. Kashm was leaning against the front of
her car, an all-black Firebird that must have been a restoration job. It
gleamed even in the overcast light, the only part of the car that wasn't
blacked out was the classic firebird motif on the hood. Kashm was dressed all
in black as well; black heeled boots, black jeans and her black leather jacket.
Her dark hair was loose and blowing a little in the wind and if I was a
photographer I would have tried to snap a picture; she looked like an American
classic waiting to happen with the overcast sky as a backdrop.

"You didn't mention she

looked like that," Kyla said as we pulled in a couple spaces over
from Kashm. "She's got bigger tits than Erica on a smaller body."

"Wasn't really a top

priority when I was using her as a hostage to get out of there," I said
dryly.

Kyla rolled her eyes and we

got out of the truck. I came around to her side and we approached Kashm
directly.

"I thought you promised

me a date," the Persian woman joked through her black fabric mask. "I
don't do third wheels, cowboy."

"This is my partner,

Kyla," I said. "Kyla, this is Kashm. Let's get this moving; every
hour these guys have the women and children is a problem. Do you have the
location confirmed?"

Kashm grimaced behind her

mask as she took a breath. "We do," she said. "My father was
able to confirm it's the right place and the right group. Which means we need
to negotiate the price and that's why I’m here and not him."

"Did he think Harri

would be more malleable to a pretty face or something?" Kyla asked.
"Or is that why you've got the girls out?"

Underneath Kashm's jacket she

was wearing a very low-cut top, showing off a ridiculous amount of cleavage.
The Persian woman quirked an eyebrow at Kyla's comment. "Maybe I was just
trying to pay him back for tittyfucking me with a shotgun," she said.
"And I'm here because my father and the club have their own things to deal
with."

"How much?" I

asked.

"We don't want

cash," Kashm said. "Which, I think, is a little ridiculous but
apparently you got to him last night with whatever you said. I'm here to
negotiate jobs. We know that you're associated with the big construction site
that's outside of town; the one that's got people billeted in every motel in a
50-minute radius. That's a big operation, so I'm sure you'll be able to swing a
few positions our way."

That was an ask that I hadn't been expecting. I

glanced at Kyla, who met it, but she didn't seem to have anything either. We
were both wearing disposable medical masks but I could tell she was pursing her
lips slightly in thought. I looked back at Kashm. "The site is being run
by the Air Force," I said. "They managed all the hiring, and they are
running security for the site now too. Do any of your guys even have construction
experience?"

"It doesn't matter what

the jobs are," Kashm said. "We just need some income coming in that
isn't through the market."

"Again, not how that

works," I said. "If you guys are just trying to get on-site to sell
drugs or something else, it can't happen. It's a military base, not some
industrial site where you can sneak drugs or hookers in and as long as things
stay quiet no one will mind." Not to mention that, with the vaccine
pairings, I doubted there would be much of a market for some secret
prostitution. The stories Vanessa had told me about what industrial
construction workers got up to when they were 'in camp' on a big job away from civilization
were almost impressive, but usually they weren't living with their wives or
girlfriends.

"My father got the Guns

out of the drug game more than a decade and a half ago," Kashm said.
"And I won't lie, we've had our hands in Girls before, but not for a
while. We seriously just need steady, protected work here."

I had major doubts that was

their only goal. Another glance at Kyla only got me a shrug; she knew as much
as I did; and I sighed. We needed the information.

"Let me make a

call," I said. "See if there's something that can be worked
out."

"You do that,"

Kashm said, leaning her ass back against the hood of her car again.

I took a few steps away back

towards our truck, Kyla following but keeping her eyes on Kashm, while I pulled
out my phone. Miriam was probably the 'right' person to approach with the
demand since it was her command, but if I went to her and she said no then my
hands would be tied. I had to go with the other option I had.

"This is Brent,"

Vanessa's father answered his cell.

"It's Harrison," I

said. "I need two minutes."

"I thought you were out

doing the thing with the guys?" he asked, obfuscating for whoever else was
in hearing range of him back on site. He hadn't moved into one of the barracks
buildings yet, but he was on-site pretty much every day. I also wasn't
surprised that Vanessa had been keeping him up to date on things, particularly
considering I had a hunch that the kidnappers were the same people who did the
raid on his site.

"This is about

that," I said.

"Alright, hold on,"

he said, and I could hear him moving around and then a door opening and
slamming closed. He lifted his cell to his ear again and I could hear him
huffing a bit. "What do you need?"

"They have the location,

but the price they're putting on it is jobs. As far as they say, they don't
have any construction skills but they really are just looking for work."

Brent's sigh was heavy and

deep. "I've got nothing," he said. "Unskilled labor? You know
I'm swamped with that already, plus I would need to get them into the system
somehow which would mean them getting vaccinated and partnered. Do they know
about that?"

"No," I said.

"At least, not that I can tell."

"I... I really can't see

getting them into the system," Brent said. "And Vanessa has made it
clear that, protest or not, you're trying to help people. There are just
too many hoops to try and sneak that through. Although... Is it that they want
jobson site, or just jobs in general?"

"Steady, protected work

is the ask," I said. I was watching Kyla while she watched Kashm; I was
turned away from the biker babe just in case she could read lips or something.
Kyla glanced at me and winked softly. "What are you thinking?"

"The drivers for the

delivery trucks with all the supplies aren't on the vaccination train yet, so
they never get out of their cabs. I know a couple of the vendors I've been
dealing with are stretched thin on drivers. Any of those guys able to drive a
big rig?"

"One sec," I said,

and pulled the phone from my ear as I turned back to Kashm. "Any of your
guys able to drive truck?"

She hesitated. "Maybe

one," she said. "The others can learn."

"Possibly one," I

relayed to Brent. "They'd be willing to learn though."

"I'll see what we can

work out," Brent said. "These are bikers, right? Like old school?"

"One percenters," I

said.

"Hmm," he grunted.

"Trustworthy?"

"More than most, I'd

guess. Their leader is an ex-marine and he's got a soft spot for vets and
civilians."

"If I can't get them all

jobs with training, I'd bet at least one of these vendors would be willing to
shell out cash for protection runs," Brent said. "Truck hijackings
haven't hit us yet, but they are on the rise like crazy and it isn't just
electronics. Food deliveries, Walmart trucks, pretty much anything carrying
commercial goods. They'll get paid to ride their bikes and do what they love
doing."

"Alright, I'll pass it

on and see," I said. "Thanks."

"I'll start making

calls," Brent acknowledged, and we hung up.

I shot Kyla another glance,

just staying connected with her, and went back to Kashm. "Alright, so that
was the project manager for the entire site," I said. "He says there
are way too many hoops to jump through to get any of your guys a job on the site,
but he does have connections with the companies that transport all the
equipment and supplies. The best we can do is a maybe training your guys to
drive, but he's fairly certain some of the owners would be interested in paying
you guys for security runs, which means jobs for all of you, and based on the
amount of construction that's going to go on it'll be steady."

Kashm let out a long breath

and nodded. "Let me make a call," she said.

"Just; I can't guarantee

it," I clarified, knowing I should have just left it open but I didn't
want to start a new problem while taking care of a current one. "If, for
whatever reason, it doesn't come through then I'll promise to find a way to
make it good."

Kashm narrowed her eyes

slightly, looking me over shrewdly, before motioning me away and pulling out
her phone from her jacket. As she made her call Kyla and I went back to our
truck. Kashm didn't lower her voice for her call and instead spoke in Farsi,
which meant she was likely talking to her father. I only then realized that I'd
never gotten the guy's name despite our run-ins.

"It's worth it,"

Kyla said to me quietly.

"Hmm?" I asked in a

hum.

"The trade," she

said. "It's worth it. Even if those jobs could go to someone else."

I had to chuckle, just once,

and shook my head. "For once, hon, you didn't read my mind."

"No?" she asked.

"Don't tell me you're daydreaming of Princess Jasmine over there."

"Just processing how

fucked up everything is that I'm making a deal with her and her father, and I
never even got his name. We've pointed guns at each other, I've taken his
daughter hostage, and demanded he help me with this hunt, and I don't know the
man's name."

"Maybe that's for the

best," Kyla said. "Keeps it less personal. In my training, and at
school, it was always easier to do things if I didn't know anything about the
target. Didn't humanize them too much. That's what we need to do today. We
can't humanize them when we find them."

"No problems

there," I said and cracked my knuckles. "I,”

"We have a deal,"

Kashm called. We turned back to her and approached as she was putting her phone
away. "My father says if things fall through, you can just hire the Guns
of Thunder as your deputies. Sheriff."

"Funny," I said.

"Maybe you, your old man and Garret. The old fuck looked like he could
sniff out a narcotic through three layers of cellophane."

"You just want to see my

ass in tight slacks," Kashm said. "Seriously, cowboy. You back out of
this and there will be problems, good cause or not."

"I know," I said

definitively, meeting her eyes.

"Alright," she

said. "I still feel like we could have gotten more out of you, but like I
said; you hit my Dad's weak spot. Here's the location." She pulled out a
piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. "You know Castle
Rock?"

"The outcropping off the

coast?" I asked.

"No, the town," she

said. "Or village or whatever. It's a little campground community
southwest of Mount Hebo on the 22. The compound is south of that, up in the
hills a bit. The coordinates there should get you to the mouth of their
driveway. The place belongs to a group who call themselves Freedom's Wrath.
Real anti-government anarchist guys. Used to fight it out with bikers for their
little corner of the state. They used to cook bathtub meth too, but they got
religion a few years ago or something and the drugs stopped but supposedly the
weirdness got weirder. My father says there's no way of knowing how many of
them there are with the pandemic, but it's definitely the right group."

"Alright," I said,

pinching the paper in my hand tightly as my chest felt lighter with a proper
name and place to keep up the hunt. "Tell your father I say thank you, and
I'll get in contact with him when I can to follow up on the jobs. You can also
let him know the idiots from up at the Golden Beaver wiped themselves out with
the sickness and infighting, so they shouldn't be problems for him anymore.
There's probably more out there, but one cluster of stupid took care of
itself."

"Good to know,"

Kashm nodded. "I assume you're going hunting, then?"

"Yes, we are," Kyla

said.

"I guess there isn't

much of a chance that your old man wants to come along?" I asked.

Kashm smirked behind her

mask. "I wouldn't let him even if he wanted to. Again, good cause or not,
I'm not letting my father walk into a death trap. If you do rescue any kids,
send me a picture, I'm sure he'll get a kick out of knowing he helped."

I nodded, knowing it had been

a long shot, and then Kyla and I turned to get back into the police truck.

"Do me a favor and don't

die out there, cowboy," Kashm called after me. "Chuck isn't nearly as
pretty after you broke his nose, and he's moping around everywhere like a
little bitch. I might just want that date after all."

I just shook my head and went

around the truck and got in. Kashm was leaning back against her car, arms and
shoulders back and thrusting her cleavage out provocatively from between the
sides of her jacket as she watched us leave.

"Well, she's fun,"

Kyla said flatly.

"She's a piece of work,"

I said. "Hot, but maybe a little crazy."

"Sounds like your

type," Kyla said, smirking as she took off her mask.

"I've got more than

enough on my mind in that regard," I said, then fished my phone out.
"Do me a favor and call Grierson. I realized when we were leaving he's one
more line I've got on some potential help."

"Who's Grierson?"

Kyla asked.

"You don't know

Grierson?" I asked. "He's the guy who orchestrated you landing in the
family, and your parents getting vaccines. He also set up the whole land thing,
and I'm pretty sure he got Miriam put in charge of the project just because she
had a connection to me."

"Never met him,"

Kyla shook her head. "What is he, military? CIA?"

"Maybe CIA," I

said. "Though I think he's... spookier than that."

"Mm," Kyla nodded.

"I think I understand."

She called and the phone rang

through the speakers and I half-expected it to ring through to a voicemail, but
it picked up in the sixth ring. "Didn't think you'd have the cahoneze to
actually call this number, Mr. Black," Grierson said. "Don't tell me
you've suddenly discovered a problem with our friendly Filipina Princess, have
you?"

I glanced over at Kyla as she

raised one eyebrow at me. "No, Agent, though she's here in the car with
me."

"Magandang umaga,

Agent," Kyla said. Her native language always struck me as strangely
throaty coming from her even if it sounded natural.

"Give me a damn warning

when I'm on speaker, son," Grierson sighed.

"You didn't exactly give

me the chance," I said. "Look, I'll cut right to it; Kyla is all in
on our American Dream. I have zero per cent doubts about her; so low that she's
carrying my child."

"Mazel Tov to you

both," Grierson said. "But you aren't calling me out of the blue to
share the good news."

"I'm not," I said.

"I need a favor."

"You're going after the

women and children," Grierson said.

"You know?"

"It came up," he

said. "You think I don't keep tabs on one of my new favorite corners of
this country as it falls apart around our ears? What are you hoping for from
me?"

"Shooters, if you have

them close by," I said. "I've got myself and Kyla, and three more
coming in from out of town. I've got a location and a group name, but an
unknown number of hostiles mixed with an unknown number of hostages."

Grierson grunted. "I

assume you want to go as soon as possible? With three days I could get you a
half dozen shooters."

"We're still under 24

hours missing," I said. "And who knows what awful shit these guys are
doing to women and children. Or if they are getting split up and moved."

"I can get you one more

shooter," Grierson said. "She's mid-recruitment for my organization
and has the sorts of skills you're looking for. And most importantly, she's in
the area. This is a big ask though, Black. I'm going to come calling for
something in the future."

"Noted," I said.

"How fast can she get to us?"

"She's waiting for you

at the site," Grierson chuckled.

"God fucking damn

it," I sighed.

"Good hunting, son. And

try to keep him alive, Miss Bautista. You need him whole."

"That's what I intend,

Mister Grierson," Kyla replied.

He hung up.

"Spookier doesn't cut

it," Kyla said to me. "He already knew about the kidnapping, what you
would be doing, and sent you back up. In 15 hours or so. That man is dangerous
to have as a friend, Harri."

"Yeah, well right now

he's a lot more helpful than dangerous," I said. "And sometimes it's
good to have someone dangerous close to you. Why do you think I love you so
much?"

Kyla snorted softly and shook

her head. "Don't tell Erica that. You'll only encourage her."

I was a little surprised that

the helicopter made it in. The wind was picking up significantly and I was sure
that I heard a few soft, far-off rumbles of thunder as the skies continued to
darken. When it appeared over the main camp I was already outside, getting the
trucks ready; we weren't going to be able to fly down to the Mount Hebo area
with the way things were looking, but I also definitely wasn't going to wait
for the storm to break.

Kyla was with me helping get

all the gear we might need ready, and Vanessa was checking in with us while she
made sure that the whole new Chicken Coop operation was sturdy enough to
protect the rescued chickens through the storm. I'd taken a quick look at the
setup that was out back of the first barracks building where the main cafeteria
was and had pointed out that just because there were people around didn't mean
that predators wouldn't sneak in; foxes, raccoons, possums, snakes and any
other number of things would want to get a taste of the chickens or their eggs.
So Vanessa was handling that, and using it as a lesson for some of her new
'Carpentry Apprentices' as well as the ladies manning the big kitchen since
they would be the ones taking care of the chickens on a daily basis.

That didn't mean Kyla and I

were alone though. When we'd returned to the site, Grierson had been right and
the help he'd sent had already been waiting for us. Captain Magdalene Luckey
was deceptively short, but as soon as I saw her move I knew she was just as
much a predator as anything that wanted to snack on the chickens. Weasels were
cute as hell too, until they wanted to take a bite out of you. She was a black
woman around the age of Erica and me in our early mid-thirties, and she met my
offer of a handshake with a firm grip.

"Just call me Maggie,"

she said after the formal introduction. I didn't ask for more details on her
service or experience, and she didn't offer it. Based on the fact that she was
dressed in a military combat uniform that was dark grey and didn't bear any
insignias beyond her rank, I trusted that she knew what she was doing. Maggie
was helping us get everything sorted and stored and was the first to hear the
chopper coming in.

We all headed to the big open

area west of the barracks that, since the raid, had been dubbed 'the helicopter
field' until it was eventually developed. Some joker had even spray painted a
big circle with an 'H' in it on the ground, which seemed good enough for the
pilot as they set it down right in the center as Captain Luckey, Kyla and I
watched the smooth touchdown from the shelter of the barracks entryway.

"She can pilot, that's

for sure," Maggie said as we watched the helicopter come down.

"How can you tell it's a

she?" I asked.

Maggie smirked a little and

glanced at Kyla. "Ladies have a different touch on the stick, don't you
think?" she said. "Plus, I can tell by the profile of her through the
front windscreen."

The helicopter wasn't

military grade, so I didn't recognize the make or model, but it was mostly
white with a couple of blue and red slashes painted across except for where it
looked like some sort of a symbol had recently been removed. Miriam had said it
would be a civilian aircraft, so I wondered if it had belonged to a charter
company of some sort, or even a news agency. Still, as soon as the engines
began to wind down the side door opened and people started piling out as we
headed to meet them.

The first man out turned and

offered a hand down for the other two people who followed, and the second man
came to meet me followed by a woman. He was short, maybe only five foot five at
best, but moved with a similar purpose and athleticism as Captain Luckey did.
He had a broad jawline and was of mixed heritage and I realized he probably
could have fit into almost any culture except the middle of Africa with only a
change of haircut and facial hair. He took my hand in a firm grip.

"Dylan Taylor," he

said. "You the man in charge?"

"Harrison Black," I

said. "It's my mission, but I'm not in charge of the site."

"If Miriam says you're

the man in charge, then you are," Dylan said with a smirk. Then he turned,
gesturing to the woman behind him. She was blonde, about the same height as
him, and looked for all the world like she could have stepped out of a
photoshoot for Outdoor Life magazine. She was petite, blonde and her blonde
hair was tied back in a ponytail that was waving in the wind. They were both
wearing heavy-duty hunting camos. "This is my wife, Jeanine."

"Pleased to meet you,

Mister Black," Jeanine said, offering her hand daintily. I took it and
felt like I should almost give it a kiss, she was so effete about it.

"You too, Mrs.

Taylor," I said, glancing at Dylan and wondering why he'd brought her.

Dylan smirked. "Don't

worry. Jeanine is fully qualified and capable for what's coming," he said.
"Quick background; I was a Ranger for fifteen years, then got recruited
into the CIA for another five. I got out, married Jeanine, and we've split our
time between our self-defense and survival prep business and volunteering with
a couple of organizations that fight child trafficking domestically."

"That's, ah, quite the

set of qualifications," I said, impressed and feeling a like a bit of a
shit considering how little I'd put my own military-trained skills to use since
I got out. "Still, I don't know how much Miriam told you, but we're
heading into,”

"Don't you worry, Mister

Black," Jeanine said with a sweet smile and a wink. "I can take care
of myself." Dylan's accompanying assuring nod and soft smirk told me not
to argue. The other man who had gotten out of the helicopter and the female
pilot were coming up behind them, as we all made room for them to join the
circle.

"Jedidiah Crane,"

he said as we shook. He was possibly a couple of inches taller than me, putting
him at six and a half feet easily, and the exact opposite of Dylan. He was a
little lanky, with a blonde head of hair and a slightly ginger beard. He was
dressed in jeans and work boots and already had a standard issue green plate
vest on, and if he wasn't currently serving then he just recently got out.
"I heard you folks could use some help with a militia problem."

"Something like

that," I said.

"Julia De Luca,"

the pilot said, the last to offer a shake. She was dressed in a light grey
flight suit, her helmet under her arm. The flight suit was unbuttoned partway
down her chest revealing she was wearing a Metallica t-shirt underneath, as
well as that she had a neck tattoo of a sunburst right on her throat with
patterns wrapping around the sides. Her brunette hair was pulled up into a bun
that must have fit comfortably under her helmet but had messy fly-away strands
now.

"Thanks for being

here," I said, taking a breath and nodding. "Alright. As you likely
know, I'm Harrison Black. I'm officially the Sheriff of what will be Black
County here on the site; you can thank Colonel Abarbanel's JAG officer for
naming the place after me. I'm a former Infantryman and Army MP. This is Kyla,
my partner, who was trained overseas, and this is Captain Luckey."

"Maggie is fine,"

the black woman said as she and Kyla shook hands all around. "We aren't
exactly on the official clock here, so ranks don't matter. I'm former Air
Force, Special Division."

"I'm not sure how much

Miriam told you all," I continued. "But the short of it is that about
a week ago this military construction site was hit by a raid conducted by what
we assumed was a militia group. Since then I've been investigating it, but last
night the same group hit a nearby native reservation that was being devastated
by an outbreak. They looted heavily but were also witnessed kidnapping multiple
women and children, and executed people in their homes. The death toll was
somewhere in the fifties when we left the site and the National Guard had only
cleared about a quarter of the homes in the community at that point."

"Jesus Christ,"

Julia muttered. Everyone was murmuring their own shock other than Jeanine,
whose face had gone disturbingly blank.

"I got intel this

morning that the group calls themselves 'Freedom's Wrath' and are at least
partially ex-military, with what might be religious cult components. They were
also associated with a local group of sovereign citizens," I said.
"I've got the location of their headquarters, about two hours south of
here."

"Do we know how many of

them there are?" Jedidiah asked.

"Negative," I said.

"And we don't know how many hostages, either. Or have any hint of what
their plans are for them."

"Trafficking has seen a

marked uptick in movement since quarantine started," Dylan said darkly.
"Assholes with even more time on their hands creates demand. But we
haven't heard of anything happening en masse before, have we?"

Jeanine shook her head.

"Large group movement between locations, yes. Never a mass kidnapping
though, at least not in the US. International is a different story."

"Great," Jedidiah

said. "And I thought I came from a fucked up, isolated childhood. An
unknown number of radicals, with unknown beliefs or goals, holding an unknown
number of hostages at what I assume is an un-reconnoitered location?" I
nodded in response. "Sounds like a blast."

"We also have pandemic

issues to deal with," Kyla said. "Is anyone here not aware of Duo
Halo?"

"Miriam filled us

in," Dylan said. "And we're on the short-list for vaccines. Got the
whole rundown."

"I'm also in the loop,"

Maggie said.

"Good," I said.

None of them had been wearing masks, coming out of the helicopter, and with
everything that was going on I hadn't really been prioritizing that in my mind.
"Just so you're aware, Kyla is one of my vaccine partners as well as my
partner in my duties as sheriff. And she's right; the outbreak on the Rez was
ravaging them with Duo Halo, so it is entirely possible at least some
of the hostages are infected or starting to move into the final stages of the virus.
Witness reports said the militia were wearing military surplus gas masks during
the raid, but we don't know if any of them might be infected as well."

"At least it's not

zombies," Julia smirked a little, and several people shot her looks.
"What?" she asked. "Zombies would technically
be worse than this."

"Anyone have any

questions?" I asked.

There were several, but they

were all logistical, and we started to get into the nitty-gritty of the thing.
I was right that there was no chance we could take the helicopter down with the
weather. Julia, however, was all-in on participating in the raid still. She had
been a pilot in the Para rescue units while Miriam had been working with them
in Intelligence and had trained for combat duty and seen several ground actions
in hot zones. Jedidiah was also from the Para rescue community, having escaped
his Amish upbringing by enlisting. He was a true operator, as well as being
trained as a combat medic, and there was a part of me that wondered if he was
the guy Miriam said was 'complicated.'

In reality, I knew my

internal questioning and mild jealousy was more due to the fact that I wasn't
used to being around someone who was taller than me. It just felt weird, since
it happened so rarely.

Vanessa, when she came around

and quickly met everyone, got us a second truck from the site motor pool so
that we'd have extra wheels. We unloaded their gear from the helicopter and
started getting everything sorted for travel, and when I noticed Dylan was
quickly loading bullets into magazines off to one side I went over to him.

"Hey, I know what you

said, but I've still got some... concerns," I said. "About
Jeanine."

Dylan's wife was currently

talking with Kyla and Maggie, giving them what seemed to be unsolicited cooking
tips.

The ex-CIA operator chuckled

and shook his head as he looked up at me. "I get it, Harrison," he
said. "She doesn't exactly look the part. Maggie, Julia, even your Kyla,
they all at least have an athleticness to them, right? Well, let me put it this
way; my wife is a certified psychopath. She got a diagnosis early on in life
and was raised by really great parents, so she never turned into some maniac,
but this is the kind of shit she's wanted to do since she was a kid. You know
that show Dexter, where the serial killer kills other serial killers? Well,
she's like that but less messed up. She is a one-woman investigation unit when
it comes to putting the pieces together on trafficked kids, and she'd go
full-on Taken on the perpetrators she helps catch if she didn't think the fear
of lengthy prison sentences; and jailhouse justice; was better than killing
them herself. So when I say she's good, believe me. She's motivated, she's
highly trained, and she's highly intelligent. If anything, we'll need to stay
out of her way."

All I could do was nod.

"Alright," I said. "That's all I needed to know."

Dylan chuckled darkly and

gave me a pat on the arm. "Don't worry, she won't snap."

"Wasn't thinking that at

all," I said as I backed away.

So the team consisted of two

actual operators, me, Kyla and Julia who had training and some experience but
weren't actual door kickers, the somewhat unknown quantity that was Maggie and
the very unknown and possibly volatile Jeanine.

Great. Cool, cool, cool.

Super exciting.

We were just wrapping things

up with prep when Julia, the pilot, came over to Kyla and me. "I gotta
ask," she said. "Was everything Miriam told us about the vaccine
true?"

"You mean the

orgasms?" Kyla asked with a smirk.

"Yes," Julia said

with a slight blush and grin. She'd let her hair down and I could see now it
was a deep chestnut with golden blonde strands highlighting it, and she had a
natural prettiness that showed when she wasn't frowning in concentration.
"It sounds a little too good to be true."

"The chemically-induced

orgasms are pretty fantastic," Kyla said, then glanced at me slyly.
"Of course, having a partner who knows what he's doing, and falling madly
in love with him, makes it all that much better."

"Ooh, " Julia

chuckled teasingly. "Lucky you."

"What?" Captain

Luckey asked from the other side of the truck.

"Nothing, sorry,"

Julia said. "Wasn't calling you."

"Oh, I know,"

Maggie said, smirking. "I heard the whole thing, I'm just a teasing bitch
sometimes. But I got the rundown on the vaccines too. My question is how long
can you go without the need for upkeep sex? Because I feel like life's gotta
get in the way sometimes, ya' know?"

It was our turn to blush as

Kyla and I looked to each other.

"That, ah, hasn't really

come up for us," my partner said. "I'll just say Harri has some
excellent stamina and keeps all four of us very happy."

"Jesus," Julia

said. She'd opened up her duffel bag and pulled out a set of fatigues with
brown and green digital camo on it. Definitely not military standard, but she
wasn't active military anymore so I assumed it was her own personal gear.
"Four times a day, every day? Fuck, if I can find a cock like that to
partner with, I think I'll be a happy lady. You don't happen to like flying, do
you Harri?"

That got Kyla and Maggie

laughing, but I just bit the inside of my cheek as I smiled. Julia was undoing
the buttons on the front of her flight suit casually and pulled off her
Metallica t-shirt, revealing a thin white tank top she was wearing underneath.
Her shoulders and arms were covered in tattoos along with her neck, almost like
a shawl of ink, but leaving her chest bare. It was really good work, though
without looking closely I only got impressions of what the tattoos were.

"Julia, you can head

into our compound over there if you want to take a minute to change," I
offered, nodding towards the RVs.

"Oh, alright," she

said. "I'll take privacy when I can get it." She winked at me and
Kyla. "Promise not to go digging in any drawers."

"Use the RV on the left,

that one is ours," Kyla said.

Julia sauntered off after

tying her flight suit arms around her waist to keep it up as she carried her
clothes and her own bulletproof vest.

"That woman's got an ass

on her," Maggie said, coming around the truck to Kyla and me.

I blinked and shook my head,

realizing I'd been watching Julia walk away. Kyla just gave me a knowing smirk
that told me she wasn't mad or jealous.

"What about you,

Maggie?" I asked. "Do you have a partner all picked out, or are you
going to make a pass at me as well?"

She snorted softly.

"Y'all are cute," she said in her southern drawl. "But I'm not
in the market. This fine black wagyu-grade ass is going to end up going where
Uncle Sam tells it, and I'm pretty sure that's going to be handling a lot more
interesting shit like this."

"Well, then good

luck," Kyla said. "Because if you're looking for more interesting
than life with Harrison, you're going to be in for one hell of a ride."

We were interrupted as a car

came around the side of the camp, bumping a little wildly since it left the
packed main road and rode over the slightly-less-packed but levelled dirt that
surrounded the camp. It was Erica's car, and I broke into a smile.

"You thought she would

let you go do this without seeing you?" Kyla asked.

"No, not really," I

said as I pulled the flashbangs from my chest and set them down in the back of
the truck so that I could hug my fiancée and Ivy cleanly.

They were out of the car

quickly and I met them at the hood. Ivy got to me first, coming out of the
back, and I scooped her up into a strong hug as she crushed her lips to mine.
She let me go quickly, though, so that Erica could follow up as she wrapped her
arms back behind my neck and held me tightly as she kissed me with a fierceness
that was almost shocking. I pulled from the kiss, looking her deep in her eyes
from close up, hoping she could read me as much as I felt like I was reading
her.

"Hey, babe," she

said softly.

"Hey, wifey," I

replied.

She pulled away before saying

anything else, revealing that Leo had ridden in the passenger seat, but Dani
and most surprisingly Josie had been in the back seat with Ivy.

"Hey, you guys didn't

need to come out," I said.

"Of course we did,"

Leo said, grabbing me by my shoulder and pulling me into a hug.

"And we're not just here

to see you off," Dani said. "Leo and I are coming with you."

I had been stepping towards

her and Josie when she said that, but hesitated. "Okay, hold on," I
said.

"One conversation at a

time," Erica said sternly, taking my hand and pulling my attention back to
her. "I love you," she said. "Be safe. Don't let one
motherfucker off for what they did. They take kids, they don't get to walk
away. And I love you.

"I love you too," I

said, squeezing her hand.

"Now Ivy's turn,"

Erica directed traffic.

I turned to my petite

girlfriend, who wrapped her arms around my waist again and hugged me tightly.
"Je t'aime. Reviens moi, mon courageux guerrier."

"I will, mon

cœur," I said, not fully catching everything she'd said but getting
the gist. 'Come home to me.'

She squeezed me again then

took my hand, kissing the palm softly as she looked up into my eyes.

"Now Josie," Erica

directed.

Ivy backed away with a sad

smile, and I turned to meet the athletic blonde. All three of them were dressed
casually, though I noted that all three of them had also done themselves up
with full makeup and were showing off a bit of the goods; for a going away
party, they were definitely giving me a reason to come back. Even Josie was
dressed in a nice top that showed off a little of her perky cleavage, and I
could tell she wasn't wearing a bra since her nipple piercings were showing in
little bumps.

She came to me when I opened

my arms, and her hug was more timid. I'd started to realize that when she was
feeling confident, she could be boisterous with hugs and touching. When she was
unsure about things between us she was more delicate. I wrapped my arms around
her fully in a gentle bear hug. "Thanks for coming," I said.

"I wasn't sure if I

should," she said. "And Spencer almost took my spot, but after
yesterday, and what you helped me with..."

"Shush," I hushed

her softly as I hugged her. "Just thank you, Joss." I gave her a kiss
on the cheek, and she hugged me more fully.

After a long moment, she

pulled back from me, frowning a little. "Like Erica said, be safe,"
she said.

"I will," I

promised, then turned to Dani and Leo. "Guys,”

"Erica?" called

Julia from back behind me.

Erica blinked and looked past

me, frowning for a moment and then her eyes going wide. "Julia?" she
said in surprise. Then her eyebrows raised up. "Holy shit, Julia!"

My fiancée moved past me and

she and Julia came together in a big hug as they talked a mile a minute,
leaving us all a little gob smacked.

Kyla, who had just separated

from hugging and whispering quietly with Ivy in their own assurances that we'd
be safe, glanced at me. "I'll see what that's about," she said and
then nodded to Leo and Dani. "You talk with them."

I sighed and shook my head.

Obviously, the Erica and Julia thing wasn't bad, though they'd drawn even more
attention from the rest of the team than we'd already been taking with all the
hugging. I turned to Leo and Dani. "Come on," I said, nodding back
towards the barracks. Ivy and Josie went with Kyla in the opposite direction.

Once we had a bit of privacy

I stopped, but didn't get a chance to open the conversation myself.

"Harri, we're not

letting you do this alone," Dani said sternly. "Leo and I both know
how to shoot."

"And there's no fucking

way that you're talking us out of it," Leo said. "You've got what
looks like some experts along with... is that a soccer mom?"

"Apparently she's a

psychopath with a hatred for human traffickers," I said. "Which, I
mean, is pertinent in this case. Guys, I appreciate the offer but I can't let
you come. If something happened,”

"If something happened

to you, do you think we could forgive ourselves either?" Leo asked.
"I mean seriously, Harri."

"We both love you,"

Dani said, taking Leo's hand and practically daring me to challenge her on
that.

I let out a sigh and wiped at

my forehead.

To be continued, Based on

a post by Break The Bar for Literotica

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