by A J Storm
Viper finally opened a beer and answered questions from his men, then listened to their concerns about the ranch hands.
“This is how we’ll handle them. Each one of you will go back to your groups and choose two of your most loyal men. We’ll have sixty men on the ranch, and since we’ll arrive at night, we can surprise them in each of their bunkhouses—I believe there are three. We go in with guns and immobilize them until Nova surrenders to me, then we make our exit. You have two weeks to choose your men and talk them through the plan.”
Chaos woke to the sound of a baby crying. At first, he thought he was dreaming and patted his hand on the other side of the bed—no baby. His head jerked up, realizing the crying baby was real and coming from the kitchen. Pissed because he didn’t see Willow before she left, he quickly pulled on his jeans to go into the other room. Howler and Sadie were awake, Howler making breakfast while Sadie fed the baby a bottle as he walked into the kitchen. Both looked like naturals with the small bundle.
“What’s going on guys?” Chaos asked.
“Mac and Lyle dropped off the baby while they went to the hospital to pick up Creeper and take him home. They’ll get him settled in and be back to pick up munchkin here,” Sadie answered.
“Well, that ought to be a fun day,” Chaos remarked. “Did you see Willow before she left?”
“No, she was gone when we got up,” Howler answered.
“Any coffee made, dude?” he asked. “I need a cup in a bad way before I shower. I’m going down to check in with Maggie for a couple of hours, then I’ll come back and help you watch munchkin.”
“Yeah, let me get you a cup. How about some of my pancakes and bacon?” Howler offered.
“Just bacon—can’t deal with pancakes this early. Thanks for the cup.” He sat across the table from Sadie, watching her feed the little one. Like a pro, he thought, she put the baby over her shoulder and patted his back until a burp exploded. “Wow, little dude already has a manly burp. Cool. You look like you’ve done this before, Sadie.”
“You forget I have brothers who have children, Chaos.”
Howler placed a small plate of bacon in front of his brother and a pancake in front of Sadie.
“Does that have chocolate chips in it?” he asked.
“Yes, it does,” she answered, grinning at him.
“Too much sugar for me this early. Give me protein,” he said as he chomped on two pieces of bacon. Standing up, he picked up his cup, walking to his room. “Off to shower, guys.”
Howler sat by Sadie and chowed down on his bacon and pancakes, then took the baby from her so she could eat. Twenty minutes flew by, and Chaos was back in the dining room dressed in a button-down shirt, belt, jeans, and boots. Sadie gave him a whistle to which Chaos paraded around the table singing, ‘I’m Too Sexy.’ They all were laughing before he’d finished the first two lines of the song.
“All right, I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Help yourself to anything here. If you get hungry again, there’s Chinese in the fridge and rice on the counter.”
Stepping off the elevator, Chaos zoomed past Maggie’s desk, yelling at her. “Stop whatever you’re doing and come in here.”
He sat at his desk behind his computers and fired them up. Maggie followed on his heels with a pen and a pad of paper in hand.
“Do we have the DNA report back on the woman whose body was found?”
“Yes, we do, but with everything that happened, I didn’t put it on your desk,” she answered. Chaos’ face told her he was in a very serious mood with no room to joke around today.
“Bring it to me after I give you instructions to put in a request for information. I know Lyle took the baby to the police station before he requested to keep him until a couple or relative could be found. I know they took blood from the baby for DNA purposes. Talk to Gerald at the morgue and tell him I’m requesting this. Test the baby’s blood against the woman’s from the body dump. Also, have him run the baby’s DNA against any known felons dead or alive in our system. And Maggie, ask him to please rush it—I understand the test takes less than twenty-four hours for a preliminary answer. That’s it.”
She went to her desk and came right back with the manila envelope, tossing it on his desk. Opening it after she walked out, he heard her on the phone, issuing orders to someone on the other end. He loved Maggie—he could count on her following his orders to the letter.
He read through the report and discovered the woman’s name was Barbara Reynolds from Driftwood, Texas, a very small town southwest of Austin. Chaos first searched online for relatives of Barbara in the town with no answers. He decided to contact the Sheriff’s department over the county the town was located in.
After playing the run around game with several departments at the county office, one person finally told him if the person hadn’t had a ticket or been arrested on a complaint, they wouldn’t have a listing of her. She suggested doing a name search for a resident named Barbara Reynolds. Stupid people couldn’t have told me that in the beginning?
So, it was back to the internet. As of the census in 2010, there were one hundred forty-four residents in Driftwood. Her name wasn’t listed among them. Frustrated after another thirty minutes with no results, he gave up and called his friend at the police department. He gave him the name of the woman he was looking for and told him he needed to know of any known relatives still alive. His friend had connections with the FBI and would have answers within twenty-four hours.
As much as he wanted answers today, he wasn’t going to get any and might as well put his anxiety to rest. He called Willow and asked to bring supper over to her house for a night of movies and debauchery. She chose the movies, leaving the debauchery for another night. She’d had a long day at the ranch and simply wanted to relax. He took her up on it.
There was no spending the night tonight. He understood she had another day at the ranch and had to get up early. Chaos put her to bed, tucked her in with a kiss, and locked the door and deadbolt on the way out. Yes, she had sanctioned the extra set of keys he had made and let me keep them. It was late when he walked into his home. Howler and Sadie were in their room, and thankfully, no howling sounded behind the door. The deed had already been done.
No baby’s cry, either. Mac and Lyle had already come and gone. Inside his bedroom, he stripped down to nothing and laid on his back. A bad feeling nagged at him—premonition for a better word. His imagination kicked in as if he could hear the howls of the tattoos across his back.
No, this wasn’t going to be good.
23
Work went on as usual for Chaos. No one would have guessed the world had turned upside down unless they had been involved. Chaos’ premonition never left; it was a dark cloud following him everywhere.
He thought about the tattoo gun, but he’d made an agreement with Willow. That thought shone like a beacon at the forefront of his memory, and he took advantage of it when they Skyped at night.
His cell phone jarred him from his thoughts of how her voice calmed him. He looked at the name on the screen, seeing it was his friend from the police. The call was three days later than promised, but at least he was getting back to him.
“Hey, Chaos, sorry I’m late, but I wanted to be sure we had everything you wanted.”
“No problem. What did you find out on the woman?”
“The woman, Barbara Reynolds, lived in Driftwood for the last five years. Originally, she was from Dallas and moved after both her parents were killed in a car wreck. She was an only child with no known relatives left alive. Why was this important to your case?”
“The company has a couple who are interested in the baby. We needed to be sure no one would come out of the background making a claim on him.”
“Wow, that was fast. We haven’t even released the information about the baby to the media. You must have had them on a waiting list,” his friend stated.
“Yeah, sort of like that. What about the DNA studies I asked for?”
“I have the results you asked me for, and the ones Maggie called the morgue about. The baby and the woman were a 99.9% match. The little guy was definitely her baby.”
“We basically knew that but wanted proof on the record.”
“The other side of the problem was a bit trickier to find. They ran the baby’s DNA through all our databases—infractions to misdemeanors to felonies—looking for a male match. It took well over forty-eight hours, but we found one. He was in our morgue at the time and was one of the gang members from your shoot out.”
“You’re shitting me?”
“No, not this time. She was probably held captive by the bastard because her background from Driftwood was squeaky clean. It didn’t match his.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate your work on this. Send the bill to us, and we’ll get you squared away. I owe you a drink or two,” Chaos offered.
“Yes, you do, and I’ll collect. Behave yourself, Chaos.”
“Always do.”
Well, I’ll be damned. This will piss the hell out of Creeper.
Friday night was the perfect night to pay Creeper a visit. Willow had said she’d go with him, and he held her to it. He stopped by her house, picking her up, shooting over to Creeper’s place—totally unannounced.
A pizza delivery guy was just leaving as they parked across the street from the townhouse. Chaos had a huge grin across his face.
“You can be really evil at times, Chaos,” Willow chuckled.
“Sugar, when it comes to my brothers—you betcha. I love it.” He wrapped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her against him.
The two stood in front of the door and punched the bell. The laughter on the other side of the door sounded like a party. Chaos wondered if he was having one. A young man he didn’t recognize opened the door wide, letting them in. There was a small crowd gathered around the table. Creeper was sitting on the side facing Chaos, next to a pretty brown-haired girl with red highlights.
“Oh. My. God. What the fuck?” Willow cried, staring at the young woman.
Chaos turned to the person she was fixated on, and his jaw dropped. “Shit.”
Both Creeper and Nova stopped eating. Their heads ducked, caught in a huge act of omission. Chaos had never looked as angry, glaring at this brother. Willow simply cried, shaking her head.
“What the hell, man? Not one damn word—we’ve been searching forever, and you say nothing. I could beat your ass,” Chaos threatened.
“You could try, Chaos,” Creeper taunted.
“Well, I think right now I could do a damn good job of it.”
“Okay, wait! You haven’t heard our side of things.” Creeper stood and walked to his brother.
“Oh, so, now you’ve got a side?” Chaos threw back at him. “I’ll be damned. I never saw this coming.”
“Dammit, Chaos, she hired my team. Someone gave her my card with our logo on it, and she called my private number. She needed protection, and this is the best place for it. You certainly didn’t find her.”
“No, because my own fucking flesh hid her under my nose. You could’ve told me, punk.”
“Wait, please,” Nova stood, interrupting the nastiness which was about to explode over both brothers. “I wouldn’t let him. I paid him to keep it quiet from everyone I knew. I couldn’t risk Viper finding me. Creeper and his guys were only following my request. Please don’t take it out on them. And Willow, please forgive me. Please don’t hate me.” She was standing by Creeper, trembling, holding her hand over her baby bump.
Willow went to her, wrapping her in a hug, both crying on each other’s shoulders.
“I’m just so glad you’re okay. I was scared you were by yourself somewhere. Oh my God, Nova.”
“You can’t tell Mother and Daddy. They know people who know people who work for Viper. I won’t let him have this baby.”
“They know people who work for his firm?” Chaos asked.
“Yes. Mother is in all those social clubs, and so are they. It’s initially how I met Kenneth. Little did I know what he truly was. I made an awful mistake,” Nova confessed, sitting on the couch next to Willow.
“Well, I came here tonight to share information with my brother, but I guess it won’t hurt for everyone to hear. We have DNA proof the baby belonged to the woman whose body was dumped.” Creeper’s face fell as he shook his head, reminded of the woman in the bar.
Chaos proceeded to tell them everything he had learned that afternoon. He didn’t bring up the part relating to Howler and Sadie being interested in the baby. A better time would be needed for that conversation. He searched the room, then looked at Creeper. “Where’s the baby?”
“He’s upstairs asleep. We have a monitor down here. Lyle listens for him. He’s actually good with the little guy,” his brother said. “It sounds like Viper encourages his goons to knock up women, and when it’s certain they’re pregnant, he keeps them on a tether. That’s how he fills his supply of babies to sell. Real sweet guy.”
“I wasn’t treated that way—not at first. We were a couple like any other. I was treated like a queen until I overheard him on his phone, talking to someone about a woman causing problems. I only heard one side of the conversation, and he was telling the person to convince her to change her mind or suffer the consequences. I knew at that point, I was in deep shit,” Nova told them.
Willow continued to stare at her sister’s baby bump. Nova touched her arm and asked, “Do you want to touch it? It just started moving a little this week.”
“Can I?” her sister asked.
“Of course, silly,” she answered, taking her sister’s hand and placing it over her tummy. “Hold it here and keep it still… you might feel a small thump.”
The entire room witnessed the interaction between these two women. When Willow felt the tiny kick against her hand, she squealed in laughter, tears rolling down her face. “It’s amazing, Nova.” She left her hand in the same place.
Chaos melted, observing her with Nova. The joy he saw in her eyes made him want a baby with her. He’d never even thought about babies before—until now. He understood the connection a little better with Howler and Sadie. Chaos vowed to himself to make it happen for them.
He caught Creeper gazing at Nova with a look on his face he’d never witnessed before. His brother caught him staring and looked away from the women. Chaos wondered.
“I hate to break this gathering up, but I’m tired. You all stay if you like, but I’m going upstairs to rest. Thanks for the information, Chaos. Keep me posted when and how we make our next attempt to get this guy,” Creeper uttered.
Nova observed his slow climb up the stairs, then noticed her sister was watching her. She smiled at her, but Chaos thought she appeared uncomfortable with being caught.
“We’d better go, too. I need to get Willow home before I hit the hay myself. Good night everyone,” Chaos shouted to the room.
“Shh… don’t wake the baby,” Willow reminded him. She turned and hugged Nova. “I’ve got another early day tomorrow. How can I stay upset with you when I love you so much, Nova? I’m glad you’re here and safe.” Willow then followed Chaos out the door.
Settled in his truck, Chaos turned to her. “Did you see what I saw?”
“The looks from Creeper to Nova and Nova to him? Yes, I did. There’s more than just a hiring thing going on. I’d bet my salary on it.”
He started the truck and pulled away from the curb, back to the main street. “I forgot to ask, why are you working on the weekend?”
“I want to take off a few days next week and spend time with you, Howler, and Sadie before they go back. I’m spending the night at the ranch Saturday and finish up on Sunday morning. I’ll be home Sunday afternoon—FYI.”
“I’ll be at your house Sunday afternoon, stretched out on your couch.”
North of Elgin, Texas, Viper sat in his van beside two other vans—one empty and one filled with ten men. Twenty of his best followers were crammed in the back with some spilling o
ut and standing on the outside.
“We’re just south of the Maxy ranch. Did each of you check to make sure your men showed where you told them to meet?” he demanded. Various ayes rang out from the back of the vehicle—not one voice hollered no.
“Good. Three bunkhouses are near the main house, straight up the main entrance. Divide into three groups and wait outside until exactly eleven thirty. Sync your watches with mine before you leave here. Outside the van are three boxes filled with heavy duty zip ties. At eleven thirty, hit the front and back doors of each house. If you must use your gun, don’t hesitate. At this point, I don’t give a fuck who gets hurt. It’s important we all strike at the same time, so eleven thirty will give me time to get to the main house. We don’t want to blow the surprise. When you have your captives tied up, leave ten men at each house standing guard. Five out of the rest I want stationed at the front gate and the others scattered at various places around the main house outside. Each of you has a drawing of where everything is located after the gate is breached. Any questions? No? Good. My watch now shows ten forty-five—set yours.”
He waited until they synced theirs before he gave the order to grab their supplies and regroup with their hand-picked men. The twenty picked up their boxes and split their numbers between the two empty vans. Once they left, Viper ordered all ten men to join him in his van, and he drove to the main road in front of the ranch entrance.
Two miles from the actual gate, Viper had ordered the original two vans to park and unload their supplies, carrying them with them. He didn’t want passersby to question the fact three vans were parked within a half mile from the Maxy’s gate.
Viper passed the vans and continued down the road until a half mile from the gate where he parked. The eleven men scaled the gate, making their way up the drive on foot.
