Walking The Crossroad

by Parker, Liberty

  “I need to know she’s alright,” he says, staring off into never-never-land, lost in his own thoughts. Now, I’m worried, are us old ladies in danger? Surely, the guys would tell us about it, right? Who the fuck am I kidding, club business is just that—club business, and us old ladies are kept in the dark, for a specific reason. Not only to keep us safe, from knowing the inner workings, but this way, everyone knows we’re not valuable to take since we can’t give out information regarding the club.

  “Text her, she’ll reply as soon as she can.”

  “I hate texting,” he mumbles. They all do, but necessary things need to be done, regardless if we like them or not.

  “She’s a good old lady, she’ll call you back once she sees the message.”

  A smile lights up his face at the mention of Carson being a good old lady, because she is. We all try not to make our men unnecessarily worry about us, since they have so much on their minds. “That she is, the best.”

  The room explodes in men needing nourishment. I spend the next two hours serving up plates, doing dishes, and refilling coffee. There is never an end to old lady’s good deeds. I’m just thankful that there’s a summer program going on at the school, this way my children aren’t underfoot while I’m taming these beasts and their appetites.

  The kids get relentlessly bored, and sometimes there’s no making them happy, when we have jobs to do, and can’t constantly keep our eyes peeled and on them. Once I’m satisfied that everything is in order, I slip out of the kitchen undetected and walk down the hall that leads to my husband’s office. I rap my knuckles on the door softly, in three rapid successions so he knows it’s me.

  “Come on in, Miracle,” he calls out. I walk through the door and can see the lack of sleep around his eyes. They’re dark, and sullen looking. “C’mere,” he says, pushing his chair back from his desk and patting on his leg. I walk over and flop down on his legs, causing him to grunt.

  “Missed you,” I lean over and whisper in his ear. I see his body do a full shiver and smile at the fact that even after all of these years I still have the ability to affect him the way I do.

  “You shouldn’t plop down so hard, I’m not a young man anymore,” he says to me, while pushing my hair behind my right ear.

  “I like you old and wise,” I say, laying my head down on his shoulder.

  “Oh yeah,” he states. “I’m nowhere close to pushing up daisies,” he teases me. He isn’t, his hair is still dark as night, no gray in there, but the lines of life wear heavily on his features.

  “You’re still the most handsome man I know,” I purr. He growls, and satisfaction beams from me. “You need sleep, baby. Come home for a couple of hours and rest your eyes,” I say, standing up and grabbing his hand and attempting to pull him up from his seat. He’s heavy so it’s not as easy to get him to comply as I’d like.

  “I have so much to do,” he tells me, holding his ground.

  “And, it will still be here, waiting for you after you get some shut-eye,” I implore.

  “Woman, you drive me crazy.”

  “All I wanna do is take care of you. Now come on you old grizzly bear, follow me or I’m going to sit here and pester you.”

  “Fine,” he grumbles, finally allowing me to pull him behind me. “But only an hour, two tops.”

  “I’ll set the alarm for you, Jasper.”

  “You’re too good to me, Miracle.” I turn around and wink at him over my shoulder. I know if he doesn’t get some rest, he’ll be no good to anyone. And from what I’m seeing around here, we’re going to need him to be on his toes. If anyone can fix this, it’s him. I have complete faith in my man.

  Jasper

  I know this woman of mine will do nothing but nag at me until I do what she wants. Do I have time for a nap? No, I don’t, but I trust my VP and the men to hold down the fort for a couple of hours.

  Miracle’s had an easy time of this pregnancy so far. No morning sickness, and she was constantly sick with the first two—morning, noon, and night. I always hated coming home and seeing her laying on the bathroom floor because she didn’t have the energy to make it to the bed. With this one however, she’s full of energy and spunk.

  She drags me to the car and I oblige. I don’t want to put any stress or pressure on her in her delicate time. I’ve tried to compose myself to the best of my ability so she doesn't notice things are as bad as they are.

  “How ya doing, mama?”

  “I’m hanging in there, Jasper,” she replies.

  “Good, I’m going to be in the office more than I’m home. I need you to hold down the home front for me while I’m doing this. I’ll try to spend as much time with y’all as I can, but there’s no guarantee.” I just want to prepare her for spending a lot of time alone with the kids.

  “Not my first rodeo, Jasper,” she says, driving up our driveway.

  “I know that, darlin’. Still want you to remember that just because I’m not here physically, doesn’t mean my heart isn’t.”

  “I know how much you love us, Jasper. We can feel it with every touch, the way you talk to us, and the way you treat us as equals at the house. What we have to say, is never taken with a deaf ear.” Damn, this woman should’ve been a writer or a poet, her words always have a way of hitting me right in the solar plexus. She’s a damn good woman, and I’m lucky she chose me to be her man.

  “You and our babies are my world, nothing would be worth living day to day without you three in my life.”

  “We know that too, Jasper. Now come on, you need to rest, and I’ll get a good meal cooked, and ready for you, once you wake up.”

  “Too damn much,” I say, grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it. I meant every word I said, without her and our rugrats, I couldn’t do this thing called life.

  * * *

  I wake up hearing little voices in the same room as me.

  “We’re supposed to wake him up for dinner,” I hear my little princess say.

  “But he’s so tired, sissy, I hate to make him get up. Look how hard he’s sleeping.” It hits me right here, how much my little man has grown. He isn’t speaking like a boy of his age, he’s mature and a heavy thinker.

  “I’m up,” I announce.

  “Mama says it’s time to get up and eat now, Daddy. But we didn’t want to wake you up because you haven’t been sleeping,” Milly sweetly whispers.

  “My babies always thinking of their ole man,” I say to them. She giggles but my son’s chest puffs out and I can’t wait to hear what he has to say next.

  “I’m not a baby anymore, Dad.” Now, why is it that statement burns my gut?

  “You’re growing up too fast, slow down or you’ll make me old before my time,” I tease them, getting the response of laughter I was going for.

  “You’ll never be old, Daddy,” Milly responds. She takes after her mother, a girl who’s stolen my heart and brings a smile to my face, every single day.

  “Alright, y’all skidaddle so I can get dressed and we can eat together.” It’s something I’ve needed for a few days now, but haven’t had the chance to do. Might as well take advantage of being home, and spend some quality time with my family at the dinner table.

  Two days later

  I’m sittin in church, surrounded by my brothers, and our sister chapters. We’ve recently made allies with a few other MCs who’ve also joined us. We all have the same goal, keep Texas clean of the vultures. When the call went out, they wasted no time in gathering the troops and meeting us here on our home turf.

  Regardless of who we belong to, brotherhood is the same in every club. Some of us may be more into the illegal spectrum of it, but we all have morals and integrity. Something the gangs, mob, and cartels, are missing. Something they’ll never understand...unity.

  I currently have the Southside Eagles, a Native American MC here, they are based out of El Paso, Texas. The Mercenaries of Hell, a group of bandits who were all hired hit men, who decided to retire, and form an MC togethe
r. They are ruthless, and vicious, and someone I’m glad is on our side of this fight. These two MCs are new to us, and we’ve recently worked a couple of jobs with them, each of us earning the other’s respect.

  Also, the Crossroad Soldiers’ chapter out of Whispering Pines, Texas. The chapter out of Colleyville, Louisiana and the chapter out of Rapid Springs, Arkansas. They are our boarding charter’s and are always here to lend a helping hand and vice versa. We are the mother charter, the others were formed ten years ago.

  I’ve just laid out what all we know and the previous conversations I’ve had with Lorenzo. I notice a lot of white knuckles, and red faces in the room. None of us agree, or are onboard with skin trading.

  “Little girls,” the President of the Southside Eagles states. His name is Cloud, and he’s nowhere near as tame as his road name is.

  “Not just little girls,” Knuckles states, “boys, women, men, they’re not discriminating against race, age, nor gender.”

  “Fuckers only care about the almighty dollar, they couldn’t care less what happens to these innocent people whose lives have forever changed after they’re sold. They are mostly going for virgins, however. They get a higher bid for those, if they can prove it,” Prowler adds. He’s not wrong, that was confirmed to me by Lorenzo himself.

  “How the hell do they prove they’re virgins?” I hear an outburst from the room, but don’t recognize the voice.

  “I’m assuming they have a doctor on their payroll,” Cobra comments.

  “Don’t we all?” Hawke, one of Cloud’s men asks.

  “If we’re smart we do, but we don’t use ours in the same manner they use theirs,” I respond.

  “Only cowards steal what isn’t theirs,” Dawg announces.

  “Okay, we’re taking them down, now we need a plan.” We spend the next couple of hours going over the blueprints of their known properties, and coming up with a strategy that will ensure none of them make it out alive.

  We decide to hit them at night time while they're sleeping and will have less security for us to have to take out. We need to get in, and set up detonators, to blast them sky high. First, we need to get in there and give the women and children a choice to make a fresh start and begin outside of the organization. We don’t know how many women are there of their own choice, and which ones were forced into being there. I don’t doubt that most of them are there against their will.

  We are going to do some scouting in the meantime and get the numbers of their men, women, and children. There needs to be no surprises and nothing we don’t know or aren’t aware of. We need to know every aspect of what all we’re dealing with, and make sure our intel is spot on.

  We have a couple of men inside that are not happy with their current lifestyle and are willing to help us as much as possible. But we can’t put all of our trust in them. For all we know, they’re playing one against the other. It’s been known to happen, and I for one don’t want to go based on their words alone.

  “So it’s settled, we check things out then attack two nights from now.” I wait until I see that they’ve all agreed. “Be safe, brothers. We’ll meet here again the same day, in the afternoon, that we plan to head out. Until then, keep the ground beneath you.” I slam my gavel on the table, dismissing the meeting. A lot of emotions are running high, and I believe we have the best plan possible.

  Of course, I wasn’t aware of what was lurking in the dark. Something I’ll come to regret for the rest of my life.

  Six

  Jasper

  The next two days go by in a blur of recon, meetings, and still taking care of the everyday needs of the club. Before I know it, we’re wrapping up the meeting that we had before we head out and make our mark on the organization that thinks it’s okay to threaten mine.

  “Be safe,” Miracle whispers in my ear as she’s saying goodbye to me. I’m sitting astride my bike, fully loaded and prepared for war.

  “Always, I always am and I always come back to you. Don’t sit up all night and worry,” I say, letting her go and bringing a cigarette to my lips and lighting it. I take a drag, then lovingly wipe my hand down her cheek. “I love you, I’ll be home before you even get the chance to miss me.”

  “I always miss you, one minute out of a room and I’m desperate to be in your arms again.”

  “Too much, your words, your heart, they’re worth all of the weight in gold.”

  “You’re not too bad yourself, hotshot.” She calls me the nickname she gave me in high school. It’s been years since she’s used it, which tells me how nervous she really is. I notice all the guys saying goodbye to their women and playfully smack her on the ass.

  “Gotta ride,” I tell her.

  She backs away from me, blowing me a kiss. I pretend to grab it, and place it over my heart. The same way I did when I left for bootcamp, all of those years ago. “See you soon,” she mouths. I nod my head and yell out for the guys, letting them know in no uncertain terms that it’s time to get going. I twirl my hand in the air in a circular motion, I hear over a hundred bikes roar their engines. We all take off, some of us branch off in other directions. Each club has their own location, and we plan to hit them simultaneously.

  The men we’ve been communicating with have told us that only a handful of women and children will be coming with us. Most of them wish to stay and fight by their husbands’ and fathers’ side. It turns my stomach at the thought that women and children will lose their lives tonight, but I’ve extended an offer of sanctuary to them. Those who wanted it took it. The women who declined on theirs and their childrens’ behalves, were drugged immediately and put to bed.

  It may sound like a cruel thing to do, but we couldn’t take a chance of them running their mouths. We’ve made it look like they’ve all caught a cold and are out for the night. The men couldn’t care less about their families, and didn’t seem to give a shit that they were absent throughout most of the day.

  The ones that will be leaving with us, know where and when to meet us so we can get them out and make sure no harm comes to them. We’ve vowed to protect them, and I’m a man of my word. I don’t give it freely, so I have to let others know that when I do, I follow through. When I make a promise and commitment, I always follow through.

  We ride for an hour, finally making it to within a mile of Lorenzo’s fortress. We can’t take a chance of our bikes, or the SUVs that will be transporting those who will be making their escape with us tonight, being heard. Most of our bikes are deafeningly loud, and there’s no way we won’t be found out, before it’s time for them to know that we’re here.

  This is the place where he, and his men, lay their heads at night. A bunch of people living in one house together, I guess it’s for protection, but nothing will keep them safe from us tonight. We get our bullet proof vests on, remove our cuts and place them in our saddlebags. We pull out our night vision goggles and place them on top of our heads. One of the first things that’s being done, is their electricity being cut. I double check my gun and make sure that the clip is fully loaded. I check my pockets and make sure that the extra magazines are there and ready for use.

  I have a feeling I’ll be going through several, if not all of them, tonight. When we’re all satisfied with our gear, we double check our ear pieces to make sure they’re functioning. Then quietly, we walk through the wooded area that will lead us straight to the back of his homestead.

  “Just got a text from Joséfe, he says all is clear on his end. The men have bunkered down in a room. They’re having a meeting so they’ll all be in one place when we go in,” Knuckles says into my ear.

  “Sounds good, we can take them out in one go,” I respond, an evil grin covering my face. “It’s time to end these motherfuckers.”

  “Hell yeah it is,” Cobra responds, coming in loud, and clear. Damn these earpieces were worth the mini-fortune I spent on them. We walk for another forty-five minutes before we make it to our designated location.

  “No more talking,” I anno
unce. I get a bunch of ten-fours, then nothing but silence. I can hear the crickets chirping all around me. I bend low and crawl around the back, and head to where we were told there would be a cut in the fencing. These guys should know better than to use a chain link fence and think it would keep them safe.

  It’s the easiest kind to breach and take you off guard. I knew that these motherfuckers were egotistical sons-of-bitches, but I didn’t realize the extent of that until we started researching them more thoroughly.

  We use steel and concrete to barricade our club and homes, and even with that, we have electrical wiring running the perimeter. You’ll get the shock of a lifetime if you try to penetrate our property. There’s a difference between being paranoid and being smart. I’d rather think of myself and my brothers as being the latter.

  After we all make it through the hole, we keep to the shadows as we move to the house. I hear a dove call letting me know that the SUV is in place, and ready for extraction. I taught my men the call so that we could communicate with each other without alerting anyone to our presence. There’re certain ones that mean different things. It’s just as good as Morse code ever was.

  I look up and see a door open, I point my gun in that direction until I see our new guests slipping out the side door. Apparently, that one is monitored by the man helping us out. I see him wave everyone through, and notice that all twenty are with him. No stragglers and none missing. He sneaks them past us and they exit through the same hole we just came through.

  The hair stands up on the back of my neck, this is too easy. Something's not right, I can’t place my finger on what that is, because everything so far is going according to plan.

  Miracle

  A skeleton crew was left with us tonight for protection, they needed as many armed men riding out with them as they could for tonight’s ‘activity’. I get the kids in bed and decide to soak in a warm tub to try and relax and not think about the bad feeling that’s been plaguing me all day.