by Kara Parker
“Melina, listen to me,” Joseph says. “From this point forward, no more arguing, okay? When we say do something, you do it. Agreed?”
“So long as you don’t try to send me away, agreed.”
“Guy, you stay with her until we get her settled at the clubhouse. I know you have been up all night, but get it done today, as soon as she gets back from her parents. Don’t let her out of your sight. Got it? Touch, get to the clubhouse and start setting things up. You know what to do. I’ll start making the rounds and pull everyone to the clubhouse. By tomorrow evening I want everyone there and all our defenses in place.”
“You got it,” Guy says.
“Don’t worry, Joseph. We won’t let anything happen to her,” Touch says, then looks at Melina and smiles. “I’ll teach you how to use a weapon.”
Melina smiles. “Good. I have a score to settle.”
“You’re sure you won’t go with Rose? Or at the very least to your parents?” Joseph asks Melina.
“No. If what you say about the Matos Cartel is true, Michael and Kimberly will be safer without me there.”
Joseph purses his lips in annoyance. “Fine. You’re probably right. Matos isn’t going to want to go into Carson City for a couple of kids that aren’t even mine. They may be crazy, but they’re not stupid.”
“It’s settled, then,” Rose says, and then she looks at Joseph. “I’ll help Melina close up the house. Then I will spend the night at your place and leave for Vegas in the morning. If I buy you a prepaid cell phone, will you call me?”
“Yes,” Joseph says.
“And when it’s all over, you will come to me?”
Joseph smiles. “Yes,” he says, then rises from his chair. “Let’s make this happen.”
Rose follows him outside. “It will be okay, Joseph,” she says, pulling him to a stop as soon as the door closes behind them.
“I hope you’re right. We’ve been prepared for something like this for a while. Now we will see if it works.”
“I have confidence in you. In all of the Nines.”
“Well… at least one of us does, then.”
She smirks. “I expect to see you in Vegas in a few weeks. You had better not disappoint me.”
“I will do my best.”
She pulls him into a long and passionate kiss. She hasn’t even left yet and she is missing him already. She smiles as she pulls back from the kiss. “That should hold you until later.”
Joseph takes a deep breath, reeling in his desires. Rose can turn him on like no other woman. “Yeah,” he says. “That should do it. I’ll see you later tonight?”
“Yeah. I’m going to get Melina out of here with her kids. While she’s gone I’m going to pack my stuff and then get Melina packed and ready to travel. I’ll leave when they do. I’ll stop by the Goose and talk to the guys to let them know that I’m leaving. Turn the keys over to Dick, that sort of thing. Then I will be along to your house.”
“Okay. You’re sure you don’t want me to go with you to the Goose?”
“No. Remember what you said about staying away? Go. Get ready to kick some ass. I’ll be fine,” she says with a grin.
Joseph stares into her eyes a moment, then grins back before pecking her on her lips. “You’ve got your house key?” he asks. She will be to their house before he will and he doesn’t want her standing around outside.
“Right here,” she says, patting a pocket. Rose is still grinning as Joseph turns and trots down the three steps from the porch and begins to walk to his truck. While she watches, Joseph suddenly spasms an instant before she hears the crack of a gunshot and he goes hard to the ground.
“Joseph!” she screams as she leaps off the steps and runs to him, falling to the ground at his side. “Oh my God! Joseph!” she screams again, looking frantically for the wound. He’s not moving, and she hauls him over, turning him onto his back, searching for blood. “Joseph!”
“Rose,” he gasps weakly. “Run…”
“No!” she screams. “Help! Guy! Mark! Help me!”
There is another crack and a bullet ricochets off the drive only inches from Joseph’s head, concrete splinters hitting her in the face. “Rose! Leave me! Run!” he gasps as he struggles to roll over.
“No! Get up! Get up, goddammit! Help me!” she shouts as she pulls with every ounce of her strength, trying to get him to his feet and to safety.
He staggers to his feet and takes two stumbling steps with Rose under a shoulder. She is sagging with his weight but grits her teeth in determination to get him into the house and to safety. There is another gunshot and Rose can hear the thud of the bullet hitting Joseph as he screams, jerks, and falls to the ground again, knocking her down with him.
“No!” she shrieks, throwing herself over him, desperate to protect him as she hears the report of another gun from in front of her.
“Joseph!” she wails, rolling him onto his back again and staring into his face, looking frantically for signs of life. “Joseph! Please, oh God! Please! Joseph!” she sobs as rough hands take her and pull her away.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Rose Aguilar screams as strong hands drag her away from Joseph. She struggles, trying to break free, desperate to get away and get back to Joseph.
“Rose! Rose! It’s me, Guy! Get down!” he cries as he shoves her down in front of her car.
Guy’s voice and name finally register and she stops struggling, but the moment he releases her, she tries to dart from the front of the car back to Joseph. He is lying deathly still after being shot twice. “Let me go!” she rages as Guy’s hands roughly pull her down again.
“Rose! Calm down! Touch! You get him?” Guy calls, looking over this shoulder to the man standing propped against a post supporting the porch roof, peering through a huge scope mounted on a rifle.
“Don’t know. I saw where he went down. But I’ve got him now. Make it quick, Guy,” Touch says, the gun never wavering.
“Stay here,” Guy says as he moves past Rose.
Just as he reaches Joseph, Touch’s rifle roars again. “Got him,” Touch says, putting the gun down. “Guy, get up there and find this bastard. I’ll take Joseph.”
Guy rises and sprints away, barely slowing as he crosses the road and plunges into the woods on the other side. For such a big man he moves with surprising speed. Touch and Rose arrive at Joseph at the same time, just as he begins to stir.
“Joseph!” Rose cries, falling to his side. “Oh my God! Joseph!”
“Don’t move him!” Touch calls as he drops to his knees beside Joseph. “You’re going to be alright, buddy. Just hang in there,” he encourages.
“Fuck… this hurts,” Joseph groans as he tries to roll to his stomach and get up.
“Don’t move. You’ve been shot. Let me check you out first, okay?” Touch says as he begins to inspect Joseph, looking for wounds. There should be blood everywhere, but he can’t find any sign of bleeding.
“Help me up,” Joseph groans, trying to get to his feet. “Fuck!” he shouts as Touch and Rose get under his shoulders.
Joseph staggers to his feet, leaning heavily on Touch, and Touch realizes why Joseph is still alive and he begins to chuckle in profound relief. “You son of a bitch! You scared the shit out of me. Why didn’t you tell us you are wearing ballistic armor?”
“What?” Rose asks as they help Joseph up and back into Melina’s house.
“Ballistic armor. A bullet-proof vest.”
Rose feels her knees go weak from relief. “He’ll be okay then?” she grunts as the three of them stagger up the steps.
“I’ll check him out when we get inside… but probably,” Touch says, opening the door.
“Is he okay?” a pale and shaking Melina asks as they stumble through the door.
“I don’t know. but let’s make sure,” Touch says as he eases Joseph onto the couch. Joseph’s face twists in pain as he rolls over onto his side.
“Here… sit up, buddy,” Touch says, helping Joseph into
a better position. Rose and Melina look on silently as Touch helps Joseph out of his riding jacket and shirt and then carefully removes the vest that saved his life.
As Touch probes gently at two angry red spots, one on his chest and another between his shoulders, Joseph hisses and grimaces. “Mother-fuck, that hurts!”
“We need to have Greg check you out, but I don’t think anything is broken.”
“Greg’s the paramedic, right?” Melina asks.
“That’s right,” Touch replies. “You’re a lucky son of a bitch. You know that, right?” he asks Joseph.
“Yeah,” he says with a grimace. “I figured since I was going to be out in the open and all over the place today, better safe than sorry considering the cartel all but said they are coming for us.”
“Goddamn you, Joseph Warner! You’re such a shit! I thought you were dead! Why didn’t you tell me! Goddammit!” Rose yells with a stomp of her foot before she begins to cry and moves in, kissing his face frantically.
“Easy! Easy!” Joseph begs, gritting his teeth against the pain as Rose gently jerks his head around.
Just as Rose pulls back they hear another gunshot, causing Rose and Melina to jump, but Touch just looks up. “That was a handgun. Guy must have found the shooter.”
A few minutes later, Guy arrives, two rifles in hand… the one that Touch was using and another one. As he steps into the house he looks grim but relaxes when he sees Joseph sitting up. “Hey, Michael, why don’t you go find me a book to read to you, okay? How about that dump truck one? Can you go get that one for me?”
As Michael leaves the room, Guy turns to Touch and speaks softly. “Nice shot, Touch. Hit him right in the chest on the right side. He was still alive, but he wouldn’t have been for long. I took care of it. We’ll need to get up there and get the body before someone finds it.”
“Get Steven on it. Joseph is going to be laid up for a while. And get Greg over here to give him the once over.”
“Will do. I wonder if that was the same fuck that shot Tim?”
“Don’t know. Probably. Both shots were clean kill shots. If he hadn’t been wearing armor he would be dead,” Touch says, looking at Joseph again.
Guy grins toward the lucky survivor. “Glad you’re still with us, man. It would really suck to have to elect a new president right now with everything else going on.” Guy turns to Michael as he returns and takes the book from the small boy. “Let me read this book to my main man here right quick… then I will get going.”
***
“He’s going to be fine. Sore as hell for a few days, but I don’t think anything is broken,” Greg says as he stands up. “Take some Acetaminophen every four hours for the next couple of days and take it easy, okay?”
“Yeah,” Joseph says, in no mood to argue. He may be alive, but as much as he hurts, he’s not sure that’s a good thing.
“This is it, isn’t it?” Greg asks.
“Yeah. Guy is getting everyone rounded up and to the clubhouse.” Joseph says quietly. “Pull some cash and go get what you need. You’re the nearest thing to a doctor we’ve got. You need to be ready.”
“Joseph, I’m just a paramedic. I’m…”
“I know. But you’re all we’ve got. You can do this Greg. I know you can. If you can’t handle it, they’ll be dead before we can get them to a hospital anyway.”
Greg nods. “I’ll take care of it. The shit is about to get deep isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Looks like it,” Joseph says quietly. “But we’ve planned for this. We’ve trained for it. Let ’em come. We’ll rip them a new one.”
“I’ve got to get Julie away first, okay? Then I will go into Carson City and get what we need.”
“Do that. We need to move anyone connected to us but not in the club away from here. We don’t know what the Matos Cartel knows, but anyone they know that is connected to us is in real danger.”
“Don’t worry, Joseph. We know the drill. Just take it easy for a few days, okay?” Greg says while closing his medical box.
“Touch… Find Steven. I need to see him.”
“No. I’m not leaving here until someone else shows up. You’re in no shape to defend yourself, much less anyone else. Steven will know what to do. Don’t worry.”
Rose has been watching as the Nine Devils try to get organized. “Mark,” Rose says, calling Touch by his real name, “May I speak with you a moment?” They move into the kitchen where Rose takes him into an embrace, tears leaking from her eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much! You saved him. You saved us both. You and Guy… I will never forget what you have done.”
“It’s okay, Rose. Everything is going to be okay,” he says, patting her on the back.
“How did you know? How did you know where he was?” she sniffs, stepping back.
“The shooter? I knew about where he had to be to get the shot with all the cars around. When I heard the first shot I got out there just in time to hear the second shot. That gave me a general area where to look. With the third shot I saw the muzzle flash. I tried to take him then but I rushed the shot and I guess I missed. But then I had him and I just had to wait for him to pop up again.”
Rose whimpers again, fighting the need to cry and pulling him into her embrace again. “I will never forget you. Thank you for saving him.”
Touch smiles softly, wishing he had someone that cared for him as much as Rose does for Joseph. “I had to save him, Rose. Otherwise you might stop cooking for me.”
She laughs, her voice still thick, and steps back, sniffing and wiping her eyes. “I’ll cook for you anytime, Mark.” She smiles at Touch again, sniffs once more, then turns and returns to the family room where Joseph is gently probing his chest with his fingers.
“How are you doing?”
“I’ve never been kicked by a horse… but I bet this is what it feels like.”
“You’re already starting to bruise.”
“Yeah. Greg said tomorrow will be worse than today.”
“I’m just glad you’re alright.”
“I’m not sure I would call this ‘alright,’ but I’m alive,” he says with a chuckle, then stops, grimacing in pain. “Shit… remind me… no laughing for a few days.”
“Okay. This won’t make you laugh,” Rose says, pausing to gather her courage. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not leaving.”
“Rose, you promised.”
“Well, I unpromise then. I’m not going. Not now. I can’t leave you, not like this. Not with this going on. I would go crazy with worry.”
“Rose…”
“You can just save your breath,” she says, cutting him off. “If you think Melina is stubborn, you haven’t seen anything.”
Joseph stares into her eyes for a moment, her gaze unwavering. “Shit. Fine. But you have to promise me, just like Melina did, that you will do what we say, when we say. I mean it Rose, or I will have Guy haul your ass away from here.”
“I’ll give you the same promise Melina did. So long as you don’t try to send me away, you have my word.”
“You can be a real pain in the ass.”
“Only until you bow to the inevitable,” she says as she leans over and kisses him gently.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The next four hours are a flurry of activity as plans are put into place. Several members of the Nines show up to help plan the move into the clubhouse… a converted warehouse that they use as a storage depot. One of the Nines goes with Melina to deliver Melina’s young children, Michael and Kimberly, to their grandparents for their safety.
Another goes with Rose as they all but empty the nearest market of meat, fruit, and other supplies to feed the twenty-seven members of the Nines and their two guests.
Others scour the area buying up mattresses and linens so they will have someplace to sleep, while others augmented their supply of ammunition.
Over dinner, Joseph, Steven, Touch, and Danny discuss how best to meet the assault they all know is coming. It takes some convincing,
but Steven reluctantly agrees to lead the Nines during the crises, but only so far as their defenses goes. As the Nines discuss their defensive plan, Rose calls Aguilar’s, her restaurant in Las Vegas.
“William… something has come up and I won’t be back for a while.”
“Is everything okay? What’s happened?” he asks.
“The situation up here has taken a turn for the worse. I will send you an email as soon as I hang up with all the passwords you will need. I’m putting you in charge until I get back. I don’t know when that will be so I want you to stop paying me and hire another manager to backfill for me.”
