I don't see the guys as I'm moving closer. "Guys, I'm not seeing you; if you can hear me call out." The kids are on the side of me. "Let's make a grid and move what we can; we have to start close to the wall, so be careful and warn the rest of us if you see, hear or feel movement." I get close to the wall and tell them to make a line; we move the small stuff against the wall. Little Ben, Jessie and Darren carry a big stair platform. The guard I don't know is under it. Fuck, I check for a pulse and look at Little Ben; I don't know how they will handle this.
"Just do the job, Amanda. We'll deal." He looks sad, but surprisingly, he's not falling apart.
"I need a blanket; plastic would be good first, if there's something like that here."
He nods and signs to Darren. I leave the guard and start moving debris with the boys. About half away into the mess, Jessie stops us. "Listen." Darren throws something at Little Ben and runs. "Move!" Jessie yells; we all run for the hall again. We hear more falling in the shaft but nothing is coming through where we cleaned. Little Ben is talking to Jeremy and Jessie but I can't hear what he's saying.
He comes back to me, "We need to get Chet or he's not going to make it."
I want to scream, swearing, but I don't pay enough of a flat rate for that. Christian laughs. "Brenda keep the kids here, it seems to be safe. We have to connect to upstairs and find out what the fuck is going on, but we need more than three of you helping; is there someone else we can use?"
Little Ben looks at the kids. "Brantley and Joey, get a computer hooked up over here and get us back on with MC Ops. Christian and Victor, help them move what they need over here. Aaron, Ally and Alex, get the table moved closer with the twins. Taylor, come with us." Everyone moves quickly and methodically. They work like adults.
We get closer to the back wall and I hear a noise. "Stop!" Everyone stops moving. "Chet, call out or move so we can locate you." We wait.
"Over here, Amanda!" Taylor says, excited. Thank God! We move the wood; I have to wait for the boys to move the steel pieces. It’s a whole section of wall; the steel must have held it. They get the wall piece moved and we see Chet, face down in the pile of rubble.
"I need a first aid kit." I check his pulse. "Stay with me, buddy." I'm looking at his arms, back and then legs; there's a piece of steel through his leg, standing at an angle. Fuck! What I wouldn't do for a fireman right now.
"Taylor, get the first aid kit and Jeremy over here quick." Little Ben says. "Darren, cover the body before he gets back. "Jessie, get me two one hundred foot rope sections and a harness." I can't move Chet, so I check for more injuries from the back.
"Little Ben, do you have a belt on?" I hear him pulling it off. I need to stop his leg from bleeding first then I can see what the fuck we've got. The belt floats into my line of vision; I take it and slide sheetrock out of the way so I can get it around his leg without moving it. Yes! Score one for the good guys. Taylor is back, but there's nothing in this case to help me. I look at Little Ben.
"There's a full first responders case in Security." He points up. Fuck, it's a room, not the ceiling.
No wonder I didn't know they were here. How the fuck are we going to get up there? It dawns on me the rope. Fuckin kids are freaks but smart freaks; Jeremy laughs. Freaks, but cute freaks. He kisses my cheek shocking me. "I suppose you're going for my kit?" He nods with a smile; I ruffle his hair. "If they have two cases, I need them both. I need something to get the steel out of his leg or we need to cut the steel from the floor." He nods. I've never heard this kid talk.
Little Ben positions him under a girder. Darren throws the rope over while Jessie gets a harness on him. Little Ben looks pissed. "You keep the harness on, Jeremy. I know you could do it but the damn building is still moving. Keep it on so we know you'll be ok." Jeremy looks down but nods.
They get the little monkey up in no time; he ties the case and lowers it. Little Ben runs it to me and goes back. I pull the stethoscope out; his rate is slow but steady. I'm looking through the case when Jessie yells 'hurry'. I close the case and cover Chet; I see Jeremy and Taylor run. Darren pulls a rubber mat over us. More shit falls where we already cleaned up; I hear stuff close but nothing hits me. We wait under the mat. Little Ben yells, "Clear!" Darren makes a noise; I look up at him. Fuck, shit was falling on us and he blocked it.
I sign for him to wait. "Little Ben! Darren can't push the shit off the mat!"
"We're getting it now." Little Ben says. I sign for him; Darren nods. He's sweating, holding his arms behind him. I sign ‘thank you’; he nods, then relaxes. "We're pulling the mat, Amanda." I sign to Darren.
The mat moves away and we can see all the fuckin new shit that fell. Chet's legs are covered again. Jessie moves the shit away. "Watch that steel going through, Jessie." He nods.
"Amanda, it's not in the floor anymore!" Jessie's excited.
"Let's move him to the mat and slide him right out of here." I tell them. The mat comes back. "Turn him first then we'll lift him to the mat.” I move to his leg. They're gentle and get him over nice and easy. I put his leg down, making sure the steel didn’t move and look at him. His nose is broken; nothing else impaling him, so I give the go to lift. With him on the mat, the boys pull the other side while me and the younger boys move shit out of the way. "Into the locker room first." They bring him into the girl’s locker room.
“Have Brenda boil some water and find me towels; they move. Little Ben is standing by me. "I got this Little Ben; find out if our families are ok."
He looks relieved. "I'll send Jessie back."
I thank him while I'm looking at the fuckin steel in Chet's leg. Opening the case, I look at what I have to work with. I need to get the belt off, so it's not cutting off blood flow to his foot. Brenda comes in. "I need to talk to Doc; can you get him on the phone?" I really need the second case.
Brenda gets me Sally; I tell her what I have. She says loosen the belt but don't move the steel. I get that done and I'm surprised it's not bleeding bad. She says to leave the belt in place and don't touch the steel. It could be what's keeping him from bleeding out. Great. I have a decent kit; I get an IV going but don't have any medicines. We go back and forth on speaker phone until what sounds like another explosion. It's so hard to tell because we're in a cavernous but confined space. The steel on the doors keeps sound bouncing in here.
I get Chet as comfortable as I can, tearing the foam from the mats and packing around his leg with it; I set his nose and check his vitals again. No change but that’s not bad. Jeremy, Jacob and Aaron come in and sit with us. Brenda comes in to sit with Chet while I deal with the other guard.
I could use the breather. I wonder where Bob is and hope to Christ he's ok. When I get to the body, I see Darren has the vinyl from the mats over the body. He's a smart kid. I lay a mat casing out; it's too small for the whole body so I use two, sliding one up and one down. Getting him completely covered, I am hoping we get out soon. I roll him onto the blanket and ask Little Ben and Darren to move him against the wall at the back. They take care of that while I go get a drink; I'm wishing for a shot but drink apple juice.
When I get back to Chet he's moaning, Jeremy is talking gibberish with his hand on Chet's stomach. Jacob is holding Chet's hand and Aaron is holding Jacob and Jeremy's. I look at Brenda. She shakes her head no, "Give them some more time." Ok. I walk away because I don't want to know.
Brantley is talking on a headset. I walk over to the table with him. "He's working Ops, Amanda. You can't be right here." Jessie says; he looks sorry.
I step back to where he's at, "Are the families ok?"
He looks at me; it looks like he's debating something. "We've lost some. No one in the family. There are injuries; Doc, Sally and the new doc are working on them. The Club took a hit but only one wing got hit. Bob and Danny are up at Baxter's helping Cloud get rid of a threat there. When they get back, Danny will figure out how to get us out." He's so damn calm I'm wondering if I'm over reacting. I want to scream.
"What do
you mean get us out? Why can't we go out the way we came in?" I try to keep my voice level and soft.
"Our house got hit. The steel doors work from a master in our house. Danny puts fail safe in on everything he does. He's busy right now; we can't bring this to him and expect him to do his job with a clear head. No one has told them about it. You have to be calm so they can be calm and do their jobs. We wouldn't be doing anything different than what we're doing right now. We're all safe and ok; that's what they need to know." He's watching me.
Fuck! I can't bitch and moan if the kids are so fuckin calm. I take a breath and replay his words over in my head. His forty year old words make sense and he's fuckin right. "It pisses me off that you're older than me." He laughs; I bend and kiss his cheek. "Thanks, Jessie." I walk away because I can't take any more reasonableness from the kids.
Bob
Baxter's looks like a fuckin war zone when we pull in. BS is on every fuckin vehicle you can imagine, from trucks to ATV’s. Kevin and Beau meet us at the office. "Hell of a fight. Who the fuck is it?" Danny asks right off.
Kevin laughs. "A mix of thugs and Outlaws. We'll know more when we get ID's. You need to get back to the Club. They need help there. Thanks for the help clearing this fuckin mess up." We take bottles of water, throw chin and walk out.
Danny: "LP1 to MC Ops."
Pres: "Tell me you're on your way back, LP1." He’s stressed; I can picture the hands in his hair.
Danny: "Ten minutes to the Club." He throws his leg and starts his bike.
Pres: "Thank Fuck! I need you here, Brother."
Danny: "I'm on my way, Pres." He flies out the missing gate and onto the road for the reservation. I follow wondering what the fuck is going on."
Danny: "Have the side gate opened for us Pres."
Pres: "There is no side gate. Prospects are guarding; I'll let them know you're coming through."
"Fuck. Roger." We go faster. When we make the hill we slow down; the whole wing is down. I thought they would take a hit, not the whole fuckin wing. We can see people moving around inside. Fuck!
"Where are you, Ben?"
He steps to an opening on the second floor and waves. "I'll come down; meet me at the side stairs, or where they use to be."
We drive around; holy fuck, it's a fuckin disaster. Fuck! Amanda and the kids are under this fuckin mess. "Are the kids and Amanda ok?" I ask my helmet.
"We're fine, B3. Chet is injured, we lost Cal." Little Ben says.
"LB, is the guard room stable?" Danny asks him.
"Yes, our damage came from the elevator shaft; it exploded when they were on the stairs. We were in the hallway for that one. All the kids and women were safe."
"Thank Fuck!" Danny says low.
"Yeah." LB answers. He's calm right now. I hope he was through all this. He's a sensitive kid by nature; he's so even keeled most people don't see it.
Pres walks out as we get off the bikes. He jumps down and man hugs Danny, then me. "It has been a fuckin stressful day and it's going to get worse. First, we lost some Brothers. Cal, Ty, Petey, and Casper." I step back feeling like I’ve been punched in the chest.
"How the fuck did we lose Casper?" Danny's voice is almost a whisper.
"They hit the PD. Casper was in the building; Mary doesn't know, neither does Brenda. Petey was shot, Cal was down with the kids and Ty was run down. It has been so long since we lost a Brother, I'm fuckin numb. I think that's good because the next thing I tell you needs me to be fuckin numb." He looks at Danny, then me. "Our house got hit. The guards tried to get to the bulk head but there's fuckin beams and shit sunken into the basement and where the patio was. The elevator shaft is blocked; it exploded down in the Club room. We need to get the locks open and get them out of there."
Danny walks to the bluff and looks down, I follow. The fuckin house is gone; it's a pile of kindling. At least it looks that way from up here. "We needed some updating anyway. I can build a house; what I can't do is open the fuckin locks. The master was at our door. The emergency was in the hall."
Pres runs his hands through his hair. "Is there a way to get Cloud’s door to open?"
Danny is pacing; I don't see this as a good sign. I want to talk to Amanda but I have nothing I can tell her when she asks when they are getting out. "I need hydraulic jacks and some trusted Brothers. I need to get down there. Is there anything else you need to tell me?"
"They had no survivors. Providence is going to be fuckin pissed." He smiles.
"Fuckin Bosses can wait for a while. I need to get them out of there." He throws chin and goes back to the bikes. I follow him to Cloud's house; we walk to the back and into the patio. At the bulkhead, he stops. "I never expected the master to get damaged. I would have put another panel in. I should have put them in at every fuckin house."
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Didn't expect your fuckin house to blow up. Let's just find a way around the fuckin panels." He throws chin. He thought I'd be pissed? His fuckin house blew up. It's not like you plan for shit like that. Amanda would find this funny. Fuck, she's stuck down there. I wonder if she's stressed. Fuck. I follow him down, pushing her out of my head; I need to help get her out.
"The floor in the Club doesn't form the ceiling of the Club room?" I ask, feeling stupid for not knowing shit about building shit.
"It does but the East wing didn't blow out; it caved in where the Club ceiling is. It will take forever to clear it enough to make a hole. I don't know if it will hold us moving shit around. The last thing I want to do is cause the building to fall in on the Club; they have nowhere to go." He doesn't sound worried but I can tell he is.
"You're worried that's going to happen anyway?"
He looks at me. Fuck. "Let's just concentrate on getting a door to open." I nod, looking at the fuckin steel plate covering the doors. He looks at the hydraulic pistons then the wall, he opens a panel. There are wires and a breaker in it. Maybe he can flip the switch.
He pulls his phone. "I need a computer down here. Fuck. Yeah, have him call me." He hangs up and smiles at me. "Taylor will call me." He's smiling so I'm taking that as good.
"You need some tools or something?" I need a fuckin job to do; this waiting is going to drive me fuckin nuts.
"I need screw drivers, wire cutters and electrical tape." I nod and go up to hunt shit down. My house is right behind Cloud’s so I cut through to my garage and get the tools he needs. When I get back to him he's talking to Taylor and cutting wires with his pocket knife. He shrugs at me.
I smile, fuckin Brother sent me to keep me busy. I put the shit down and think. They have a dead body and Chet is hurt. I go up and call Doc. Sally answers saying I need to get Chet to the hospital; he has a piece of steel through his leg. I call Allan asking for an ambulance at Cloud’s. I tell him they need to wait out front but I need a stretcher in the back. He's coming himself. I call Dave; I need to know what to do with Cal's body. He explains the process, telling me I need a cop then we can transport it to the morgue.
The fuckin PD just lost their chief. I call Pres. "I got Allan bringing an ambulance for Chet. I need a cop before we move Cal but I don't know who to call."
"Danny's getting the lock to open? I haven't even got the jacks yet." He asks like he's surprised.
"He's playing with wires right now but he was smiling."
"Thank Fuck! I have the commissioner and Paul on their way up here. I'll send Paul when we're done. Good job, Brother." He hangs up.
I'm smiling when I go back down. After twenty minutes I'm ready to call it and find jacks myself. Taylor tells Danny that's the last one. I look over at him he wipes his face and takes a deep breath.
"I'm touching green to green?" He asks the fourteen year old. Fuck, these kids are too much sometimes. I hope this is a good example of that. Taylor says yes and laughs.
Danny looks back at me with a smile. "Fuckin kids." He touches the wires and jumps out of the way. The pistons pull the plate back then lifts it up. Thank fuck!
D
anny unlocks the wooden door. We have to push it with all our weight on it to get it open. Fuck, the hall caved in at the other doors. Jeremy comes running and jumps on me. I laugh; the Little Ninja is a cute kid. I give him a hug. "Good to see you're ok. You look tired. Did you help Chet?" He nods. I put his head in my shoulder giving it a quick kiss and carry him back out of the hallway. The kids cheer when we walk in. I look around for Amanda but don't see her.
Jeremy lifts his head, "Chet." He says.
"Where's Chet?" I ask Brenda. She points to the locker room. I look at where the elevator was. I can't believe they made it out of that ok. It did explode into the Club. I keep walking to the locker room; Amanda sees me and squeals. I wince. It's a fuckin locker room with tile and metal lockers; her squeal goes right through my head. I hug and kiss her. Jeremy wiggles. I pull away and look at him. He's smiling. "You good?" He nods. Danny comes in and takes him. I hug Amanda with both arms. "Love you, baby. You doing ok?"
She pulls away. "I am. The kids took good care of me." I laugh.
"How's he doing?" I ask looking at Chet and the steel that's sticking out of the foam around his leg.
He looks at us. "I'll be ok. Jeremy helped."
"You look like fuckin shit, Brother." Danny says making us laugh. Fuckin guy.
Chet holds his face and moans. "Thanks, Brother. I needed that; Cal didn't make it." We nod. They were close.
"We'll do right by him, Brother." I don't know what else to say. I'll make sure we take care of his dad. He nods but doesn't say anything else. "I need to get Allan down here with the stretcher." Danny nods. I start to walk away but Amanda isn't coming. I look back at her.
"I'm not sure if I should leave him." She looks torn.
"I'll stay with him. Go ahead, get some fresh air. Make sure the kids stay on Cloud’s patio." Danny tells her.
She walks to me. I put my arm around her and we walk up the stairs following the kids. I get Allan from the front and help him get the stretcher down the stairs. He's shocked but doesn't say anything.
"This is one of those things we don't talk about." Danny tells him, handing me Jeremy. "What do we need to do to get him out of here?"
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