by Robert Boren
“He can tell anybody he wants to what he knows right now,” Hendrix said.
Nelson chuckled. “He knows we’re listening in. He won’t say jack now, because he knows we’ll use the conversation to expose the person he’s talking to.”
“You got it,” Gallagher said. “This is your decision, Governor. I’m your adviser. My suggestion is to interrogate him, court-marshal him in the field, and execute him. It’s up to you if you do it or not.”
“What’s your recommendation, Wallis?” Nelson asked.
Wallis sighed. “Sorry, chief, but I have to agree with Gallagher.”
“Okay, thank you both for your honesty. In any event, we need to get him out of that bunker. I should be working from there. It’s got better capabilities for running the state than we have in this place.”
“Understand, Governor,” Wallis said. “When should we start the interrogations?”
“Give it a few more days,” Nelson said. “That’s not going to hurt us, is it?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Wallis said, “besides, he might just get a wild hair up his ass and call somebody else. Fear can do that to people.”
“True,” Nelson said. “Okay, gentlemen, we’ll talk again soon.”
Maria ended the call, then glanced at Hendrix and Nelson, both looking uncomfortable.
“This is going to take some serious thought,” Nelson said.
“You’ll make the right decision, Governor,” Hendrix said.
He chuckled. “I wish I had your confidence. What’s your suggestion?”
“My suggestion is not to listen to me on this one,” Hendrix said. “I know nothing about stuff like this compared to Wallis and Gallagher. You should listen to them and then decide.”
“This wartime leader stuff sucks,” Nelson said.
“I’ll bet Sam Houston said the same thing, right about March 6th of 1836.”
Chapter 25 – The Wake
Jason walked away from Gray’s group, his wife broken down into sobs. He got fifty yards away and cried himself, stomping on the ground for a moment as Gray’s smiling face seared into his brain.
Carrie ran to him, Chelsea in her arms, the three of them hugging and crying.
“That was horrible,” Jason said. “Worst thing I’ve ever had to do.”
“I know, honey,” Carrie said.
“Why are you crying?” Chelsea asked.
“We lost a dear friend, sweetheart,” Carrie said softly. “We’re very sad.”
“Like with Grandpa and Grandma?” she asked, looking earnestly at both of them.
“Yes, honey, like that,” Jason said, kissing her forehead.
“Let’s go home,” Carrie said.
They made their way back to their rig. Kyle was leaning against Curt’s toy hauler, telling him and Amanda what happened. Kate stood alongside Kyle, trying to hold back her tears.
“Shit,” Curt said. “This didn’t even buy us anything, and we lost five of our people? My God.”
“It couldn’t have gone much worse,” Kyle said.
“Yes it could have,” Kate said. “More could have been killed. Easily. We were lucky.”
“You want to go chat with them, Jason?” Carrie asked. “I’m going to take Chelsea inside. She doesn’t need to hear it.”
“No, I need to settle down for a while,” Jason said. “I’m coming in with you guys.”
“Good,” Carrie said. she climbed the steps with Chelsea, turning to hold the door open for Jason.
“I’m hungry, mommy,” Chelsea said.
“I’ll get you something to eat,” Carrie said. She watched Jason plop down on the couch, eyes wet and red. “Are you gonna be okay?”
“I’d better be,” Jason said. “We’re going to lose more people before this is over. That’s the scariest part of what happened.”
Carrie made Chelsea a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and took it to the dinette.
“Thanks, mommy,” she said.
Carrie nodded and sat with Jason on the couch. “I hope she doesn’t have problems later in life because of this.”
“I hope she makes it to later in life,” Jason said. “Same with the new one.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“We have to be realistic,” Jason said. “We’re in a battle that will make or break the future for our children. Nothing is more important. This is like World War Two. We can’t fail, or the world will plunge into darkness for years and years.”
“But why does it have to be us?”
“It’s not just us, Carrie. We just happen to be the tip of the spear at the moment.”
They sat silently for a few minutes.
“You okay?” Jason asked.
“No,” she said. “You think Nelson and the others will put us into battles we can’t handle?”
“I don’t think they know with certainty what we can handle and what we can’t,” he said. “We can handle a lot, though, remember. We’ve come through a lot already.”
“Maybe we just had beginner’s luck,” Carrie said.
“If it were only once or even twice I’d agree with that,” Jason said. “We’ve got a good team. Doesn’t mean I won’t worry.”
“I’m terrified,” Carrie said. “We’re in such an exposed situation.”
“And here you are, pregnant again, with a toddler,” Jason said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Stop that,” Carrie said. “I’m glad I’m pregnant, and if I wasn’t, I’d be trying. At least there will be something left of us if the worst happens to you.”
He kissed her. “This isn’t what I expected for us.”
“I know, sweetie,” she said. “I still have no regrets. There isn’t anything we’ve done that I’d change, as bad as it’s been sometimes.”
“Let’s talk about something else,” Jason said. “I don’t think straight when I go into the doldrums too much.”
“Kate is showing already,” Carrie said. “You see that?”
“I see her top getting bigger,” Jason said.
She punched him on the upper arm. “Men. You would notice that little detail.”
“Little isn’t the right word,” Jason said, slipping her a sly smile.
“Stop it,” she said. “That’s Kyle’s woman you’re talking about.”
“You seem to be developing a little more yourself,” he said.
She giggled. “I know, and my bras are too small now. Wish we could’ve brought more stuff with us. I had everything we need back at the house, provided we have another girl.”
“Our house,” Jason said, turning melancholy again. “Doesn’t that seem like long ago?”
“Wonder what happened to it?” Carrie asked. “We didn’t do anything but lock the doors and flee.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to open the fridge,” Jason said. “It’s probably a science lab by now.”
Carrie laughed hard.
“Mommy, what’s a science lab?”
“Daddy was just reminding me that we left food in the fridge back at home. It’s all spoiled now.”
Chelsea looked at her blankly.
“She doesn’t understand that,” Jason said.
“It might be fine, you know,” Carrie said. “Some of your buddies on the force might have gone in and cleaned that out for us.”
“True,” Jason said. “The Fredericksburg PD did that for my mom and dad.”
“I remember,” she said.
Jason sat silently for a moment, images of his parents floating into his head, the pain still jagged and raw.
There was a knock on the door. Jason got up and looked out the window. “It’s Kyle.” He opened the door.
“Hey, Kyle,” Jason said.
“Hey,” he said, walking in, Kate following him. “We just got invited to a wake for Gray. Barbeque and beer. Half an hour. It’s for Nate, Fritz, Jasper, and Earl too. We should go and pay our respects.”
“I agree,” Jason said. “You mind, honey?”
“Not at all,” Carrie said. “I’ll get Chelsea changed. It’ll be chilly soon.”
“I’m gonna go tell Curt and Amanda,” Kyle said. “You want to call Eric and his folks?”
“Sure,” Jason said. He watched as Kyle and Kate left, and then pulled out his phone to make the calls.
The families converged on Gray’s area in about ten minutes, the smell of barbeque already floating through the area. Moe and Clancy drove up in a truck, the bed full of folding tables. Kelly’s people rushed to help them unload, and then Moe and Clancy drove back to the clubhouse to pick up chairs.
They were all set up in a few minutes, the beer and whiskey flowing freely. People mingled, as did laughter and tears.
“This is our family now,” Carrie whispered to Kate, Brenda, and Rachel as they watched their men drinking with the others.
“I get teary-eyed every time I think about Cindy,” Brenda said. “Wish I’d made more of an effort to get to know her.”
“That group did stick to themselves more than the others,” Carrie said. “Except Gray. He was very gregarious.”
“He was standoffish at first, believe it or not,” Kate said. “Remember that battle, at Brushy’s place?”
“Brushy,” Carrie said. “Forgot all about him. He said he was coming back, but he didn’t.”
“I hope he didn’t get killed,” Kate said.
“Me too,” Carrie said. “I couldn’t believe that barbeque he had. Remember? We saw an attack coming on Curt’s phone, so he pulled all the meat off the grill and helped us fight. After we won, he put the meat back on the grill as if nothing happened. That was one of the first times that Curt’s phone app saved us.”
“Yeah,” Kate said.
“Kyle’s getting drunk,” Kate whispered.
“He’s got a ways to go in order to catch up with Kelly and Junior,” Brenda said. “Nate was very close to Kelly. Almost as close as he is with Junior.”
“How about the others?” Kate asked.
“They were close too, but not quite as much. Kelly and Junior would hang out with Nate outside of the big group get-togethers. Not so much with Fritz, Jasper, and Earl.”
“Wonder where we go from here?” Rachel asked. “How dangerous is our life going to be? Is every battle going to be like this?”
“God, I hope not,” Brenda said. “It was hard losing Chris.”
“He was your ex, wasn’t he?” Rachel asked.
“Yep,” she said. “We were like oil and water when we were married, but we made good business partners.”
“You going to re-open Texas Mary’s when this is over?” Carrie asked. “It’s an institution in Dripping Springs.”
“Hope so,” she said. “It’ll be a lot harder to run without Chris.”
“Maybe Kelly could be your new partner,” Rachel said.
Brenda chuckled. “He’d be punching out customers in ten minutes.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Kate said. “After all this violence, he might be done with it.”
“Nah,” Brenda said. “How’s it going with you and Junior?”
Rachel smiled. “Good, now that we understand each other completely,” she said.
Brenda chuckled. “Does anybody understand Junior?”
“I know, he’s quite a character,” Rachel said.
“What was the issue?” Carrie asked.
“He thought he was just lucky that he had me,” she said, her face turning red.
“He is lucky to have you, sister,” Brenda said.
“No, you don’t get it. He thought I was with him for convenience, that I didn’t feel for him the way he feels for me. Part of it was all of that biology stuff.”
“He heard about that conversation?” Kate asked.
“Yeah,” Rachel said. “I told him some of it. Anyway, he kept thinking that I would be a temporary situation for him. That I’d come to my senses and take off.”
“Oh,” Brenda said. “You made him understand?”
“I think so,” Rachel said. “Time will tell.”
“You’re on fire for that man,” Kate said. “Everybody can see it.”
“Junior has an inferiority complex,” Rachel said. “He hides it well, but it’s always just under the surface. Took me a little while to understand that.”
“Well, all of us run into things like that as we get a little older,” Brenda said. “Life wears on you. Kelly and Junior were pretty wild over the years, you know. Took me a long while to think Kelly would be a safe person for me, even though I was attracted to him the first time I laid eyes on him.”
“Wait, you’ve had a case for him all along?” Carrie asked. “That’s been years, hasn’t it?”
Brenda shook her head yes. “I made him fight for me. I was so awful.”
Kate laughed. “I tried to make Kyle fight for me, but I was so hooked on him from the start.”
“Yeah, you spent the night with him after your first date,” Carrie said, grinning.
Kate’s face turned red. “Shut up about that.” Then she giggled. “That wasn’t even a date, remember? You tried to play matchmaker. We didn’t even come together.”
“That’s right,” Carrie said. “I wasn’t surprised that you wanted him, but I was surprised at how quickly things moved.”
“Yeah, I’m a real round-heels,” Kate said, sly grin on her face.
“I didn’t say that,” Carrie said, as the other women laughed.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” she whispered. “It was my idea. Spending that night with him.”
Carrie laughed. “This is interesting.”
“I fell for him at the Superstore attack,” she whispered. “I knew what I wanted, and I went for it. I’m not ashamed.”
“So how did you and Jason start?” Brenda asked. “You had a wild side when you were younger. I remember you being at Texas Mary’s a time or two.”
“More than a time or two,” Carrie said. “I knew Jason from high school.”
“Did you date?” Rachel asked.
“Hell no,” she said. “I thought he was an asshole jock.”
Kate snickered. “So what happened?”
“A few years after we graduated, he pulled me over for speeding,” Carrie said. “I remember thinking not this asshole when he walked up.”
“No, really?” Brenda asked. “That’s hilarious.”
“So what happened?” Rachel asked.
“He let me off with a warning and asked for my phone number,” she said. “Called me the next day. I very reluctantly agreed to go out with him.”
“How many dates did it take to get you going?” Kate asked.
“I don’t think I want to say,” Carrie said.
“Oh, are you a round heels too?” Kate asked.
She got a serious expression. “Certainly not.” Then she laughed. “It was all I could do to resist.”
“Do tell,” Brenda said.
“So how long did it take?” Kate asked.
“I let him have me on the third date,” she said. “We were living together a month later. Got married a year after that.”
“Did you get pregnant right away?” Rachel asked.
“No, we wanted to have a few years for each other,” Carrie said. “Chelsea was born during our fourth year.”
“Wow, you’ve been married longer than I thought,” Rachel said.
“Our eight-year anniversary is coming up in two months,” she said.
“Looks like they’re getting ready to speak,” Brenda said. “We should go over.”
The women got up and walked over to the center of the party, where Cindy was standing. Others gathered around and a hush came over the crowd.
“Thanks for coming, everybody,” Cindy said, looking small but strong as she stood up on a picnic table. “We’re holding this to honor Gray, along with Nate, Fritz, Jasper, and Earl.
There were sniffles from the group. Kelly said “Here here.”
“Gray was a reluctant leader,” Cindy sa
id, “but he took on the job when he had to, and he kept our rag-tag group of bikers together after we were in battles, down in the southeastern part of this great state.”
“I’ll say,” one of Gray’s friends said.
“He considered our small group his family, and went on to think of all of you as family. I know this group keeps to itself a little more. There’s a long history of that. Many called us outlaws over the years. Some dismissed us as overgrown children. Maybe there’s some truth to that; we pursue a life on the road with adult toys as our focus.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Junior said.
“No, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think it’s time for our group to truly become part of the larger group now. Gray pushed it, but we never really followed through for him. I hope that changes. I hope that’s the good that comes from this tragedy.” Tears came, and she paused for a moment.
“Take your time, sweetie,” Brenda called out.
“Thanks,” she said. “Today we mourn. Tomorrow we work on building a better team, on defeating the enemy and taking back our great state. So party hardy, enjoy yourselves, and remember those who’ve fallen. The rest of us will live to fight another day. Thank you all.”
She climbed off the picnic table, openly weeping now, as the crowd clapped for her.
“Wow,” Rachel said. “That was something.”
“Here comes Kelly,” Brenda said, watching him climb onto the same picnic table.
“Thank you for those great words, Cindy,” Kelly said, teary eyed and on the verge of slurring. “Sorry, I’m a little drunk. I’ll try to maintain, at least until this is over.”
“Have another drink, man,” somebody yelled.
“Oh, I’m sure I will,” Kelly said, “but now I’m gonna say a few words about our fallen. First Gray. What a great individual. He was always there to take the tough jobs, always along to protect and scout with his guys, and always fun to talk to. I’ll miss him a lot, and look forward to closer ties with his group.”
“Us too,” one of the bikers said.
“Nate was a friend of mine for years,” Kelly said. “Almost as close as Junior. We spent countless hours talking, drinking, and getting crazy. I could always count on him no matter what. He was serious and funny at the same time, always coming up with the perfect line, the great idea. Fritz was his wingman. He was to Nate as Junior is to me. Best friends for life, as close as family. Fritz had a way of cutting through the BS and helping us to focus that was really uncanny at times.”
