by Bella Knight
“Good,” said Ivy. “Now, I’m going to be rude and tell you to get the fuck out of here. I am tired and angry, and sick with worry. Sleeping is probably off the table, but pacing won’t help either.”
“I’ll hit you over the head with a rock so that you may sleep,” said Numa. “Thank you for bringing the info.”
“Wish I could do more,” said Xenia. “We can swing by the hospital, but keeping someone on you full-time will cost us, people, we just don’t have. The Valkyries and Iron Knights will pick up the slack until we can get Ace moved. From what the doctor told me, another twenty-four hours minimum. Don’t want to jostle the pins and things in him. We caught one, but there’s a very dangerous couple out there heading in this direction.”
“Fuckity fuck,” said Ivy. “We can go back?”
Numa grabbed her arm. “We need to stay put. Can’t defend anyone without recuperating ourselves. And you got the brunt of it. Go lay down.”
“Thank you for helping us,” said Ivy.
“I wish I could turn back the clock and have this not have happened,” said Xenia. She grabbed the back of Ivy’s head, and Ivy grabbed her head. They touched foreheads. “Get some sleep, sister,” said Xenia. She hugged Numa as well. “Rest, sister.”
“Will do,” said Ivy. Xenia let her go and left the hotel room.
“It’ll be easy to sleep,” said Ivy. “This is the most boring, sand-colored hotel room I’ve ever seen.” Numa laughed. Ivy fell onto the bed on the right and was out nearly before her head hit the pillow.
They went back to the hospital at three am after hitting up an all-night waffle house for pecan waffles. A nurse tried to bitch at them about it not being visiting hours.
“They are family, and we’re part of the protection,” said Ivy. “Don’t ever try to interfere with us again.” The woman huffed and went to call a doctor.
There was an Iron Knight at the door who introduced himself as Demon. He had wild, black hair and was huge, dwarfing both Numa and Ivy.
“Thank you,” said Ivy.
“Got my eye on a Valkyrie. Hoping she notices I was here. She likes to tease me. She said that if the bad guys come, I can just fall on them.”
“Good luck with that,” said Ivy, and Numa and Ivy went into Ace and Lily’s room. Ghost and Killa were sitting on the ugly pink chairs, the extra beds in the corner, laptops on their laps. That was such a strange thing to see that Ivy nearly tripped over her own feet.
“What you doing?” asked Ivy.
“Picking out parents,” said Ghost. “We got the idea from Katya.”
Ivy pulled up an ugly green chair and plopped down, while Numa went to sing over Ace. “What idea?”
Ghost said, “Katya says, she drop babies so fast the midwife almost wasn’t there to catch them babies. She gonna wait six weeks, and get healed up. Then get Ace and Lily to drop their sperm and egg and put it in herself. Surrogate, she said. For free.”
“But I heard,” said Killa, in her soft voice, “that you can get paid for it. Would suck in the summa, cain’t get no beer, but it only nine months. Can get paid for carryin’ someone else’s kid.”
“And, get this,” said Ghost. “Lotta black folk be needin’ our services. Lesbian, too.”
Ivy touched her own stomach. Both she and Callie were pregnant, but only a few months. Neither one of them were showing yet; Callie because of her frame and Ivy because of her jeans. She had considered, just for a moment, giving one of the babies to the heartbroken Lily. Ace had donated the sperm. But, they were using their own eggs. Ivy just couldn’t do it, give up one of her own. Not even in this horrible situation.
“That’s good,” said Ivy. “You pick anyone yet?”
“We lookin’ at a lesbian couple,” said Ghost. “Get this, one mama be a judge.” She laughed. “All dis time spent keepin’ my head down, an’ I may be workin’ for a judge. Don’ wanna be like my mama. She die in prison. Da cancer got her. She was a runner, sometimes a stripper.”
“I’m sorry about your mama,” said Ivy.
“Long time ago,” said Ghost. “Bonnie our mama now.”
“What does Bonnie say about this idea?” asked Ivy.
Killa said, “We can work on the bikes, but we gotta wear masks to protect da baby. And special aprons if we workin’ on soldering.”
“Sounds good,” said Numa, walking over to sing over Lily. “These people need a baby, and you can help them have one.”
“We gonna start the process,” said Ghost. “We at a hospital, we can get da medical paper heah.”
“Good idea,” said Ivy.
“We gonna buy us a condo,” said Killa. “Near the club. Got our eye on one, some meth heads done trashed it. We gonna fix it up. By the time the babies come, we have it ready.”
“Babies?” asked Ivy.
“We do what you did,” said Ghost. “Two at once. Twice the cash. We have the condo money in no time.”
Ivy considered loaning them the money, but they had a good plan. “You see me if you need the down payment money. You can pay me back when the babies show up.”
“T’anks,” said Ghost. “We be thinkin’ about it.”
Ghost and Killa left, after touching Lily’s face and Ace’s good shoulder. “Ya’ll get betta,” said Ghost, “real fas.’ We got no club without you two.” They left.
Ivy pulled up the beds and set them up. “I’m stunned,” she said to Numa.
“They’re smart,” said Numa, “and they’re doing a service for infertile couples.”
“Katya did drop those babies very easily,” said Ivy, straightening the sheet and inadequate pillows. “It was surreal; the babies coming out with Ace in surgery and Lily unconscious. I was stunned. The doctor made it in after the babies were born.”
“She would be a good surrogate if birth goes that well for her,” said Numa. “I’m just sorry there’s a need for it. I hope that gunshot heals and that she can get pregnant later.”
“I hope so too.” Ivy laid down on the bed. “I don’t think I can sleep, but I know I’m still tired.”
“I brought my tablet,” said Numa. “Read. Watch something dumb on TV. Relax. You’re climbing out of your skin.”
“I want to go back to Vegas and be in on the search for the killers, but I know that’s stupid. I’m pregnant, and I’m not law enforcement like Wraith, Saber and Xenia.”
“How do you know her?” asked Numa, handing over the tablet and pointing to the screen. “You can download library books on that program there. Just search for what’s available. Putting something on hold won’t help you now.”
“Who? Xenia?” asked Ivy, laying back on the cot. “Met her two years ago on a ride to raise money for prostheses for wounded veterans.”
“The ride successful?” asked Numa, settling herself in on a pink chair with her knitting.
“I think we ended up paying for thirty 3D printed ones, and ten standard ones.”
“I was probably visiting my friend in Lake Havasu then. We should do another rally to raise money for that.” She laughed. “We can make it to Lake Havasu, and I can see Jute all over again!” she laughed.
“Good idea,” Ivy said, sending a text to Tito and Gregory to see if they could join one, or set one up after the current crisis ended.
She found a book on motorcycles and another fiction book about a woman tending bar in a small town. She downloaded both and began to read.
Lily woke up, thirsty, in physical pain, and crying. Ivy gave her water and called the nurse. The nurse gave her a shot while Ivy wiped her face with a wet wipe. She continued to cry. Ivy held her. The nurse went to get a sedative so Lily could rest. Ivy rocked her back and forth until the pain meds began to work, and then stroked her hair. Numa sang over her. The doctor came in and checked her incision, then ordered a sedative. She slept again.
Ace slept on. He roused himself for a drink from time to time. Neither patient wanted food; Lily was too heartbroken, and Ace said he was in too much pain and had some
nausea. He fell back asleep after another dose of pain and anti-nausea meds.
Ivy left Numa singing over her charges and took a ride to a casino. She got bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches, small bowls of clam chowder, and three large sodas. She brought them back to the hospital. She gave some of the food to the giant on the door, and she went in to chow down with Numa. They both ate and took turns taking naps to keep an eye on both of them.
There were new rounds of doctors and bloodsuckers. Numa patiently explained to the hospital staff to quit bringing food that no one was eating.
“The doctor ordered it,” the nurse said.
“Don’t care,” said Numa, “quit bringing it until one of them asks for it. They’re in incredible pain, and they’re grieving terrible losses. I would actually be stunned if they wanted to eat. We don’t, but we know we must do it to be of service to these two. We’ll hold onto the jello until one of them desires something to eat.” The nurse huffed off.
“Not too bright, are they?” asked Numa.
Ivy laughed. “If it isn’t hospital policy, they’d have no idea what to do.”
“We need to get out of here,” said Numa. “They need to heal soon.”
“They’re sleeping and on meds,” said Ivy. “I think that’s the best they can do.”
Killa and Ghost brought a sack of games, magazines, books, and puzzles. “We got Uno,” said Killa. “I gonna whoop this here woman’s ass.”
Ivy laughed. “Go for it.”
Ivy and Numa went back to the hotel room. Ivy felt filthy and showered. She called and caught up with Tito, who was still making sure the children were guarded. They had been brought back to Henry’s farm and were having fun with the horses and rabbits. Grace was being spoiled at the farmhouse.
Callie was sad and furious. “You gotta come home to me,” she said.
“It won’t be long now,” she said.
“How could this happen? Again? We haven’t done anything wrong! Lily must be a mess.”
“She is. Ace sleeps a lot, and so does she. Neither one of them will eat.”
“I wouldn’t be able too, either,” said Callie. “I am so worried. I’m as jumpy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”
Ivy laughed. “I get that. Just relax. Wraith is on the warpath, and she’s with a pissed-off Valkyrie. If anyone can handle this, they can.”
“Whoever did this is super-stupid,” said Callie. “Who gets motorcycle gangs pissed at them? And now they’ve gone and pissed off the Valkyries. They are in for a world full of hurt.”
“Can’t happen soon enough,” said Ivy. “I need your skin on my skin.”
“Are you eating well? Getting enough to drink?”
“Of course, baby,” said Ivy. “I’m angry and exhausted and heart sick, but not stupid.”
“Try to sleep,” said Callie. “Love you.”
“Love you more,” said Ivy.
Ivy made a last call to Gregory. He answered it in two rings, a baby squalling in the background. “Everything okay?” asked Gregory. “Ace and Lily healing?”
“Slowly,” said Ivy. “How are the babies I helped deliver?”
“Loud,” said Gregory. “We all sleep when they do. We’ve got protection on the house in case someone tries us here, but I’ll just hold a screaming baby with a poopy diaper at the bad guys, and they’ll run like rabbits.”
Ivy laughed. “Kiss them for me,” she said, “and sent pictures to my cell.”
“Will do,” said Gregory. He hung up mid-squall.
Ivy watched a TV program so stupid that she was able to fall asleep to the click-click of Numa’s needles. Numa put a blanket over her and changed the channel. Soon, she slept as well, from sheer boredom.
When Ivy woke, Numa forced her to put on shorts and a tank, and exercise to a YouTube video.
“This is so fucking hard,” said Ivy.
“Duh,” said Numa. “This is interval training. Move those feet.”
They showered and went to a waffle house for pecan waffles, orange juice, and bacon. When they got to the hospital, Killa and Ghost had cut up and taped together a cardboard box and were putting together a huge puzzle of a Harley. They sucked on waters and completed the puzzle together. Ivy was stunned when Killa produced a frame and glue. They framed it, and Killa poured on the glue. They cackled over it, and set it in a corner to dry.
“Lily cried some more. She ate a little and she went to sleep. Gave her some puddin,’” said Ghost. “Dumb-ass nurse wanted to get her to walk, but I run her off. I say she walk later, let her sleep. Sure ‘nuff, she woke up and we got her into da showa. She clean now. Cried up a storm, but she woke up ‘nuff to watch some show. We got her some roll an’ butter, an’ applesauce, an’ she ate it right up. Tired her up real-good.”
“We give this puzzle to her. She say, put it up in the shop. It a trike like what we make,” said Killa.
“Great job,” said Ivy. “Now, get outta here.” They hugged, and Killa and Ghost were gone. They took the puzzle with them, afraid a passing nurse would throw it away.
“Bonnie is raising them up good,” said Numa.
“Looks like,” said Ivy.
“We got a fantasy castle, dogs playing poker, and a waterfall,” she said, pawing through the boxes of puzzles.
“Waterfall,” said Ivy. They put it together and put on a silly program. They stopped for Numa to sing over the patients, then they resumed their vigil. Numa found a podcast about rock legends to listen to, and Ivy got a text about a rally for The Wounded Warriors project later in the year. Tito reported in; all was well. Both patients woke up, ate applesauce, drank water, and slept again. Ivy laid between them on the cot not taken up by a puzzle, listened to the podcast, and held Lily’s hand and Ace’s. She was a conduit between them. Numa sang, and Ivy slept as well, holding on to two of the people she loved most in the world, willing them to heal with all her might.
“Sometimes people assassinate the mind. Others gun for the soul.”
2
Moving Forward
“Hunts require hunters and quarries… and paths to follow.”
Hunt
Wraith decoded the text message from her contact, a DEA agent. “Got them,” she said.
Rota finished her chicken taco and licked her fingers. “How close?”
“Close,” said Wraith.
Her hair now had braids like Rota, but hers were on the opposite side of her head. Rota had wanted to dye the ends, and Wraith settled on crimson fading into purple. It looked stunning.
“They are heading to Vegas, but taking side trips into the Arizona countryside.”
“Why?” asked Rota, finishing her Coke. “Nothing out there but desert. And a big hole in the ground, farther north.”
“Wish they were at the Grand Canyon,” said Wraith. “We’ve got contacts there. Paiutes and Dine, and Hopi. No, they’re farther south, about an hour up the road. They’re taking back roads, and I think we’ve got them triangulated. They’re either on the 96 or the 97. They put someone in a cistern north of Prescott. Hearing they’re on bikes; she’s on a white and green Indian with leather saddlebags, him a Harley Lowrider.”
“Let’s roll,” said Rota. They threw away their trash, and they were gone.
They caught up with them in Bagdad, Arizona. The Indian was at a gas station. The Lowrider was closer in, at the convenience store. The buildings around them were low and white, surrounded by scrub brush. There was a ridge that seemed to be holding back the town from going anywhere.
Rota went into the convenience store, while Wraith topped up both bikes. She got some sodas, long-necks.
David Rayalos Talamantes had striking whiskey eyes, close-cropped dark brown hair, and a mustache and beard. His ears were flat against his head, unlike his father’s. He was wearing a short-sleeved denim shirt and jeans, with square-toed alligator boots in black and yellow. Celia Villa Cantos had red hair that went to her waist, where she caught it in a clip at the small of her back. H
er gray, leather jacket screamed money, not homicidal maniac. It had ribbed sleeves and shoulders that snapped at the neck. She wore a black silk top under the jacket and black, designer jeans. Her eyes were bright with something that just wasn’t sane.
Rota paid for the sodas, then turned to Celia. Rota jutted out her chin. “Mamacita,” she said. “That’s one fine classic Indian,” she said.
Celia jutted out her own chin. “You ride Harleys? You in a gang?”
“Mama chola,” said Rota, using the Mexican street slang for a female gangbanger. “We are our own gang.”
“You a chola?” asked Celia.
“We do things,” said Rota. “Together, separate. Mostly together. The money is better together.”
“What kind of things?” asked Celia.
“What needs doing,” said Rota, putting one cola in the pocket of her vented leather jacket, and popping the top off the other. She let her eyes go flat and dangerous, for just a moment.
“We need doing,” said Celia.
“Mamacita,” said David. “We don’t know them.”
“Mi vida,” said Celia. “We’re doing business. Don’t interrupt.” She held up a crimson fingernail. “Get me some chocolate,” she said. “With nuts.” He huffed, turned, and went down the aisle.
Rota stepped closer. “If you have a job, we can do it,” she said.
“We?” asked Celia.
“Mi corazon,” said Rota, pointing her chin at Wraith. “I do knives, she does guns and knives. We like taking out the trash.”
“She any good?” asked Celia.
“She can shoot the leaf off a tree. Used to be a sniper. Wore some funny suit in the desert.”
“Ghillie suit,” said Celia. “Hides you from those looking for you. She Ex-Army?”
“Yeah. Didn’t last long. Not so good at taking orders from pendejos, you know what I mean?”
