Page 53 of Vortex

“You’ll do as you're fucking told or you’ll go against Vortex with knives. Understand? We’re all sick of listening to you make comments about these two. It’s put up or shut up. If you choose shut up, it had better be for good or you will face Vortex for disrespecting his woman. I’m surprised he hasn’t challenged you before now, but he obviously has more restraint than you do.” Bull is talking calmly, but everything about him says ‘coiled spring.’

“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just pulling their chain.” Wraith looks at everyone, one by one, looking for support I think. Seeing nothing in his favor, he looks at me and Pattie. “I’m sorry if I went too far, ladies.”

Vortex speaks up. “Not good enough, Wraith. They didn’t deserve a word of your crap.”

“Ladies, I apologize for ever doubting either of you, or your abilities. It won’t happen again. Vortex, I apologize for disrespecting your woman.” Watching Wraith, I expect him to be angry at being made to apologize, but in fact, he looks absolutely genuine.

“I accept your apology, Wraith,” I say, with a nod of my head.

“Me, too,” says Pattie, who then whispers to me, “It’s a fooking good job it’s not a full moon, is all I can say, girlie!”

“We’re done here. This doesn’t get mentioned or discussed again. Let’s get home and let Pres know mission accomplished.”

Back at the clubhouse, everyone has been waiting for our return. We can see them all do a body count as we walk in. There is an almost audible sigh of relief when they see we’re all back and in one piece. The debrief with Pres doesn’t take as long as I expect, and he is grinning like a fool when he hears that Pattie and I are the only ones who killed anybody.

“You two could become the club’s secret weapons, you know that?” he grins.

“Yeah? I thought that honor was already taken by Percy!” Pattie gives me a high-five as soon as the words are out of my mouth.

“That’s not even funny. I can’t find a snake wrangler locally, but I spoke to the zoo. They are gonna send their reptile guy to see what he can find. We can’t show him much CCTV footage of Percy in case he sees something he shouldn’t.” Cannon folds his arms across his chest and looks like a big kid sulking.

“Okay, back to serious now. We are certain we’ve done what we set out to do and that we are not connected to it in any way?” Pres looks at Bull and Bank for an answer.

“It should look like Brandon has been transferring funds all over the place and trying to make it look like it was Chris. We made sure that Candi received a decent sum directly from Brandon's personal account. Anya has the details and necessary credentials to withdraw it while she’s in Hawaii. Some she will put into various different banks while there, and some she will bring back legally as cash. There should be nothing to tie us into any of it.”

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let’s call it done and keep our eyes and ears open for any fallout. Well done, all of you. Oh, Allegra, I hear you have a new toy? Think I could have a play with it sometime?”

“Sure thing, Pres. You might want to talk to Hellion. I think he’s keeping a little something under his armpit, too.”

“Sleeve. Up my sleeve,” Hellion laughs. “No one likes a snitch, Allegra.”

Chapter 31

*~* Vortex *~*

It’s been two days of tense waiting since the mission to the Lake Estate. Waiting for something to happen has been getting on my nerves. This will be day three and if something doesn’t happen soon, I’m going to go out and make something happen. How or what I have no idea but freaking something.

Allegra and Hellion are like two kids in a candy store with the stuff they brought back. Her with her TAR-21 rifle, that Hellion has been showing her how to use, and him with a bag of knives and pistols that he took from the bedroom. He gave a beautiful Damascus steel Bowie knife to Pres, which I was envious of, I might add, then he surprised me with a gift.

A pair of matching karambits. They are beautiful and at first I wouldn’t accept them. When he pointed out that he’d probably lose his fingers trying to use them, I caved and accepted them. They have decorative inlaid handles and an engraved tiger on the blades. My first thought was that they were ornamental, but having tested the blades they are high carbon steel and very sharp.

I’ve done some practice of my own, and they feel exceptional in the hand. Mateo caught me practicing, and I just know he’s going to turn up with a pair of his own. He mastered the butterfly knife in no time at all, so I don’t think he’ll have a problem with these.

Bull rushes into the rec room and calls for silence. He switches the huge TV on and we see it’s a news channel. A pretty female reporter is on a street in front of an impressive office building. Listening to the broadcast, we realize why Bull was so animated.

Cottonwood Glades Land Development Company is under investigation for connections to money-laundering, fraud, and counterfeiting. The C.E.O has gone missing, and a warrant is out for his arrest. A less than flattering picture of Brandon Smiles is posted on the screen.

Bull switches the TV off and addresses the room. “You should all know what this means. Brandon Smiles is now extremely dangerous. He will be on the run, with little or no financial backing, and he will guess that we are behind it. His partners will be looking at their investments and finding very little. They will have their own people looking for him. He will need to provide either the missing funds or one or more of us to clear his name. Be prepared for anything at anytime, anywhere. I’m going to speak to Pres about shutting down the businesses for a few days until Brandon shows his hand. Don’t go anywhere without telling someone, and do not go anywhere alone.”

Realizing Allegra and Hellion aren’t here, I rush outside to give them the news. The range we have set up is quite a way down the compound, away from accidental targets. As I approach, I call out to them, but with ear defenders on, it’s hardly likely they will hear me yet. Hearing the beat of rotor blades makes me look skyward. That’s a sound that I never ignore from my service. It usually meant rescue, resupply, or support of some kind.

As I watch it appears to be getting lower. Now, helicopters around here are few and far between, and certainly not as low as this one is flying now . Breaking into a sprint, I shout Hellion as loud as I can and reach for my Glock. I’m not going to reach them in time if the helicopter has bad intentions, as I suspect. Stopping I fire two rounds at Hellion's feet and then take aim at the helicopter. I doubt I’ll hit it, but I might take their attention from my woman. I take three shots, and the helicopter momentarily wavers.

Glancing at Hellion, I see him look my way and then at the helicopter. Ripping her ear defenders off, he says something to Allegra. She immediately turns to the threat and unleashes hell with her TAR-21. Black smoke pops out of the helicopter, and it wobbles away. By the time I reach them, Hellion and Allegra are high-fiving each other and generally whooping it up.

I grab my phone and briefly tell Pres what just went down. That helicopter was probably meant to tear up the clubhouse and thought Hellion and Allegra would just be an easy bonus. Halfway back to the clubhouse and all our phones lit up with a message.

Ghost: Ranch under observation. Hostilities imminent. Assistance requested.