Chapter 24 Doc
DOC
I drank her in as much as I could because I couldn’t tell her what I knew was coming. Cap didn’t the directive yet, but church would be a different story.
We were executing things tonight.
I felt it in my gut.
I relished the feeling of My Elizabeth in my arms. The way she melded to me.
The way she trusted me now, implicitly. She didn’t pepper me with questions when I couldn’t answer.
She would have done that mere days ago. She just bled into me like rain soaking into the sidewalk during a thunderstorm, and I accepted all of her.
Until it was time to pull away.
Most of the women weren’t happy that we had to leave. King and Cap conversed off to the side while Amanda held Ariel. Jasmine grasped onto Ghost like he was her only lifeline. Even Em shoved herself a bit closer to Ranger while we all gathered at our bikes.
It seemed all of us knew something heavy was hanging in the air.
My Liz said goodbye to me in her own way.
She stood on the porch away from the crowd, with her arms tucked around her.
She smiled at me, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
She waved at me with that perfect little hand of hers that caressed my chest so beautifully whenever we danced.
I picked mine up and waved back, which only made her smile brighter.
It still didn’t quite reach her eyes, though.
I couldn’t wait to get back and dance more with her.
Maybe that would get the smile to reach further.
There weren’t many words exchanged. Just enough for Cap to convey to King and his crew that the house was to be protected at all costs, no matter what. They clasped hands, they patted each other on the back, and then me and the rest of the crew piled back into the van that got us here.
We didn’t have our bikes due to the diversion.
But we did have a van and a Ranger.
“All right,” our tech guru said as he got done piddling around on his laptop, “our earpieces are locked down.”
“Church is now in session,” Cap said from the driver’s seat.
Wrecker sat in the passenger’s seat. “All right, everyone. So.”
“So,” Ranger said.
There was silence before Cap spoke. “Since this van is about the only safe place we’ve got, we’re gonna drive around while we hash this out.”
“Fine by me,” Ghost said as he shifted on the floor of the van. “We got a place we can stop for food?”
“After,” was all Cap said before he looked over at Wrecker and nodded.
Wrecker took the reins. “We are no longer going to be sitting ducks.”
“Hell yeah,” Brutus muttered.
“The first thing we’re doing is heading to Doc’s clinic in Redd Valley,” Wrecker said while Cap drove. “Doc, you still got your key for that place?”
I nodded. “I noticed that the cabin didn’t have much in the way of being outfitted for medical things and the like. I’ll grab a bit of everything.”
“Brutus, you’ll go in with him,” Cap said.
Brutus just nodded as Wrecker continued. “We’ll gather what we can take back with us. I told King and his guys to find a space in the safehouse to clear out so that we can get it as sterile as possible, just in case we need to use it.”
“I’ll grab the sterilization supplies as well,” I said.
“If you need another hand in there, let me know,” Scout said as he reached for the bag slung onto his back. He zipped it open and tossed each of us a bag. “I figured we’d make stops somewhere for supplies at some point in time, so I grabbed bags.”
“Good thinking, Scout,” Cap said as we came to a stop as a light, which gave him a chance to look at all of us in the rearview mirror. “Are we all in favor of executing our plan tonight?”
“They won’t see it coming, that’s for sure,” Ranger said.
“Yeah,” Ghost said with a nod of his head, “they’ll know that they successfully chased us out of Doc’s estate, so they’re probably celebrating somewhere tonight.”
“On the law firm’s dime, I’m sure,” Scout said.
“We need to lock down the clinic while we’re there?” Ranger asked.
“Won’t hurt,” Wrecker said. “We don’t want to black out any of our cameras, just in case they’re keeping heavy tabs on us like we’re about to be doing with them. But if you could—”
Ranger’s fingers flew across his keyboard. “Loop the footage of no one there on the cameras while we’re there? Absolutely. Give me ten minutes.”
“We shouldn’t need more than forty-five minutes or so to gather what we need,” I said, “especially if someone comes in with me.”
“You good with Brutus and me helping?” Scout asked.
I shrugged. “I’ve got no issues. Cap?”
“Fine by me,” he said as he drove us around, “Scout. Brutus. You’ll be with Doc. Range, you’ll lock down that place while they’re in there, and the rest of us will keep an eye out.”
“And then?” Wrecker asked as he looked over at our president.
We were all silent until we watched a grin curl our president’s lips.
“And then,” Cap said as we finally crossed the threshold into Redd Valley, “the fun begins.”