Chapter 7 #3
“So, Texas huh?” I say, changing the subject entirely.
In our meeting, it was confirmed that the next chapter will be going up in Surfside, Texas, which is near the southern coastline.
We do our runs by truck, but the goal is to be able to move larger shipments by boat which means we need these locations near waterways.
“Yeah, Texas. Going to need a lot of manpower to get it up and running though. Surfside is another tourist town, but they seem to provide the best cover for out-of-town vehicles coming and going.” He isn’t wrong about that, but it takes quite a while to set up an infrastructure to support the right amount of cover to stay off the radar.
For the next couple of hours, we discuss the plans he has for Surfside and who he thinks may be ready to run it.
Morpheus, Trojan, Sparrow, Legend, and Knox join us and it’s Morpheus’ laughter that has Kierra finally starting to stir.
Turning her face into the crook of my neck, she mumbles something I don’t catch.
Her eyes are blinking rapidly as she looks around, clearly confused and disoriented as she takes in her surroundings.
“Have a good nap, darlin’?” Trojan asks her teasingly.
“Yeah.” She blushes and leans back into me as she takes her time waking up fully while listening to everyone carry on about old times. Kierra has a ton of questions for Riddick and Trojan as they tell stories about their dad.
“Wait. How did you come to be a part of the Saints?” Sitting up to look at me, I grin at her curiosity.
“Now that is a good fucking story.” Riddick tells her before asking me, “You didn’t tell her how you saved our asses?”
“What!? I can’t wait to hear this.” She climbs off my lap and wedges herself between me and him, giving him her full attention.
“Your man here was—. How old were you back then?” He stops and turns to me.
“Eighteen. Fresh out of juvie,” I answer.
“Your man here was eighteen and fresh out of juvie,” he repeats like a smartass before continuing, “My dad, about half a dozen of our brothers, and I had gone down to Miami to meet with Turbo. He used to be the head honcho of the Cuban Kings before he got offed about ten years ago. Anyhow, we had a meeting set up because my dad was thinking about patching them over. When we showed up early to scope out the bar, never can be too careful you know, my dad sees this guy.” He points at me.
“He was digging in the trash. So, dad goes over and gives him a hundred-dollar bill so he can get something to eat and maybe a place to stay for the night. Tell her the rest, Viper.”
“He gives me the money but doesn’t say a single word about it.
Just hands me the bill, pats my shoulder and goes on into the bar.
I bet I stood in the parking lot for ten minutes just staring at the money and wondering what the words on his cut meant.
As I was walking out of that parking lot, I overheard three men talking, and one of them said he was going to put a bullet in Riker’s skull once he got him to the back of the building.
That’s their old man’s road name and one of the words on that cut I’d been wondering about.
My first thought was to get the fuck out of there before bullets started flying, but then I thought about the man who’d just given me that hundred-dollar bill, and something in me jumped into action.
I climbed up on that roof and was looking for anything that I could use to scare these guys off. ”
“This is where it gets good.” Trojan chuckles, having heard his dad tell this story a few dozen times.
“Let me back up a second, so this will all make sense. I was a street rat who’d been thrown out on his ass when they let me out of juvie at eighteen.
So, imagine the Miami heat and nowhere to go to cool down.
Well, the convention center had a job fair that day and I took my happy ass up in there to cool down.
Free air conditioning, ya know? One of the vendors was handing out these laser pointers as part of their advertising bullshit.
Being the punk that I was back then, I took a handful of them fuckers and shoved ‘em in my pocket. Ok, now back to the story at hand. So, here I was, standing on a roof with no weapon, and I remember I have these laser pointers in my pocket. So, what do I do? I turn them all on and wait. It was about twenty minutes or so later when here comes all these big fucking bikers rolling out the back door. They get to talking, and I see the man from the parking lot nod to one of his guys, and I just know he’s about to make his move to put a bullet in Riker’s head.
Fast as I could, I pointed all those lasers at his chest, and everyone freezes. ” I smirk.
“Then this crazy mother fucker yells out, ‘Boss. You want us to go for the heart or park one right in his fucking brain?’” Riddick says, throwing his head back laughing.
“Then what happened?” Kierra turns toward me wanting to hear the end of the story.
“Riker asked Turbo ‘what’s it gonna be?’ and Turbo tucked his tail saying he didn’t want any trouble, and they took off.
I climbed down off that roof and Riker pretty much took me under his wing for saving his life.
Said he couldn’t trust outside sources anymore and set up the chapter in Miami.
He sent his VP down to teach me everything I know today.
I saved his life, and he saved mine,” I finish, giving her the condensed version.
“You’re crazy, babe.” She laughs around a yawn.
“Come on, Kierra. Say goodnight, it’s time for bed.
” I climb from the couch and reach for her hand to help her up.
We tell everyone goodnight and make our way down the hall toward our room.
“We both could use a good night’s sleep after the last couple of days,” I tell her as I open our door and usher her inside. That night we both sleep like the dead.