Chapter 8

Thanks to markf52 for the editing help.

All characters in sexual encounters are 18 years of age or older.

Characters:

Kyle Trident: Pack leader

Hank Trident: Kyle’s abusive and arrogant father.

Marcus Trident: Kyle’s deceased grandfather.

Kimberly (Kim) Trident: Kyle’s mom, but not biologically, pack member.

Kenzie Iverson (Kenz): Kyle’s half-sister, pack member.

Monica Iverson: Kenz’s mom, pack member.

Kelly Sonders (GG): Grandmother, Kim and Kelcey’s mom, pack member.

Kelcey Sonders: Aunt, older sister to Kim by two years, and Kayleigh’s mom, pack member.

Kayleigh Johnston: Cousin, not yet a pack member.

Aleza Lambert: Older neighbor, Kyle’s first everything, pack member.

M.A.R.C.U.S.: AI/Mobile pact Arbiter, one of three of the Triskele.

M.A.R.C.I.: AI/Mobile Crime Investigator, two of three of the Triskele.

E.L.S.A.: AI/Study Aide from the Library, three of three of the Triskele.

Nora Kellum: Account Manager, possibility of becoming a pack member.

Trina Kellough: Native American, car salesperson, pack member.

Mike Winslow: security guard at Trident Shipping, longtime family friend.

Liam Appleton: Friend and Corporate Attorney, Acting CEO of Trident Logistics and Transport Company.

Zayla Marrow: History Teacher, not yet a pack member.

Tristian Oliver (Triss): Kyle’s girlfriend, pack member.

Hellen Keyler (Titania): Her nickname is from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ as the Queen of the fairies, tattoo artist, loves extremely hot showers, and pack member.

Ophelia Quentin: Heiress to the Quentin Grocery store chain, won from a pact her husband lost, pack member.

Brook Snow-Wolf: Native American, pack member.

Ashley Johnston (AJ): Police officer, not related to Kayleigh, pack member.

Teresa Toliver (Tess): Police officer, pack member.

Maureen Jakeob: Married neighbor who broke into Kyle’s old house to take a shower, pack member.

Andi Hill: Schoolmate, Dani’s twin sister, rescued from Maureen’s husband and sons, pack member.

Dani Hill: Schoolmate, Andi’s twin sister, rescued from Maureen’s husband and sons, pack member.

Nadia Hill (Nadi): Andi and Dani’s mother, rescued from her abusive husband, will be a pack member.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep. Having four of the pack not with me here in our bed felt off, so I got out of bed and dressed as quietly as possible. I needed to go to the hospital and check on Nadia. I kept seeing every individual bruise on her from the beatings she had endured, and I was worried for her health. If Patrick wasn’t dead already, I’d kill him.

Andi and Dani woke up, which woke everyone else up. “I’m sorry for waking you,” I said to the group of ladies rubbing their eyes. Before I knew it, we were all dressed and on our way to the hospital. We got quite the looks when we walked into the hospital. I had sent a text to Aleza letting her know that we were on our way. GG, Aleza, Maureen, and Ophelia got up and greeted us with hugs when we finally made it to the emergency room waiting area.

“She had several cracked or broken ribs, a bruised spleen and liver, her left orbital socket was fractured, and a ruptured left eardrum, along with a myriad of cuts and bruises,” GG told us.

Andi and Dani were the only ones allowed to go back and see Nadia, so we all waited for them to return with more news on how their mother was doing. AJ and Tess got up and walked to the nurse’s station, showed their badges, and were allowed to go back. We all waited for what seemed like hours upon hours.

Dani came out, and a short time later Andi came out. We gathered around to hear what they had to tell us, and it was a doozy. “Mom is in surgery now; they’re trying to fix a bleed that she has on her left lung from one of the broken ribs, and the doctors say that she’ll be okay once they can stop the bleeding,” Andi told us.

When I tell you that the next several hours dragged on, I mean it. Five and a half hours it took them to fix the bleed in Nadia, and we felt every second of them. Dani and Andi never left my side, and they always had one of the others next to them. Tess came out and told us that Nadia was in recovery, and she was doing remarkably well; that made all of us very happy. A short time later the surgeon came out and told us what he and his staff had found.

“If Mrs. Hill hadn’t been brought in when she had, she would have died within a day or two. Fortunately, she was, and now I expect her to make a full recovery, with minimal restrictions once she is totally healed. She needs at least two weeks of good solid rest, and we’ll give her a list of what activities she can and cannot do while she recuperates,” the doctor informed us.

“I can guarantee she will be very pampered and well taken care of,” I told the doctor.

When she was moved to her room, we went up in small groups so as not to upset the hospital staff. She was somewhat lucid when I went in; she grabbed me by the hand and pulled me down so that she could kiss me.

“Thank you for saving me and my daughters. I will never be able to repay you for what you have done for us.”

She fell back asleep holding onto my hand; when I would try to get up, she would grip my hand tighter and pull it close to her chest. After a couple of attempts to go and let someone else visit, and her not letting go of my hand, I pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down, letting her keep my hand. The news of the shooting made the local news, which had some of the reporters coming to the hospital to try and get interviews with Nadia, Andi, and Dani.

AJ and Tess made the decision to take shifts standing guard and would screen every person that tried to enter Nadia’s room. It didn’t take long until a less than scrupulous private eye tried to sneak in and get photographs of Nadia. The next was a reporter, who went as far as to dress up as a doctor and tried to push past Tess. Tess was having none of it and quickly had the asshat on the ground and in cuffs.

I walked out of the room to hear, “Let me go, you bitch. I have a right to be here and get an interview with Mrs. Hill. You can’t...”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Mr.?” I said to the man.

“What?”

“Your name, what’s your name? Moron,”

“I don’t have to tell you a damn thing, boy!”

“Maybe not me, but you do have to tell her,” I said, pointing at Tess.

“I ain’t saying shit.”

“Marci?”

“Under Penal Code 127.02D, failure to identify to a law enforcement officer (felony, two years in prison) and 457.11C Impersonating medical personnel (felony, seven years in prison), 551.00A Using a disguise to gain entry to a restricted area (felony, three to fifteen years in prison) depends on the severity of the level of the area that was breached; in this case, I would expect no less than five years in prison. 1103.12B Assault on a police officer while in the commission of a felony (aggravated felony, fifteen years in prison), 412.79C Hindering an investigation (felony, three years in prison). All will be enhanced due to multiple felonies being committed at the same time; the courts could add ten to twenty years in prison as the enhancement.”

“Tess, what’s his name?”

Tess pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and read his name, “Arthur Hargrave. He’s a private detective, and a shady one at that. I thought I recognized him.”

“Well, now we know you’re not with any media outlet or the hospital. Care to fill us in on why you’re really here?” I asked.

“Fuck off, junior!”

I wanted to penalty kick him in the side of his head so bad, but I refrained from doing so.

“Gun!” Tess called out.

The two officers who had been walking down the hallway in our direction broke out into a full-on sprint when they heard Tess yell, “Gun!” When they got to us, they took control of Hargrave and his weapon, which had an illegal suppressor on it.

“I will add 303.19D Possession of a prohibited weapon (felony, ten years in prison) and 303.127A Possession of a weapon in a restricted area (felony, five years in prison),” Marci told us.

I walked over to Tess and whispered to her, “I don’t think he was here to see Nadia; I think he was here to see me, GG, or Kenz.”

Tess’s eyes went wide, and she ran down to the officers who were now standing at the elevator. I could see Tess point in my direction and tell them something that had one of the officers get on his radio. A short time later a message came over the hospital intercom: “Code Venetian, I repeat, this is a Code Venetian.” The staff got up and immediately started locking down our section of the hospital.

Tess got back to me and pushed me into Nadia’s room and shut the blinds on the windows. A doctor, M. Cantu, came in a few minutes later, and I asked, “Can we safely move her?”

“Move her where?”

“Some place that’s more secure and safe than here,” I told him.

“And that’s where?”

“Doc, you’re wanting to know something you don’t need to know; why is that?”

“I do have a right to know.”

“No, you don’t. Someone tipped a hitman off as to where I and my family were at, and you’re asking me to tell you where we will be moving Nadia to, so that makes you look awfully suspicious to me.”

“Marci, what would be the charge for the doctor if he’s a conspirator in attempted murder?” I asked.

“78.112 A 1.a conspiracy to commit a felony that causes serious bodily injury and/or death (life in prison) if death occurs as a result (the death penalty is imposed).”

The doctor lost his coloring and began to back out of the room. What he didn’t know was that while I was talking to him, AJ had entered the room behind him. He backed into AJ and jumped like someone had grabbed his ass and goosed him. He spun around and had the business end of a pistol pointed at his head. He put his hands up and froze in place, which was a smart move on his part.

“It’s in your best interest right now that you don’t move a muscle,” AJ said to the doctor.

Tess was already in motion and had the doctor in handcuffs before he could blink twice. I was very impressed at how smoothly AJ and Tess worked together; it was almost as if they could read each other’s minds. Once Tess had him cuffed, she had him kneel and cross his feet. Another guy walked into the room and said, “That’s not Dr. Cantu.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“Because I’m Dr. Meguel Cantu.”

AJ and Tess were already in his pocket, getting his wallet out, when I turned around to look at them.

AJ read his credentials and said, “Thirston Devarough, another shady PI turned hitman.”

He too was going to be going away for a very long time. Then two more officers arrived to take Thirston away. I looked at the real Dr. M. Cantu and asked, “Can we safely move Mrs. Hill?”

He walked over, picked up a file folder from the plastic holder on the wall, began to read it, and then said, “She can be moved; I don’t see anything to the contrary.”

Nadia managed to sleep through all the shenanigans, which is a good thing. I, on the other hand, had ‘cotton mouth’ and felt like I was about to throw up. I went and sat in a chair out in the hallway that AJ and Tess had put there for them to sit in. Tess came out of the room, handed me a small glass of water, and had me drink it slowly.

“First time in a situation like that?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“You did really well, for it to be your first,” she said with a giggle.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know if I wanted to shit myself or throw up.”

I’ve been there; it’s the backside of the adrenaline high that’s a bitch.”

“I can feel myself shaking.”

“That’s you coming down from the adrenaline rush; it’ll be over soon, and if you do like I did, you’ll want a nap,” she told me.

After twenty minutes or so, I was feeling back to normal-ish and a little sleepy. I walked to the vending machine down the hall and got myself an energy drink, then walked back to the room. I was just about to open the drink when AJ snatched it from me and said, “Ohhhh, no, you don’t; you’ll crash like a motherfucker if you drink that right after an adrenaline high.” Then she gave me a peppermint candy to suck on instead.

I had Marci contact Liam and let him know what was going on and have him hire a security firm. Nadia slept for another six hours, and then when she finally woke up, we told her that we were taking her home, and she got a very distressed look on her face. “No, no, no, your new home, with all of us,” I told her. That seemed to calm her, so we got her ready and made our way to a car I borrowed from the good Dr. Cantu. Tess and AJ drove Cantu’s car, while Liam had a shuttle bus from the office come and pick the rest of us up.

Mike was our driver, and that made me feel a hell of a lot better. As we drove up to the gate, there were patrol cars parked on either side. An officer stopped us and got on the bus, but over the officer’s radio I could hear AJ tell them to let us through. The officer got off and waved us through the gate. Mike pulled up to the front door, and the ladies got off, but I stayed on the bus to talk with Mike.

Mike closed the door to the bus so we could talk without being overheard. “Two hitmen, within an hour of each other, tried and failed to do something today.”

“You think it’s Hank’s hit list?” Mike asked.

“I think it has something to do with it.”

“So, who were the guys that you caught?”

“I didn’t catch them; all the pats on the back go to AJ and Tess. They were the ones with the cool heads.”

“Can I ask an off-topic question, Kyle?”

“You know you can, Mike.”

“What’s the deal with all the ladies around here?”

“This may take a bit to explain.”

“I have time if you do.”

“I do,”

“Is this a popcorn story?” he asked.

“Maybe, do you want some?”

“I am a little bit hungry, now that I think about it.”

“Okay, let’s go inside and get some food, then we can talk in grandfather’s study.”

“Sounds good to me,” Mike said as he opened the door, and we left the bus to go inside to get some food and continue our conversation.

Ophelia, Maureen, GG, and Aleza were all in the kitchen cooking something that smelled wonderful.

“It’s mixed vegetables, tripe soup, curry shrimp, jasmine rice, roast duck, and homemade Durian ice-cream,” Ophelia told us.

My stomach took this opportunity to growl, and so did Mike’s.