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I giggle and say, “And you’re the perfect man.”
He smiles and kisses my forehead softly, then says, “Is Gilly asleep?”
I nod and say, “You can see her if you want.”
“Okay,” he says. “I’ll be quiet.”
He tiptoes into her room and bends over the crib, regarding the tiny cherub-faced form as it breathes slowly and steadily.
He reaches down and caresses her cheek softly. She stirs a little but doesn’t wake. “I love you, little one,” he says in a voice so tender my heart breaks.
I stand next to him and put my arm around him, squeezing tightly. He looks at me and smiles, whispering, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I return his smile but not his sentiment. He thinks I’m holding him to reassure him I’ll never let go. What I’m actually doing is holding him to convince myself that I’ll never have to.
Deep down, a part of me worries that might not be true.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jonah
This isn’t just a ride.
I mean, officially, we don’t intend any violence.
Nonetheless, there is one thing that can be written in stone with a great deal of confidence. When we get where we’re going, there is going to be plenty of violence. Sure, we’re heading there to do nothing more than having a presence. The reality, though, is after almost a year of tit-for-tat bullshit with the Coyotes, this situation is coming to a head. I guess if this was back in the days of the Cold War, what we’re doing would be a lot like moving all of our troops in Europe and all of our Navy ships to the Baltic Sea.
Yeah, I’m a bit of a history buff.
Anyway, the point is, the Coyotes are like the Soviet Union and we’re like the United States back in the Cold War. So far, there’s been just a lot of bluster. Unlike the Cold War, we haven’t cut off most of the Coyote’s economy or forced them into an arms race that’s bankrupting them. That’s not a practical thing in our world.
So, we’re going to contested territory and shoring up a friend’s establishment.
Twenty-two of us are from Diablo Ridge and another two dozen or so from support clubs. Another few dozen will arrive over the next two days.
This is, for all intents and purposes, a declaration of war. Of course, there is plenty of plausible deniability. The police wouldn’t be able to call us the aggressors even if they know we are. What we’re doing, essentially, is forcing the Coyotes to either attack us or back down. That’s kind of bullshit, too. A choice like that for the coyotes isn’t a choice at all. They’ll attack us. If they back down, they’ll back down forever.
Plus, if they back down, Adderall, their leader, will lose so much respect from his own men that he’ll be in trouble moving forward. If he’s lucky, his men will replace him with a vote. If he’s not, his men will replace him with a gunshot and an unmarked grave.
A lot of people don’t understand the concept of mutually assured destruction. Essentially, it’s what political science people think kept nuclear war from happening. If Russia launched or the US launched, the simple fact is both countries would end up destroyed. Because of that, nobody would launch the weapons first. Destruction for both sides was assured.
It’s not that way for the Ridge Devils and the Coyotes.
If there’s violence today, we’ll win. We’ll win but there will be no dishonor to the man. We have a dozen auxiliary clubs, Ridge Devils that run their day-to-day operations independently but are still beholden to us. They have one and it’s not really all that independent.
That doesn’t mean some of my brothers won’t get hurt today. It’s pretty much certain some of my brothers will be hurt.
That doesn’t mean some of my brothers won’t die today. It’s not as certain as some getting hurt but it’s still a distinct possibility. Maybe it’s even a likelihood. I guess people in the military understand how it feels to travel to a battle. It’s a strange kind of combination of resolve and determination. I suppose there’s fear but the resolve and determination are far greater. In a few hours, there will likely be violence.
Or, in a few seconds.
It happens as we reach an underpass and Coyotes rush from the abutments with chains, knives, and guns. There are only about a dozen of them but they have the element of surprise and there’s chaos as we try to respond. I see some of my brothers go down and that forms a logjam for the rest of us. I don’t know how to handle it but I know as long as there are only four or five guys in front taking on everyone else, those four or five guys are doomed.
So, I just pull off the road. Six guys follow me as I dodge trees and get to the access road. When I get to the access road, I see a few Bikers on the overpass road. I point at the battle and shout to the guys with me. “You guys. Go kick ass!” They take off but I ride the other direction until I find a slope that’s gentle enough that I can get up to the road. I turn around and head at full speed.
There are three bikers there, and they don’t react to me in time. One tries to turn his bike but he ends up falling over. I ride right over his arm as I get to the other two. I have my gun out before I’m off the bike. One of the men tries to pull a gun and I hit him with two shots in his shoulder. He falls to the ground screaming and his gun falls the other way.
The other man turns to me but I have the drop on him. It’s Adderall. He looks at me and says softly, “I didn’t think it would end this way.”
