The door flies open, and Cilla rushes inside. I jump to my feet, but she heads directly for Tracker, who stands while looking concerned back at Cilla.
“Tonight, they are coming tonight. We’ve run out of time...”
“What?” Cap snarls, then holds his hands up in surrender when he realizes he’s done it to Cilla and Tracker has turned his head slowly to give him a look none of us want to get. “Sorry, Cilla, I wasn’t snapping at you. I’m shocked is all.”
“I was eating a cinnamon roll when Tank appeared, and he was angry, frustrated, and doing his best to get his words out as fast as he could. He, along with Bono and Pyro has been watching ZeBach. It seems something has sparked a panic in ZeBach’s ranks, so he’s ordered the attack tonight. Will we be ready?” Cilla says all this so fast that we are leaning towards her so we don’t miss a word.
“We’ll be ready. Thank you Cilla. Anything else, you let me know,” Tracker wraps his arms around her and I’m ready to launch myself at him, but I hold back because it’s Pres and he’d have my guts out before I could stop him.
Cilla giggles and wraps her arms around him, but she’s looking at me with a twinkle in her eye. Yeah, she’ll pay for this later!
Chapter 20
TRACKER
Aknock on the office door has me shouting, “Come in,” and seeing Cilla, I lean back in my seat and wait for her to tell me what’s going on.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but Tank is pestering me to tell you that there is someone selling drugs in town. I don’t know why he’s telling me that now when we have ZeBach coming soon, but he said to tell you, and now I have.” Cilla heads toward the door, shaking her head, not at me, but presumably at Tank.
“Cilla, ask Tank if it’s someone here or someone with ZeBach selling the drugs.”
I watch as Cilla does the going quiet while she talks to the invisible man. I cannot stop the smirk that forms at the invisible man thought.
“Okay, he said nobody here but someone you employed to work the vehicle rescue is involved.”
“Thank you, Cilla,” I give her a half smile and get a bright one back in return. I haven’t thought of Cilla asThe Seerfor quite some time, but I’m sure it will pop out now and again.
Once Cilla has left the office, I know I’ll have to speak to Bull about who is new and to catch the fucker in the act. The roadside recovery is doing well, and we’ve had to buy a third flatbed. The brothers are busy and it’s bringing in the dough. The roll-off containers are doing the same, and between these two businesses we are bringing in enough to keep everyone with a decent income. It would be nice to find something that rakes the dough in, but it would mean going illegal, and none of us want that.
The door opens and Cap struts into the office. “Everyone is in position, Pres. We have Joker, Ghost, and Whistle on the roof with sniper rifles. They’ll enjoy picking off the vermin.”
“What about the women?”
“Anna, Yvonne, Jo and Bessy have all left for their own homes. The club women are in Books' office,” chuckling Cap continues, “Books is not happy about that, but we had to put them somewhere.”
“We could have put them on the top floor, but if they blow the place they’d never escape,” I rub the back of my neck before I stand. “Let’s get ready to rumble, Cap. I thought our days of fighting for our lives was over, but here we go again.”
“Come on, you’d be bored if we didn’t have some trouble brewing,” Cap laughs as he speaks, and I know he’s probably right. It is one of the reasons we go to help others when we are approached.
Walking through to the common room, the calm around the building is noticeable. The brothers are armed and ready. Winger is bantering with Judge as it appears they are having a bet on who can kill the mostbad guys. I shake my head at them both but have to admit it is some funny shit.
Cilla, I notice is sitting calmly at the bar drinking a mug of something. But I don’t smell coffee, and my curiosity gets the better of me. Walking over, I sit next to Cilla who looks at me with a blank face. “Are you okay, Cilla?”
“I’m good. I have Tank, Pyro, and Bono here jabbering in my ear. Apparently, ZeBach has around forty men and will be here in about an hour.”
“Well, that’s handy to know.” I look at her closely, and you would never know she’s speaking with dead people, or that she can convey what they want. “You need to stay safe, Cilla. Finger is outside the clubhouse making sure not one of them gets inside.”
“I know, he ordered me around before he went out,” Cilla rolls her eyes comically, but I don’t react to that.
“I’m leaving the prospects inside as the last defense. They are fully armed and know what to do. You’ll be safe if you stay inside the clubhouse. The club women are with Books in his office. Do you want to go stay with Books too?”
“Not likely. I will stay here and if I have to relay a message from theBoys,”which she says with a hint of sarcasm. “I can easily let you, or whoever happens to be here, know.”
“Okay. I don’t want to see you get hurt, Cilla. You are our first and most precious old lady, and you know Finger wouldn’t survive without you. He’s all in, you are his one and only, so don’t go getting hurt or killed.”
“I’ll be fine, Tracker. Bono said I in my future I don’t get hurt, and I believe him. How he knows I’ve no idea and I’m not asking.” Cilla gives me another eye roll, and I can’t stop the chuckle that occurs. I give her a hug before walking over to Cap, Rides and Hot Rod who are going to be with me.
I pick up the weapons Cap has laid out for me, and I can’t help the feeling of going to war run over me. It brings back memories I don’t need. PTSD is a common thing for prior servicemen and women. We all suffer one way or another. All of us have had counseling and cope with things well because of it. Some of us may need more after tonight!