C.O.T.V.H. (Book 2): Judgment (21 page)

“No. . . I mean yes!  I mean . . .” he stammered again.  He looked at Chris for help only to see that he was distracted by Whisper, who stood quietly at the door, her long hair in two braids hanging over her shoulders. 
Well played Buck, well played.

“Get dressed!”  Diana leaned in and playfully yanked the dirty rag from Jake’s hands with two fingers.  “Yuck!  Jake what have you been stepping in?” she tossed it across the room where it actually stuck to the wall.  Jake could feel his cheeks reddening.

“Don’t you do it Bishop.”  Donnie gave him one last pleading look.  “Don’t you turn on me too.”

“Donnie . . .” he started to say.  “It’s our last night.”

“Et tu, brute?” 
Donnie asked, defeat filling in his eyes.  “Alright, alright,” he said, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.  “You three get out of here so we can get dressed.”

“Ooooh, I want to watch!” Diana said, playfully leaning on Jake.

Amber laughed at her friend jerking her off the bed.  “Come on, Diana.  Let’s let these boys clean up!”

“Ah man!” Diana said, giving Jake a wink.

The three left the room shutting the door behind them.  “Thanks a lot buddy,” Donnie said, giving him a half-angry look.

“Hey don’t blame Jake!” Buck said, coming to his defense.   “You can’t argue with a nice piece of ass!”

Donnie actually burst out laughing.  “Buck, man . . . shut up!”

“What?  It’s the truth!  I mean did you see what Diana was wearing?  If I weren’t with Amber, I’d be all over that.  Hell, Jake would have to be
insane
not to try and hit that!”

“Dude, seriously,” Jake said, shaking his head with laughter.  “Shut up.”

“What!  She was all over him like a cow licking a salt . . .”

“Buck shut up!”  Donnie and Jake said, in unison, both now laughing.

“Okay, okay,” Buck said, holding his hands up in defeat.  “I’m just saying . . .”

“Alright, let’s go if we’re going,” Donnie said, opening his footlocker and searching for some ‘civilian’ clothes.

“I think I’ll just stay here . . .” Chris started to say.

“Oh no nancy-boy!”  Buck sat down next to him.  “Just because we’re not going to watch
Star Wars,
doesn’t’ mean you can’t go and have a good time.  This is your time to shine, Chris!  I know you want to get close to Whisper.  Well brother, now is the perfect opportunity!  Show her some of that famous Morris charm.  I know that deep down there’s a big, bad biker just trying to get out.  His bags are packed, his boots are laced, so let the inner biker out to play.”

“Inner what?”  Chris rolled his eyes.  “Buck, what are you talking about?”

“Okay, an inner Sith Lord then!  Look, whatever, it’s time to be
bad,
for a change.”

“Buck where do you come up with this shit?” Donnie asked pulling a clean white T-shirt over his head.

“I don’t know," he shrugged.  "Just gifted I guess.  Now come on Morris, get dressed.  Bishop you too!  You don’t want to keep that little hottie of yours waiting!”

Jake had to admit, Diana did look absolutely stunning in her tight miniskirt, and honestly, he’d considered getting with her more times than he could count, but it was Amber that had his full attention.  Somewhere in the past two and half years, she’d completely captured his heart.  He just wished he had the guts to tell her.

After everyone was dressed, they turned off the lights, and stuffed their pillows under their sheets.  “You really think that’s going to fool Ortega?” Jake asked as he gently pulled the door closed.

“It worked for those guys that escaped Alcatraz,” Buck whispered.

“Yeah but they had like, dummy heads with human hair on them,” Chris said, quietly.

“I see someone's been paying attention to Mr. Orwell’s lessons,” Buck said, as he crept across the dark lawn.  “Bigfoot or not that old geezer puts me to asleep worse than any teacher I’ve ever had!  And did you ever notice he looks just like Col. Sanders?  Minus the beard of course.” 

“Would you three shut up?!”  Donnie whispered loudly.  "You’re going to get us caught!”

“Donnie’s right.  We need to keep an eye out for the Instructors.  If they catch us . . .” Buck left the rest unsaid.

“The Instructors?” Jake exclaimed.  “What about the Watchers?  If they catch us, we’re in
deep
shit.”

Ragnar had not been happy with Mr. Orwell after the
Star Wars
night attack.  It had taken some convincing from both Nathan and Mr. Orwell, but in the end he’d grudgingly allowed Mr. Orwell and his family to remain.  Jake was sure his decision had more to do with the old Viking wanting to keep an eye on his son, then it did with keeping the recruits safe.

“I’ve got it all under control,” Buck said with a smirk.  “Pete’s on watch to night and I bribed him to let us go.”

Pete, or Peter as he was actually named, was Mr. Orwell’s youngest son.

“You
bribed
at Watcher?” Jake asked, taken aback.  “How?”

“He may be a Watcher, but he’s still a teenager,” Buck replied with a quiet laugh.  “All it took was a hundred bucks and a promise that I’d take him to the strip club on his eighteenth birthday.”

“Oh you’re going to hell,” Donnie said softly.  “Yep, no doubt about it, you are going straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.”

“What just because they’re Watchers they can’t want sex?  They aren’t monks Donnie.  Besides it’s not like he’s just taking the night off.  He’s still out there somewhere, he just isn’t going to bust us or turn us in.”

“I’m sorry I underestimated you Buck,” Jake joked.  “There is no low that you won’t sink to.”

The night air was cool for May barely into the low sixties.  The lights in the Williams’ house, Chef’s mess hall, and the Sergeants cabins were all out.  But Jake knew that didn’t mean they were asleep.  It would be just like Ortega to ambush them when they were all convinced the training was over.  They made it to the girls cabin but they were nowhere in sight.  “Where are they?”  Chris whispered.

“How should I know?” Donnie answered.  “Let’s head to the truck.  Maybe they were planning on meeting us there.”  Quietly and carefully, the four crept through the darkness avoiding the few lights scattered around the property.  Buck tripped over a small bush and cursed loudly.

“Geez Buck!” Jake whispered.  “Why don’t you talk a little louder?  Maybe Ortega will come down and show us the way.”

“Shut up!  It’s not my fault.  Who the hell plants a shrub out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“You guys sure make a lot of noise,” Whisper’s voice called behind them.

“Shit!” Donnie exclaimed louder than he meant.  “Damn it Whisper, where’d you come from?”

“Be quiet.” In the full moon Jake could just make out her putting her finger up to her mouth.  “Lucas is out walking the grounds.”

“How do you know?” Jake asked looking around.

“Can’t you smell it?”  she asked.

“Smell what?” Buck asked sniffing the air.

“His aftershave.  He uses Brute.  Seriously, you guys can’t smell it?” she asked, smelling the air.

Donnie also sniffed the air.  “I don’t smell anything but Buck.  Damn dude when’s the last time you took a shower?”

Whisper sniffed the air again.  “I’d say at least four days.”

“Oh ha ha,” Buck lifted up his arm smelling his armpit.  “It’s not that bad.”

“He’s over by the mockups now,” Whisper said, “If we hurry we can get to the truck before he comes back around.  You remembered your keys right Donnie?”

“Of course I did . . .” he said, checking his pockets.  “At least I hope I did . . . ah there they are.” he pulled them out of his pocket with a jingle.

“Put those back!” she whispered.  “You’re making too much noise.”

“You’re the only one making noise!” he whispered back, shoving the keys back into his pocket.  There was no reply.  He looked back up to see that she was gone.  “Whisper?” he asked looking around.  She’d left without making a sound.

“Damn that girl is like a ghost!” Jake exclaimed.

“Yeah, she’s getting as good as Talon,” Chris added.

“We all know you’ve got the hots for her Morris,” Buck said, “Come on let's get to the truck.”

As quietly as they could the four made it to Donnie's coveted matte black 4x4 ‘89 Chevy Silverado parked on the edge of the driveway. Amber and Diana were already there.  “Where’s Whisper?” Donnie asked.

“She’s distracting Lucas,” Diana whispered back.  “Giving us a chance to get away.  We’ll pick her up a mile down the road.”

“How the hell is she going to do that?” Chris asked worry filling his voice.  “What if she gets caught?”

Diana chuckled, “Don’t worry, she won’t get caught.  Lucas would have a better chance catching a jack rabbit by the ears than catching her.”

“Alright, let’s push the truck down to the end of the drive, and then I’ll start it.”  Donnie climbed into the cab and put the truck in neutral. 

“Good idea,” Jake said, starting to push.

After a few minutes of light exertion, the truck was out of sight from the Williams’ property.  “Alright that’s good.”  Donnie turned the key firing the truck up.  “Everyone jump in!”

“Jump in?  Jump in where?  You’ve only got room for two other people!” Amber said.

“Well
someone
should have thought of that before we decided to sneak out!” Donnie said, giving Buck an annoyed look.

“What?  It’s not my fault you drive this old P.O.S.  Why can’t you drive a nice supped up low rider like every other black guy I know."   Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Buck. “What?”  Buck asked looking from face to face.  “What I’d say?”

“Come on Buck.  Seriously?” Chris said.

“What?” he asked again.

“Just ignore him,” Amber said, patting him on the head as if he were a child.  “He’s beyond our help.”

Donnie shook his head then shut the door and rolled down the window.  “Looks like you just volunteered to ride in the bed Buck.  The rest of you play rock paper scissors or something.  Just hurry the hell up, we need to get going, it’s almost midnight.”

Buck leaned in the driver side window and gave Donnie directions.  An idea suddenly occurred to Jake.  He waved Diana and Amber over and whispered.  “Let’s let Chris and Whisper sit up front.”

“Why?” Diana asked, clearly irritated.  “Why can’t you and I sit up front?”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Amber smiled.  “Give them some alone time.  Well as alone as anyone can be when Donnie is around.”

“Alright, whatever,” Diana finally agreed.  “Let’s just get going.  I feel like dancing tonight.”

“Hey Chris!” Jake called out.  “Why don’t you ride up front and keep Donnie company.  We’ll have to move pretty fast once we get on the road so just open the door when you see Whisper and let her in.”

"Uh, okay,” Chris said uncertainly then smiled.  “Thanks Jake.”

“No problem buddy.”

“Okay matchmakers!  Let’s get the hell out of here!” Buck said, climbing up on the tire and jumping into the bed.  Amber climbed up after him.

“Little help?” Diana said, holding her arms up and turning to Jake.

“Sure,”  he said, unable to help himself.  He wrapped his hands around her small waist and gently lifted her up, then jumped up himself.

Buck leaned against the cab, his arm wrapped around Amber’s shoulders.  He gave Jake a wink.  For a second Jake felt like throwing up.  Instead, he sat down across from Diana, as the truck slowly pulled down the road.  Two miles from the house, Whisper emerged from out of the darkness and waved.  Chris opened the passenger side door and she jumped in.  Donnie punched the gas.

“So where are we going?” Jake asked loudly as the wind whipped his hair around.

“You’ll see,” was all Buck would say.  Thirty minutes later, he couldn’t
not
see where they were going.  Knowing Buck, he’d half expected some backwoods, redneck or biker bar in the middle of nowhere.  To his surprise, it was a very large building with flashing neon lights outside of it. 
The Station! 
The sign flashed.

Buck banged his fist on the top of the cab.  “Donnie!” he yelled.  “Over there!” he said, pointing.  Donnie said something Jake couldn’t make out and Buck sat back down.

“Damn Buck!  You’ve got a hookup at
The Station!?
” Diana exclaimed.

“Yep!  Where’d you think I was going to take you?  Some backwoods redneck bar?  Give me a little credit.”

Stop reading my mind Buck
, Jake thought with a laugh.

Buck stood up in the back of the truck and howled like a mad wolf as the truck pulled into the packed parking lot.  Donnie pulled the truck to a stop and everyone climbed out.  Jake walked alongside Donnie and Chris as Buck and the girls rushed ahead.

“You know . . .” Chris said, “I’ve got to be honest, I half expected him to take us to some hick biker bar in the middle of nowhere.”

Donnie and Jake burst out laughing.  “Yeah.  Me too,” Donnie said.  “I never dreamed it would be this place.”

“I’ve driven by this place a hundred times picking up groceries with Chef, but I never knew what it was until now,” Jake said.

“You’re kidding?” Donnie asked.  “Damn Jake, you need to get out more.  This is the most popular night spot in all of San Angelo.”

“Oh like you come here every weekend?” Jake replied.

“No.  But I know a few things about where the hangouts are.  What do you know?  The best fishing spots on Lake Nasworthy?”

“Yeah well . . . I like to fish!” Jake defended himself.  “Besides you probably have to be eighteen to get in.  In case you haven’t noticed, my birthday isn’t until September.”

“Mine isn’t until November,” Chris added.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to show you boys how it’s done then!” Donnie said walking up to the very large Hispanic doorman and flashing his ID.  Buck had already entered with the girls.

He let Donnie in then put up his hand stopping Chris and Jake.  “ID’s boys?”

“Uh . . .” Jake said, pretending to check his jacket pocket for his wallet.

Buck stepped back outside and put his arms around Jake and Chris’s shoulders.  “It’s okay Miguel.  They’re with me,” Miguel crossed his arms giving Buck a go to hell look.