Highway Don't Care (Freebirds) (14 page)

  Once they were buttoned, she wrapped her hands around me
and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.

  “Take me home, babe.”

  “Gladly.”  I said.

  We were on the back road to Kilgore when the car came out
of nowhere.  One second I was starting at a dark road ahead and behind me,
and the next headlights came right up to my back tire. 

  Fearing he would clip my tire and send us flying, I gunned
the throttle and took off, going at least twice the speed limit.  Luckily,
the car didn’t have the same get up and go that my bike did.  They’d also
never tried to catch a bike either.  When I was sixteen and got my first
motorcycle, I made it a priority to know my bike inside and out.  I knew
the beast like the back of my hand.  I knew how it handled, how it rode, and
what it could do.  Right then, I knew it could take a corner a lot faster
than that car could, and I was going to prove it to them.

  Seeing the nearly 90 degree turn up ahead, I heard Ember’s
panic emanating from behind me.  I just prayed that she trusted me enough
to hold on and not let go.  The car was gaining on us quick, and I knew I
needed to do something.  Pressing the clutch in, I decelerated at an
alarming rate, but I had complete control I saw how I was going to take this
turn, and then accelerate through it.  I knew that beyond this turn was a
straight patch for nearly a mile and a half.  There I was going to lose
these fuckers, and then join them at their own game. 

  I did just that too.  One second they were nearly on
me, and the next I was going through all of my gears.  The headlights were
behind me a good distance now, and I knew they wouldn’t be able to catch me if
I didn’t want them to.  I was up to 120 before I started looking for a
place to pull off.  Spotting a good spot, I braked hard and pulled off the
side of the road, hitting the lights. 

  I stopped behind an old rotted pine, and tapped Ember’s leg
three times.

  “Get off, I’m going to go catch them, and then come back
for you.  In the meantime I want you to take this,” I said handing her my
spare Glock I kept in the saddle bags, “and hide right here.  Call Sam and
tell him what’s going on.”

  She nodded in understanding, and then hid down behind the
pine.  Slipping her phone out of her shirt, I heard her make a call to Sam
and explain what was going on.  The car passed us with a blast of air, and
I started the bike back up and tore after them, leaving my light off as not to
alert them that I was there.  I caught up with them a minute or so later.

  Luckily, they were going a lot slower now, thinking they’d
lost me, or this wouldn’t have worked so well.  Taking the .45 out of the
pancake holster at my back, I took aim with my right arm, and shot out their
left rear tire.  It didn’t take long and they lost control.  The car
pulled hard to the right, and then flipped several brutal times before coming
to a stop in a ditch that ran along the side of the road wheels up in the air.

  I stopped about twenty feet away and waited to see if they
would emerge.  They didn’t, and I wasn’t stupid enough to go to them, so I
waited too.  It didn’t take long and until I could hear bikes roaring in
the distance, and knew the cavalry had shown.  We were maybe ten minutes
from Free, so I knew they’d had to be hauling ass to get here this fast. 

  I watched and waited for whoever was in the car to emerge;
they didn’t disappoint.  Slowly one fell out, and then the other. 
Both were coughing and moaning, but I felt not one iota of remorse.  These
crazy fucks could have killed my woman, and I’d be damned if I’d feel sorry for
nearly killing them when they almost took something from me that meant
everything.

  Getting off my bike with my .45 still in my hand, I walked
up to them slowly.  They noticed me at the same time and raised their
hands into the air.  Now that I was closer, I could tell that they were
still very young.  Fifteen or sixteen at most.

  “Face down on the ground, keep your hands behind your
head.  No sudden movements or you’ll be sportin’ a new hole.  Don’t
test me; if you do, I won’t hesitate.  I don’t relish shooting a kid, but
damned if I won’t do it.”

  Jack was the first to arrive, followed shortly by
James.  They pulled up beside by bike, and walked up cautiously. 
This wasn’t their first rodeo.  They were coming blind into a situation,
and they were being careful, taking in the situation and their surroundings in
seconds.  It was clear what was going on, but one could never be too
careful.

  “See you have a situation here, where’s Ember?”  James
asked.

  “She’s about a half a mile back that way.”  I said
while pointing back behind me.

  James nodded, and then got on his bike to go get her. 
She was probably scared shitless waiting for me.  I loved a smart woman
who knew how to deal with a scary situation.  Ember was cool under fire,
knew when to argue, and knew when to just sit back and listen.  She wasn’t
one of those silly girls who went charging head first into a situation she knew
she couldn’t handle.

  Sirens could be heard in the distance and I cursed. 
Someone must have heard the accident and called them.  I wanted to
question them, and it looked like I wouldn’t have the chance to unless I made
it quick.

  Crouching down, I grabbed the first one by the head, and
stuck the pistol against his temple.  The boy had blood running from his
nose and mouth, but that didn’t sway me from my course.

  “Tell me what your orders were.  Who is giving them?”

  “Fuck you.” man boy number one said.

  “No, that’ll be you in a very short time if you don’t start
talking.  Do you know what kind of connections I have?  Do you want
to watch your ass every time you bend over while you’re in lockup?”  I
asked dully.

  I could make these two kids life a living hell, and I would
if they didn’t give me what I wanted.  They’d talk eventually.

  “You ain’t got that type of pull.”  Man boy number two
said.

  “Do you want to find out?  I can get back to you in a
couple of days; see what you have to say then.  Personally, I hope you
choose that option.  I bet you both would enjoy it after a while.”

  “You ain’t got nothin’.”  Man boy number one said.

  “Alright, I’ll come visit in a few days, we’ll see
then.”  I said before backing away.

  The sirens were right on us now, lights bathing the black
night red and blue.  Two Rusk County Sherriff cars pulled up about two
seconds after I put my .45 away.  Wouldn’t be good for them to see an
armed man standing over two individuals that clearly just got in a wreck. 

  One was a heavy set, and one who was a little older in
years who looked like he’d seen it all.  The other was a young black man
who probably was still wet behind the ears.  They both took in the
situation noting the two mammoth Harleys parked there, the two huge men in
black, and a couple of kids with their hands on their heads.  It didn’t look
like it would be a fun explanation.  Especially when the cops immediately
stiffened and moved their hands closer to their guns.  Not placing them on
them, but close enough to get to them if needed.  That was a sign of a
good cop, always ready for what could happen, whether it good or bad. 

  “Officer.”  I said and nodded my head to them both.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Before they could receive their answer, James pulled up
behind their cars, Ember on the back.  Not wearing a helmet, I might add.

  “Where’s your fuckin’ helmet?”  I asked distracted
from the original question posed by the officer.

  “Well, I took it off to sit on it, but when I heard James,
I took off towards the road, and kind of left it behind.”  She said
sheepishly.

  “You don’t get on a bike without a helmet. 
Never.  Too many things could happen, even in that short stretch of
highway.  That highway don’t care.  It doesn’t care that you were
only going to be riding for a couple of seconds.  The highway is an
unforgiving bitch.”

  “Jesus, Gabe.  He didn’t even get up over twenty miles
an hour.”

  I had this conversation a lot.  The guys were used to
it.  Unfortunately, I’d been witnessed two motorcycle wrecks in my time,
and neither one ended well for the individuals that were on them.

  “You see that guardrail right there?”  I asked her.

  She turned, and looked at the guardrail.  In addition,
I noted that Jack, James, and each of the officers did as well.

  “I witnessed a wreck one time with one of those.  Want
to know what happened?  The guy was going just over thirty miles an hour
and hit an oil spot.  His bike went one way and his body went towards the
guardrail.  The side of his head hit the guardrail.  Split his head
open like a watermelon falling to the ground.”

  “Not that this isn’t interesting, but shouldn’t you be
doing something with those two?”  She motioned towards to the two boys on
the ground.

  When Ember pulled up with James, she’d dismounted, both
officer’s attentions had immediately zeroed in on her.  She looked like
she’d just been fucked (which she had been).  Her hair was windblown,
cheeks flushed.  Her shirt had ridden up exposing some of the smooth skin
at her belly.  Now that she’d brought up their inappropriate behavior,
they were all business.

  “They seriously hurt?” the young officer asked.

  “No, just a little banged up.  These little assholes deserve
this and more, they almost ran my girl and me off the road.  I had to use
some creative driving to get away from them before they made road kill out of
us.  We’re lucky to be alive right now.”  I said and then started in
on my explanation.

  The officers listened to the whole explanation, took the
kid’s explanation as well, and then gave them a seat in the back of the police
cars.  Each one in a separate car.  With handcuffs.

  Tomorrow was going to be a busy day for them; I’d be making
sure of it.

Chapter 9
 

"Yippie-ki-yay,
motherfucker.” 

-Die Hard

Ember

  “Get that out of my face.”  Cheyenne said to me.

  “It’s not in your face, it’s in my hand.”

  “Get what’s in your hand out of my face.”

   Both of us burst out laughing.

  “Do you both ever stop?  That’s all I fucking
hear.  If I have to hear penis, penis, penis, vagina, vagina, vagina one
more time, I’ll shoot myself.”  James said petulantly.

  Sherlock Holmes and Varsity Blues were only two of the
movies that we constantly quoted.  We were both goody two shoes in high
school.  All we did was watch movies and eat in front of the
television.  We didn’t party, we didn’t stay out late, and we didn’t do
anything illegal.  Well maybe not too illegal, but still.  They were
lucky we watched movies; we could have been having sex with half of Kilgore’s
population like the rest of our senior class.

  “Penis, penis, penis.”  Janie said.

  James head whipped around and glared at us as if it was our
fault.  Not once today had we even said anything from Varsity Blues.  He’s
the one who said it.  Sticking my tongue out right back, I turned my head
back to the computer and started pointing out the bike helmets that I liked.

  I’d gone back the next day to find it, but when I did there
wasn’t much left but a shell.  The straps had chew marks, and no padding
was left where your head went.  I still haven’t heard the end of that one.

  “She’s three, James.  What exactly do you expect when
you say something that is so easy and catchy for her to say?”  Cheyenne
asked.

  He’d been with her for a year now, and he still found
himself flabbergasted at the stuff she said and did.  Just last month
she’d tried to take a shit on the potty at Lowe’s.  While Cheyenne and I
were busy laughing our asses off, James was running in the opposite
direction.  We’d calmly taken her down once we’d gotten ourselves under
control, and then took her to the actual potty.  She still never figured
out why you couldn’t go since there was a potty right there that she could use.

  “I like that one.  The one with the skull.  Do
you think he would let me wear it?”  I asked the group in general.

  “He’ll be happy as long as you have a helmet,
dimwit.”  James grumped.

  Throwing my ruler at him blindly I said, “Order it.”

  Cheyenne one clicked it, and that was that.

  “You know, he said to pick one up at the Harley shop
today.”  James said helpfully.

  “I didn’t like any of those, loser.  Plus, this will
be here tomorrow by one in the afternoon, guaranteed.”  I replied.

  “Doesn’t help the fact that he will want you to have it for
tonight when we do that rally for the local schools.”

  “I’ll wear Cheyenne’s.  Since she’s not allowed on the
bike anymore.”

  “I am so going on the bike.  Get your own
helmet.”  Cheyenne said.

  “No you’re not.  Sam said so, and we both agree. 
No more bike for the pregnant chick.”  I said, nodding to James with my
head.

  “Harrumph.”  She grouched.

  “Speaking of which, we need to go ahead and get some hotel
rooms.  Gabe left me his card so we could charge them on the company
account.  Let’s go ahead and get that over with since we’re already
here.”  I advised.

  Thirty minutes, 4 websites, and six hundred dollars later
we had six rooms for two nights.  The town of Tulsa was going to be
insanely busy, so we booked our hotels about forty-five minutes from there in a
small town called Bixby.  We probably weren’t the only ones to think
staying an hour drive away would be easier in the end, but it would have to do.

  “Alrighty then.  I have myself a date at Shogun’s
tonight with Gabe after the rally.  What should I wear?”  I asked
Cheyenne.

  For the next couple of hours we listened to the soundtrack
for Pitch Perfect and searched for some clothes that would be appropriate for a
biker babe, and a hot date at Shogun’s, one of the nicest restaurants in three
towns.

Ω

  “Shouldn’t we be getting to the rally?”  I asked.

  “We are.  I just wanted to take you here first.” 
Gabe said as he pulled up in front of a plain brick building.

  The black door sported a gun decal with Doc underneath of
it.

  “What is this place?”  I asked.

  “This is the Gun Doctor.”  He said as if I knew what
he was talking about, which I didn’t.

  Why would you need a gun doctor?

  “Umm, why?”  I asked confused.

  “So we can get you a pistol that’s more comfortable for
you, and fits your hand better.”  Gabe said simply.

  Well didn’t that just explain everything?  He held the
door for me, and the smell of gun oil immediately assaulted my senses, making
me sneeze.  It smelled extremely strong, but I guess that’s something that
is normal for a gun place.  Wouldn’t want your gun to jam when you needed
it most, would we?  Best to keep it oiled and clean, otherwise what’s the
point?

  There were glass cases encircling the room.  Any and
every type of gun adorned the cases spread about three inches apart.  On
the walls hung some rifles and shotguns.  Immediately my eye snagged on a
purple shotgun, and I fell in love.

  “I want that one.”  I said pointing to it.

  “That one won’t fit into your purse.”  He said dryly.

  “Okay, but when we come back I’m getting that one.”  I
said before starting to look into all the cases.

  “Can I help y’all?” a young sales associate asked.

  “You the Gun Doctor?”  I asked him.

  “Nope.  Just an employee.  Can I show you
anything?”  The sales associate asked.

  “This one.”  I said pointing towards a black gun with
hot pink grips.

  “Jesus, I should have known you’d pick that one.  That
one is a .40 caliber.  Not too bad of a gun either.  It’s a Ruger
SR40.  We can get you some lithium sites for it too.”  Gabe said.

  “Damn.  I guess you don’t really even need me.” 
The sales associate stated.

  “We want to take it into the range and try it out. 
We’ll need a box of ammo too.  Some of those disposable ear plugs
also.”  Gabe said.

  The associate didn’t hop to very fast though.  He was
busy checking out my tits.  I knew I should have worn a bra, but Cheyenne
guaranteed me that I didn’t need one.

  “Now would be nice.”  Gabe barked.

  Rolling my eyes, I began to wander the room while they
discussed the details.  This place would be the place you would want to be
if you were ever attacked by someone, or something.  Every type of gun
imaginable was here.  Some even looked like they were from the future. 
One of the guns had a round tip at the end of the barrel and I studied it
wondering what it was.

  “Laser sights.”  Gabe said from behind me, making me
jump three feet in the air.

  “Jesus.  Don’t you ever stop doing that?  You’re
like a fricking cat!”  I gasped.

  Gabe’s smile was beautiful and I always felt my heart
flutter when he gave me one like he was giving me now.

  Wandering around some more, I came to a stop in front of
the shotgun again.

  “Can I help you?”  A young woman asked.

  She was probably a year or two older than my
twenty-six.  She had short blonde hair that came to just under her
chin.  She was tiny, maybe five feet at the most.  The more I looked
at her, the more she seemed familiar to me.  She seemed to be studying me
as well.  Her head was tilted slightly to the side.  I’d seen her
before.  Then suddenly it hit me. 

  “Jolie!”  I squealed.

  “Ember?”  She asked.

  “When did you move back?”  I asked excitedly.

  She smiled sadly before saying, “My mom passed away a few
months ago.  This is the first time I’ve been back, ya’ know, since that
happened.”

  I nodded sadly.  Jolie’s dad killed James’ best friend
in high school.  Something terrible had happened to her, and I haven’t
seen her since she left in the middle of senior year.  James was always
sticking up for her, watching over her.  They’d started spending a ton of
time together, and he and Max double dated a lot.  Cheyenne and I had been
in junior high when all of that went down, and though we heard about it, we
never experienced it firsthand. 

  James did, and he did
not
like it.  There was a
huge fight during their senior year picnic, James left with a suspension, and
Jolie never came back.  Apparently, it was something bad, because never
once did we hear what exactly happened from our brothers.  James was
pretty close to her, but he never opened his mouth.  He was in a sort of
depression for a while right after Jolie left.  I think she was the reason
that he went into the army, and Max being his best friend followed him.

  Jolie hadn’t changed much in thirteen years.  She
still looked as great at 32 that she did at 18.  Her hair was a tad
shorter, but other than that still the tiny spunky girl that she used to
be.  I wonder how long it would take James to figure out she was
back.  He had ways of knowing things.  That or I might tell him, he
deserves to know.

  “What are you doing working here?”

  “There’re guns here.  I figure it’s the best place for
me.  I’m not going to tell you why.  I’d rather not tell you in here
anyway.  Maybe we can meet for drinks sometime.”  She said quietly.

 A sick feeling lodged in my throat, and I knew it was
something bad.  I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me up
against a hard chest.  Jolie’s eyes had widened into saucer size. 
She also seemed to shrink into herself, as if she was scared of a big man like
Gabe. 

  “Got a lane.  Let’s go, we have to be at the rally in
about forty five minutes, and I want to see if you like this before we buy it.”

  “That sounds great, Jolie.  Call me whenever is good
for you.”  I said with a sincere smile.

  Giving Jolie a meaningful look, we headed into the back of
the store.  We came to a metal door, and the young man who helped us
opened it and walked through.  It led into a room that was roughly the
size of a small gym.  At the far end targets hung.  In front of each
target, about fifty yards stood a metal table and chair.  There was
plexi-glass sectioning off each table, for what I guess was flying shells.

  The young man showed us how to use the mechanical target
mover, and then left us to it.  Gabe gave me a set of earplugs and I hung
them around my neck when he started to explain.

  “Alright, this doesn’t have a safety you click on and off,
it’s got a trigger safety.  You have to depress both the safety and the
trigger at the same time to shoot it.  Don’t put your finger on the
trigger unless you intend to shoot something.  If you point this at
someone, you had better intend to shoot him or her with it.  Don’t bluff,
because they might call you on it.”

  He then went on to show me how to load the clip, inject a
bullet into the chamber, unload it, and then finally how to aim and fire. 
He then unloaded it, and then handed it to me.  My guess was this was a test
to make sure I knew what I was doing.

  I smiled, and then put the earplugs into my ears. 

  I did know what I was doing.  Expertly, I loaded the
clip, then the gun, and then aimed and fired at the target.  Firing
rapidly, I unloaded the clip as fast as I could.  Then, I set the pistol
down and studied the target.  Center mass on all but one, and that was the
one where I aimed for the head. 

  Still got it.

  “Jesus.  You didn’t tell me you could shoot like
that.  I think I just came in my pants a little.  That was
hot.”  Gabe said while he studied the target as well.

  “Cheyenne and I used to compete in high school.  My
dad was big into competition shooting, and I was daddy’s little girl.  I
can shoot skeet too.  We had a blast, and I continued the shooting even
after dad died.  I knew he’d want me to.”

  He levered the target up to the front and replaced the
target with a new one.  This one had nearly an entire body. 

  “I’m gonna move it, you shoot for the 5s.”

  The fives were located at the main artery points. 
Carotid, subclavian, brachial, femoral, and popliteal.  Supposedly, these
were designed as kill shots when you couldn’t shoot center mass to bring your
target down.  If you wanted them down for good and didn’t have a good center
mass shot, you would aim for these areas.  I loaded my clip, chambered it,
and got ready.

  “Go.”  Gabe said and then moved the target sharply to
the right.

  I took aim and got within an inch of the femoral artery on
the right leg.  He moved it sharply backwards and slightly to the left.

  “Go.”

  We continued this pattern until I fired all nine
shots.  He pulled the target and studied it silently for a couple
seconds.  Then he turned to me and regarded me.