Survivor's Remorse: Brothers of Ink and Steel (14 page)

Scared and worried over Leo and the following truck, she didn’t know what to do. The black Toyota hadn’t moved and no one had exited the truck. She started her truck and turned on the headlamps. As soon as she started moving, she saw the Toyota’s lights pop on. With the cold hand of fear gripping her heart, she turned onto the road and headed toward the center of town.

As she drove she once again fished her phone from her purse. Three punches on the keypad started the phone ringing.

“911 emergency. State the nature of your emergency,” the calm female voice on the phone said

“My name is Jamie Boyles. A truck has been following me for the last fifteen minutes.”

“What is your location, Jamie?”

“I’m on Main Street, headed West, toward the police station.” Jamie could hear the clicking of keys as the woman typed.

“You are headed West on Main Street, is that correct? Can you give me a cross street?”

“That is correct,” Jamie said then squinted at a sign as it passed in the darkness. “I just crossed Church.”

“Can you give me a description of the vehicle following you?”

“Late model Toyota Tundra four by four. Black. Jacked up with big tires.”

“What are you driving?”

“A red 1950 Chevy pickup.”

“Are you still proceeding West on Main?”

“Yes.”

“I have dispatched a patrol car. Continue West on Main. Do not stop when the officer arrives, okay? I will stay on the line with you until the officer is on the scene.”

The 911 operator had just stopped speaking when a cruiser with blue lights flashing blew past her at high speed before braking hard and immediately turning around. The black truck roared as it blasted past her, the cruiser, it’s siren now wailing, in pursuit.

“The officer arrived and is chasing them,” Jamie said in relief as the cruiser wailed away into the darkness.

“Yes… I see that on my display. Additional units have been dispatched. We’ll catch them. Are you okay? Do I need to dispatch another officer or emergency medical?”

“No. No… I think I’m okay. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Jamie. I recommend you go home and a make sure your windows and doors are locked. I will put a note on file to have a unit cruise past your house every now and then tonight, just to make sure you don’t have any further issues.”

“Yes, thank you,” Jamie said.

“My pleasure, Jamie,” the woman said, then was gone.

***

Jamie was turning into her drive, the door to her garage rumbling up, when her phone rang. She slammed on the brakes and grabbed at her phone, her relief turning to disappointment when she didn’t recognize the number.

“Jamie Boyles,” she said as she fought tears of disappointment.

“Jamie? This is Rich Copperton. I’m a member of Lima 6. You need to come down to the Urgent Care as soon as you can. There’s been an accident. Leo is hurt.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Copper had assured her Leo was, mostly, okay – just banged up, but that didn’t matter. Her truck was straining under the demands she was placing on it as she raced to the Urgent Care - the nearest thing Vallecito had to a hospital.

As she shrieked to a stop in the Urgent Care parking lot, she bailed out of the truck, taking only her purse, shoving the gun into the main compartment just to get it out of the way.
They can have the fucking truck!
She thought as she ran toward the front door, the keys still swinging in the ignition.

She burst into the brightly lit and cheerfully painted entrance, skidding to a stop in front of the reception desk at the edge of the waiting room.

“I’m here to see Leo… Lionel Graves.”

“Are you his wife or relative?” the perky woman asked.

“No. Friend.”

“I’m sorry. We can only… Ma’am! Ma’am! Ma’am… you can’t go back there! Ma’am!” perky called as Jamie stepped away from the desk and toward the door leading to the exam rooms in the back.

As she burst through the doors, a nurse stepped in front of her. “Ma’am! You can’t come back here!”

“Get out of my way before I knock you on your fat ass!” Jamie snarled as she bulled past the woman.

She strode down the corridor, stepping into the second room on the right when she saw the Lima 6 colors on the back of someone’s jacket. She pushed gently on the man’s shoulder as she squeezed by, the man turning and stepping aside to give her room to enter.

“I’m glad you’re here, Jamie,” Copper said. “He asked for you.”

She stopped just inside the room. Leo was sitting on the exam table as a woman, probably a nurse-practitioner or a doctor, cleaned a nasty looking scrape on his arm. Leo looked like he had been through an industrial limb-chipper, but of more concern were his eyes. He stared at the wall as if he were in another world and unaware of his surroundings.

“Leo?” she asked quietly, her voice full of dread.

The woman looked up and smiled at her. “He’s going to be sore, but he’ll be fine. She can stay,” the doctor said as a man appeared behind Copper and Jamie.

“What happened?” Jamie asked.

“He was jumped by the cartel. We think. We haven’t gotten much out of him. Tuck and Two-Tone… they were killed,” Copper explained.

“Oh no…” Jamie breathed. She looked back to Leo. He was looking at her, but his eyes were empty and his expression hadn’t changed from when she first saw him. “Leo? Are you okay?”

She didn’t think he was going to answer, but finally he nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be okay. Tuck… he was going to ask Maggie to marry him…” His voice was a shadow of itself, weak and distant.

“I’m so sorry, Leo.”

“Yeah,” he said as his eyes left her and returned to the wall, staring at nothing.

“He’s in shock,” the woman said as she carefully wrapped a bandage around the raw place on his arm. “We’ll get him patched up and give him something to help with the pain and help him sleep. He should be better in the morning.”

“Leo, can you tell me what happened?” Jamie asked, stepping closer and keeping her voice calm, though she wanted to rage at the unfairness of the universe. Just when he was starting to dig himself out of his dark past, fate had shit on him and taken his two best friends.

He looked at her, his eyes full of pain. “We had just dropped Maggie off at their home. She had ridden to the meeting with Tuck because her car wouldn’t start and he had to go get her at work,” he began slowly, his voice quiet. “The three of us were going to meet you… have a couple of beers… make sure you were okay. The truck came up behind us…”

When Copper started to speak, Jamie shook her head, indicating he should just wait.

“After the vote, Ron and I got into a pissing contest. Everybody was so pissed off that I wanted to get away. I just wanted to come see you and make sure you were okay.”

When he fell silent, Jamie looked to Copper.

“Ron was mad that the vote didn’t go his way,” Copper explained. “All of us, except Ron, Gigolo, and Lucas, thought it made sense to wait and let the cartel make the next move. Ron got all pissy and started taking it out on Leo – accused him of undermining the club and working to turn the club against him. It was all a bunch of bullshit. I don’t know what Ron’s problem has been lately, but… never mind. This isn’t the time or the place.”

Jamie looked back to Leo as he grimaced in discomfort as the doctor cleaned a wound on his knee.

“I was in the middle,” Leo suddenly said, picking up the thread of the conversation. By the time I realized what was happening… that the truck… the truck ran over Two-Tone…”

“Oh my god,” Jamie whispered.

“... and Tuck and I started running. But the truck kept coming. I had my gun… but I couldn’t shoot and ride. Not behind me. The truck… they started shooting at us. There was nothing we could do except run.” Leo paused and watched the doctor work at the wound with forceps, picking out pieces of gravel. “I got into the loose in a corner. Went down hard. Slid into the weeds. I thought I was dead, but the truck kept going.”

When he didn’t seem inclined to continue, Jamie looked at Copper. “How did he get here?” she asked quietly.

“Sheriff found him. Someone called the cops and reported that a truck and some motorcycles were racing. They found him walking along the side of the road and finally brought him here. The bastards held him for almost two hours before they decided he needed medical help. We’re here enough that one of the nurses recognized him and called Ron, then me, when they couldn’t get in touch with Ron.”

“They found Two-Tone and Tuck?”

“Yeah – dead at the scene. Two-Tone… obviously, but Tuck… looks like maybe he decided to turn and fight. Shot six times.”

“My god,” Jamie breathed again. “It was the cartel?”

“Don’t know. We think so. I know more now than I did before. He wouldn’t talk to me. Everything I knew, up to now, the deputy told me when I got here.”

“Do they know what kind of truck?”

“Black is all I know.”

Jamie went cold. “A black Toyota Tundra? Jacked up with big wheels?”

“Don’t know,” Copper said.

“Yes,” Leo said at almost the same time.

“That truck followed me tonight. I sic’d the cops on them and they took off but…”

“What?” Leo asked, his voice hard. “Did you say that truck was following you? Tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Mother-fuckers!” Leo snarled. “I will fucking kill them all…” He started to get off the table until the doctor put her hand firmly in his chest.

“You’re not going anywhere until we get you patched up. Just sit quietly a few more minutes and I will be done.”

Jamie watched Leo glare at the doctor but then he finally acquiesced. “Copper, you find Ron and you let him know what has happened. The cartel fuckers have just started a fucking war of the likes they have never known.”

“Leo… you need to think about this. You were right before. We don’t
know
it was the cartel.”

“
Who
the fuck else would it be!” Leo raged, causing the doctor to start back in surprise.

“Leo! Calm down, okay? It’s going to be okay. We need to take a couple of days and sort this out. Figure out what we are going to do. You were right before… we don’t want to escalate this any more than we have to.”

“That was before they killed Tuck and Two-Tone. Before they threatened Jamie. What are we going to tell Maggie? Huh? That Tuck wasn’t important enough to hit back over?”

“You know better than that, Leo,” Copper said in annoyance. “But we need to be ready before we go in halfcocked. You, of all people, should know what happens if you get into a battle you are not prepared for.”

Jamie’s eyes widened in surprise of the coldness of Copper’s statement, but his face didn’t match his words.

“Leo,” Copper continued more gently, “you didn’t fail your platoon then, and you didn’t fail Tuck or Two-Tone tonight. Don’t let what happened in the past cloud your judgment today. We need you thinking clearly. Remember what they drilled into us: angry soldiers become dead soldiers. Take a couple of days. Get your head straight. Then we’ll decide our next move. Okay? If that is to kill every goddamned member of the Prieto Cartel, then that is what we will do, but you’re in no shape to be making these decisions tonight. Go home with Jamie. Keep her safe. Let the rest of the club make sure we are hitting the right target.” 

***

“Let me help you,” Jamie said as she guided Leo into her truck. Copper sat on his bike, its distinctive Harley idle loud in the late evening quiet. Leo was in no shape to defend himself, or anyone else for that matter tonight, so Copper would be watching over them for at least tonight.

“Copper’s right. It wasn’t your fault,” Jamie said as she started the truck. “Leo?” she asked when he didn’t answer.

“I’ll tell that to Maggie,” he said as he watched the house lights glide by outside his window.

“There was nothing you could do.” She waited, but it didn’t appear that he was going to answer. “Leo… talk to me. Don’t shut me out. Please!”

“You should drop me off at my house,” he said, still looking out his window.

“Why? What do you need?”

“Nothing. Just drop me off and leave.”

“Can’t do it. The doctor said to watch you tonight.”

“I mean you should drop me off, leave, and never come back.”

Jamie gasped, her heart nearly stopping as a coldness surrounded her. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes.”

She gritted her teeth, determined not to cry in front of him. “Why?” she asked calmly. “Is it something I did? Something I said?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“You’re not safe around me.”

“I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”

“You’re not safe around me. Nobody is. I should leave before anyone else gets hurt.”

She sighed in relief. “Leo, I know you are hurting right now, but…”

“That’s not it. I don’t want you around me. It’s for your own good. You…”

Jamie slammed on the brakes causing the truck to howl to a stop, Leo slapping the metal dash hard with his hand to prevent himself from tumbling from the seat.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” she snarled as she stared at him. “If you don’t want me around, then fine. But don’t you
fucking
dare try to send me away ‘for my own good!’ If you are going to leave me, then you
fucking man up
and admit you don’t want me! Otherwise you cut this shit out... and right goddamn now!” She paused, breathing hard. “So? Do you want me or not?”

“What’s going on?” Copper asked through her open window.

“Leo and I are having a frank discussion over our sleeping arrangements,” she said, never taking her eyes off Leo.

“Everything okay?”

“Is it?” she asked Leo, her eyes boring into him.

“I don’t know,” he finally answered as he looked into the darkness beyond the windshield.

She stared at Leo for a long moment before turning back to Copper. “We’ll sort it out. Sorry if I startled you.”