L. Ann Marie (7 page)

"Thanks, Doc, I will.  Can Sally still come for Mandy?"

He smiles.  "She'll be over around lunch to hang with Amanda, she can do it then.  The old ladies are going to check in with her daily."

"Thanks, she's off work for the next two weeks.  She's going to go stir crazy."  I just finish when they come out of the bedroom with smiles.

Doc stands up.  "So you'll come to the clinic tomorrow?"  He digs in his bag and hands me a bottle.  I nod and look at the bottle.  "I knew you weren't going to take the meds."  He shrugs, the women laugh.

We walk them to the door, then settle on the couch piling the crutches on the side.  "I'm glad you’re going out tomorrow.  You must be sick of sitting inside."

I don't hesitate.  "Yep."  She laughs.  "You hungry?"  She nods and stands.  We move around the kitchen pretty good without the crutches.  Sitting at the island, we talk about how crazy the house is.  Even the smallest details match her apartment.  They even have her and Amelia's list on the fridge.  We take our meds together, making it weird.  I can honestly say I've never done that before.  She goes into the office and I make my way to the patio.  It's nine thirty.

Danny, VP, Rich and Tiny are here.  They all throw chin.  Rich hands me a beer and we sit looking at the water.  I look at Rich, "I need to go to Doc's tomorrow.  I'll try the new pedal on the inside roads but I need the bandage changed."  He nods.

"What time."  Tiny asks.

"I'll leave about noon.  I need to practice before that.  Sally will be with Amanda then.  Thanks for getting the pedal done."  He throws chin.

Rich looks at me.  "I'll have Jax at the gate at quarter of, pick him up as you go through."

"You leave ready."  VP says.

"I will."  I don't need to tell him I'm armed now.  He already knows.  They don't say anymore and I'm fuckin glad, I'm happy just sitting with them.

Cloud comes in grabs a beer and sits.  "Good to see you here, Bob."  I throw chin and go back to watching the light hit the rolling waves.

After a half hour I stand to leave throwing chin.  Rich follows me out.  "Glad you’re fuckin here, Brother."  He man hugs me then walks toward his house.

"Every night we sit, not everyone every night, you use it when you need it."  VP scares the shit out of me.  He's so fuckin quiet I didn't hear him come up behind me.

"Thanks, Brother."

He laughs, following the path to his house.  I meet up with Chase on the path heading home.  We talk for a minute; he goes to the patio, I go to the house.  Fuckin cool as shit setup.

I hit the alarm when I come in and head to the spare room side.  Amanda is on the floor in the hallway.  It looks like she’s sleeping.  What the fuck?  I lean the crutches on the wall and sit by her.  “Babe?”  I touch her shoulder.  Her eyes open and she smiles.  “What are you doing on the floor?”

Her face turns red.  “I must have dozed and got scared.  The mirror helps.”  She turns her face away from me embarrassed.

The mirror helps?  The reflection.  Her fuckin twin.  “Let’s go to bed babe.  I’ll stay with you.”

She nods and stands up with a moan.  I pull a crutch toward me using it and the wall to stand.  I’ll be glad when my fuckin back stops hurting.  She’s already in a tee so I undress and climb in beside her.  She’s asleep in minutes.

She sits at the mirror to feel closer to her sister.  After six years she still misses her other half.  I wonder if that will ever get easier for her.  We didn’t spend every night together; maybe she does it a lot.  I need to find out what’s up with this house.  Maybe I can buy it, then I’ll ask her to live with me.  She won’t have to sleep up against the fuckin mirror to feel someone here for her.

Bob

Tiny is at the door.  Pushing it open I wonder what’s going on.  “I told Rich I’d ride along with you, he’s got HS with Little Inky.”

I’m confused.  “Sally is coming here.”

He shakes his head no.  “Tess has them meeting up at the Diner.  Chet will be picking her up once he gets Tess.  Someone else from HS is following.  I’m with you.  You’re supposed to go to Security when you’re finished with Doc.”

I nod and step back.  “I need to grab my keys and let Mandy know I’m leaving.”  In the office I stand at the door.  “Come here, babe.”  She smiles and meets me in the middle.  “You’re going to the Diner for lunch.”  She nods.  “I’m leaving with Tiny.  I have a meeting at Security after Doc’s.  Call me if you need me.”  She nods again with that sweet smile.  I kiss her and tell her I love her, she loves me back; I’m smiling as I walk down the hall.  The mirrored walls remind me I need to talk to Pres about the house.  I grab my keys and bag then check my gun.

“I like how it turned out, Brother.  Danny said she did the work herself and it’s all right.  Talented fuckin old ladies.  They all have something.”  I smile hitting the alarm as I walk out; she is talented and fuckin smart.  This is the first time the 'old lady' registered with me; I like the way it sounds.

It doesn’t take long to get my hand comfortable working the pedal.  Tiny doesn’t say a word as I squeeze too hard or not hard enough.  Once I get it right, I do three-point turns and parallel park.  When I’m satisfied I drive to the gate.  Doc takes me right away and gets me out the door in twenty minutes.  I want to talk to Sally about the twin thing but I don’t want to say anything to Doc about it.  I’ll catch her this week or I’ll call her and ask to meet.  I know she can’t say anything to anyone; I don’t want to embarrass Amanda with this.

At Security, I pull into my spot and almost fall as I slide out of the truck.  Fuckin leg.  It hurts my back but I get myself straight and get the crutches from the back.  I’ll be fuckin happy with whatever the fuck Mitch comes up with.  I need two fuckin feet.

Tiny stands behind me as I climb the stairs.  He probably saw me stagger out of the truck.  I don’t want a fuckin keeper or someone waiting to catch me every fuckin time I take a misstep.  I pull the door hard and it slams open.  I put the crutch in front of it so I can walk through without help.  I keep going to the meeting room.  Everyone is here and they have lunch, I smile as they throw me chin.

“Got your regular.”  VP says.  He’s getting good with the brain probing thing or maybe he knows what everyone gets like Danny.  “Know yours.”  He says making me laugh.  “Fuckin good, too.”  Everyone laughs.

“Thanks, VP.”  I lean the crutches against the wall and sit by Rich.  We eat and I listen to them talking about what’s been going on for the week.  I know I’m not here just for lunch and wonder what the hell I’m here for; the pain is creeping up to pill level.

“You got pills on you?”  Rich asks.

“Get the fuck out of my head.  Yeah, I have one in my bag.”

Tiny leaves, everyone is still talking so I don’t pay attention.  My bag appears on the side of me and I look over.  Fuckin Tiny left for my bag, I throw him chin and pull the baggie from the pocket.  No one pays attention to me so I take the pill and finish my grinder.  Doc, Bull and Driscoll come in and sit.  We ball our trash and the barrel is passed around.

Pres stands up.  “Half the Brothers went to Laconia.  I'll be flown in for the meet.  No one in High Security left, they want answers.  We need to move people around.  Max at Baxter’s was shot yesterday.  He’s doing ok.  It was the same set up as with Bob.  For some reason the head of Family Security is being singled out.  What the fuck this has to do with Baxter’s is still a mystery.  The leads on the trucks and the car are played out, telling us nothing.  They were stolen from different cities, all a week before they were used.  Ben from Baxter’s is running into the same thing, all stolen.  HS is handling Family Security and we will alternate teams.  Bob, I need you to keep the schedules running.  No one is to know he’s still running it, we’ll run everything through Driscoll first, then Tiny, then Bull, then Rich, then VP.  Everything needs to get to Bob.  That will happen through written reports; get your info to someone on the compound and we’ll get it to Bob.  Every three days we switch who’s in charge.  The teams will be informed of who’s in charge during their daily meet.”   He looks around.  Everyone nods.

VP stands and Pres sits.  “Rich, split the teams in half every day, mix em with Security.  The other half will work on leads and the odd shit happenin.  Danny, you’re on HS every day.  Need to get your top guy in place to take it over for you.”

“On it, VP.”  Danny says while typing something on his iPad.  Everyone smiles.  He takes orders the same way every time and he's never told twice.

"Bob, you're workin light.  Come to Security, get work done then leave.  You work from home, show for three or four hours.  You take Security everywhere."  Fuck.  I nod.  "Know you are Security, right now you’re with a tag."

"Yeah, Brother."

Pres looks at me.  "Any news on the leg Mitch is building?"

"Not yet.  I'm not healed enough so I couldn't use it anyway."

"No, Brother, the one like the brace for Amanda.  Said you could be walking with a cane instead of the crutches."

Doc laughs.  "It was a surprise.  The doctor is due this afternoon.  You suck at keeping secrets, Pres."  Everyone laughs.

Pres runs his hand through his hair.  "Fuck sorry, Brother."  I can only smile.  I'll be walking with two legs.

"Fuckin good news."  VP says.  I nod.

Pres stands again.  "Once Rich gets the schedules done he'll get them to you.  I've got nothing else until something breaks.  Does anyone have anything?"

"Whore said someone is asking questions at the Plank.  Trying to get with the whores.  She's nervous because of the last one coming up missing."  Driscoll says.

"Geek’s watchin the feeds now."  VP tells him.

Driscoll nods.  "Was an Associate that noticed."

"That's good.  We have more than one report.  Make sure you're listening to everyone, even if you think we have it, bring it to us.  This is when we'll miss the important shit."  Pres says.  We all nod.  "Anything else?"  No one has anything.

I'm anxious to get home but I don't think I can drive.  I look at Tiny.  He throws me chin, thank fuck I don't have to say it.

Danny stops me at the door.  "Bob, when does your doctor release you?"

I turn, "Six weeks."

"Don't push it, Brother but we need your help.  If you do two hours here that will work for the message we want sent."  Pres says.

"I was going to ask if you could put some time in with Cloud.  Little Ben asked for more training at the range.  Everyone is flat out."  Danny watches for my reaction.

"I can do an hour at a time."  Fuck everyone is waiting for me to get out of the doorway.  I move back in.  "I'm not sure about driving the kids though."  I don't want to admit it but I just started using the new pedal today.

"I get that, took me a while to have kids as passengers too.  I can have them brought up, I think it's just five of them.  I'll let Cloud know.  He's at Baxter's helping run leads down, he'll be off our schedule for a few more days."

I nod.  "If you get me a time a couple of times a week, I'll work the meds around it."

"I will, Brother.  I'll see you tonight."  He slaps my shoulder and walks out pulling his phone.

I make it out the front door and to the stairs.  It dawns on me that going down is way different than up.  I'm fuckin shaky on the crutches because of the meds.  If I swing out too much, I’m going down face first.  Tiny moves in front of me and Doc moves to my side.  "Going down is worse than up." Doc says with a hand on my arm.

"I was just thinking that."  I get two steps in, it fuckin pulls on my back and I stop.

They stop too.  "Still got the back pain?"

"Yeah, Doc."  I'm glad he notices that shit because I wouldn't tell him.  I get down the last four and steady myself.  Fuck.

"PT starts tomorrow morning, she'll be over at eight and do forty five minutes.  Let her know about your back so she can plan around it."

"I will.  Thanks, Doc."  I make it to the truck and hand Tiny the keys.

He pulls into the road and I have to ask.  "How did you know?"

He smiles watching the road.  "When I first made it into the Brotherhood, my mentor lost his leg in an accident.  Told me all the shit that was hard for him.  Use to make me walk in front of him whenever he went down stairs.  He was a good Brother until then.  He started drinking and killed himself with the bottle.  He wasn't like you and Danny.  He fuckin whined all fuckin day.  By the time I was moved into High Security I hated the fuckin guy."

"Fuck.  Thanks for the help.  I didn't realize there would be a difference going down."

"Danny took care of the other things you probably wouldn't realize too.  There's a bench in your closet.  Bars in the bathroom.  Chair rail in the bathroom and closet for you to hold, it sticks out more and is in solid.  Little things that will make it easier and keep you from having to rely on the crutches or cane before you get your leg on."

I laugh.  "I noticed it all this morning, mostly because I used it.  That and the bar on the shower ceiling."

"He's fuckin smart.  He walked through picturing one leg and getting from one place to another.  Even got in the tub and tried to get out with one leg.  That's why there's a shelf behind it.  He put the chair rail and bars at the same height he would need.  When you're ready, Baxter's will have you a robotic.  He put a plug on the side of the bench for the holder.  Fuckin guy thinks of everything."  He pulls up to the gate smiling.

"Fuck, I don't know shit about what I need or how this will work.  I need to fuckin Google it."

He laughs pulling into the driveway.  "You don't need to Google it.  We got your back, Brother."

I smile.  "Always.  Love the fuckin Brotherhood."

He walks toward his house while I get in and hit the alarm.  I'm smiling; I need to thank Danny for the fuckin ramp.