Fight 4 Us (Book 11): Access

by Grenda, Brian

CLICK!

  I hear a click over the walkie-talkie, and I guess DK turned his walkie off, so I turn mine off.

  I run my fingers over my eyes and start to get nervous about meeting DK in person and wonder if it was the best decision.

  I look at my notebook, pick up my pen and write, “Just had the weirdest talk with a guy that calls himself DK. He seems unstable, he may suffer from bipolar disorder or some other psychological condition. I’m worried that he will attack my group and community.”

  I exit Bobby G’s house and see Shaun, Matt, Jon, and Phil sitting in lawn chairs and talking inside Shaun’s garage.

  Shaun sees me looking at him and the guys and shouts, “How’d it go?”

  I walk across the street and enter Shaun’s garage.

  “How’d it go Ry?” asks Jon.

  I hesitate to answer, and Phil takes notice of the expression on my face and demeanor.

  Phil jokes, “That bad huh?”

  I gather my thoughts and answer Phil, “DK wants to meet in three days at World of Trade.”

  “Okay, what else did he say?” asks Shaun.

  “He’s weird. He said that Jacob won’t be at the meeting, and Jacob won’t be around World of Trade for the next week or two,” I answer Shaun.

  “Is he planning to overthrow Jacob?” asks Matt.

  “Why wouldn’t he just do that himself?” asks Jon to Matt.

  “What does he want from us?” asks Phil.

  “I don’t know, he said he wanted to be able to trust us and he threatened me and then he apologized for his threats and stabbing me,” I answer the guys.

  “He sounds like a nut job,” jokes Shaun.

  “I don’t want to make enemies with DK, he might help us with Jacob, and I think DK is dangerous,” I say to the guys.

  “Who do you want at the meeting?” asks Phil.

  “We only have four badges to get into Level 2 at World of Trade and that’s where he wants to meet,” I answer Phil.

  “Is it smart to meet him there?” asks Jon.

  Phil looks at me and says, “It’s pretty smart as they don’t allow ammunition inside World of Trade, but they allow knives. As long as we stay a good distance away from DK, we should be fine.”

  “That won’t look weird if we are standing five feet away from DK and shouting to him,” says Matt.

  “Where is the meeting at in Level 2?” asks Phil.

  I answer Phil, “The food court.”

  Shaun gets a huge smile on his face and says, “I have to go to this meeting. I haven’t been in a mall food court in years. I hope they have that awesome chicken sandwich place in there.”

  “Easy their fat boy. We need to be smart with the meeting and do it right,” I say to Shaun.

  “What about Bakari and William?” asks Jon.

  I look at Phil and say, “Get in touch with both of them over the radio and satellite phone, but be careful what you say. Setup a meeting with them tomorrow if possible as we meet with DK in three days.”

  Phil stands up from his lawn chair and walks towards the back wall inside Shaun’s garage and tries to get in touch with William and Bakari over the radio and satellite phone.

  “But who’s going with you inside Level 2?” asks Shaun to me.

  “You can definitely come Shaun, but let’s see what Bakari and William say about the meeting and we’ll develop a plan,” I answer Shaun.

  Shaun smiles, gets excited about the food court inside Level 2, and he pictures a plethora of restaurants and food items being available to him at the food court inside Level 2 at World of Trade.

  CHAPTER 2

  HOPE YOU WON

  It’s raining outside. The rain outside is coming down heavier and heavier as I talk with Phil after our run this morning. “He said any time after nine,” says Phil to me as I stand with Phil inside our Medical house.

  “What time you think everyone will be ready to go to the Haven?” I reply to Phil as I look at some medical supplies inside our Medical house.

  Phil looks out a window from inside the Medical house and answers, “We have to wait for the rain to stop.”

  I put a box of gauze onto a bedside table inside the Medical house and reply to Phil, “If the rain stops.”

  Phil can sense that something is bothering me and asks, “What’s up Ry? You seemed off this morning during our run and since we came in here.”

  I look at the medical table that Bobby G died on and think about that day when I found my father in the street, tried to save him, and the last time I saw my father alive.

  “I’m just worried about the endgame with all this. Like how this will all end and who actually survives,” I answer Phil.

  Phil steps away from the window, inside the Medical house, and replies, “I don’t know but we gotta stay positive and keep working together.”

  “I’m trying to but it’s getting harder and harder to stay positive with all the shit that keeps happening to us,” I say to Phil.

  The rain stops coming down on the roof of the Medical house, Phil smiles, and says to me, “See, the big man upstairs turned the rain off for us.”

  I exit the Medical house with Phil and ask, “Or did the weather system just run its course?”

  I stand with Phil outside of the Medical house front door, lock the front door, and Phil responds, “I’m glad you are locking this house up now.”

  “Yeah, you lock up the Armory house?” I ask Phil.

  Phil nods his head and answers, “Of course. You can’t be too careful with things around here now.”

  I walk with Phil towards his house, now that the rain has stopped coming down, and I say to Phil, “Let’s plan on going to see William around ten.”

  “I’ll get everyone together and meet you at Shaun’s at ten,” replies Phil.

  I exchange a goodbye handshake with Phil and say, “Thanks Phil. I’m glad you and the guys are here with me.”

  “Me too Ry. Well, maybe we don’t need Matt,” jokes Phil.

  Phil and I laugh at Phil’s joke and then Phil goes into his house and I run back towards my house.

  As I’m running home, I see Shaun walking with Chewie on the opposite sidewalk across the street.

  I stop running and Shaun stops walking.

  Chewie sees me and he wants to dash over to me, but he is on his leash and Shaun keeps Chewie from running towards me.

  I notice Chewie trying to run towards me, but Shaun isn’t letting him.

  “Let Chewie come to me,” I say to Shaun.

  “You sure?” asks Shaun.

  “Yeah,” I answer Shaun.

  Shaun bends down and unclips Chewie’s harness from the leash that is in Shaun’s left hand. Shaun is hesitant to let Chewie go and keeps a hand on Chewie’s harness.

  “Let’s see if he does the thing,” I say to Shaun.

  “You sure?” asks Shaun.

  I get frustrated with Shaun and shout, “Just let him go!”

  Shaun reluctantly let’s go of Chewie and Chewie makes a mad dash across the street and sprints towards me.

  I look at Chewie and brace myself for Chewie to jump into my arms.

  Chewie leaps into the air towards me, but he slips and miscalculates how much force to have jumped with. Instead of jumping into my waiting arms, Chewie is now flying directly towards my groin.

  BOOM!

  Chewie lands face first into my groin and lower abdomen. I am partially able to protect my groin and private parts, but Chewie’s impact takes me to the ground.

  “My nuts,” I jokingly say as I put my forehead down onto the wet grass.

  Shaun starts laughing and he runs over to me and Chewie.

  I laugh as well, as it was funny, and I’m not hurt.

  “I asked if you were sure,” says Shaun to me before he helps me up from the ground.

  “I think we need to work on Chewie’s jumping a little more,” I joke to Shaun.

  I pet Chewie on his head and joke to Chewie, “A little more lift next time boy.”<
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  Shaun, Chewie, and I walk towards my house and I say to Shaun, “We are going to the Haven at ten.”

  “Sounds good,” replies Shaun.

  I make it to my house and I’m about to walk towards my house when Shaun stops me and asks, “Can I ask you something Ry?”

  I look at Shaun and answer, “Of course. What’s up?”

  Shaun looks me in my eyes and asks, “What can we do with Lisa around here?”

  “What do you mean?” I ask Shaun.

  Shaun answers, “Like for a job or something. She keeps bugging me to go out on a run and for me to work with her on things, but I’m scared to let her leave this place.”

  “We’ll come up with something for her but remember happy wife happy life bro,” I say to Shaun.

  Shaun smiles, and replies, “I heard that. I’ll see ya at ten.”

  I enter my house and I hear Fran coughing in her bedroom.

  I wash my hands in my kitchen sink and Fran keeps coughing loudly. The doctor in me is concerned for Fran’s health, and I decide to go check on Fran.

  KNOCK! KNOCK!

  I lightly knock on Fran’s bedroom door.

  “Come in,” says Fran.

  I enter Fran’s bedroom, see Fran sitting up in her bed, and ask, “How are you doing?”

  Fran coughs and I joke, “That good huh.”

  “I’m actually feeling much better now, but I have this cough,” answers Fran.

  “I think we have some cough medicine around here. I’ll be right back,” I say to Fran.

  I exit Fran’s bedroom, enter my bedroom, and quietly enter my master bathroom.

  “Is she still coughing?” asks Lauren with a half asleep tone while she lies in our bed.

  I grab the cough medicine from my medicine cabinet, exit my master bathroom, and answer Lauren, “Yeah, she’s coughing up a storm in there.”

  “Her fever broke last night, and I think she’s feeling better though,” says Lauren.

  “She just has a cough now,” I say to Lauren.

  COUGH! COUGH!

  Lauren and I hear Fran coughing in her bedroom from across the house.

  “I’ll be right back,” I say to Lauren before I exit our master bedroom and enter Fran’s bedroom with the cough medicine.

  Fran takes the cough medicine and I say to Fran, “That medicine should help you sleep. I gave you the drowsy formula.”

  “Good, I’ve been up coughing all night,” replies Fran.

  Fran gets back into bed, and I see that Fran looks much better than yesterday, but I’m still concerned for her.

  “How you holding up Ryan?” asks Fran with her new raspy voice.

  “I’m hanging in there, I just want to make sure you are doing okay,” I answer Fran.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay. I might be little, but I’m a fighter,” replies Fran.

  “Oh I definitely know firsthand about that,” I reply to Fran.

  “You are doing a good job Ryan. This place and everyone here wouldn’t be anything without you,” says Fran.

  I smile, and instantly think about everyone in Citrus Oaks after hearing Fran’s compliment.

  “Thank you, but we are a team and this place is strong because of all of us here. Especially you,” I reply to Fran.

  “Yeah right, all I do is work in the garden, cook, and clean around here,” says Fran.

  “And we appreciate all that you do. This place would be a mess without you, and we’d go hungry if it wasn’t for you and your cooking,” I say to Fran.

  Fran smiles, and closes her eyes.

  “Get some rest. We need you strong around here,” I say to Fran.

  “Yes sir. Goodnight,” replies Fran.

  I exit Fran’s bedroom and close her bedroom door, so Milo and Callie don’t bother Fran.

  I enter my kitchen and I’m met by Lauren.

  “Did you and Phil get caught in the rain this morning during your run?” asks Lauren.

  “Not really, we ran into the Medical house when it started to get bad,” I answer Lauren.

  Lauren makes her morning oatmeal and makes one for me as well.

  “What was the final count on medicine and supplies?” I ask Lauren.

  Lauren puts her bowl of oatmeal in the microwave and answers, “I have the tally on the paper on the counter.”

  I look at the piece of paper that is sitting on part of the kitchen counter and look over the totals of our different medical supplies, medicine, and prescriptions. The numbers seem low for some categories as I look at the list and I get concerned at what I’m reading.

  “We should be okay for a little while longer with what we have, but I’m not sure how long our meds will last,” says Lauren.

  “We have so many over the counter anti-inflammatories, but we need to find a lot more antibiotics, and prescriptions,” I say to Lauren.

  “Where can we get those though?” replies Lauren as she removes her bowl of oatmeal from our microwave and places mine inside the microwave.

  I put down the medical inventory list and answer Lauren, “We might have to go check out a couple pharmacies or something around here.”

  “What’s the plan today?” asks Lauren.

  I enter the dining room and set the table for breakfast.

  Lauren enters the dining room with our bowls of oatmeal, and I answer Lauren, “We are going to see William today and I think Bakari might meet us there also.”

  “Oh man, the meeting of the minds,” jokes Lauren.

  Lauren and I start to eat our oatmeal and enjoy the morning together.

  “What’s your plan for today?” I ask Lauren.

  Lauren finishes her oatmeal and answers, “I want to make sure my mom is doing better and that’s pretty much it.”

  “Do you know of anything that Lisa could do around here?” I ask Lauren as I finish my oatmeal.

  “What do you mean? She looking for a job?” asks Lauren.

  I take our empty bowls of oatmeal and place them in our sink, walk back into our dining room, and answer Lauren, “Shaun is worried about her and he thinks she needs a job around here.”

  “Well everyone needs a purpose. I’ll talk with her while you guys meet with William,” replies Lauren.

  “You are the best,” I say to Lauren.

  I take a shower, write a little bit in my man cave, and then meet Phil, Jon, and Shaun in Shaun’s garage just before ten in the morning.

  “Lauren is going to talk with Lisa,” I say to Shaun.

  Just as I finish the statement, Lisa enters Shaun’s garage.

  “Talk with me about what?” asks Lisa with an assertive tone.

  “Nothing, just to see if you can help her with a couple things,” I quickly answer Lisa.

  “Whatever she needs me to do, I’ll help her,” replies Lisa and then Lisa enters Shaun’s house through the door that leads into their laundry room.

  “Good save bro,” says Shaun.

  “You better get everything under control with Lisa,” says Phil to Shaun.

  “I’m trying, but it’s getting pretty tough. She wants to come with us and go out on runs,” replies Shaun.

  “What’s wrong with that?” asks Jon.

  “What do you know Jon? Your wife is happy staying inside our walls,” replies Shaun.

  “I guess so, my wife is great,” replies Jon with a smile on his face.

  “Where is Matt?” I ask the guys.

  “I’ll go check on him,” answers Phil and then Phil runs next door to Matt’s house.

  “Nice medical list by the way,” I joke to Jon.

  “How did you know I wrote that?” asks Jon.

  I give Jon a grin and we both smile.

  “I think you should work with Lisa and train her,” says Jon to Shaun.

  “I just can’t lose another part of my family,” replies Shaun.

  Phil runs over to Shaun’s garage and says, “Matt’s out.”

  Shaun says, “Fuck that guy.”

  I lau
gh at Shaun’s statement.

  “Let’s load up then,” says Phil.

  Phil, Jon, Shaun, and I put our stuff into the electric truck that is in Shaun’s driveway.

  Shaun gets into the driver seat, I get into the passenger seat, and Phil and Jon get into the backseat of the electric truck.

  “You guys ready,” says Shaun and before any of us can answer, Shaun drives towards the exit of Citrus Oaks and drives towards the Haven.

  “What’s the reason today that Matt isn’t with us?” asks Shaun.

  “Something with Kylie and he didn’t want to leave her and his mom,” answers Phil.

  I think about Kylie, Nicole, and delivering Mason and Mia.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask Phil.

  “I think so, Matt didn’t get into it, but he wished us safe travels and he said that he wasn’t coming today,” answers Phil.

  Shaun makes a right hand turn and I think about Danielle at the Haven. “I’ll have to see if Danielle can come by our place and check on Kylie, Mason, and Mia.”

  “Is she a kid doctor?” asks Jon.

  “She worked all over the hospital and I think she definitely has some training with pediatrics and labor and delivery,” I answer Jon.

  “I can’t believe you delivered Mason and Mia,” says Jon.

  “How does it feel Phil, knowing that Ryan was basically with Nicole?” jokes Shaun.

  Phil shakes his head, but doesn’t respond to Shaun.

  “It’s definitely not like that. You know it’s not like that Phil,” I say.

  “I know Ry. I was there with you when we delivered the babies,” replies Phil.

  “Why put that in his head?” I ask Shaun.

  Shaun drives up to the Haven’s main entrance, and answers me, “I was only joking around.”

  “What’s up fellas,” says Shaun to the Haven guards.

  “Hey Shaun, long time no see,” replies one of the male Haven guards.

  “How are things inside?” I ask the Haven guards.

  “Good, it’s been pretty quiet around here,” answers the male Haven guard.

  “Are my friends here yet?” I ask the Haven guards.

  “Friends?” asks one of the two male Haven guards.

  “I guess not. You’d know them if you saw them. They’ll probably be in all black SUV’s and they call themselves Ghosts,” answers Shaun.