A man runs over to Gloria and Javier and he says, “I’m sorry Javier. She won’t do it again.”
I notice the man who is talking to Javier and it’s Gloria’s husband Carlos. “So this is where you came after you left us,” I say to Carlos and Gloria.
“After you got our kids killed!” shouts Gloria.
I look at Hector and Hector says, “I’m not going to say anything.”
Javier says to Carlos and Gloria, while still holding Gloria’s right forearm behind her, “You know better than to embarrass me. You will be dealt with later.”
“Handle your wife or we will,” says Javier to Carlos and then Javier lets go of Gloria’s right forearm.
Carlos and Gloria walk away from Javier and me.
“That dude is no joke, he runs a tight ship,” says Shaun to Phil in a quiet tone.
“I’m sorry for that. You okay?” asks Javier to me.
“Yes, thank you,” I reply to Javier.
“Follow me, I’ll take you and Dr. Vargas upstairs,” says Javier.
I look back at Shaun and Phil and joke, “Don’t break anything.”
“You either,” jokes Phil.
Hector grabs my arm, before I walk up the staircase, and says, “DK is pretty crazy, you’ll want to stay on his good side.”
“Come up here Dr. Briggs!” shouts Javier.
I look at Hector and Hector says to me, “Javi doesn’t like to be kept waiting. I’ll be in touch.” I walk up a steel staircase and meet Dr. Vargas and Javier. Javier opens the door for us, and we enter an office that has been turned into four separate rooms.
“Quite an operation you have going here,” I say.
“Thank you, we are surviving and getting things done still,” replies Javier.
“Come with me Danielle,” says Javier to Dr. Vargas.
Dr. Vargas goes with Javier into one of the makeshift rooms and a thin Spanish woman walks over to me.
“Are you Dr. Briggs?” asks the Spanish woman.
“Yes,” I answer.
“Please come with me,” replies the Spanish woman.
I walk with the Spanish woman and then enter one of the makeshift rooms. As I enter the room, I see two wounded young Spanish men.
Both of the Spanish men have wounds on different parts of their bodies.
“What happened?” I ask.
“They don’t speak English, but I can translate for you,” answers the thin Spanish woman.
“What happened to them?” I ask the Spanish woman.
“They were wounded during one of our recent trips out of the country,” answers the Spanish woman.
I look over the two wounds and say, “I need to clean out their wounds and then stitch them up. What medical supplies do you have?”
“What do you need?” asks the Spanish woman.
I open my medical bag and see that I have everything to help these two men. I say to the Spanish woman, “I have what I need to help these two, but do you have antibiotics?”
“Let me go check, but I know we were running low on meds,” answers the Spanish woman and then she exits from the room.
I put on rubber gloves and start to clean up the wounds on both of the young men. I examine the wounds and see that they are from either a knife or bullet and they aren’t bit.
“I’m glad you fellas weren’t bit,” I say to the two Spanish men. The two Spanish men smile at me, but I know they didn’t understand what I just said.
The Spanish woman enters the room again holding a small bottle of pills and says, “We only have this one bottle of meds left.”
“How many pills are left in there and what’s the dosage of them?” I ask the Spanish woman.
The Spanish woman pops open the top of the pill bottle and counts the pills. “Eleven, we have eleven pills and they are 30 mg,” answers the Spanish woman.
“Break them in half and give them each a half,” I say to the Spanish woman.
I finish stitching up the wounds on the two young men and they both say, “Gracias.”
I reply to the two men, “De nada.”
I exit the room with the Spanish woman, and I ask her, “What’s your name?”
“Ileana,” answers the Spanish woman.
“Nice to meet you Ileana,” I say.
“Like wise, we could use your help around here,” says Ileana.
I look at the room where Dr. Vargas and Javier went and ask, “Where is Dr. Vargas and Javier?”
“They are still in with Javier’s dad. He’s very sick,” answers Ileana.
I look at the storage cabinet on the back wall and ask Ileana, “Is that where you keep your medical supplies?”
“Yes, but we don’t have much,” answers Ileana.
“May I see what you have?” I ask.
Ileana walks over to the storage cabinet and opens the cabinet doors. I look into the cabinets and find bare shelves and minimal supplies.
“You will definitely need more supplies in order to help everyone here,” I say.
“We ran through a bunch of the supplies recently when we came back here,” says Javier as he walks over to me and Ileana with Dr. Vargas.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Where were you before?” I ask Javier.
Javier looks at Ileana and then back and me and answers, “On a mission far away from here.”
“How did he do?” asks Javier to Ileana.
“Very good, he patched up those two without a problem,” answers Ileana.
“Everything go okay with you?” I ask Dr. Vargas.
Javier answers, “My father is very sick, and we are trying everything that we can with him.”
“What does he have?” I ask Javier.
“More like what doesn’t he have, but he’s hanging in there for us still,” answers Javier.
“So did we pass your test?” I ask.
Javier smiles and answers, “The test isn’t over yet, but you are doing well so far.”
Javier walks towards another room and Ileana looks at Dr. Vargas and me and says, “Come with us.”
“You okay?” I ask Dr. Vargas as I feel that something is bothering her.
“I’ll tell you later about it,” whispers Dr. Vargas.
I enter the room that Javier entered with Dr. Vargas and Ileana. Javier pours some tequila into three shot glasses and says, “Let’s have a drink.”
Javier hands a shot glass to me, and Dr. Vargas but he doesn’t give one to Ileana. “Nothing for your wife?” I ask Javier.
“She’s pregnant,” answers Javier.
I look at the small figure of Ileana and say, “Congratulations.”
“That’s partially why you two are here. We will need your services going forward,” says Javier.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Let us drink first,” answers Javier as he holds his shot glass towards me and Dr. Vargas.
“To new partnerships and friends. Without people you can trust, you have nothing,” says Javier.
Dr. Vargas and I look at each other and then at Javier.
“Salud,” says Javier and we drink our tequila shots.
“Man, that’s good stuff,” I say to Javier.
“You like it, I’ll give you a case,” replies Javier.
“What will that cost me though?” I ask Javier.
Javier gives me a half smile and answers, “I heard you were a tough nut to crack.”
I see that Javier looks at a silver metal baseball bat on his wall after he answered me.
“I just figured you are the type of guy that wants something in return for a favor,” I say to Javier as I stand next to Dr. Vargas.
“You know Ryan. May I call you Ryan?” asks Javier.
“Yeah, Ryan is fine,” I answer.
“You know Ryan, you’re right but what’s wrong with that. I’m not a sucker. I’m all about benefiting myself, my family, and my allies with whatever we do,” says Javier.
“How can we benefit each other?” I ask Javier.
/> Javier walks over to a wall of glass windows that looks into the Factory’s open warehouse and answers, “That’s the question.”
“Do you want our medical services?” asks Dr. Vargas.
“Definitely,” answers Javier.
“But what do we get out of this?” I ask Javier.
Javier turns away from the glass windows and asks, “What do you want?”
“Allies,” I answer Javier.
“Allies for what?” asks Javier as he walks back over to Dr. Vargas and me.
“To run Tampa Bay,” I answer Javier.
Javier smiles and says, “I knew I was gonna like you. You see the big picture. I think this is going to work out very nicely for both of us.”
CHAPTER 17
I HAVE SOURCES
Bruce’s SUV parks in front of Shaun’s house. Shaun, Phil, Bruce, and William exit from Bruce’s SUV.
I sit inside the SUV with Dr. Vargas and ask, “What happened in there?”
Dr. Vargas gets a little choked up and starts to cry.
I hug Dr. Vargas and comfort her.
“His father is a zombie and he’s chained to a bed,” answers Dr. Vargas.
“You serious? I didn’t hear any groans or moans though,” I reply.
“Javier has his zombified dad’s mouth closed with a strap. His father is strapped to the bed with belts around his arms, torso, and legs,” answers Dr. Vargas.
“So that’s why it smelled so bad in there,” I say.
“Yeah, he’s looking for a cure for his father and he said something about going to Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico for possible cures,” replies Dr. Vargas.
“Did Javier hurt you or threaten you?” I ask Dr. Vargas.
“No, he was more concerned about his father and finding help for him,” answers Dr. Vargas.
I go to exit from Bruce’s SUV and Dr. Vargas grabs my left arm. I look back at Dr. Vargas and Dr. Vargas says, “He told me not to tell anyone and to keep it a secret.”
“Why?” I ask Dr. Vargas.
“I don’t know but don’t tell anyone as I don’t know what he’ll do if people find out,” answers Dr. Vargas.
“Everything okay in there?” shouts Shaun from his driveway to me and Dr. Vargas.
“Please Ryan, let’s just keep this between us for now,” says Dr. Vargas.
“I will,” I say to Dr. Vargas and then I exit from Bruce’s SUV.
“Everything okay in there?” asks Phil.
“Yeah, she was just asking me something medical,” I answer Phil.
“So you saw the Factory and met with Javier. What did you think?” asks William to me.
“It was a pretty big operation they got there, and I think Javier sees the benefit of keeping us alive, so we should be okay with him,” I answer.
“Javier and his people are very dangerous. I would recommend keeping them on your good side Ryan,” says William.
“They had a lot of weapons, supplies, and food in there,” says Shaun.
“We got two new bakers at the Haven, you should come check out their creations,” says William to Shaun.
“No way, I definitely will,” replies Shaun.
I thank William and Bruce for the meeting today and ask, “So what’s the plan for you and the Haven?”
“Just keep doing what we are doing and keep helping people,” answers William.
“Have you run into people that didn’t want your help or caused problems for you?” asks Phil to William.
“Of course, but we can’t save everyone,” answers William.
“Did anyone else notice the lack of zombies around St. Pete?” I ask.
“Not really, but now that you said that I don’t remember seeing a zombie around the Factory,” answers Phil.
“I guess Javier and his people cleared them all out,” says Shaun.
“Javier is a very capable person and he could have,” says William.
“But Javier told me that he was away for some time though,” I say.
“He had a bunch of people at the Factory Ry,” replies Shaun.
“I guess so, but St. Pete is a pretty big city and who knows how many zombies were there,” I say.
“We must get back. I’m glad things went well today. We’ll be in touch,” says William to Shaun, Phil, and me and then William and Bruce enter Bruce’s SUV.
I watch Bruce exit Citrus Oaks and then talk with Shaun and Phil inside Shaun’s garage for a little bit.
Jon and Matt come over to us as we talk inside Shaun’s garage.
“We have to get this water situation under control,” says Matt.
“Why? What happened?” asks Phil.
“Well, we saw a couple alligators swimming around flooded streets, and they are getting closer and closer to that gun shop you guys went to,” answers Matt.
“Not to mention the cheetah we saw the other day,” says Jon.
“What? A cheetah?” asks Shaun.
“Yeah, it was on one of the camera feeds that Mike has access to,” answers Matt.
“I gotta see that,” says Shaun.
“Oh, now you guys are onboard with me and the orange house,” says Matt.
We all look at Matt and see if he’s joking or not.
I look at Matt and say, “We’ll have to meet this Mike guy and see what he’s up to.”
The main entrance gate of Citrus Oaks opens, and a car drives down the street after being checked by our guards.
The guys and I watch as the car parks in front of Shaun’s house and two people get out.
It’s Brad and Eric that exit from the car.
“What’s up guys?” asks Brad.
“You tell us. What’s up with the unexpected visit?” I answer Brad.
“We got some time to be away as Sal was meeting with someone away from Channelside,” answers Brad.
“How are you guys enjoying the electricity?” asks Matt to Brad.
“How do you know that?” asks Eric.
“I have sources,” answers Matt.
“How do you have full power in Channelside?” asks Jon to Brad.
“I don’t know really, but Sal met with someone and then we got full power. We aren’t just running on solar now,” answers Brad.
“Nice, well that’s good though,” I say.
“What happened with Faith? I met with her yesterday and she said you two talked with her,” says Brad.
“That chick is crazy. She pulled a gun on us,” replies Shaun.
Brad smiles and says, “She’s a tough one, but she’ll come around. I’ve known her for a little while now.”
“How do you know her?” I ask Brad.
“We know some of the same people in the medical field. She has had it rough. Her daughter was taken from the stadium and she lost her parents and husband. She’s all alone,” answers Brad.
“What do you mean her daughter was taken?” I ask.
“Taken as in grabbed and taken away,” answers Brad.
“Why? Who took her?” asks Phil.
“We don’t know, but when they started doing genetic testing at the stadium and other locations around here, people went missing. Some group started taking people and kids away, and we aren’t sure where they went or who the group was,” answers Brad.
“Sounds like the government to me,” says Shaun.
“Here we go,” says Jon.
“What, I’m sure the government is taking people to rebuild the population,” says Shaun.
“Eugenics,” I say.
Everyone looks at me and I say, “Sorry, but it could be a group taking people based on their genetics. It’s an old principle called eugenics.”
“Why does that term sound familiar?” asks Phil.
“It’s written in the black book that Pastor Cower had on him. That church may have a part in this as well,” I answer Phil.
“That church was creepy. A bunch of white people, some with scars on their faces, and it totally had a cult vibe to it,” says Shaun.
�
�But we are here to set up another meeting with Faith at the stadium. I told her that you are good guys and that you may be able to help her,” says Brad.
“Help her? With what?” I ask.
“With finding her daughter,” answers Brad.
“What the fuck? We aren’t bounty hunters or detectives,” I say to Brad.
“Well, I was working on becoming a detective actually,” says Phil.
I look at Phil and shout, “That’s not the point! The point is that we have a shitload of things going on around here and I’m not sure finding a missing person should be added to our list!”
“I’m sorry but Faith could help you guys as well. She has an in with the people who run the stadium,” replies Brad.
I take a deep breath and say, “Sorry for shouting, but it’s just been crazy around here.”
“I understand, but maybe you could send two or three people to the stadium again and your other people could work on the other projects,” replies Brad.
Phil looks at Shaun and asks, “You want to go back to the stadium?”
“You know I’m down,” answers Shaun with a smile on his face.
“When does she want to meet?” asks Phil to Brad.
“I’ll be in touch and then let you guys know when she’s available,” answers Brad.
“What should we do about the water and the gun shop though?” asks Matt.
I look at Matt and Jon and ask, “Can you two handle it?”
Jon looks at Matt and asks, “What do you think?
“We’ll take Jaws Junior with us and we’ll get it done,” answers Matt.
“Take another guard or two as well,” I say to Matt and Jon.
“Okay,” replies Jon and then Matt and Jon say goodbye to us and then walk away from Brad, Shaun, Phil, Eric, and me.
“How are things at Channelside though?” asks Phil to Brad and Eric.
Eric looks at Brad and Brad answers Phil, “They’re coming together.”
“We might need your help with something pretty big one day,” says Eric to Phil.
“We’ll be in touch,” says Brad and then Brad and Eric get into Brad’s car.
I look at Shaun and Phil and we watch Brad exit from Citrus Oaks.
“Detective? Detective Phil Barone,” says Shaun.
“Sounds pretty good,” replies Phil.
“I’ll see you guys later. Keep me posted if anything happens around here,” I say to Shaun and Phil as I walk away from them and then enter my house.
Fight 4 Us (Book 11): Access Page 18