Beginning of the Reckoning

by Vera Quinn

  Tommy It has been almost eighteen months since we have heard anything from Karen and I know she is going to pop up one day and mess up everything we have accomplished.

  Cam and Trent are still prospecting but are going to be patched in soon. My job is great. I love working on cars. Some Saturdays I even get to take Callie with me and she loves helping me. She said she is going to grow up to be a mechanic like me. My boss even bought her her own coveralls with her name on them. She’s a little grease monkey. We finally finished the renovations on the house, but now we may lose it. Cheryl ran off with an ex of hers, but she’s back in town and wanting the house in the divorce. Women, go figure. Grandma Sue moved in with us to watch over Ty and Callie. Yeah, Cheryl left Ty when she left. Really broke the little guy’s heart.

  Ty and Callie have been playing ball. A Saturday on the ball field brings back memories of when I played ball. They are both in martial arts. Now Callie is starting dance. Her friends Sarah and Hanna are both in the class, so she wants to be, too. Felix feels left out but he is in ball and martial arts. I need a calendar for her social events.

  Today I get to take her to her first dance class. A bunch of little girls in pink tutus. How did I get wrangled into this? Oh, now I remember, she’s my responsibility. I just hope we get out of here on time. I have my first date in months and I can’t be late. If I don’t get laid soon I’m going to combust from frustration. Now I know why you need to wait until you’re older to have kids. They definitely take a lot of time.

  The instructor comes in and its time for me to leave until this is over. “Mr. Monroe, it is customary for the parental figure to stay for the first session. Could you please take a seat? I’ll show you things for her to practice at home after the class unless you pick it up during the class.” I know she did not just say that. I have to stay and she thinks I can remember ballet stuff. Wrong man here.

  “I’m sorry, I will stay and watch but I doubt I will remember any steps. Can’t she just do them here?” Surely she can understand I’m a man, not a ballet genius. “Mr. Monroe, do you want Callie to succeed in ballet? It takes practice. Practice she has to do at home and properly.” Well shit. Now I feel like an idiot. I will do the best I can for her.

  “Ok, I will stay and pay attention.” I feel like I’d just gotten in trouble from my teacher.

  “Very good Mr. Monroe.” She is very prim and proper to be teaching such young children. An hour and forty-five minutes later we are done and on our way home. My mind is jumbled with everything they did today. We stayed an extra fifteen minutes for me to get pointers on how to help Callie.

  As soon as we walk in the house my cell goes off and I flip it open. Tamera is calling. Maybe she got off early. I listen to her but it only pisses me off. She’s cancelling on me again. Double shift. Well I guess this means another night alone. Well not alone. Just at home.

  Grandma Sue has had a long day, so I call in pizza to be delivered. Cam is in the backyard playing catch with Ty, and Callie automatically wants to do the same thing, so out we go.

  At least this is something I understand. We practice for about an hour and the pizza arrives so we break to eat. We have the kids washed up and sitting at the table and are discussing our day when Callie all of sudden speaks up.

  “Uncle Cam, Tommy learned to ballet today.” Oh crap. I am not going to live this down anytime soon.

  “What do you mean he learned to ballet?” Cam just has to know. I want to wipe that smirk off his face. “My teacher showed him how to help me to turn. He looks cute doing it. Don’t you Tommy? You learned didn’t you?” Callie looks happy about it so I can’t make her sad.

  “Yes Baby Girl, I learned how to do your turns so I can help you at home when you practice.” There, it is done. Let Cam laugh at me. At least my sister is happy. “Tommy will you show uncle Cam? You do it better than I do.” I am not doing it. No way.

  “Come on Tommy, show me. Callie will be sad if you don’t. Come on.” Cam is loving this. He’s such an ass. “Tommy there is not hing wrong with helping your sister. Be proud you are not too proud.” Grandma Sue always seeing the good. Maybe she’ll help me get Cam back as soon as I do this.

  “Ok, Callie but you’re doing it, too. Let’s show Uncle Cam.” So I get her up with me and we do the turns and then I hear the laughter and turn around. There stands Trent, Blake and Whiskey. Well shit. Cam is fighting his laughter.

  “Why are you laughing? Tommy is doing it right. Are you laughing at me? I know I’m not good.” Then Callie bursts into tears. All the men stop laughing and I scoop her up and try to sooth her.

  Cam comes over and takes her from me and gives her kisses. Blake comes over and pats her back.

  Trent finally tells Callie “We were laughing at Tommy, sweetie. He doesn’t look cute like you.” She finally perks up “Uncle Trent, will you take me next week? Please?” Trent looks shocked. Callie usually always picks Cam after me. You can see the smile spread across his face once he realizes she chose him.

  “Of course I will, Baby Girl.” Trent thinks he just won a prize.

  Then she makes her way over to Blake, “Uncle Blake will you take me next then?” Then he starts smiling.

  “You know I will. Anything for you.” Blake looks quite full of himself. “Aren’t you going to ask me Baby Girl?” Cam looks almost offended. He’s not used to Callie picking someone else besides me. “No Uncle Cam. You didn’t laugh at Bubba, they did.” We all look puzzled. “Well anyone that goes with me has to learn what I do so they can help me practice. Uncle Trent and Uncle Blake both laughed at Bubba and that is not nice. Now they will have to learn, and I wouldn’t want anyone laughing at you Uncle Cam.” Callie sounds so sincere.

  Whiskey almost falls out of his chair laughing. He has tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. “She got you both. Oh shit! I can’t wait to tell everyone. A little girl not quite five years old took you both. Callie girl, you are going to be something else.”

  With that Callie runs and jumps in his lap and kisses his cheek. “I love you Uncle Whiskey.” “I love you too, sweetheart, but I am not taking you to dance class. If you need to go I will send someone, but I love you girlie.” Whiskey gave her a big hug. Yes, Baby Girl had my back, too. Love that kid.

  Tommy

  Things are going great. I have some money in the bank. I just redid the motor in my old truck, and I just bought my first motorcycle. Nothing big and fancy. Just something used to fix up. It is a Harley. As if there is anything else.

  Trent and Cam have been patched in and I am going to prospect for the club. Blake decided it wasn’t for him right now.

  Cam kept custody of Ty and kept the house in his divorce. Cheryl left town after Whiskey had a heart to heart with her. Baby Girl is doing great. She has her little friends and her activities. She is really smart in school. We haven’t heard from Karen and I’m waiting for her to just show up one day.

  Today I go to court for full custody of Callie. Mr. Hankins said it’s just a formality, but I have my fingers crossed. With Karen you never know. Mr. Hankins has the paperwork ready for me to sign to let Cam take over custody if something happens to me. We had the temporary thing but this will be more concrete. If everything goes off today like it’s supposed to, then I can concentrate more on my personal life. More companionship definitely needed. I didn’t want to give Karen anything to use against me. I’ll think about this later. First things first. Time for court.

  One hour after walking into court I am walking out and the weight of the world has been lifted off of me. I now have full custody of my baby sister and I signed the papers for Cam, so I am set. Next week I start prospecting and everything is going forward for us, for once. At nearly six years old, my sister can finally breathe easy. We have this.

  If I had only known what would be happening to us the next week. I would have held on tight to my baby sister.

  Cam Tommy had to go out of town to help transport some trucks his boss is going to rebuild and sell. I am
going to go and pick Ty and Baby Girl up from school. It’s the end of the school year, so today they get out early. I was available so I wanted to pick them up and take both of them to get an ice cream and then they can go spend the rest of the afternoon with the other club children. We mostly keep them away from the clubhouse, but Whiskey is there and wants to see his grandchildren. Yes, he thinks of Callie as his little granddaughter now.

  We haven’t had a female child in our family for three generations. So she is the irs now, too. Bourbon and Rye have done the same. She has a way of wrapping all of us around her little fingers. She’ll be six in a little over a week and it’s hard to believe Ty and her are growing so fast. Next year Ty will go into third grade and Callie into first. Time is passing so fast.

  I have Ty and I go to Callie’s room next. When I get there I stick my head in the door and Callie’s teacher knows me instantly. But she has a strange look on her face. “Mr. Black, Callie’s mom picked her up around ten this morning. Her papers were all in order so we released her.” What the hell?

  “What do you mean her mom? Who?” I am beyond pissed. It is beyond me a school would let someone else take Callie without calling one of us. “Callie said her name was Karen. I th ought it was odd she called her by name instead of mom, but Mrs. Monroe explained it was a game they played. She had a note signed by Mr. Monroe and we tried reaching Mr. Monroe by phone. The principle allowed it.” She passed that buck off real fast.

  “Mrs. Tate all I can tell you is if one hair on Baby Girl’s head is hurt, everyone will pay. Look at your papers, Mrs. Monroe has no access to her daughter. None.” I get my phone out and call Dad. Then I call Tommy. No answer from Tommy. Probably no service where he is. Then I do the one thing I thought I would never do. I call the Sheriff’s office and make the report so they can get it on the wire.

  Where could Karen have taken Callie? Callie has to be scared. I call grandma to come and pick Ty up. He is worried about her too, and it is only upsetting him. He has seen the damage Karen can do. I try to calm him by giving him encouraging words but my heart just isn’t in it. I know I’m lying.

  I go to the parking lot to wait on everyone. Whiskey is the first one ther e. He’s glad I called the law even if he doesn’t like them. They are necessary this time. Grandma is here next and you can tell she has been crying. I reassure her even if I don’t believe it. I kiss my boy good-bye and hug him tight.

  I keep trying to reach Tommy. After two hours he finally answers and I was right. No service. He turned right around and is on his way back. I could tell the news destroyed him. Bourbon and Trent have gone to meet him. That way he won’t be alone and go off on someone. Dad has everyone out beating the pavement looking, and calling in all favors to get Baby Girl back before she is hurt too much.

  By the time Tommy is almost home we have checked every place we know. Then it comes to me. We find T-Bone we find Karen. I let Whiskey know and he sends Rye and me to get him. When I get my hands on him I will put him to ground if he’s hurt our girl.

  We approach the rundown apartment complex T-Bone keeps his whores in. The word is that this is where they are at. We sneak up without being detected. We called for back-up. I hear the bikes pulling up in front, and Rye has texted them. I see Blake come up behind me. The others are going in the front and we are taking the back. Some grungy looking man comes running down the hall with his pants undone. Rye gets to him first and he shoots him in the kneecap, we don’t want him going anywhere just yet. The man goes down hard. I kick him in the face as I walk by and blood goes everywhere.

  As I get to the door I push it open slowly. I step in with my gun pulled and look behind the door. The room is dark, probably black-out curtains. I try to find a light but I can’t find one. I hear whimpering though. I finally find a lamp but I nearly knock it over. I feel around the neck of it and finally find a switch to flick it on. When the light comes on I gasp. Baby Girl is in the bed with very few clothes on and her eye is black and she has bruises. I can’t believe what nearly happened. I yell and Blake comes in and when he sees Callie he goes back in the hall and I hear a gun go off. Blake has gotten a little justice. Now we need Karen and T-Bone.

  I pull Callie to me but she is sluggish and tries to fight me. It’s like she doesn’t recognize me. Then I look at her eyes. The son of a bitches drugged her. I flip my phone up and call dad. I let him know we need a ride. No way would I put Baby Girl on a bike. I also fill him in. We need to get her to the ER. His last words chill me.

  I walk out and our ride gets here. Rye looks to me and asks what dad said and I tell him. “Burn it. Burn it all, and when you’re done go and burn everything T-Bone holds dear. You see him or Karen put them to ground and then burn them, too.” When Whiskey has a message to give, he does it big. Karen has just signed her own death warrant. All of the BlackPath MC would be after her, no matter how long it took.

  Tommy

  By the time I make it close to home, I have had hours thinking about what could have happened today. I’ve talked to Cam and I know how he found my baby sister. I could kill Karen for the way she traumatized Callie, and I know how much worse it could have been.

  Right now I just want to concentrate on how to help Callie. Once again I have to ask my little sister to be strong. Stronger than a lot of adults can be. I just hope she has more left in her to follow through. If Karen is not dead now, she will be soon. It’s the only way Callie and I will have any peace at all in our lives. I know this now. The woman is pure evil and she directs it all towards Callie.

  I see the hospital ahead and I feel anxious to get there. I just need to feel her safe in my arms again. Cam said she hasn’t talked yet and her eyes are showing no emotion at all. They sedated her and she is sleeping now. I want to get to her before her nightmares begin. I know she’ll have them. She can’t even get peace from Karen in her dreams. It’s been some time since she has had one, but with today’s events I know they’ll be back. I want to be there to hold her through them. I know Cam will take care of her, but I just need to get to her.

  Trent just turned into the hospital parking lot. We can’t get parked fast enough. I don’t know what I would have done without Trent and Bourbon today. We put Trent’s bike in the trailer while he drove back. I point to the drive in front of the hospital and I guess Trent already had that thought, because he stops the truck in front of the entrance and I hop out and take off in a sprint for the elevator. I get in and hit the third floor button and it seems like it takes forever to come to a stop and the doors to open. I see Cam talking to a doctor and I can’t get there fast enough.

  “Mr. Black, I’m telling” I cut him off. “I’m Callie’s brother, doctor, can you tell me how she is?” I know I’m abrupt and pushy, but right then, I could give a fuck less. The doctor looks shocked at my behavior.

  “I was just telling Mr. Black that she will be asleep until morning with the sedative we gave her. She didn’t have any sign of head trauma so I thought it would be best for her to sleep for tonight. She did not have any signs of sexual assault. She was fighting us, so I thought the sedative was the way to go. She has some bruising and abrasions on her torso, buttocks, and face. Nothing that won’t heal, but her mental state is another subject all together. She has been severely traumatized. Tonight we watch her and we will know more when she wakes in the morning. I would suggest you get some rest. You’ll need it for tomorrow, because that little girl is going to need you both. I hope you’re ready for it.” With that he turns to leave. Cam and I go into Callie’s room.

  I see Callie lying in a hospital bed, again. I have let her down, again. I promised her I would protect her. I should have never left her. I know Karen is unpredictable. I’ve had a feeling for the last few weeks she was going to try something. I should have taken Callie with me, or just not gone at all. She is mine to protect. How can I make this up to her? How can I expect her trust me again? No child her age should feel unsafe. No child ever should feel unsafe.

  “Stop it, To
mmy. This is not your fault. No one can predict what that bitch will do. You had to do your job. If it was your fault, then it was mine, too.” Cam always knows what I’m thinking. I know Trent and Blake always have my back but Cam is the brother I never had. We can always tell what the other is feeling.

  “Cam, she is my sister. My responsibility. It’s my job to protect her.” There’s nowhere else to lay this blame.

  “That’s a shit thing to say. I love her as much as you do. She may not be my blood but she is mine, and you can’t take that away from me.” I know Cam is serious. “Or me.” Blake and Trent are standing at the hospital door, half in and half out. “Me, either and I’ll kick your ass if you try. She’s always been all of ours and that will never stop.” Trent is as serious as the other two.

  “Ok then, what do we do about Karen? She can’t hurt Baby Girl anymore.” We have to find a way to stop her.

  “We will if it kills us.” Cam is serious. If he only knew a month later he would regret those words.

  Tommy I’m lying beside Callie and she starts to shake in her sleep. I know the dreams have started. I don’t know if I should try to wake her or let her sleep until she wakes screaming. The doctor said she needed her rest, but how can this be good for her? To be trapped in her nightmares with no way to escape. I place my hand over her heart and it is beating a little fast. Though she’s shaking she looks peaceful. I just keep my hand on her and watch her face. If I see distress on her little face I am waking her. I can’t stand this. I look over and Cam is asleep in the recliner. He doesn’t look very comfortable. His big body is almost too big for the chair. Then I hear the slight whimper coming from Callie and I know I can’t wait any longer so I gently tickle her tummy. This is the way I usually wake her for school. That way she wakes with a smile on her face.

  “No! No! No!” Callie is yelling out and I try to get just as close as I can and sooth her. Her eyes aren’t open yet, but she is fighting someone in her dreams. Cam comes up out of the chair. He almost goes face down on the floor but he catches himself.