Broken Tide | Book 4 | Backflow

by Richardson, Marcus

  Lavelle Residence

  Bee’s Landing Subdivision

  Northwest of Charleston, South Carolina

  It took the entire day to plan the party, but by sunset, most of Bee’s Landing had gathered at Harriet's house. They walked in from all corners of the subdivision in ones and twos, and whole families. Cami had watched them gather as the sun sank lower and lower toward the horizon. Someone lit tiki torches around the corners of the yard and the mellow light created an inviting, relaxing environment.

  Cami stood on her front porch, arms wrapped around a big mixing bowl full of a macaroni salad she’d made from a boxed mix. The party looked…dangerous. So many people gathered together, so many people with guns, so many criminals…

  Amber stepped up behind her with vegetables from their harvest. "What are you waiting for, mom?"

  Cami blinked as she stared at the long, tree-lined driveway across the road that led to Harriet Spalding's house. Where the man who’d attacked her own house and set fire to Marty's place currently resided. The same man who had only the day before assisted Cami and a number of volunteers in defending the neighborhood from a group of imposter soldiers hell-bent on taking everything they had.

  "I'm waiting for reality to set in, I guess…” Cami muttered.

  "Well, you can wait here all you want," Mitch called out as he stepped between them onto the porch and adjusted his shirt. "But I'm ready to party." He slicked back his hair and winked at Amber. "I heard Traci and George are bringing their instruments. We’re going to have us an old fashion hootenanny."

  Cami looked at Amber askance. "A hootenanny?"

  "What?" Amber shrugged as she stepped around Cami and joined Mitch. "The Addisons—they got a guitar and a violin—“

  “Fiddle,” Mitch corrected.

  "It's gonna be fun,” Amber said, not missing a beat. “Come on, mom, we can do square dancing…”

  Footsteps behind her made Cami turn, and she smiled at Gary and Elizabeth. Since they’d returned from Rolling Hills, her old friends had been attached at the hip. It did her heart wonders to see two people in love reunited after the tsunami. The sight gave her hope that Reese would still come home one day.

  "Are you ready for this?" asked Elizabeth softly. Her hair had been pulled back into a single braid through which Amber had woven wildflowers. In one of Cami's old sundresses, Elizabeth looked the picture of health and mature beauty. Next to her, Gary had shaved his beard and dressed in one of Reese's old Hawaiian shirts. He looked completely different from the bedraggled, desperate man whom she found peeking in her windows almost two weeks earlier.

  "You two sure clean up nice," Cami said with a smile.

  "You’re not so bad yourself," Gary replied, then quickly coughed as he took the playful elbow in the ribs from Elizabeth.

  "Well, I suppose we better get this over with," Cami said. She stepped off the front porch like a soldier, off to do her duty, followed by Gary and Elizabeth, while Mia and the boys brought up the rear. Once across the street, the boys took off screaming toward the sound of a guitar in the distance and the squeal of other children as they ran through Harriet's yard with an inflatable beach ball.

  "Boys! Wait—“ Mia ran forward, stopped, than turned to Cami. "Sorry, gotta go!" She turned and sprinted after them, her lightweight dress flapping in the breeze behind her as she ran, laughing.

  Cami turned to Gary. “Would you mind taking this?” she asked as she offered the bowl of macaroni salad. “I need to go get Marty."

  "Not at all."

  "Would you like us to wait?" asked Elizabeth.

  “Nah, don't worry about it. I'm sure it'll take him a couple minutes to get across the street." Cami smiled. “Besides, you two look like you can’t wait to party.”

  "We'll meet you there, then," Gary said. They turned and walked off down the driveway, hand in hand.

  Cami was almost to Marty's front door when it opened. He stepped out, nodded at her in greeting, and shut the door behind him. "Why you got that look on your face, missy?” he growled as he locked the door. “Didn't expect me to meet you outside, huh?” When he turned around from the door, he smiled, but Cami saw that it didn't reach his eyes. He looked tired—better than when she'd last seen him that morning, but still dangerously tired for a man of his age.

  She stuck out her arm, and Marty slipped his arm under hers. "I really appreciate you coming with me to this thing, Marty."

  "Well, I don't appreciate you dragging my tired bones out of the house for this soirée.”

  “But?" Cami prompted as they reached the road.

  Marty stopped to catch his breath. He stumped his cane on the asphalt. "But you made a good point. There ain’t no better way for us to get some rock-solid intelligence on these criminals Flynt’s hanging with." He shook his head as they shuffled slowly across the street. "No, sir."

  It took them another five minutes to make it up the driveway, and the foot-stomping music grew steadily louder as they approached. The smell of roasted venison permeated the air like a fine fragrance and made her stomach complain loudly. Cami couldn't help but smile at the jovial atmosphere. Several people walked by and thanked her, wishing to shake hands with the leader of Bee’s Landing.

  “Aaah, no…I’m—I'm no leader," Cami said over and over again. All she wanted to do was get some of the mouth-watering food she smelled. The aroma of grilled venison made her realize how hungry she was and her fingers itched to pull apart the succulent meat.

  "Don't let her get away with that humble modesty,” Marty said to one man who approached. “She organized and planned the whole thing.” He patted her hand affectionately.

  Cami blushed, but accepted the gracious thanks of everyone who came by to speak to her. “Why are you putting all this on me?" she asked under her breath as they approached the main group of revelers.

  “Hey, Cami!” someone called out. “You gotta try this—“ he handed her a plate of venison, lightly basted in sauce.

  "Because the longer we keep the attention focused on you, the easier it'll be for me and the others to slip in and figure out what's really going on," Marty muttered as he declined a plate of food.

  Cami smiled at the people around her as she put the first morsel of venison in her mouth. She closed her eyes in bliss. Whoever had cooked it knew what they were doing. The meat was flavorful and delicate, it seemed to melt in her mouth as she chewed.

  As they reached the main group, the music paused, and Harriet stepped up onto the deck at the rear of the house. The last time she'd done so, with this many neighbors in attendance, was the night of the last HOA meeting.

  Cami frowned. The smile on Harriet's face was directed at her, but she knew the woman was up to something. She mentally prepared herself for an ambush, and her free hand slowly dropped to the holster at her hip. Despite the fact that it was a party, Cami had insisted everyone in her group go armed. Mia—the only one who hadn’t had any formal firearms training whatsoever, was the only exception. She had her hands full with the kids anyway, so Cami couldn't completely depend on her if things devolved into a firefight.

  “May I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen?" Harriet called out in a ringing voice. The music died down, and the loud conversations dwindled. Heads turned to look at Harriet, before someone whispered that Cami had arrived. Spontaneous clapping broke out, and everyone turned to cheer the savior of Bee’s Landing.

  "I have the esteemed honor," Harriet yelled over the clapping and cheering, her face contorted with irritation, but determined to pull through her moment in the sun. "To welcome Cami Lavelle to our celebration!"

  The crowd roared at Harriet's words, which elicited a beatific smile from the former traitor of Bee’s Landing.

  She stepped out into the crowd and worked her way through the people who pushed forward to shake hands with Cami. Eventually, the crowd parted and Harriet stood before her. The congratulations died down to a whisper as everyone watched what would happen between the two women who h
ad become bitter rivals in such a brief span of time.

  "Cami, I know things have…not been easy between us." Harriet looked down and smoothed her bright floral dress with her hands.

  Cami swallowed. Harriet's hands were trembling. When she looked up, her eyes were wide, and a tremulous smile graced her mouth. "I just wanted to say that…I’m sorry…for anything I may have done in the past. I realize that you've almost single-handedly saved this neighborhood and everyone in it. We couldn't possibly be here if it weren't for you—and I just feel…I’m just so sorry that I had any part in anything that might have caused you grief."

  Cami held her tongue. She—and most of the people in the crowd—knew that Harriet was the one directly responsible for goading Flynt into attacking her house. But…it was probably the closest she'd ever get to a direct apology. Thinking of what Reese would do, Cami smiled and hoped wherever Reese was, he'd smile with her.

  Cami reached out her right hand and Harriet took it quickly in both of hers. "Everything that happened before the battle needs to be buried, Harriet. We’re all in this together. Every day that we survive," she said as she looked around the crowd, “is a new day full of new challenges. I don't know what I'm doing—“ She held up a hand as people around her begged to differ. "I'm no military commander, I'm just me.

  “Thank goodness for that!” A female voice that sounded suspiciously like Amber’s called out in the crowd. A round of applause broke out and Cami smiled awkwardly, still holding Harriet’s hand.

  “My point is, we don't have the luxury of having petty rivalries," Cami said, unable to resist the barb at Harriet. For her part, Harriet nodded in acceptance. That surprised Cami—perhaps she was sincere after all?

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Harriet said.

  “And we need to work together to make sure that everyone of us has a chance to see that next dawn,” Cami continued. “And that our children grow to remember this time as just a speedbump in the overall span of their lives, and not the defining moment…or the end of everything. It's up to us—all of us—to do that. And I say we should start right now, with this party!"

  Everyone cheered, and when Harriet and Cami raised their clasped hands over their heads, the cheer grew into a roar. People came up to shake both of their hands and clap everybody on the back. They were offered drinks of sun tea, sweetened with precious sugar and dehydrated lemon slices.

  As Cami mingled with the congratulatory people who approached her, she noticed with alarm that Marty had vanished. The sly old fox had been true to his word. While everyone had focused on the speeches, he’d slipped into the background and disappeared. For that matter, so had Amber, Mitch, Gary, and Elizabeth. She spotted Mia on the periphery of the crowd smiling and cheering like the rest of them, but only for a moment—she turned and ran off after the boys once more. Her sons had made friends with the simpleminded giant Flynt called Jon Boy, and the three of them ran around like two ducklings following a rhino.

  Cami gave in to the congratulatory handshakes and worked her way through the crowd toward the house in no particular pattern but seemed to meet everyone in the neighborhood.

  "Merle!" Cami called out. The man who'd been sick the week before turned at the sound of his name and revealed his tragically frail wife. Amy was on her feet, though, and she used a cane, but she was alive. Both of them were pale and skinny to the point that Amy appeared skeletal, but they both smiled and their eyes were bright and clear. Cami rushed forward and stood between them both, enveloping them in a big hug.

  "I'm so glad to see you both!" She stepped back and took Amy's hand. "How are you feeling, dear?"

  Amy nodded and swallowed. Her lips were cracked and parched, but it didn't stop her smile. "I'm fine, thanks to you. A little weak—and still hungry and thirsty—but I wouldn't be here if—”

  “Don’t say it,” Cami laughed. “A thank you will suffice,” she said with a wide smile. She’d heard far too many if it weren’t for you’s already.

  Merle hugged Cami again, his tears wet and warm on the side of her neck. "You saved my wife, Cami" he muttered into her hair. "I'm never going to forget this."

  Embarrassed, Cami thumped him on the back, but couldn't say any more before she was whisked away by someone else who wanted to say thank you. She lost track of time, but it felt like hours had gone by before Cami finally found herself alone in a corner of the gathering and able to think.

  The glass of sweet tea in her hands only contained the dregs of a dehydrated lemon slice and a few drops of amber tea. She looked down at the glass and sighed. Somewhere along the time she'd sipped it all while listening to the stories of the people in the neighborhood who looked at her as their natural leader.

  "There you are," Mitch said as he sidled up next to her and gave her a fresh glass. He took her empty and smiled. "I've been meaning to find you."

  "What's up?" Cami asked with a smile.

  "There's a couple people here that no one seems to recognize…” Mitch said under his breath while smiling at one of the volunteers who’d manned the roadblock the day before. They casually waved at each other and then he turned back to Cami. "He's been hanging out over there on the other side of the house. I didn’t get a good look at him, but I don't live here, so I casually asked a couple people if they knew who he was. It’s startin’ to set off alarm bells with me, but nobody else seems to notice. He looks familiar, though.”

  Cami arched an eyebrow and took a sip of the sweet tea. “Familiar? How?”

  Mitch grunted. "It's hard to tell in the dim light from these tiki torches, but Cami…Amber thinks he could be one of the guys that jumped us back when all this mess started."

  Cami's heart skipped a beat, and she looked at Mitch. "Are you sure?"

  "No, dang it, I can't be sure…it's too dark and he won’t come out of the shadows. He's just hanging out back there…and every now and then he's on this side of the house or the other side. He's just watching. I don't think he recognized me at all."

  "Where's Amber?"

  Mitch pointed across the rambunctious gathering. "Over there, she went to go tell Darien."

  Cami's eyes widened. "Alone? Why didn’t you go with her? And what she's doing trying to track him down, anyway?"

  "She thought it was a good idea to bring him in on it, since he's kinda like the co-leader, you know?" Mitch said as he backpedaled. "She didn't mean anything by it—“

  Cami thrust her fresh drink into Mitch’s hand and stormed off. "I'm not worried about how it looks,” she snapped. “I’m worried he might double-cross us and I won’t be there to protect her!"

  Cami politely, but firmly forced her way through the crowd—someone had broken out a case of vodka, rum, and whiskey and the party was in full swing. She passed up several drinks pressed into her hands by eager revelers until she could force her way over to a knot of men that surrounded Flynt. Amber and a few other of the volunteers stood nearby, engaged in conversation with the men Flynt had brought to the neighborhood.

  She spotted the shining dome of Flynt's bald head as he moved between a couple of the larger of his crew and talked with Amber. Her daughter had the wide shouldered man by the arm and pulled him toward the back of the house. Cami pushed forward through the crowd and knocked over one person by accident.

  “Hey!”

  She turned back to say she was sorry, but the others had already begun laughing, as they helped the man to his feet and fetched him a new drink. “Sorry!” she called out over her shoulder, but the crowd had already merged in her wake and he’d disappeared.

  Cami sprinted through a clear gap and made it around the house to find Amber, John Douglass—the hunter who'd provided the delicious venison for the party—and Darien Flynt peering into the shadows.

  “…over there, last time I saw him," Amber was saying as Cami ran up.

  Flynt looked at Cami and nodded. "You know?"

  "Yeah," Cami said, breathless. "Mitch just told me. He thinks it's the guy that jumped them a coupl
e weeks ago.”

  "Yeah, not the big fat one, the skinny one,” Amber said. “He’s the one Mitch knocked down. He looked like he was strung out on something.”

  Darien checked himself and looked at Amber. "He looked like a drug addict?"

  "Yeah,” Amber replied. “All skinny and wiry. Constantly scratching at his arms. This guy’s doing the same thing. He was—there he is!" Amber said as she pointed.

  Darien peered into the darkness, and so did Cami. Sure enough, a shadow moved at the end of the house as someone pushed a tree branch aside and slipped around the corner.

  "Spanner!" Flynt called over one shoulder.

  One of his men stepped forward. "Yeah?"

  "I think that meth-head is back."

  "No joke?" asked Spanner. He pushed his half empty drink into the hands of a passerby and turned back to Flynt. "Where? I got a score to settle with that little—“

  “He just looked around the far corner of the house,” Flynt said. “You go that way and flush him out."

  "You got it, I'll bird-dog ‘im,” Spanner replied. He turned and jogged around the opposite side of the house and disappeared into the crowd.

  Cami followed Flynt as he marched around the front of the house toward the stranger’s last position. She turned to Amber as her daughter made a move to follow. “No, you're not coming—“

  “Why not? If it is that guy, I have every right to be there when he gets a beat down—I'm the one that got mugged, remember?"

  Cami's mind raced—she needed a new tactic to dissuade Amber from being present at whatever was about to happen. She couldn't keep an eye on Flynt and the new threat to the community if she had to worry about Amber as well. “That's not what I'm talking about. If something’s about to go down, there's going to be a ruckus—I don't know where Marty got to, but somebody needs to stay with him. If he gets knocked over...

  Amber frowned. “Dang it, he's as bad as a two-year-old." She looked up and nodded. "All right, I'll go get him—but make sure Mr. Flynt doesn't do anything to that punk. I want a piece of him, too!”

  Cami turned and sprinted after Flynt, who'd just rounded the corner. When she caught up to them, Spanner was picking himself up off the ground. "What happened?"