I climbed into the truck and drove off to school. I kept a steady eye in the rear view mirror but didn't see anyone, so I chalked it up to my over active imagination.
Arriving at school, I went about my day never once thinking about being watched. What I did think about though was those stupid copper eyes, with that stupid black hair.
School went as suspected, lots and lots of memorization was in my future because I had a midterm in two of my four classes next week. Sighing I headed to my truck and got in. Hearing paper crinkly under my butt, I lifted up and pulled a white paper free. It was folded into fourths on white regular computer paper. Carefully opening it, I read and re read it not comprehending what I was seeing. What the hell. What did this even mean?
The paper only said a few words, “Tell the sniper he has a pretty baby."
What in the holy hell was this supposed to mean. And why was it on the seat of my locked truck?
Thinking that sitting in an empty parking lot all by myself wasn't the best of ideas, I headed to work.
All the way to work I wondered what the note meant, but brainstorming was racking up a big zero in my head. I would ask James next time he called. Pushing this out of my mind I pulled into my normal parking spot and walked inside.
After clocking in, I walked to the counter to see if any parts needed delivered. Caleb, who was working the counter today handed me a slip and went back to his phone call. I glanced down and my heartbeat sped a little. Score one for me! Parts to be delivered at Free!
I went out to the shop and had to have one of the hands to put the part in my truck since it was so heavy.
I drove to free in record time and parked my little truck as close to the bay doors as I could get. This part was seriously heavy and there was no point in carrying it any further than what was really necessary. Getting out of the truck, I looked around for someone (ok it was really me looking for Sam, but whatever) but didn't spot anyone.
"Hello?" I called out.
"Be right there, Chey." Max answered and so I waited.
Max came out of the very back a short time later and gave me a wide smile. He was too cute, a male version of Ember for sure. Both of them had carmel brown hair. Both of them were tall with long legs. Ember was the perfect build with nice sized boobs and lots of gorgeous curves that she knew how to work. Max was buff. There was no other word for it. He didn't have a soft spot on his body.
His muscles were almost obnoxious there were so many of them. He had short hair that was cut close to his scalp. A nose that was a little crooked and a wide smiling mouth. He came up to me and gave me a bear hug then placed me back on my feet.
"How ya doin' Chey?"
"I'm doing ok. Mom's leaving for a month long contract tonight. So ask me again in a couple days. Janie is an energy drainer; you might need to come check on me to make sure she hasn't sucked all the life out of me."
"Oh, she's not that bad! Call me if you need a break, I'll help any time you need it."
I smiled huge and said, "You better bet your ass I’ll take you up on that."
He laughed and rounded the end of the truck to grab the humongous part out of the bed of the truck. He lifted it with an easy flick of his wrist and placed it next to the bike that was being worked on in the first stall of the garage.
I waved goodbye then got into the truck. I was about to start it when I remembered the note. I got out again and walked back over to him and opened my mouth to say something and promptly shut it. I wasn't sure if it was even anything, but the note did get into my truck even when it was locked so I decided to ask anyway. Max looked at me expectantly.
"I got a note today. It was placed on the seat of my truck. The note itself was kind of weird, but nothing was written on it that was alarming. I just wanted to see if you had any ideas what it meant.” I explained.
He looked at me expectantly and raised his eyebrow as if to say, "And?"
I huffed out a breath and told him what the note said.
Immediately after he heard the word sniper he stiffened. His body was vibrating with tension by the end of the short description of what the note said.
He looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with someone, and I slowly turned around to find myself face to chest with Sam. My hands instantly turned clammy and I closed them in an effort not to reach out and touch him.
"Where were you when you got this note?" His deep gravelly voice asked.
"I was at school. Why?"
"Have you talked to James lately?"
"No, not for over a week. Again, why?" I answered huffily. I started getting annoyed with the questions and no answers. Honestly I was getting a little scared too.
Why was he asking about James?
"Do you have this note with you?"
"Yes it's in my purse. Hold on." I said as I bent into the open truck window and retrieved the note from my bag. Handing it to him, he flipped it open and read it, his eyes flickering over the page then coming back to rest on me.
"James is a sniper, Cheyenne. Has been since he joined the army. He was the sniper for our unit, and hasn't relinquished that position, even after I left.” He finally answered.
I looked over my shoulder at max and he nodded confirming Sam's answer as correct. It’s not that I don’t trust Sam’s answer, it was just that I wasn’t sure what to make of this.
"Ok, but what does this have to do with me. Why was it in my truck?"
"I don't know, but I intend to find out." he said. "Be careful and keep your eyes open. Let me know if something doesn't feel right to you, or if you need anything. Here's my number in case you lost it the last time." As he handed over a card and silently walking away back to wherever he came from.
I put the card into my pocket and turned to Max. He didn't have much more to say than Sam, but did say Janie and I could stay with him if we wanted to. I declined his offer, but told him I would call if I experienced anything else weird, and drove back to work.
What was that all about? They both acted like something really dangerous was written in the note. Unless they knew a whole lot more than they were telling me, which meant I needed to do some digging.
SAM
As she pulled out of the driveway I glanced at Max and said, “I’ll be in the office.”
He nodded gravely, and I walked at a fast clip into the office. I reached for the phone in my pocket and dialed James. He didn’t answer, so I left him a voicemail to call me back immediately. Hopefully he didn’t take as long as he did last time. A couple of weeks ago I called to confirm some last minute information with this new business, and it took him nearly a week to get back to me. I was used to this though. When I was active, we could possibly be black for months. I was lucky he got back to me that fast. Now, I was just hoping he got to me much faster that was normal.
This was bad. No one outside of our old unit, and James’ new unit knew that he was the team’s sniper. The higher ups didn’t even know. Our unit didn’t officially exist. The secretary of defense had his first officer form this unit, and only select few knew who and what we were.
When I was drafted for this unit, I was an officer with the Rangers. I graduated top of my class in Airborne, RIP, and then Ranger school. Luckily I had already taken over ninety college hours before I graduated from high school, so I was able to get my college degree, then apply for OCS, and was accepted. I rose through the ranks after OCS, and had just made first lieutenant with my old unit when I was noticed by Warren Kelley, the SecDef’s first officer.
We held off an attack at a post that was imperative to the Afghan government for over three weeks. Our Captain and four other members of the unit died before additional help arrived. Jack and I were able to hold the post, but only just barely. Our belief in the cause was shattered however. When Kelley offered us the chance to join this unit, we did deciding that we had nothing left to lose. Jack and I had joined right out of high school, and neither of us had much family. He had his dad, and I had my mom, but both had mo
ved on with their lives, and had other people besides us.
Our new unit was formed in a little over a month. It consisted of nine men: Jack, James, Gabe, Elliott, Max, Dougie, Justin, Malcolm and myself. I was appointed to Captain of the unit, much to my surprise.
Only a select few men knew who and what we were. We performed under the radar of all other military groups, and we were only called in when there was no other options. We were trained killers, and that was all we did.
This could only mean very bad things. I felt a sick bubble of fear knot into my stomach. Yes, this could only be bad. In the meantime, we would have to watch Janie and Chey like hawks.
CHEYENNE
The rest of the day seemed to crawl by. I texted Ember to see what she thought about the note.
Me: “So, I had a note placed in my locked truck today, it said, "Tell the sniper he has a pretty baby." What do you think that means? I mentioned it to Max when
I delivered some parts and Sam happened to be standing behind me when I told him. They both got really quiet and serious, but didn't tell me much of anything besides James is a sniper. "
Ember: "WTF. No clue. I’ll pump Maxypoo for more info. Think the note was talking about Janie?"
As I read her message my blood ran cold and all the blood drained out of my face. God I didn't even think about that.
Me: "Do you think she could be in danger?"
E: "I don't know CC. I’ll do some poking around. Maybe you should ask James when he calls next. "
Me: "I'll do that. LY. Ttyl.”
I contemplated this as I picked Janie up from daycare. I was extra vigilant to my surroundings and kept my eyes peeled for anything abnormal. But oh hell, what do I know about any of this? Frustrated beyond belief I busied myself with all the things that needed to be done
What I didn’t see was the man on the motorcycle sitting in the dark shadows by the side of the flower shop across the street.
I got Janie fed, bathed and in bed by 7:30. I started a load of laundry, cleaned my shower, and decided it was time to try to call James.
Dialing his number I wasn't surprised he didn't answer. He never did. I left him a message saying" Hey, it's me. I need to talk to you about something important. Call me back anytime as soon as you get this. I love you. "
I got ready for bed and made one last sweep of the house to make sure all the doors and windows were locked. I checked on Janie one more time and headed back to my room, but didn't close the door this time. I slept with it open, and prayed that I was over reacting.
A peeling shriek sounded in my ear and startled me out of a sound sleep. I looked at the clock to see that it was 3:27 a.m. Lifting my hand I grabbed my cell phone off the night stand and put it to my ear.
"Mmph-hellow?" was my sleepy reply.
James' voice sounded crackly in my ear "Hey Chey, sorry to wake you, but it sounded important. What's up?"
I am one of those sleepers who doesn’t wake up very easily. My brother and mom like to tell stories about what ridiculous things come out of my mouth when they wake me up out of a sound sleep. So it took me a while to get my bearings. James waited patiently, knowing I was trying to orient myself. I scrubbed my face with my hand and cleared my throat.
A little more awake now, I sat up and explained about the letter.
A very long silence sounded and I said "Hello?" to make sure we were still connected.
"Tell me again, and don't leave out any details." James demanded.
So I explained again, and then told him that Sam and Max knew as well and said they would look into it.
"So that's what Sam wanted. I had a couple calls and messages on my phone, but called you back first. I don't know what the fuck is going on Chey, but I will find out. Let me talk to Sam and I’ll get him to let you in on what is going on. I may be out of contact for a while. If you need anything go to Sam. He will watch over Janie and you. I've gotta go, I don't have much time, love you."
He hung up before I even said goodbye. His phone call just left me with more questions than answers. I hated this feeling. Tomorrow I would try to figure out more of what was going on.
SAM
“Yeah?” I said into the phone when it rang.
“What’s going on Sam?” James sounded worried. ”Chey just told me about the letter. Do you know any more about it?”
I sat up in the bed and said, “No. I don’t have anything. I made a few phone calls, but no one has any clue. I’m doing a little more digging, pulling some favors, but won’t know any more until tomorrow at the earliest.”
“Okay, I’m going black for a while. As soon as I’m done, I will see if I can get some leave. I don’t like this.”
“Me neither, man. I put a watch on them. They’ll have someone watching them 24/7.” I told him trying to give him a little piece of mind. I knew how hard it was to be over there and not able to fix anything or not able to help.
“Thanks. Gotta go, give me a call and leave a message if you figure anything more out. See ya.” He hung up.
Like I had just told James, I didn’t have any more information. I did however feel guilty that I had slept with his beloved baby sister whom he cherished. Yes, that was going to be a conversation for another time. He would have to get over it, because I didn’t plan on letting her go. She was mine.
CHEY
Three days had passed and I got no closer to figuring out what was going on. I went through the last three days even once stopping by free, but max just said that "Nothing had been figured out yet." And left it at that. I texted Sam, but he didn’t have any good answers for me either. I think he was hoping for something more from me than what I gave. His answers were clipped and stilted, like that wasn’t the questions he wanted to be answering.
On a positive side, I didn't get any more notes. I didn't feel like anyone was watching me. But something didn't feel right, like something was going to happen, I just didn't know what.
While in the middle of a parts run that was nearly out of town, I got a call from Nina, a worker at Janie’s daycare who worked the front desk.
“Cheyenne? This is Nina Baker. I have a lady, Anna Stevens, and she is saying she is Janie’s mother. I don’t have a consent form here for her to pick her up. Also I am not sure on whether she is even allowed to. So we would like to have you come up here and confirm her identity, and if you want her to be added to the list, we will need your brother’s signature documented on file as well.”
“Do not let her leave with Janie. She signed over her rights to Janie when Janie was a little over a month old. She does not have permission.”
“Ok, that is fine Cheyenne, but Ms. Baker is refusing to leave until she gets Janie.” She said worriedly.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can; it will be about 20 minutes. I’m going to call someone to see if they can get there to talk to her faster than I can be there. I’ll be as quick as I can.” I said hanging up to immediately dial Sam.
He picked up on the 3rd ring, sounding huffy when he finally answered.
“Yeah?” he said
“HI, it’s Cheyenne. I have a problem, and I don’t know who else to call.”
“What do you need?” he said, sounding all business now.
“I got a call from my niece’s daycare that her mother is there. She signed all of her rights-” I said before I was interrupted.
“I know all of that. Do you need me to go up there?” he asked
“Please, if you don’t mind. I’m still over fifteen minutes away, and I don’t want her to get anywhere near Janie.”
“Alright, I’m right around the corner.” I heard him say as his bike flared to life in the background.
“Thank you, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Later.” He hung up.
I let out a sign of relief and slowed down a bit now that I knew that Anna wasn’t going to be able to take off with her.
I arrived at the daycare to hear a woman screeching, and Sam’s low calm voice saying, “You need to st
ep outside.”
I raced up the steps and in through the open door to see a much older looking Anna trying to squeeze past Sam. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to move, and I wasn’t sure why Anna couldn’t see that. Nina was hovering in the background with a phone up to her ear talking to who I assumed were the cops.
I walked up to Anna and said, “You need to leave, Anna.”
She spun around and I got my first good look at her face. She looked like she aged twenty years since I last saw her. Her clothes looked like they had seen better days, and I was thankful that the daycare had such a good system in place that kept people from coming and taking the kids, even if they were the parents. I was also thankful that Sam had dropped everything and raced over here to protect Janie.
Anna gave me a sneer and said, “She’s my kid! I can take her if I want.”
“You haven’t seen that “kid” in almost two years, let alone the fact that you signed your rights away to her. You need to get lost before the cops show up.” I said rather calmly, even though I was feeling anything but calm.
She tried to force her way past Sam, but he just put his hand up to stop her and she did. She narrowed her eyes at him, and hauled her arm up like she was going to hit him. Lightning quick, he caught her hand before it could make contact, twisted it around and pinned her arm behind her back, all the while marching her towards the door. At that she came unglued and started struggling in earnest. It didn’t faze him. He picked her up by the arms and carried her bodily outside.
Once outside, Sam quickly let her go and pulled the door closed so she couldn’t get back in. He held the knob until Nina came up and manually locked it so no one could enter and exit. Sam turned and looked at me, asking with his eyes if I was ok.
I nodded at him, and gave him a small smile.
“What happened?” I asked.
“She was starting to head in the direction of the rooms when he got here.” Nina said while pointing at Sam. “He came in and blocked her way to the rooms, and I called the cops. She looked like she had been here before; she knew exactly where she was going. She had the code to the outer door and everything!”
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