by KJ Dahlen
An hour later, the Young family gathered at the steps of the courthouse. Silas, Tate, Creed and Lola, Jack and Kalinda with baby Rosa, Harry and Annie with their dog Jethro, Daniel and Kimber. Bear was still trailing the man John Jackson.
Jack grabbed Kalinda’s hand and dragged her up the steps. “Let’s get this done,” He fiercely told the people gathered there.
Just about the time they reached the fourth and final step, the sounds of motorcycles filled the town square. They all turned to watch as twenty more bikes rolled to a stop next to theirs.
Cobra sat there on his ride for a moment and finally said, “Now you weren’t thinking about doing this without the rest of us were you? We’re all supposed to be family aren’t we?”
Tate and Creed nodded. “Get your asses off those machines and get up here then. The Judge waits for no man. Even one named Cobra.”
Cobra gave him a wink and got off his cycle.
Within the hour that followed Kalinda Grace became Kalinda Grace Young. Her pale sundress sparkled in the hot Texas sunlight when they left the courthouse. Everyone was laughing and yelling, then as they turned around to go to their vehicles Kalinda and Jack stopped in their tracks.
Jack noticed the lone rider first. He grabbed Kalinda and pushed her behind him, taking a stance to protect her.
Silas, Tate, Creed, Harry and Daniel took their places on either side of Jack. The rest of them formed a circle around the women and tension grew as they all waited for someone to say something.
“What do you want here stranger?” Cobra called out as he walked to the front of the group to stand in front of Jack.
“I had to come,” Renegade said smoothly. Turning his head slightly he looked over at the pissed off biker next to him. “Your friend caught up with me and we had words.” Nodding at the man who’d done so, everyone turned to look at Bear.
Bear bore the marks of their “talk” on his face in the form of bruises and a gash over his right eye.
“You good Bear?” Creed called out not taking his eyes of the man called Renegade.
“I’m good boss,” Bear called out. “I think you should listen to what the man has to say.”
“Why is that?” Silas asked looking suspicious of the stranger.
“Because I’m her family too,” Renegade announced. His face bore some swelling and bruises as well. One of his eyes was blackened and he had a spilt lip. Dried blood ran down his face into his beard, coloring it dark red. “Come on out Kalinda. Let me see you,” he called out to her.
Kalinda moved around Jack and the others to face the man from her past. When he saw her, he called out to her in a language she should have known. “Nieodmienny dałaá Ndee.”
Echoes from her past slammed into her brain and she almost stumbled when they did.
He called out to her again and this time, she answered him, “Nieodmienny dałaá Ndee.” Then the memories crowded her mind and she felt weak from the strain of so many trying to hit her all at once. She stumbled and would have fallen if Cobra hadn’t caught her around the waist and pulled her into his body.
Jack was right there to snatch her out of Cobra’s arms and carry her to the shade of his truck.
Rosa was crying and Lola was trying to hush her while everyone stood around them in shock.
Jack glared at the man sitting on his bike. “What the hell did you say to her?”
Renegade shook his head. “I greeted her in Apache. It means one and all forever. I swear to god that’s all I said.” He looked around the group. “What is going on here?”
Silas sighed at the seeming mess and misunderstanding. “You’d better follow us home. We need to get her off the streets. This ain’t nobody’s business but hers and ours.”
Twenty minutes later, they all pulled into the clubhouse.
Jack parked as close to the front doors as he could get. Kalinda was still unconscious but she was showing signs of waking up. He went over to open her door. Gathering her in his arms, he carried her into the club.
Looking down into her eyes, he noted her eyes were open and looking back at him. He leaned his head down and gently brushed her lips with his. Then he set her down in a chair and knelt in front of her. “Are you ok?” he whispered.
Someone handed him a bottle of water. He twisted the top off and handed her the bottle.
She took a sip of the cool water and nodded. Hanging her head low she whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
Jack tipped her chin up and inquired, “What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong babe.”
She looked round at the other faces in the room. Expecting to see scorn and ridicule on their faces she instead saw concern. She licked her dry lips and took another sip of water. Looking at Jack she whispered, “You aren’t mad at me for making a spectacle of myself?”
Jack shook his head as he lifted his hand to brush her hair away from her face. “You didn’t do anything of the sort.” Sighing heavily he asked her, “Do you know him? Do you know what he said to you?”
Kalinda looked up at the man standing behind Jack. She thought she knew him but it had been so long since she’d seen him she couldn’t place him. Shaking her head she whispered, “I might have at one time but I don’t know him now.”
“I am your cousin John Jackson,” Renegade told her. “I am Hunting Wolf’s son.”
“I’m sorry but I don’t know those names,” she admitted shaking her head.
Renegade tightened his lips. “Where the hell did you go all that time ago? No one knew and we looked for you for a long time after you disappeared that night.”
Silas stepped closer. “What the hell are you talking about boy?”
Renegade shook his head. “This happened a long time ago. We were both just kids at the time. I was about eleven or twelve I remember that much. Kalinda would have only been about three maybe four at the time.” He began to pace back and forth as he told them what he remembered of a time a whole lifetime ago, “I wasn’t sure myself what happened that night but we were gathered for the passing of an elder in the tribe. Our people celebrate death with a passage ceremony as the soul leaves the body and begins its journey to the afterlife. I remember my father telling your father not to drink so much but your father wasn’t listening. He and your mother were fussing about something.”
“Wait, you knew my parents?” Kalinda asked in confusion.
Renegade turned to face her with sadness in his eyes. He nodded. “Your father was, umm is Joshua Moon. Your mother’s name was Luna, and you had a baby sister named Rachel.”
Kalinda raised her hand to her mouth. “Was? You said my mother’s name was... what does that mean?”
Renegade closed his eyes for a moment when he opened them his eyes were glittering with tears that he never let fall. “That night your father had too much to drink and he couldn’t handle his liquor. Something your mother said set him off and he began hitting her. Rachel was crying watching him hit her then he picked her up and he threw her into the wall. When she crumbled to the floor, your dad lost it. I don’t even think he realized what he’d done yet, he began pounding on your mom and before he knew it, people were rushing in trying to stop him. When everything was said and done both your sister and your mother were gone and no one could find you. You were just gone. We haven’t seen or heard from you since that night, nineteen years ago.”
Kalinda’s mind went blank as she thought about what she’d learned. Was that night what she’d been reliving in her nightmares? The fight between her parents that left both her mother and her baby sister dead? Who took her away that night? Who drove her from wherever they were all the way to Austin?
She remembered the drive and the scent of cloves as well as a pair of dark brown eyes staring at her in a mirror but she never saw his whole face.
“You said her father’s name is Joshua Moon,” Silas commented. “Does she have other family still alive?”
Renegade nodded. “Her dad has three brothers and his father is still alive
. Her grandfather is Michael, her uncles are Craig, James and Traven.”
“What happened to her father?” Creed wanted to know.
“He went to prison. Because he was drunk, he only got twenty years for what he did, instead of life. The Elders determined that because no one heard or saw the fight that the liquor was to blame. That twenty years is almost up.” Then his eyes widened and he turned to look at Kalinda. “But there was a witness wasn’t there? You were in the room that night. You heard and saw everything he did.”
“But I was only three at the time.” Kalinda shook her head. “I was too young to know anything.”
“What did the police have to say about all this?” Harry asked.
Renegade shook his head. “As a Native American we are a nation within a nation. We have our own police, our own laws and our own prisons. Because this happened on Indian land the white police were never called in.”
“That’s just not right.” Daniel shook his head.
“Well, you can blame our great white father for the laws he set up over two hundred years ago.” Renegade shrugged. “Those laws haven’t changed in all this time.”
“Are your people still looking for her?” Jack suddenly asked.
Renegade shrugged. “I don’t know. Most people have forgotten Joshua Moon. Right after he left, Michael moved out of town and his other sons went with him. Everyone knew why he left but he didn’t go far. His boys were always a little on the wild side but this was bad even for them.”
“Where did we live?” Kalinda wanted to know.
“We lived in West Texas, in a small town named Alpine. Most of the tribe still lives there. Luna’s family what little she had left at that time still lives there. She has an aunt and her dad is still alive. They pretty much keep to themselves now but when Joshua came up for parole a few years ago, they showed up and spoke against him. They were upset he only got twenty years for the crimes he committed that night. They fought to keep him in prison as long as they could.” He shook his head. “After his last hearing a year ago, someone ran your grandfather off the road. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt too badly but he never saw who was driving the other car. He ended up with a concussion and a broken foot. Because he was out in the wild for so long before he was found his ankle never was right after that. He now walks with a limp he’ll have for the rest of his life.”
Kalinda began trembling. She was remembering something that happened to her four and a half years ago. She looked over at Jack and found him looking back. He frowned when he saw the look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her softly.
“Someone knows I’m still alive,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?” his frown deepened.
“At the time I thought it was just an accident, I mean I never hurt anyone, I never thought about it before but before I met you, I was run off the road one night too. I didn’t even see the car before it hit me. He hit me hard enough to force me off the road and it was lucky I was able to get off the bridge I was on before the car flipped over. I was hurt but not all that bad. It was on a deserted road and it was dark out. When the car flipped the first time, the other car just kept going. I was alone out there for hours before the police came and got me out of the vehicle.”
“How bad were you hurt?” Creed asked.
She shrugged. “Not all that bad for the looks of the car. The car was totaled but I survived. I dislocated my shoulder and broke my arm. I was in the hospital for three days due to a concussion I had but that was because I didn’t have anyone to watch over me.”
“Where did this happen?” Jack asked.
“I was living and working in Austin.” She looked over at Renegade. “I was taken to an orphanage that night nineteen years ago. One just outside of Austin. It was a small place run by the nuns of the local church. At the time, all I knew was my first name. The nuns there told me I was traumatized so they gave me the name Kalinda Grace.”
Renegade began pacing again. “Oh, this isn’t good, its not good at all.”
“Why is that boy?” Silas asked as he narrowed his eyes at the tall Indian.
Renegade turned to face them. “Because if whoever dropped her off is looking for her, they might find her. They can’t let her live to tell the Elders about what happened the night her mother and sister died. If they find out that Joshua killed them for any other reason other than being too drunk to know any better, they could throw away the key and let him rot for the rest of his life behind bars.”
“But I don’t know anything about that night,” Kalinda interjected.
“And her father is right where he needs to be.” Cobra scoffed.
“You don’t understand, Michael wants his son out of prison and he’s the type of man that doesn’t take no for an answer. He’s moved out of town but he keeps his eyes open and he’s been bullying the others forever. Long before the day his son went crazy anyway. He even went as far as threatening the Elders to get his son a deal. He thought what happen should just go away, when it didn’t he raised particular hell for a very long time. When they passed down the twenty year sentence, Michael and his boys raised all kinds of hell but the Elders held strong.” He turned to Kalinda. “If they realize she’s still alive, they will come after her and you won’t be able to stop them.”
“The hell you say.” Tate growled. “She’s a Young now, and we protect our own.”
Kalinda let her tears fall. She knew now, what had festered inside her all these years. She might not remember the deed itself but now her nightmares made sense to her. She had been trying to remember what happened. If her father killed her mother and her baby sister, why hadn’t he killed her as well?
Shaking her head she thought to herself, something or someone stopped him from killing her as well. Someone had carried her away from the melee that night. Someone in a big blue truck, who smelled like cloves.
Someone had been watching her for a long time now and that made sense now. She’d had vibes for a while and this had been why. Her gut never lied to her and it had been right this time too. She feared for all of the Youngs. They didn’t back down and now they might have to take on a tribe of Apaches.... Over her?
She clung to Jack’s large steel like arm. They all had just fought a war to get their club back and their place in their hometown back. It had been bloody too. She let out a sigh. This one could even be worse.
She never wanted to bring war to his family.
Chapter Three
Renegade found himself outside the clubhouse a little while later. This wasn’t what he’d come to Killeen for but he was glad he had to stop for gas in this town. His hands trembled as he reached inside his pocket and drew out his pack of cigarettes. As he lit one up, he took a deep drag and exhaled the smoke from his lungs.
With his other hand, he reached for his cell phone. Dialing a number he knew all too well, he waited for someone to answer his call. His grandfather answered the call and he greeted the old man in his native language. “Hello grandfather, how are you?”
Micah Wolf chuckled. “As well as an old man like me can do. How are you?”
“I’m good. Grandfather, I am calling for a reason, a reason you may not want to hear but I would like some information if you have it.”
“What kind of information?” The old man sounded leery now.
“I need to know if you’ve heard anything about Joshua Moon recently?”
The old man was silent for a long time. Then he cleared his throat. “Joshua Moon finally got his parole last week. He will be a free man within the month. As no sign of his remaining daughter has been found in nineteen years, the Elders have given him an early release.”
Renegade tightened his hold on his phone. “How the hell did that happen? He murdered his wife and child in a drunken rage.”
“Son, the only one who knows what happened that night is still missing as far as we know,” his grandfather reminded him. “No one saw who took her away and we haven’t been able to f
ind her despite our many searches.”
“And if I can find her?” Renegade asked. “If I can find her and bring her home to tell her tale? What then?”
“Have you found her?” His grandfather asked.
“I don’t know yet do I? But what if I could find her?”
“Then I would fear for not only her life but yours as well,” his grandfather admitted. “I’m afraid when Michael Moon or any of his sons hear about her still being alive and coming back to testify against Joshua, they will not allow her or you to make it back here.”
“How do you know that?”
“The Moon family business has never been quite what it should be. No one knows what they do for a living exactly. It is understood that they run the saw mill but they haven’t worked that mill for some time now, but all four of them are driving brand new trucks and their house is a fortress. Michael owns two hundred acres of brushland, not enough land to make a decent living for a family of four, yet they seem to do it and they seem to do it very well. People come and go from their property all hours of the day and night. Fancy cars, most of them but no one can see what they are doing inside his gates because they have built a wall around their property and no one from town is welcome.”
“What do you think it means, Grandfather?” Renegade had to ask. “You are a shaman of the tribe, have you had a vision about the Moon family?”
“How did you know?” his grandfather asked.
“I know you. I know you of any of the tribe would be able to see beyond the walls.”
“Yes, I have had a vision and I have seen what they seek to hide,” he admitted. “Michael has turned his back on everything he knows about being Apache, about being one of the people. He holds the Coyote in his heart and the coyote has taken his soul. His four sons have followed his example. They are waiting for Joshua to be free before they act but when Joshua comes home, I see nothing but death.”
“Grandfather, you have to get out of harm’s way.” Renegade urged the old man. “You are all I have left now and I can’t bear to lose you.”