Old Lady (Iron Disciples Book 2) (19 page)

“What the fuck?” I yell to Cade.

He ignores me and continues to drive like a wild man. He
hits the brakes, makes one more sharp left and nearly runs down a man with his
back turned to us. The guys turns around and levels what looks like some riffle
at us.

“Cade!” I shout as I duck, keeping my aunt’s head down in
my lap.

I hear the impacts of bullets on glass then hear and feel
a loud thud and a crash. We must have run the man down. Suddenly Cade hits the
brakes and we come to a screeching halt! I hear our door open and feel someone
getting into the front passenger seat. I keep my head down until we’re out on
the main road and out of apparent danger. I look up and gasp. The front
windshield is shattered and amazingly though is still intact. There’s a large
smear of blood across the middle of the windshield where it must have taken the
brunt of the hit on the body. I swallow back bile and close my eyes. My aunt
actually seems to be relatively calm. I guess Alzheimer’s has its advantages. I
open my eyes again as we make a sharp turn onto a gravel surface. We’re in the
back of an old house. There’s an old Honda Accord in the driveway. Cade and his
buddy get out and while Cade keeps lookout his buddy, Ratface busts the car’s
driver’s side window and gets in. Sixty seconds later we’re in the new car
driving where I have no idea, but hopefully to a place to hunker down and rest.
At some point all this crap is going to hit my aunt and she’s going to freak! I
don’t want to be speeding down the highway in a stolen car when that happens.

“Where are you taking us?” I finally ask.

“The Compound of course.”

“What? No fucking way. You can’t take my aunt there.
It’ll drive her nuts.”

“You talk like that hasn’t already happened.” He says, and
then flashes a quick smile. “She’ll be fine. She’s probably saner that half our
brothers. And besides, Ratface here needs medical attention.”

“What? He’s shot? I didn’t know that.”

“He just winged me.” Ratface growls.

“And you need that cleaned or it’ll get infected.” Cade
replies.

I look across at my aunt. She staring out the window and
seems to be talking to herself. That’s better than freaking out. But I have a
decision to make here. Is taking her to a biker lair, during a war, really the
best place for her? No fucking way! So the question is, is it better taking her
back to San Diego and the retirement community or is it better having her with
me at home at a time that I may be targeted for violence? As much as I love my
aunt, as much as I wanted to do the right thing and have her spend her final
days with someone who loves her…I have to admit, taking her back to the home is
the saner decision. Fuck!

“Cade…I have to take her back.”

“Back where?” He asks.

“To San Diego, to the retirement home. I can’t be putting
her life in danger when she has no say in this. If she was lucid and could make
the decision that would be different. But she’s not so I have to make it for
her. Take us back home.”

“What the hell? Are you fucking kidding me Morgan? Excuse
my French Ms. Swift, but I have to talk some sense into your…niece here.”

My aunt doesn’t reply. She just looks out the window and
mutters under her breath.

“I’m totally serious Cade. Take us back.”

“Okay, you’re not thinking this through. We were just
shot at protecting you. My brother here took a bullet protecting you and your
aunt. No way-”

I interrupt him. “Protection that I never wanted.”

“Oh so it would have been just fine to leave you to your
own devices when the dudes with automatic weapons came knocking? Now you’re
starting to sound like your aunt; no offense ma’am.”

“Non- taken.” She replies, then returns her attention
back to somewhere outside the car.”

Whoa…that was weird.

“I am not endangering you, your aunt, or Ratface here by
taking us back to your house. What I will do is this. You come to our compound,
and after things settle down I’ll personally drive you both to San Diego to the
home or even your own home if that’s what you want, but not before this war
settles down. It’s for your own good Morgan.”

I guess that’s fair. It probably would be suicide to
return to my house after we just got shot at.

“Sure,” I finally answer. But we’re not staying more than
a week…ten days tops. And you’d better put us up in one of your apartments well
away from everyone else. I have to minimize the craziness here.”

“Done.”

We fall into silence the last ten minutes to the
compound, only occasionally punctuated by moans from the injured Ratface. As we
pull up to the biker sanctuary someone slides back the twelve foot high chain
link fence. As we drive in I spot at least six brothers armed with what I’m
pretty sure are AK-47’s or something similar. These guys really are prepared
for war.

Farther into the compound someone has set up a makeshift
playground and there are a half dozen kids accompanied by several adults and
three gun toting guards. The kids seem happy to be there. For them it’s
probably an adventure. For my aunt, who knows what it will be like in her head.

Cade takes us to an apartment in the far end of the
compound, about as far away from the road and the hubbub of the clubhouse as
possible. For our safety he has posted a pair of armed guards at the front
door. They greet us pleasantly enough and let us in with smiles on their faces.

“As soon as I can spare the men we’ll send someone by
your house to collect your clothes and any personal items you think you can’t
live without. Maybe you can give me a list? I’d imagine your aunt here has meds
or something she takes? When would she need them?”

“Yeah…she does. They’re in the medicine cabinet of the
bathroom off the spare bedroom, not the other bathroom. If she has to she can
go a couple days without them but not more than two or three at most.”

“I think we can sneak someone in there tomorrow night.
Just write what you need here.” He hands me a tattered notebook and pen. “I’ll
get everything I can on that list. Just try and keep it to things you can’t
live without. Keep in mind if need be, we can always do some shopping for you
too.”

I take the pad and pen, grateful for the offer. I hadn’t
even thought about our things yet and especially not my aunt’s meds. That could
have been a problem. After I hand him my list he leaves with the promise of
keeping it quiet here. If we need anything at all we can come to the clubhouse,
call him, or let one of our guards know and they’ll get ahold of me. I thank
him and turn my attention to my aunt. Hopefully the last hour of craziness
doesn’t affect her. She seems calm and okay as far as I can tell.

“Come on Auntie; let’s see what’s on TV.”

I take her by the hand and lead her into the living room
where there’s a nice sized flat screen TV. I guess it’s too early to watch
daytime soaps that she used to like, but maybe there’s some interesting news on
CNN. I flip the TV on and tune into CNN. I settle down to watch TV hoping my
aunt will follow suite. What a crazy start to the day it’s been.

My aunt remains withdrawn the rest of the day and sleeps
all through the night. No one comes to bother us and Cade doesn’t call or show
up either. I guess his plate is pretty full right now. There’s not much to do
so Auntie and I end up watching CNN and a marathon of Antiques Road Show. I
never really watched the show but whenever it comes on my aunt seems interested
so we keep watching. Three hours later she is still entranced by the program so
I decide to just keep it on. It’s a pretty interesting show. People from all
over bring their collectables, antiques, and whatever else they think holds a
value and the show’s appraisers tell about the item and give it a value. It’s
pretty amazing what some junk can actually be worth. Much of the stuff I
wouldn’t have given a second look until the appraiser put a quarter of a
million dollar value on it.

The next night we’re deep into another episode of the
show when there’s a knock on the front door. I freeze in place and my heart
pounds, and then I remember we are well guarded here. Maybe it’s Cade with our
stuff? There’s another knock, then I hear the front door opening.

“Morgan, you here?”

It’s Cade.

“In the living room. Come on in.” I holler.

A minute later he walks in carrying two suitcases. What a
relief. Now I can shower and get out of this smelly shit I’ve been wearing. My
aunt can have her pills and she can have a fresh change of clothes as well.

“Is there somewhere we can talk?” He asks me.

“Here’s fine.”

“Um…I’m not sure you want your aunt in on this.” He
replies mysteriously.

“Okay…let’s go into the kitchen then.

As we go into the kitchen I notice he has another smaller
bag in his hand. We take opposite seats at the kitchen table and he opens the
bag and pulls out several bottles. My heart sinks. Shit! I totally forgot.

“You mind explaining these?” He asks me.

On the table in front of me is two bottles of pre-natal
vitamins. I was not prepared to tell him yet because I really don’t know what
to say or how much involvement I want him to have in my baby’s life. This is
really bad timing!

“These are for you right?” He asks.

I nod.

“Is it mine?”

Again I nod.

“Have you decided what to do?”

I nod my head.

“Geeze Morgan, were you ever gonna tell me?”

I nod.

“What’s going on with you?

“I suppose you feel you should have had a say in whether
or not I kept the baby?”

“Hell yes…I mean, yeah I think so…If you have that child,
I have a certain responsibility here to not only provide financially for the
child and for you, but I would want to be a part of any child of mine’s life.”

“Sorry to tell you Cade, but
I’m
not sure you
should be in
any
child’s life.”

“And why the hell not?”

“Are you kidding me Cade? After what you just put my aunt
and me through you have to ask that? Just imagine the chaos if there had been a
child in the mix the other day when you ‘rescued us. Do you really think it
wise to expose a child to your lifestyle?”

“There is nothing wrong with my lifestyle. It’s not my
fault that we’re at war right now and it’s not something that happens every
day. I would be a great father! I am well prepared to provide for you and the
child and I am emotionally available whereas when it comes to you I have my
doubts.”

“Your doubts?”

“Yes I have my doubts. You’re like a human cyborg Morgan.
Do you really think you can connect with a child on an emotional level? Having
a baby is more than just providing for physical needs. Your baby will feel your
emotional absence even more than I feel it. He should at least have one parent connected
to him on a feeling level.”

I hate to admit it, but he has a point. But I have
changed as well. He needs to know that.

“Look Cade, I am well aware of my shortcomings when it
comes to…to feelings. I know I haven’t been able to feel like normal people and
I am working on that. I’ve been going to a psychiatrist and am making progress.
I am changing my life Cade. Why do you think I took my aunt out of the home? I
would not have done that if I didn’t think I could be emotionally available to
her.”

“I get that you’re trying to change and I think that’s
great, but do you think this is the time to bring a child into your life?”

“No…it’s not the best time but it has happened and I am
going to keep my baby!”

 “Wow…when did you decide to keep the baby? Don’t you
think you should have consulted me first?”

“It’s my body Cade, I-”

“And it’s my child too as much as it’s yours. I should
have had a say in this too.”

“You’re having a baby?”

My aunt’s soft voice, tinged with wonderment silences
both of us. What a time for her to suddenly be lucid. She takes a seat beside
me and takes my hand in both of hers. Her eyes are clear and she seems totally
aware of what‘s going on here.