Jaded Warriors book 2 (Jade Series)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20


“Oh…”


“Were you expecting someone else?”


“Uh… I wasn’t expecting you if that’s what you’re asking.”


“Where’s your gun, Jade, I’m a little disappointed you opened the door unprepared.”


I tried to think of something clever to say but nothing came to mind as I leaned up against the doorframe for support. I felt exhausted and my mind wouldn’t work. The beat of my heart slowed to a normal pace rather quickly. I knew I should probably be scared or at the very least worried that he showed up with me alone in the house but for some reason I couldn’t muster up the energy to do so.


“You caught me Mateo…” I noticed he was dressed somewhat warmer as he wore the sweatshirt I gave him which now hid all his tattoos except for the words that went along the side of his neck and the three solid teardrops and one empty tear under his eye. “Where’s your friends?”


“Not here… Can I come in? I’m a little worried about being seen here in your neighborhood. You never know who could be watching.” The deep sarcastic undertones in his voice led me to believe he was joking, but for some reason, I knew his statement wasn’t completely untrue. There was a reason Kane dealt with him under the radar, and whether or not Kane viewed Mateo as dangerous or a threat to me or anyone else in this town was beside the point, the real threat was if Morrison discovered him and found out, he was Kane’s supplier. The burdens Kane carried of hoping to win this thing against Morrison rested almost entirely now on Kane’s connection with this man.


“Yeah… Come in.” Against my better judgments, I opened the door and let him walk in. I took a deep breath and sighed as I closed the door behind us.


"Kane isn't very smart to leave his sister alone, as beautiful as she is," he said, as stalking eyes scanned over me.


My stomach churned in my gut and I suddenly felt my knees weaken as I leaned against the wall for support. "Maybe you should leave after all, Mateo." I tried to sound firm, but I'm sure the fear in my voice was obvious.


“Don’t sound so troubled, Jade.” Mateo glanced back at me. My suspicions confirmed. I was no more a threat to him than a little church mouse. He glared through thin piercing eyes and I wondered if it was literally possible for him to burn a hole through me. I shifted uncomfortably under his stare. “I scare you don’t I?”


“I… Uh.” I hesitated as I tried to decide whether I should play it off or just be honest with him. I sighed. “Yeah, you do.”


“Then why did you let me in?”


“Because… Kane needs what you have and… I’m afraid of Morrison more.”


“I won’t hurt you, Jade... you have my word.” Mateo went to say something else then stopped. His eyes softened and revealed a sympathetic glance as if he could read my thoughts with his rich coffee-brown eyes. I wondered if he was familiar with what Morrison was like and knew what Morrison had done. He turned and walked over to the chair and stood in front of it as he looked around and thoroughly inspected Gage’s home. “This is a nice home… I like it. Is it yours?”


“No…”


“Who’s is it?”


“It’s Gage’s home.”


“Oh… Kane’s mentioned Gage before. He’s Joel’s brother right?”


“Yeah.”


“Then… This is your home, isn’t it?”


“I don’t know, I guess.” I wondered how much he knew of me and why he insisted on testing me the way he was. I followed him into the room and sat on the couch. I glanced around at all the nice décor, fancy pictures and beautiful furniture.


"Are you with Gage?"


"Yeah…"


“That's what I thought… So, about this trade. Did you talk to Kane?”


“No… I…” I almost told him I couldn’t find him and that I was terrified at this very moment that he was somewhere out there hurt, and then decided against it. “He was out on the front line, and I couldn’t get to him… But he really needs those weapons. They are weapons that you’re trading right?”


“Umm…Yeah…” Mateo hesitated and shrugged his shoulders as if he had to consider what to tell me the trade was. “Among other things.”


“Are you trading for food?”


“Yeah, I already took care of it… it’s in my possession. But about his runner… we need to talk.”


“Kane sent him over a week ago…”


“Two weeks ago actually, I did some looking around for myself. I found the semi, stocked full of food still and the driver was dead. If it would have been any warmer outside, the food would have spoiled.”


“Where?”


“About one hundred miles out of the way and it wasn’t Morrison who did this, by the way. Or at least a direct order from Morrison.”


“How do you know?”


“Because Jade, think about what Morrison would have done. He wouldn’t have bothered with hiding the truck for one thing, especially one hundred miles out of the way of where it was headed… It was poorly executed if you ask me, but… anyways. You know this man, why don't you tell me what he would do.”


“He would have wanted to find out who that truck was meeting, he would have taken the food and the weapons after the meet and killed the driver and anyone else there right where he found them and made sure he severed Kane’s contact.” I said, a little surprised by myself.


A crafty smile grew over his lips. He lifted his chin slightly as he tilted his head. His eyes narrowed further as he stood taller and squared his shoulders. “You know more about how this man thinks than you realize. Someone is trying to sabotage Kane’s efforts, Jade... make him look bad. Someone close. You ready. Let’s go.”


“Let’s go? Go where?”


“To take this shit to Kane. I don’t want to hold onto it anymore, I want to get home,” he said as he looked back and paused by the doorway.


“Oh… now?”


“Yeah, now.”


“But, I don’t know where to find him?”


“The sooner he gets his supplies, the sooner he can finish this guy off. Men are dying as we speak.”


“You’ll take the supplies to Kane?” I sat upright, suddenly hopeful as I gripped the sides of my pants to stifle my anxiety and trembling hands. 


“Yeah, but we need to be careful.”


“How, neither of us can be spotted.”


“No, I can’t be spotted and you can’t be seen with me. You’ve already been there once today though so, if you’re seen there, it shouldn’t cause too much suspicion.”


“Okay, but I’m not going without Olivia,” I said, the apprehension apparent in my voice as I eyed him with caution. I took a deep breath and my insides tightened as my heart quickened in my chest at my attempt to ward off panic.


“The lady who dropped you off?”


“Yeah.”


“She went back to the oil refinery.”


“What? How do you know?” Red flags flashed before me from all directions warning me, I shouldn’t leave with this man.


“I watched her drive back out of town, she was headed that way. I don’t know, put it together, Jade.”


“All right,” I said, as I forced all my overly panicked reservations aside. He had no reason why he should still help us, he had the food, he could take the weapons and Kane would lose out. I walked over to the roll top desk in the corner and rummaged for a piece of paper to scribble a note for Raύl. “Just give me five minutes.”


***


“Jade, wake up.” The haziness in my mind started to clear as I tried to come to. The constant slow sway back and forth from the lack of proper shocks on the semi-truck reminded me where I was and who I was with. I sat up and looked out over the darkness that surrounded the intimidating orange glow that rose high in the black night and saw we were on the dirt road that ran alongside of the refinery.


“We’re here… That fire is intense,” Mateo added, obviously impressed by the size of it as he leaned forward to look through the windshield. I saw the reflection of it in his eyes, which were wider than I’d ever seen them since I met him. I looked out the passenger side window.


My fears, relieved slightly that the colossal, raging fire at the base of the refinery hadn’t spread to other buildings or the massive fuel tanks on the hill. Contained, thankfully to only one building as three fire engines with large stretch ladders surrounded the blaze with spouts of water that shot high into the sky in white foamy arches.


“Where are they getting the water?” I asked, more to myself than to Mateo, but he answered just the same as he pointed to water tanks high on the hill.


“Places like this have their own generators and water systems,” he said. “And it’s not water, it’s a fire retardant.”


“Oh.”


My heart sank as we stopped on the hillside that overlooked the valley before us. The golden tracers that streaked across the black sky, the sounds of gunfire, and the occasional blast of a grenade all off in the distance, down in the heart of the city. Far enough away that we were safe enough to sit where we were and watch as if they were fireworks on the fourth of July.


I glanced through the fence towards where I last saw Deanna. A glow from a kerosene lantern still dimly lit the med tent and I saw faceless shadows as they scrambled around inside.


“I’ll be right back.”


I didn’t wait for Mateo’s response as I stepped out of the semi and jumped down to the hard frozen ground, trampled by the dozens of trucks that traveled along here every day. They brought food, what was left of supplies and fresh rested men to replace the worn exhausted ones, to resume the fight at the front line against the Militia. I had watched this happen all day yesterday, I was just unsure of how far the front line actually was. 


I wriggled through a small hole in the fence that I noticed yesterday afternoon when I took a break. Who had cut the chain link fence, or why, I didn’t know but I used it for my benefit. I hoped I could sneak in without noticed, without too much attention drawn to myself, Mateo and the three other semi-trucks behind him.  I was glad it was still dark and even happier with the row of trees along the fence line that provided great camouflage.


I walked in through the flap door of the tent. I gripped the rough heavy canvas tightly with my hand as I scanned the room in front of me for Deanna. I found her where I left her as she tended to the wounded and I walked towards her.


“Have you seen Olivia?” I asked under hushed tones.


Deanna attempted to hide the surprise on her face at the sight of me and did a good job for the most part but I saw her worry briefly in her eyes. “Yeah, how did you get back here?”


“I’ll tell you later, where is she.” I glanced around the room. Suddenly, I felt like everyone looked suspicious, and even though I knew that clearly wasn’t true, I had a hard time trusting anyone that even glanced my way. Get over it Jade, not everyone is out to sabotage Kane, I said to myself. I saw Dr. Walstrom over in the far corner as he glanced at me. He was one of the three doctors here in the tent who attended to the severely injured, beyond Deanna’s ability. Two other women were in the tent as well and helped where needed.


“I’m not sure where she is at the moment.”


“Have you seen Gage or Kane? Any of the others?” I asked. Clearly, I wanted to know for my own insecurities more so than anything, but now I had a purpose other than my selfish reasons and I desperately needed to find them.


“Yeah, Chale was just here, he said he’d be right back. He was bringing in more injured along with Elias and my husband. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them before they ran out. I'm still not sure where Kane or Gage is… Or Joel or Casey for that matter. I’m sorry, Jade.”


My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. My mind whirled, I suddenly felt sick inside as the knot in my throat became difficult to swallow.


“There’s Chale.” Deanna said, as she pulled me out of my despair. I needed to think, focus.


“Tell Olivia I’m here.” I gave Deanna a quick hug and walked over to Chale. I grabbed him by the arm and walked out of the tent before he could say anything as I pulled him behind me.


“Jade, what are you doing here?”


“Have you seen Gage or Kane?” I had to find out. I couldn’t stand it any longer, I couldn’t function, I couldn’t think. I just needed to know if, if they were alive.


“Yeah.”


“Are they okay?”


“You should have seen it! I don’t know how they got out when they did, but those crazy sons a b…”


“Chale! I don’t need to know what happened! I just need to know if they’re okay!”


“Right now, I don’t know. As of a half hour ago, they were okay.”


My knees felt weak, relieved, as I suddenly wanted to cry. I grabbed Chale and hugged him. “Thank you, now come with me.”


I quickly caught Chale up to speed as we walked to the truck. Chale instantly took on a look of uncertainty and hesitation as his steps slowed and I wondered why he acted so offish. So did Olivia, she just about come undone earlier when I wanted to meet Mateo without her.


  I looked up to the mountains to the east. I could see them as the darkness of night started to slip away. The sun would come up soon, we had maybe an hour left of night before the dawn rose in the distant horizon.


Mateo was out of the truck anxiously waiting, and as if by automatic reflex, spun around with a pistol in hand ready for the worst when we walked around the front of the truck. I jumped back, startled and Chale grabbed me quickly and spun me around behind him.


“Wait! Mateo, this is Chale.  You can trust him,” I said, as I moved around Chale to stand in between them. I looked at them both, alert, shoulders squared, ready for anything. “So can you Chale, you can trust Mateo. Kane wouldn’t have dealt with him if he couldn’t be trusted and he’s gone out of his way to get these trucks here. Both of you relax.”


They sized each other up then both settled as I sighed deeply and tried to breathe though all the male testosterone that hovered thick in the air like fog on a cold dark night.


“I think Chale and I can handle it from here, Jade. Kane won’t want you up at the front.”


“He doesn’t want me here period! But I am.”  I let out a nervous laugh as I realized how much trouble I would be in once Kane saw me.


“No, Mateo’s right. Go help Deanna,” Chale ordered.


I wanted to go with them. I wanted to find Gage, to find Kane. I needed to see they were okay. I stood, unable to speak, unable to move.


“I’ll let Gage know you’re here. Go ahead, go.”


“Are you sure you two won’t kill each other?”


Mateo chuckled under his breath as Chale gave me a not so friendly, stern glare.


“Jade, if you say Chale can be trusted then I believe you. Thanks, now go.”


“Okay…” I turned to walk back to the fence line.


“Jade…” Chale called out.


“I know! Go straight there, don’t get into a strange car and don’t talk to or take candy from strangers,” I said sarcastically. I turned briefly towards them while I overly exaggerated my tone and rolled my eyes. Then I walked away as I left the sounds of their laughter behind me.