Fight 4 Us | Book 14 | Revenge, page 18
part #14 of Fight 4 Us Series
“I think I want to start doing more on my own and with a team of my choosing,” says Phil to me.
“Oh yeah? Like what, and who’s your team?” I ask Phil.
“Well, my guest coming today would be my first choice, but I could do sweeps around Tampa Bay, some detective work, and patrol more of the area that we have been avoiding,” answers Phil.
“You don’t want me coming with you?” I ask Phil.
Phil looks directly at me and answers, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but no. You need to stay back and run things here. Teach others MMA, medicine, and other useful things to help keep them alive.”
I think about Phil’s answer and I immediately want to argue with him as I’m taking his answer of him not wanting me to leave Citrus Oaks with him personal and in a negative view.
“I know you are thinking that I’m wrong and that you aren’t useful on runs and trips out of CO, but that’s not the point. What happens if you get bit or die or get kidnapped?” asks Phil.
I hear Phil’s questions and decide to think before speaking and arguing and I answer Phil, “You’re right. It’s probably best if I stay inside Citrus Oaks. Hopefully, we’ll get Tampa Hospital up and running again.”
“I’m not saying to not ever leave here, but let’s get things settled with Sal and the prisoners and clear out more of the area between here and the Haven first,” says Phil.
“I just feel weird not getting my hands dirty and helping,” I reply.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, if we need you for something, you are coming,” replies Phil.
“But I agree, we have so many spots left on Jerri-Lynn’s map to clear out still,” I say.
“Yeah, I think with help from the Haven and maybe even the Ghosts, we can clear them out and hopefully start to take back more of the area from the dead,” replies Phil.
The sound of a baby crying is heard inside Phil’s house. Phil looks into his house, through the front window, and he sees Nicole holding a crying Mason.
“I better go help Nic out with the babies,” says Phil as he stands up from his front porch chair
“Good luck,” I reply to Phil as I stand up from my front porch chair.
“When is your friend coming here?” I ask Phil as I step towards Phil’s driveway.
Phil smiles and answers, “O, don’t worry, I’ll let you know when that person arrives. I know it’s going to bother you until they do.”
I say goodbye to Phil and start walking down Phil’s driveway. I look at the Medical house, glance at the empty house that’s between the Armory house and our Medical house, and I hear a drone flying behind me and I stop walking.
A Ghost drone flies directly over me and I watch as it stops in the air and hovers. The Ghost drone doesn’t have any weapons on it, from what I can tell, and I ask myself, “How could it stop anything from attacking us?”
The Ghost drone I was looking at flies away from me and moves towards our main entrance.
I see Brody exit our Armory house and I walk towards him and shout to him.
“Hey sir,” says Brody to me as I walk over to him.
“What are you doing?” I ask Brody.
“Just getting an inventory together of what we actually have around here now,” answers Brody.
“Didn’t Jon make a recent inventory list?” I ask Brody.
“He did, but I’m letting Bruce know what we have,” answers Brody.
“Why does Bruce want to know what we have here?” I ask Brody.
“Hector just brought back some more weapons from the Factory and Bruce wanted to know if we could use some of them,” answers Brody.
“Oh, nice. I’m sure we could use some heavier duty weapons at both entrances,” I say.
“I’m going to the Haven later today and I’ll see what they have,” replies Brody.
“Who is going with you?” I ask Brody.
“Sam and Kiersten,” answers Brody.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Brody.
Brody looks around and he makes sure no one is around us and answers, “Much better, but it’s so loud in Kiersten and Sam’s house. They play music all the time and fight a lot.”
I smile and joke, “You don’t like boy bands?”
Brody sees that I’m joking and answers, “I think I have to move into another abandoned house in here, just to get some sleep and peace and quiet.”
“I’ll see what we can do about that. We’ll have to come up with a story though, so Kiersten doesn’t get mad at you for leaving her house,” I say to Brody.
“You think she’ll be mad, if I move out?” asks Brody.
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t tell her that you want to move out, if I were you,” I answer Brody.
“I won’t sir,” replies Brody.
“Let me know how it goes with Bruce and the inventory today,” I say to Brody.
“I will sir, I’ll give you a full report after I come back,” replies Brody and then Brody walks away from the Armory house.
As Brody is walking away, I look at the front of our Armory house and see some dark dried blood on the front porch of the house and I try to picture what actually happened during the attack.
I walk into the Armory house and see that it’s empty as our weapons and guns are in their hiding spaces around Citrus Oaks or in our homes now.
I see scratch marks on the hinges and sides of the safe, where my walkie-talkie from DK is in, and I picture someone trying to forcefully break the hinges with a crowbar.
“Just seeing that safe reminds me of the safe Phil had in his house back in Raleigh,” says Matt as he stands behind me with Chewie and looks at the safe.
I turn towards Matt and ask, “He had the same one?”
“Pretty similar, but it reminds me of the two guys that were with Amber in Phil’s house when Shaun and I took them out,” answers Matt.
“Didn’t you blow a hole through a guy’s back and stomach?” I ask Matt.
“Yeah, it was pretty gross and that guy came back as a zombie and was crawling around with his guts falling out of him,” answers Matt.
“Sounds like a good time,” I joke.
“Yeah, we can laugh about it now, but it was intense, I almost shit my pants a couple times that day,” replies Matt.
“I bet, there were times I was pretty scared also. I’m just glad that we all made it this far,” I say.
Chewie barks.
I look at Chewie and pet him on his head.
“I saw you go in here after talking with Brody and I just thought I’d come in and tell you that I’m going to see Mike today,” says Matt.
“About the cameras around Tampa Bay?” I ask Matt.
“Yeah, and to see if he’s seen anything else,” answers Matt.
“Who is going with you?” I ask Matt.
“I’m not sure, I guess Jon or JJ,” answers Matt.
“Well, make sure someone goes with you,” I reply to Matt.
“Anything I should ask Mike and Whitney about?” asks Matt.
“What do you mean?” I ask Matt.
“With the cameras, besides Ybor and downtown. Anything else you want to know about?” asks Matt.
“See about Ybor and the surrounding parts around Ybor. We need a clear route to get in and out, several actually, and any trouble areas we need to know about,” I answer Matt.
“Okay, so escape plans, trouble areas, anything else?” asks Matt.
“Well, anything and everything. See if he’s heard anything over his radios and equipment, anything over the internet or his discords. Really any and all information,” I answer Matt.
“You got it,” replies Matt.
Matt is about to exit our Armory house and I say to Matt, “I appreciate it Matt. Thank you for going to talk with Mike.”
Matt stops walking at the open front door of our Armory house and replies, “Of course. I’m not the best fighter, but I’m trying to do my part with keeping everyone safe in here.”
“Keep up the good work, keep fighting in your own way, and let me know what you find out,” I say to Matt.
Matt smiles and exits our Armory house.
I check over the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathrooms in our Armory house and don’t find anything of interest.
I exit our Armory house and close the front door. I approach Buck’s house and see several bullet holes in the windows, front door, and stucco near the front windows.
Lauren sees me standing on the sidewalk and looking at the front of Buck’s house as she exits our house.
“Everything okay?” asks Lauren to me as I’m looking at the front of Buck’s house.
I walk towards my house and answer Lauren, “Yeah, just checking things over.”
“I’m going to start writing on your laptop, if that’s okay?” asks Lauren as I walk up my driveway.
“Yeah, that’s fine. You might have to charge it though,” I reply to Lauren as I walk into our house through the open front door.
“I just wanted to make sure it was okay to use your laptop,” says Lauren.
“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be in the garage,” I reply to Lauren.
Lauren goes into my man cave as I go into our garage.
I turn on a light in my garage and I look at the map of Tampa Bay and the markings that I and the guys have made on the map.
“There is still so much of the area that we haven’t checked out yet,” I say to myself as I look at the small portion of Tampa Bay that we’ve explored so far.
I grab a black marker and make some marks on the map to check out. I make several circles around the main beach locations, Tampa airport, Tampa Gardens Amusement Park, a couple islands between Tampa Bay and Apollo Beach, and Apollo Beach where I believe the large O2U campus facility is located.
I put the black marker down next to my Ghost mask and put on my Ghost mask. My Ghost mask display turns on and I see that my Ghost mask has about 44% battery.
I think about my Ghost mask settings and decide to call Saba with the new function on my Ghost mask.
A ringtone is heard in my Ghost mask earpiece and Saba answers the call.
“I didn’t think you would answer,” I say into my Ghost mask satellite phone.
“Then why’d you call?” asks Saba.
“Just thought I’d give my new Ghost mask sat phone a try,” I answer Saba.
“You want to keep this voice only or change it to a video call?” asks Saba.
“Doesn’t matter to me,” I answer Saba over my Ghost mask satellite phone.
Saba changes the phone call from a voice only to a video call and I see Saba in a room.
“Where are you?” I ask Saba.
“In my living room now, but this is my condo,” answers Saba.
“Is that the beach?” I ask Saba as I see a beach and water scene behind him.
Saba turns towards the beach and water scene that is behind him and answers, “It’s a UVR setting. I changed my windows and walls to look like the water and beach of FIJI.”
“UVR?” I ask Saba.
“Ultra-Virtual Reality. State of the art virtual reality, you don’t need a headset or glasses for it,” answers Saba.
“Nice, but I was using my Ghost mask yesterday and I found some of your new features,” I say to Saba.
“Which ones? What do you think?” asks Saba.
“I used the red dot target setting and was communicating with the mask AI,” I answer Saba.
“Did you turn on the AI voice assistant?” asks Saba.
“What do you mean? This thing can talk to me?” I ask Saba.
“Yeah, just like it sounds. I put in one of my custom O2U Auto applications and software and it can talk with you now, but only if you want it to,” answers Saba.
“I don’t know about that, but I’ll have to try that one out later,” I reply to Saba.
“Well, it takes some getting used to, but you might like it,” says Saba.
I remember seeing one of the Ghost drones this morning when I was walking down the sidewalk from Phil’s house and I ask Saba, “Do the drones you have flying over our neighborhood have weapons on them?”
“Of course, they have precision targeting and small rifles on them,” answers Saba.
“Oh, because I saw one this morning and it looked like it didn’t have any guns or anything on it,” I say to Saba.
“Yeah, we can’t have weak ass drones protecting you guys,” replies Saba.
Saba tells me that he needs to go, but to trust his drones and that I should try out every setting and function that he added to my Ghost mask.
I end the call with Saba and spend the next couple of hours tinkering with my Ghost mask settings, functions, filters, and displays.
Lauren enters the garage and sees me with my Ghost mask on and asks, “You still in here?”
I look at Lauren and the display setting on my mask shows Lauren’s body temperature and I see that she is red and green.
“Your body must run hot,” I say as I look at Lauren.
My Ghost mask takes a temperature reading of Lauren and it reads 99.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Are you feeling okay sweetie?” I ask Lauren.
“Yeah, why?” asks Lauren.
I change the display to the normal high-definition display on my Ghost mask and I tell Lauren that her temperature was a little high.
“My body usually runs a little hot, but I’ll take something to bring my temp down. I’m feeling a little run down today,” replies Lauren.
Lauren goes back into our house and I see the setting in my Ghost mask for the AI voice and assist.
I go into the AI voice assistant setting and see that it can be a male or female voice. I kind of feel uncomfortable with the idea of the voice and assist feature, so I decide to not mess with it today.
My Ghost mask needs to be charged so I remove my Ghost mask, exit my garage, and put my Ghost mask in the direct sunlight on my back patio.
I go back into my house and enter my kitchen.
“Ry you there?” asks Phil over the radio.
I pick up my radio that was charging in my kitchen and answer Phil, “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Whenever you are ready, come over to Shaun’s for a meeting with my guest,” says Phil over the radio.
I reply to Phil, “I’ll be right over.”
I place my radio back on its charging station in my kitchen and shout to Lauren, “I’m going over to Shaun’s house!”
“At the Haven?” shouts Lauren from my man cave.
I walk into my man cave and see Lauren sitting in my chair and she has my laptop on a table next to her.
“How’s the typing coming?” I ask Lauren.
“Pretty good, I got down a lot from what I remember so far, but it’s tough to remember everything. I feel like I’m leaving some stuff out,” answers Lauren.
“Well, do what you can. It’s better than the burnt-up notebooks that were in my dad’s house,” I reply to Lauren.
“Where are you going?” asks Lauren.
“Over to Shaun’s house. Phil has someone that he thinks can help us with Sal,” I answer Lauren.
“Yeah, the more info the better. Sal seems like a shiesty, only looking out for himself, kind of guy,” says Lauren.
“I’m sure he is, but it sounds like he wants to get even with Jacob and I think he can help us end our conflict with the Conquerors,” I reply to Lauren.
“But what if it starts a new conflict with him and the prisoners?” asks Lauren.
“Hopefully, we can keep Sal on our good side and he can prove to be our ally,” I answer Lauren.
“You want to be allies with a guy like that?” asks Lauren.
“Sometimes you have to make deals with people like Sal to get things done,” I answer Lauren.
I kiss Lauren on the lips and exit my house. As I’m walking across the street towards Shaun’s house, I think about my answer to Lauren about making deals with people like Sal and Lauren’s question about wanting to be allies with Sal.
TJ’s jeep is parked in Shaun’s driveway and I figure that TJ is Phil’s guest.
I enter Shaun’s house and I see Phil and TJ and joke, “This is your special guest?”
“Real nice, glad to see you as well Ryan,” replies TJ.
I hear the toilet flush in the bathroom in Shaun’s house and I see a skinny Caucasian adult male dressed in a long-sleeved black shirt, jeans, and boots exit the bathroom and walk towards Phil, TJ, and me.
“This is my special guest,” says Phil.
TJ looks at me and says, “Ryan, I want you to meet Artem.”
I look at Artem and greet him, Artem greets me and I notice his thick Russian accent.
“Are you connected with Svetlana?” I ask Artem.
Artem smiles and asks, “What do you know about Svetlana?”
I look at Phil and TJ and TJ says to me, “I think Artem can provide you guys with some quality information about Sal, Ybor, and Channelside.”
CHAPTER 17
I’LL LOOK INTO IT
Artem rubs the short dark hair on top of his head that is buzzed close to his pale scalp as he looks at TJ, Phil, and me as we all sit in Shaun’s living room.
“What do you people want to know?” asks Artem to Phil and me.
“What do you know about Sal?” I ask Artem.
“Can you get me something to drink first?” asks Artem.
Phil gets up from the sofa, walks into Shaun’s kitchen, and asks, “What do you want? I don’t think we have any vodka.”
Artem laughs and answers, “You Americans only think we drink vodka. Some water would be fine.”
Phil comes back into Shaun’s living room and hands Artem a bottle of water.
TJ looks at me and Phil and says, “I’ve known Artem for a while now, he helped Ray and I out with several cases over the years.”
Artem finishes half of the bottle of water that Phil gave him and Phil says to Artem, “So you’re an informant for TJ and Tampa PD.”
“Sure, titles aren’t important to me. I gave TJ and Ray useful information and they let me do my thing,” replies Artem.
“But what can you tell us about Sal and Channelside?” I ask Artem.
“That’s a nice general question Ryan, but Sal is very capable and he has connections with Svetlana and her group. They have a mutual agreement and they benefit each other,” answers Artem.
