Fight 4 Us (Book 11): Access Read online

  FIGHT 4 US

  ACCESS

  FIGHT 4 US

  ACCESS

  Copyright © 2020 by Brian Grenda

  All rights reserved.

  This book or any portion of this book or the FIGHT 4 US book series may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author and publisher.

  THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION.

  NAMES, CHARACTERS, BUSINESSES, PLACES, PRODUCTS, COMPANIES, EVENTS, SYMBOLS, LOCALES, AND INCIDENTS ARE EITHER THE PRODUCTS OF THE AUTHOR’S IMAGINATION OR USED IN A FICTITIOUS MANNER.

  ANY RESEMBLANCE OF ACTUAL PERSONS, BUSINESSES, LOGOS, SYMBOLS, OR ANYTHING STATED IN THIS BOOK OR THE FIGHT 4 US SERIES IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.

  FIGHT 4 US

  ACCESS

  CHAPTER 1 - FOOD COURT

  CHAPTER 2 - HOPE YOU WON

  CHAPTER 3 - BRING

  CHAPTER 4 - SAVED BY THE HAVEN

  CHAPTER 5 - THAT’S ENOUGH

  CHAPTER 6 - DON’T SHOOT ANYMORE

  CHAPTER 7 - DON’T LOOK AT ME

  CHAPTER 8 - A SHITLOAD

  CHAPTER 9 - WHO IS FAITH?

  CHAPTER 10 - FLANK HER

  CHAPTER 11 - CLEANSE AND PURIFY

  CHAPTER 12 - FRIEND ZONE

  CHAPTER 13 - GO FASTER JON

  CHAPTER 14 - EUGENICS

  CHAPTER 15 - EARN MY KEEP

  CHAPTER 16 - ALLIES

  CHAPTER 17 - I HAVE SOURCES

  CHAPTER 18 - YOU REALLY MESSED UP

  CHAPTER 1

  FOOD COURT

  A cool early morning Tampa Bay breeze makes the branches and remaining leaves shake on the oak tree that is in our cemetery inside Citrus Oaks. I place an irregular shaped piece of dark stone vertically at the head of Bobby G’s grave. I reposition the dark stone and glance at the three other different pieces of stone that I placed at the other graves in our cemetery and then I stand up.

  I nod my head and think to myself that the stone looks good at the head of my father’s grave and the stones at Keith’s, Tony’s, and Buck’s graves look good as well.

  “Looks good. Glad we found those pieces of stone yesterday,” says Phil as he walks up behind me.

  “Yeah, I hope we won’t need to use the other pieces that we got anytime soon though,” I reply to Phil as Phil stands next to me.

  “What time is the call with DK?” asks Phil.

  I look down at my wristwatch and answer Phil, “In three hours. His note said 1100 hours today.”

  “You sure you don’t want anyone on the call with you?” asks Phil.

  I look at Phil and answer, “I don’t want to mess anything up with the call, and DK said privately on the note.”

  The Florida sky is overcast, and the sun is behind several clouds on this November morning.

  I walk with Phil away from our cemetery and towards his house. I look at Phil’s house and see our Medical house that is across the street from Phil’s house.

  Phil says, “Good run today. I think I’m getting more endurance.”

  “You needed too,” I joke to Phil.

  Phil and I make it to Phil’s driveway, and I say goodbye to Phil. “Let me know how it goes with douche k,” jokes Phil.

  “I will,” I reply to Phil as I make my way down the sidewalk and towards our Armory house.

  As I walk down the sidewalk, part of me still can’t believe that we have an Armory house, a Medical house, that the guys are living here in homes that aren’t theirs, and how the world is right now.

  Buck’s house comes up on my right, and I think about Buck, the barbeques at his house and Buck grilling some hot dogs and hamburgers during the football season.

  I get to my front door and enter my house.

  Milo runs over to me, and I pet Milo’s black furry head and then his various patches of black and white fur on his back.

  “How was your run this morning?” asks Lauren, who is standing at the kitchen sink, as I enter my kitchen.

  “It was good. I placed the stones that Phil and I got yesterday in the cemetery,” I answer Lauren.

  “Good, I’ll go check them out when I go there later with mom,” replies Lauren.

  I look at Lauren as she places a wet but clean bowl on the drying rack that she just hand washed, and I feel a great sense of thankfulness that she is in my life and that we are safe and together.

  Lauren and I make eye contact and I smile. Lauren isn’t sure why I’m smiling and asks, “What’s up honey?”

  “Just glad you are here with me,” I answer Lauren.

  “Me too,” replies Lauren with a smile on her face.

  “I gotta jump in the shower,” I say to Lauren.

  “You want me to join you?” asks Lauren.

  “If you want, but I’m only taking a quick shower as I want to write some more in my journal before the call with DK,” I answer Lauren.

  “Another time for the shower lovin’ then, we had a quickie yesterday,” jokes Lauren.

  I jump in the shower. Lauren finishes washing the plates, bowls, and silverware that were in our sink.

  Fran comes out of her bedroom and says hello to Lauren.

  Lauren notices that Fran is holding her head and Lauren asks Fran, “You okay mom?”

  “I just got a bad headache, and I didn’t sleep well at all last night,” answers Fran as she walks into the kitchen.

  Lauren feels Fran’s forehead and Lauren notices that Fran’s forehead is warm to the touch. “You feel warm mom. Did you take anything for your headache?” asks Lauren to Fran.

  “I didn’t take anything yet,” answers Fran.

  “Let’s get you some medicine and I want to check your temperature,” says Lauren.

  Lauren walks into our master bathroom as I’m showering. I notice Lauren enter the bathroom and joke, “Guess you couldn’t resist me in the shower.”

  Lauren opens our medicine cabinet, finds the medication she wants to give Fran, and replies to me, “My mom isn’t feeling well, and she has a temperature.”

  “What’s wrong with mom?” I ask Lauren from inside the shower.

  “I don’t know, but I’m giving her some medication, but we don’t have much in here,” answers Lauren and then Lauren exits our bathroom with the medication.

  I finish my shower, dry off, put a towel around my waist and look inside our medicine cabinet.

  I move a bottle on a shelf inside the medicine cabinet and see that Lauren was right and that we don’t have many bottles of medication, over the counter drugs, or really anything in our medicine cabinet.

  Lauren gives Fran a pill that will help bring down her fever, relieve her headache, and hopefully help her sleep as well.

  Fran swallows the pill that Lauren just gave her and then she drinks some water.

  “I don’t know how Ryan can swallow a pill without water,” says Fran.

  “It’s a talent I guess,” I say to Fran as I enter the kitchen with some new clean clothes on.

  I look at Fran’s face and she’s ghostly pale. Paler than usual. I feel Fran’s forehead and it’s definitely warm.

  “Let’s get you back to bed. We’ll keep an eye on your temperature and hopefully that pill Lauren gave you will help you sleep,” I say to Fran.

  Lauren helps Fran into her bedroom and back into bed.

  I see the pill bottle that Lauren took from our medicine cabinet. I shake the bottle and the bottle sounds pretty empty as the remaining pills rattle around inside the bottle as I gently shake it.

  I open the bottle and see two pills are left inside the pill bottle. I place the pill bottle cap back onto the bottle and put the bottle back onto our kitchen counter.

  “Her temperature is 100.7,” say
s Lauren to me as she closes Fran’s bedroom door and looks at me as I’m standing inside the kitchen.

  “That’s definitely high, but it should come down with rest, fluids, and the pill you gave her,” I reply to Lauren.

  “I’m going to check with everyone and see if they have any medicine that we can have,” says Lauren.

  “You can also check the Medical house as I know we put a lot of our medical supplies in there,” I say to Lauren.

  “Oh I definitely will,” replies Lauren.

  I grab a large jug of protein powder that’s on my kitchen counter and place it next to my mixer.

  “What time is your call with DK?” asks Lauren.

  “At eleven,” I answer Lauren.

  “I hope it goes well. Try to keep your cool though honey,” says Lauren.

  “I’ll try my best,” I joke.

  Lauren kisses me on the lips, says goodbye, and then she exits our house through the front door.

  I make my protein drink and enter my man cave. Milo enters my man cave right behind me. “You love coming in here belly,” I say to Milo as I see Milo smell the corner of a box that is sitting next to a bookshelf.

  I take a sip of my protein drink and place my drink down on a table next to a chair in my man cave.

  I look around at my man cave and see my Samurai gear, my katana, my sais, my handgun, my notebooks, and my laptop.

  I look at my katana that is in her red scabbard on her horizontal stand and think to myself, “I never thought I would actually use you.”

  Milo sits down on the area rug in the center of my man cave, and I sit on one of my chairs that’s next to the side wall of my man cave.

  I grab one of my notebooks and pick up my pen. I think about what to write and where to start from where I left off the last time I wrote in this notebook.

  “I lost my father today, and I fear this won’t be the last time I lose someone that I care about,” I read as it was the last passage that I wrote in this notebook.

  The sound of someone snoring is heard.

  I give a small laugh as I hear Fran snoring like a broken chainsaw from inside her bedroom as the bedroom that Fran is sleeping in and my man cave are only separated by a connected bathroom.

  The snoring of Fran is making me laugh, and I can’t concentrate on my writing. As I hear a loud snort of air I think of Bobby G and his terrible snoring that I had to hear while growing up in our house in North Carolina and whenever I had to sleep in the same house or hotel room as my father.

  I look at Milo and see that Milo is asleep on his back with his paws relaxed and his tail curled towards his overweight belly.

  “You could sleep through anything,” I joke as I see Milo sleeping.

  I pack up a messenger bag with my notebook, laptop, pens, and a couple other items. I also grab the walkie-talkie that DK should be calling me on in about two hours and I exit my man cave with Milo.

  Milo runs into the living room and I walk towards the kitchen. I grab a pen and paper and write a note to Lauren. “Went to Bobby G’s house for the call with DK and to write. Love you.,” I write on a small piece of paper.

  I place my dirty glass in the sink, exit my house, close my front door, and walk towards my driveway.

  Lisa and Shaun are walking Chewie along the sidewalk in front of my house as I step on my driveway towards Bobby G’s house.

  “Where you going?” asks Shaun to me as Shaun stops walking.

  I stop walking and answer Shaun, “Over to Bob’s. I got my call with DK coming up and I want to write a little before the call.”

  “You still writing your zombie memoirs?” asks Lisa.

  “I wouldn’t call it that, but yes I am keeping track of what happened here and trying to keep a log of what is going on around here,” I answer Lisa.

  Chewie sees a small squirrel run up Bobby G’s oak tree and he barks and lunges towards Bobby G’s oak tree. Shaun pulls at the leash that is around Chewie’s harness and says, “Good luck, let me know how it goes.”

  “I will. I’ll get all you guys together after I talk with DK,” I reply to Shaun.

  Shaun and Lisa take Chewie back home and I enter Bobby G’s house.

  Walking into Bobby G’s house, I still find it weird to be alone in the eerily quiet house. I still find myself anticipating him to come out of his bedroom or back patio as I walk into the living room, but I quickly realize that he’s gone and my anticipation fades as it’s ghost-quiet in his house.

  I write in my notebook for about an hour and then I get a call over the long range walkie-talkie from DK.

  “You there Ryan?” asks DK over the walkie-talkie.

  I look at the walkie-talkie that is sitting on Bobby G’s dining room table next to a bottle of water and my laptop.

  I take a deep breath, grab the walkie-talkie, and answer into my walkie-talkie, “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Good. Glad you got my delivery. But are you alone?” asks DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “Does it matter. Even if I say yes, which I am. Would you believe me?” I ask into the walkie-talkie that is in my right hand.

  “Doesn’t matter if you were or not. I have nothing to hide from you and your people,” says DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “What about Jacob?” I ask into my walkie-talkie.

  There is a pause in the conversation between me and DK. As the seconds pass without a response from DK, I wonder if I offended him.

  “Does he know you are talking with me?” I ask into my walkie-talkie.

  “Jacob isn’t aware of what I do all the time and he doesn’t know we are talking,” answers DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “What do you want DK? Why do all this for a conversation?” I ask into my walkie-talkie.

  I look around Bobby G’s dining room as I wait for DK’s answer.

  “Trust. I want to know that I can trust you,” answers DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “Trust? You stabbed me and killed people that I knew,” I reply into my walkie-talkie.

  “I never apologized for that. I’m sorry for slicing into your leg. Hope you aren’t permanently damaged from that,” replies DK over the walkie-talkie.

  I stand up from Bobby G’s dining room table and think about DK stabbing me in my leg and start to get pissed.

  “I’m okay, but again what do you want. I’m not playing games here. Where are you and Jacob at anyway?” I say into my walkie-talkie with an aggressive tone.

  “We are somewhere very safe, but not too far away from Citrus Oaks,” replies DK over the walkie-talkie with a creepy tone.

  “Again what do you want?” I ask into my walkie-talkie.

  DK angrily answers, “Listen to me Ryan. I could send my attack drone, or my group, or anything I have at my disposal to come blow up your shitty little community and kill all of you.”

  I notice the drastic change in message and tone of DK over the walkie-talkie and start to get apprehensive.

  “Why threaten me? What do you need from me and my shitty little group?” I ask into my walkie-talkie.

  There is an awkward silence from DK after my question and every second of silence feels like minutes as I eagerly wait for his answer.

  DK sounds unstable to me and I can’t figure out what is going on here and why he would contact me.

  “I apologize for my threats but I’m trying to form a bond here between myself and you Ryan. You seem like a capable guy and I know taking down Joseph couldn’t have been easy,” says DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “It wasn’t easy and I’m not trying to make us enemies DK,” I reply into my walkie-talkie.

  “Are you open to meeting me in person Ryan?” asks DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “Not alone,” I quickly answer DK.

  “Good, that means you aren’t a fool and I don’t need fools around me. Jacob has enough of them,” replies DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “Where and when do you want to meet?” I ask DK with hesitation. I feel that it’s not our best inter
est to meet with DK, but DK sounds unstable and I don’t want him to attack Citrus Oaks.

  “We can meet at a neutral location that has other people there and is very secure,” answers DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “I should be available in a couple days to meet. Where do you want to meet?” I reply to DK.

  There is another several second long awkward silence from DK, but he finally answers me, “We can meet at the World of Trade.”

  “What about Jacob though?” I ask DK.

  DK gives a villainous laugh and answers over the walkie-talkie, “He is busy right now and won’t be at World of Trade anytime soon.”

  “Where is he?” I ask DK.

  “That’s none of your concern, but he definitely won’t be at World of Trade for the next week or two,” answers DK.

  I find it interesting what DK just said about Jacob and wonder where Jacob is.

  “Where at World of Trade and when do you want to meet?” I ask DK.

  I put the walkie-talkie in my left hand and grab a pen and piece of paper to write on.

  “We can meet in three days at noon at the food court inside World of Trade,” answers DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “Food court? Where is that?” I ask DK.

  “It’s inside. You haven’t been inside World of Trade yet?” asks DK.

  I don’t know whether to lie or to tell the truth about our experiences at World of Trade, but trust is earned and for some reason I feel that DK will know if I’m lying to him.

  “I have not, but I have a keycard for access into Level 2,” I answer DK.

  “Good, then you’ll have no problem making the meeting in three days at noon,” replies DK.

  “I just want to make sure you mean three days from now. Like tomorrow is one, and so on,” I reply to DK.

  “You trying to be funny?” asks DK.

  “Just trying to earn that trust is all,” I answer DK.

  DK gives a creepy laugh over the walkie-talkie and replies, “Yes, tomorrow is day one, and so on.”

  “Okay, my men and I will see you in three days from today,” I say to DK.

  “Don’t be late,” replies DK over the walkie-talkie.