Ninety Degrees Out

“Hey man,” Bran greeted Rico.His window was down, like all the others that would move in the van.His blonde hair was cut shorter than a new private’s in the army.

Rico studied the van and the four men inside before he responded.

“Great that you made it.I’m Rico.See that door over there?”

He pointed to the loading dock along the wall behind him.

When Bran nodded, he continued.

“Back up there, we’ll unload whatever you have with you and you can come inside.It’s much cooler in there, even though we don’t have power for much.Have to run a diesel generator for it, and there’s not much fuel left.”

Bran nodded and put the van into reverse.At least there was shelter here, and a place to hide away from prying eyes.

He watched the door roll up as he backed up to the raised concrete wall.

“Pete, hop out and open the back doors.”

His brother pulled the sliding side door back and jumped out.

“Hey Jimbo, come get the other one.”

The two men held the back doors open until Bran backed the rest of the way up to the open loading dock.

Bran shut the van down and set the parking brake before he got out.How much of a problem were these leftover bikers?And could he keep his stash of weapons under the floorboards secret?

His team helped Rico’s two remaining men to unload the dried food he had with him.MREs were common currency these days.Fresh food just didn’t travel well, especially when going long distances.

“Jax?You awake?”

His second in command raised the backrest on his seat.

“Yeah, boss.What have we got?”

“I’m hoping it’s the last of the ones that came down to Terrace and terrorized the town.We’re on our own up here.The commissioner said he can’t acknowledge our mission.The Coast Guard is our emergency contact.Captain Whipper.”

“Got it.Us Mounties always get our man.Or in this case our gang.”

“I just hope we don’t get caught in the crossfire.Seems he’s had some trouble with the locals up here.Told me he lost a bunch to this ranch he wants to bomb.”

“You want me to scout them out.I can take my ID and take a look.”Jax stood up, then leaned over to keep from hitting his head as he went out the side door.

“Maybe.Let’s go meet the rest of them.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Angel looked up from the corner where she was brushing her hair.If she had her way, she would find a pair of scissors and cut it off, but for some reason these men loved a girl with hair the could yank when they wanted sex.And she craved it.

Four new victims.Hmmm…. Her thoughts turned to finding someone new.Rico and his two minute bangs weren’t getting her off anymore.Boring.She wanted someone who would take a little time to dominate her a bit.Someone who would match her desperate need for a little bit of pain to make the pleasure sharper.

Bran was the leader.Different.Short hair, which made sense when all you had to keep clean was the river or a creek.Love the blonde look though.Something’s off about him.

She met his glance with a steady stare.Not like that he knew about her ahead of time.Rico was pretty quiet about her.Damn jealous too.

He nodded to her and smiled.Maybe there was something she could work with.At least she needed to find out if these guys were trouble.The van they had would make a way for her to get away if needed.

“Hey Jax, take a walk, will you?”

Bran sounded like a leader.Rico wasn’t going to like it.

“Yeah, give me a break, man.Need some food and a beer first.Long drive getting here.”

The snarky tone made Angel smirk.Trouble there too.This was going to be fun.

“What the fuck does he need to take a walk for?”

Rico’s back was up.Angel stood and turned to hide her face as she started to braid her hair.The last box of black dye hid her natural dark chestnut.She couldn’t risk someone from the ranch getting an easy ID on her.It wasn’t like the whole city of Anchorage was crazy.They knew her history.

“We brought the explosives, so he’s got to know what he’s going to blow up. He’s a fucking demolition man.Ex army.”

Bran snapped back at him.

“Fine, I’ll give him directions after we eat.Been raiding the gardens down there for veggies and berries.Not much in the way of meat.Have to hunt for moose.”

Rico was whining again.

Yup, time for a change at the top.At least Angel knew she had a way out of here.She knew where the fuel cans were stored.There were enough of them for her to go east.The highway was mostly repaired now.Canada wasn’t enforcing the border.Those radios were a treasure.Need to make sure she stole one to take with her.Plan B was looking attractive.Now she needed to work on Plan A.Why go through all the trouble if Bran could be the one?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Alicia watched as Blue nursed her pups.They were a perfect blend of their mother and father’s coloring and all of them had blue eyes except one, which had one blue and one gold eye.

Three little girls and five boys.A huge litter, and as Dr. Anya said, not unexpected.Four of them looked like Jazz’s wolf genes were a little stronger, but until they got bigger it was hard to tell.All of them were spoken for.Anya volunteered to neuter four of them.

Randy spoke for a pair, a boy and a girl, and so did Earl and Deborah.One went to Mac.Edward and his family took another of the boys, which left on little female.Ariel want her, she was hoping to build a small cabin up the hill from the homestead.

Chay came over, with Arimina following him.

“How’s she doing?”His voice was a quiet hum.

“Took to the pen you made like a duck to water.It’s like Blue has had puppies before.”Alicia reached down to stroke the round belly of one of the male babies.

“I wish we could keep one of them,” Ari said.

“We have two already.Besides, I think we’ll let Blue have one more litter next year.We can keep one of them,” Chay said.

A low rumbling growl brought Blue’s head up.

Alicia glance across the great room to the deck door, to see Jazz standing with his tail straight out.

“What caught his attention?” she asked.

“Someone’s out there.”Chay went across to the rear entrance and retrieved his shot gun. “I’m going out the back.”He whistled for Jazz and the dog went through the door into the air lock with him.

“I hope that isn’t somebody bad.I’m going to get my gun.”Ari ran up the stairs.

“Quiet, Blue,” Alicia reached behind her back to pull her pistol out.

She stood up and pulled the sliding door open.The screen moved silently, and she pulled it shut behind her.Staying in the nook she waited for Chay to show himself.Ari knew to stay in her room, watching from her window.

Jazz’s snarling bark carried out of the trees.

“Hey man, call your dog off!I’m a friend!”

“Jazz, guard.” The command brought silence.

Chay jogged past her into the trees behind the old rotten log.

“Who is it?”

She heard Ari’s shrill voice from upstairs.

“Don’t know,” Alicia called up.“Keep your eyes open.Don’t shoot unless Chay gives us the signal.”

Who did Jazz find?The motorcycle gang never came this far.Sara said they were missing produce from their garden, but that was a close as they came.

Friend or foe?She put her pistol back in her waistband.Jazz wasn’t barking, so she would wait.

Ari came out behind her.

“We wait, right?I left my gun upstairs. I don’t think they’re bad.Jazz quite barking.He wouldn’t if there was something wrong with the man.”Ari sat down on the bench by the railing.

“We wait.”Alicia settled in beside her.