Chapter 5

W hen the cops pulled up, one of them came to her. "Hey, what's going on here?"

Baron had told Brittany to drive the truck back to her place, but, as she turned to face the cops, she realized no way in hell she was leaving at all. If Baron needed to escape, he would need his wheels. Of course, if he didn't know that his wheels would be here, that wouldn't help either.

She groaned, even as the cop gave her a gentle shake. "Are you okay? Are you all right, miss?"

She nodded. "I am, but we were shot at, and people are up ahead. We think they're stealing, taking advantage of the situation," she explained, waving her hands. "You know what it's like here."

Both cops nodded. "You need to go home now," the lead cop said, "and leave this to us."

She gave him a wry smile. "That would be possible, except that he's already gone up there to see what the trouble is."

"Who has?" the cop asked sharply.

She peered into the darkness to try and see who she was talking to, but it was almost impossible. The heaviness of the sky seemed to have filled every square inch of the world around her. The darkness had a blanketing effect all around them. "Baron," she replied. "His brother died up here the other day."

"Brad," the other cop replied, "she's talking about Brad."

"Yeah, and this is his brother, Baron."

"I know Baron," he said, as he turned to face the area where Baron had disappeared. "Did he have a weapon on him?"

"None that I know of," she replied. "Does it matter?"

"Well, these guys are likely to be armed to the teeth, since they shot at you already," he explained, "so I hate to see anybody up there with that kind of trouble."

"He didn't seem to be bothered though," she pointed out.

"No, he wouldn't be." He sighed, then turned to his partner and shrugged. "He's from special ops in the military. He's got a lot of those in-demand skills, from what I've known about him. If he's up there, I don't want to mess up his road show. Yet we can't have whoever's up there shooting at people."

"Or helping themselves to everybody else's stuff," she murmured. "I know that's pretty low on everybody's scale of importance right now, but, for a lot of these people, this is all they have."

"All that's left of your homes. I get it."

"Well, we're already dealing with very rough situations right now," she said, "and then to have these lowlifes coming in and stripping out the homes that have been left unprotected, that's hardly fair."

The cops nodded. "That's also why we tried to get everybody to leave the area," he pointed out, "including you."

"That's nice and all," she replied, "but it also just clears the way for the hoodlums who are here, taking what they want, not even bothering with a please and thank you ."

He grinned at her spunk, his white teeth shining in the darkness.

She groaned. "I really am not in the mood for this." She glared back down the road where Baron had disappeared. "I wish he would come back."

"I am sure he will soon, but he won't come back until he's ready."

"Right, it seems you do know him."

"I know the family," he said, "and Baron was always the most stubborn of that lot. His brother was never quite so obnoxious in that way, just because of his heart condition."

"Everybody knew he had a heart condition, huh ?" Brittany asked.

"Yes," he said, "at least the locals did." He looked over at his partner, who was already nodding. "Yeah, he had had multiple scares, and this end wasn't unexpected. However, just because you know something could happen, it doesn't mean that you're expecting it to happen. Still, in this case,… it did, and that's a huge loss to the community."

"Well, his brother is out there trying to prevent anybody from losing anything else," she muttered, as she stared at the truck. "He told me to take the truck and go to my place."

"Then you better go. We suggest you not leave the truck here because he won't be expecting it."

She turned and looked at him, "And yet…"

"No," he said, raising a hand, "if he told you to take the truck and go someplace, just take the truck and go there."

Her shoulders slumped. "And here I was thinking you guys might be on my side."

"We're not on anybody's side," he declared crossly, "except the side of right, which, in this instance, I'm sure can and will get a little bit confusing."

"Ya think?" she quipped, shaking her head. "It's pretty frustrating."

"But, if he expects you to take his truck someplace," he pointed out, "he'll expect it to be there, so he'll show up there. If he does, and you're not there, he'll come back into the danger area, looking for you."

She raised both hands in frustration. "Fine, I just wanted to wait here for him."

"Not happening," he said. "Either you're going out with us or you're going out ahead of us."

She stared at them. "What about him though? Surely you won't just leave him out there alone."

"That's not our intention," the other cop replied, staring over at his partner, "but you're the one who we have to watch out for."

"No," she snapped, "I'm not. This isn't a case of one or the other. If you're staying here, I want to stay here."

"No," the first cop repeated. "If Baron told you to move out, then you need to move out."

She glared at him but realized they wouldn't listen to her at all. "It's hardly fair that you guys are ganging up on me," she muttered. The one cop tried to hide his smile, but she caught sight of it anyway and glared at him. "What? Is this some macho thing?"

"No, it's some keeping you safe thing."

There was little she could do to argue with that, especially as they were nudging her toward the vehicle. "Fine, but, if something happens to him in there because you guys are out here arguing with me, it's on you."

"Which is another good reason for you to get moving," the lead cop said, losing his patience, "so that we can go help him."

"Fine," she muttered, then hopped into the truck, started it up, and backed out while they watched. As soon as she was heading in the right direction, they took off in the direction she had told them Baron went.

If nothing else, she'd cleared the way for Baron to get some assistance. She didn't know that he wanted any, thinking he seemed to be more of a lone ranger type, which wasn't a bad thing per se. But both policemen knew Baron and seemed to be clued in on that, so hopefully it would work out okay. It would be better if Baron knew exactly who and what he was dealing with, but she didn't think he had any clue. None of them did yet. Unless Badger was able to get some information based on the license plate number she had sent. She could only hope.

She headed back to her grandmother's house, thinking that's what Baron had been talking about in terms of her location. But when he had specifically mentioned her place , what did he mean? She wasn't sure, but he would need a ride somewhere along the line, right?

Feeling like she was going a little bit crazy by questioning everything she was doing, she checked the time. Baron had left twenty minutes ago. He did say to give him an hour.

She couldn't tell heads or tails from this point, and it was starting to wear on her. As soon as she pulled up in front of what was left of her grandmother's house, she hopped out and walked up to where the front door had been. Not really anything was left anymore. She could push around the debris, but what good would that do her grandmother, if she was literally sitting here with no place to go? Apparently Brittany now had some time to figure out her grandma's housing issue.

Creating a space for herself, Brittany plunked down into the middle of what was left of her grandma's house and just waited for Baron to return. A weird dark serenity surrounded her that gave an edgy look to the night. Of course, the fact that people were out there, potentially chasing Baron down, even as she sat here, was also unnerving.

She didn't know that he even knew where her own house was, so it made more sense to wait here at her grandma's place, and she really wanted to ensure that Baron was okay. This was closer too, if he came back needing help. She didn't even want to question why she was so worried about him, but, as her memory bank dredged up all the times she had been around Brad and how he was, she realized there were a couple times when Baron had likely been with him.

She thought about trying to reach for those memories going back, since she'd gone to school here too. Baron could have been a few years ahead of her, and Brad had already graduated from high school back then. Baron had told her that he was ten years younger than Brad, so Baron had to be few years ahead of her in school. With that, she remembered his latecomer retort, and it brought a smile to her face.

Only as the time ticked by did it suddenly hit her. Baron had been on the football team and potentially the baseball team, one of those jocks who were loved by all, and yet… She frowned at the thought that came to mind.

He didn't look like a typical sports jock, who barely had the brains to carry on. Instead he looked like somebody who had made a lot of choices in life that were exactly what he'd wanted and had done something with it. For that, she was happy for him. Yet it was odd thinking of him being an athlete, and yet he remained fit, outside of that leg, and she wondered if that even made a difference.

When she heard an odd sound, she immediately stood and wanted to call out, then froze because whoever was approaching wasn't calling out to her.

She moved back into the darkness a little deeper, hoping she would see something ahead of whoever was coming her way. Even as she watched, she could see somebody, some movement coming toward her in the darkness, yet it wasn't anything she was expecting. If that was Baron, he would have called out for her.

Frowning, she waited, hating the uncertainty, then suddenly he was right there in front of her. She gasped in shock, almost screamed, before he clapped a hand on her mouth.

"Sorry," Baron whispered, "I didn't mean to scare you."

She shook her head. "Good God," she muttered, "couldn't you have at least warned me?"

He winced. "I was trying not to let the people behind me know that I'm here."

She stared at him in shock, frantically searching the darkness. He pulled her deeper into the house, or at least what remained of the house. "We'll just wait here for a few minutes," he breathed against her ear.

She nodded but hung on to him tightly, and he let her. Absolutely no backing away. As a matter of fact, he pulled her deeper into the shadows and held her close. She breathed up against his ear, "Is there one or two?"

When he squeezed her twice, she took it to mean two. She stiffened, then pressed herself tighter against him, waiting to see what would come of this. She trusted him, but the last thing they needed was violence.

When he relaxed slightly, she glanced around but couldn't see any reason for the easing up of his tension.

When he finally dropped his arms, he leaned closer and whispered, "Looks like they're gone."

She shook her head. "How the hell can you tell that?"

"I'm listening to the wheels."

She strained her ears, but, with the winds picking up around them, it was hard for her to tell anything. She could smell the scent on his jacket, and she wasn't sure what it was exactly, but maybe from a dog. She frowned. "Did you find the dog?"

He shook his head. "No. Why?" He looked down at her curiously, and she shrugged, embarrassed to have asked. "What? Do I smell like it?" He was openly laughing at her now.

She gave him a sheepish look. "Your jacket does."

"Yeah, it's my brother's." He ran his hands down the front of it. "I didn't even think about that. I just grabbed it when I saw it. We used to have matching ones way back when," he shared, "and I figured I would like to have it."

"I think that's a great idea," she shared. "He would have loved for you to have it. I'm sure of it."

"Well, it might not be such a great idea if it smells like dog to the extent you can smell me coming."

"Not from a distance," she noted, a smile in her tone, struggling hard to not devolve into full-blown laughter. Just something about his sense of humor, and maybe just about being around him, was freeing somehow.

In the distance, she noted that the wind suddenly went still, and then she heard the low drone of a vehicle coming from afar. "Is that what you were talking about?"

He nodded. "Yes,"

"Did you get a chance see who it was? There are cops out there, and of course you downed that tree…"

"There was room to move around it slowly. And it wasn't cops." Baron shook his head. "However, I didn't see who it was, but I did get the make of the vehicle."

"We have the license plate from before."

"Yes, assuming that it was the same vehicle and that it was the real license plate. People up to no good sometimes switch plates."

"Ah, so knowing the make will help confirm that, if we get something back on it from… What was his name?"

"Badger. I'll check with him later to see if he came up with anything. It was good instincts to get that plate number."

"Maybe I need better instincts," she noted, "because I could have been collecting a lot more."

He shrugged. "Or maybe you could keep yourself out of circumstances like this, and then you wouldn't need to use your instincts all the time."

"I don't know. I seem to be pretty good at getting myself into trouble these days," she muttered. "Did you see the cops?" she asked, then looked back to the Gorman place. "Where are they?"

He frowned at her. "I didn't see any cops."

She stared at him in shock. "Two of them went out there to help you."

"Help?"

"Yeah,… well, I don't know what you call it. Just a few minutes after you left, two of them arrived, and they went in to see if you needed help. They wanted me to leave first, so they could go look for you, but they wouldn't leave me there. They only left to search for you after I took the vehicle out of there."

"That's smart," he said, but his tone was mild.

That gaze of his was anything but, as he stared into the distance. "Do you think they're in trouble?" Then she shook her head.

"Problems?" he asked.

"No, I'm just an idiot." He looked at her again, and she shrugged. "I shouldn't say things like that."

"We all say silly things at times," he noted. "As long as you're okay, let's get you back up to your house. Plus you need to check on your grandmother."

"No, I told her that I was heading down here earlier, and she was planning on spending a quiet evening with Pocket."

"Right, and Camille is there."

"Yes. I've been thinking a lot about that this evening too, wondering if I should just be signing up Camille to look after my grandma."

"You need to know more about Camille's health, and even your grandma's. You know how the older generation keeps secrets, especially if it'll impact their freedom or would impose on their families. Especially the women of any age, who think they are supposed to look after the rest of us. You must have a serious conversation with both of them. See what Camille wants. See what your grandma wants. That would be a big commitment for Camille as well. Plus their living together might damage their relationship too, as you feared it might damage your own relationship, when considering living with your grandma. Just think of your grandma giving up her independence to rely on her friend Camille or even you. Regardless I'm sure it would also be a struggle for you."

"I know." Brittany sighed. "Mother Nature blew in, and now this new problem has landed on my plate, and I'm still struggling with it."

"It's not 100 percent on your plate either," he pointed out. "You do have some time, not a whole lot, but you can consider other options."

"I can consider other options, but Grandma would want to live alone again. If forced to, she would live with me, rather than a retirement home or even with Camille. Grandma was more than happy to be living alone, until reality came crashing down and took away her home." Brittany pointed to the rubble around them.

"Of course, and you can understand that too."

She nodded. "I do. I'm just not sure I'm ready for that big of a life change."

"Sometimes we don't get an opportunity to get ready for anything. We just have to do what needs to be done." Not a whole lot she could say to that. He motioned at the truck. "Let's get you home."

She hopped up in the passenger seat, and he drove her to her car. Once in and heading back to her house he followed.

He watched as she parked then walked over to him, staring back and muttered, "It really feels wrong to leave Grandma's house with armed looters running amok."

Leaning out of the truck he looked back when she was looking. "Do you want to go back in?"

She looked at him and nodded. "I want to, yes. I'm just not sure it's a smart thing to do."

"It's definitely not a smart thing to do," he declared, looking at her calmly, "but, if you just wanted to crash in her house, we could."

"Crash on what?" She cut him off, looking at him as if he had lost his damn mind.

"Anything you want," he replied cheerfully. "How about a piece of roofing?"

"Ouch, no, thank you very much. I would really like better sleep than that."

"I'll be back in the morning again and will look around." She looked up at him, he nodded. "I'll be looking for the War Dog."

"And yet… it's probably a long shot, right?"

"Maybe, but if it was that important to my brother, I would like very much to solve it for him."

She sighed. "He really was a nice guy."

"I'm really a nice guy too," he added, with a chuckle. "You just don't know me as well as you did him."

"I was thinking about that earlier. Were you on the football team?"

He looked at her and then nodded. "Yeah, I was, and a few other teams. I was pretty active in sports in high school. I was never really a jock, but I was always on the teams. I liked to play everything and probably could have gone to college on a scholarship, but I just wasn't interested."

"I'm sure that probably gave your family the shudders."

"Well, it gave other people's families the shudders, if I remember correctly. My dad wasn't particularly bothered, as he didn't see me as a pro… anything."

"Did he have trouble when you went into the military?"

"No, I don't think so. I think he thought it would make a man out of me," he shared, with a laugh.

"Did it?" She couldn't help asking.

He glanced at her and nodded. "I would have to say yes, though it's not the easiest way to get there."

"No, I don't imagine it is," she agreed, "but I'm sure he was proud of you throughout it all."

"Well, if he wasn't, there was no making him happy, because we both stepped up all the time," he shared. "He was a heavy taskmaster type with us and not exactly an easy person to live with, but we were all the better for it."

"How is he now?"

"He passed on a few years ago and now?… Well, I'm happy that my dad and my brother are together."

"And yet…" She hesitated.

"And yet what?" he asked bluntly.

"Then answer the question because you keep making those half comments and then stopping." She winced. It was a bad habit that she'd picked up years ago. "It just feels as if you're very unsettled about your brother's death."

"Unsettled?" he repeated calmly.

"Just because you know that something could happen doesn't mean you're ready for it."

"We knew that he could die from this at some point in time, but it's not as if we had any prior warning that it would be last weekend," he shared. "So, am I unsettled? Yeah, I probably am, but I can't think of anything I could have done to have made it any easier on him."

"No, of course not," she agreed, "and you can't feel guilty about it either. You weren't here, and, with his condition, there wouldn't have been much anyone could do."

"No, but I was on my way. He should have waited for me," he stated in frustration, "but it's typical of him that he didn't."

"Would you have waited?"

"No, I wouldn't have either," he admitted, with a nod in her direction, "and I know that, but it doesn't make it any easier."

"Well, we can go somewhere else if you want. Besides, we never did get those burgers." She sighed. "I haven't eaten." His eyebrow shot up, and she winced. "I am definitely a foodie," she muttered, as she glanced around. "I'll have to head out and get food. We were talking about going out for food before—"

"We were, and nothing's changed," he said. "Are you still up for it?"

"I am," she muttered, "particularly now."

"Why now?" he asked, amusement in his tone.

Flushed, she crossly replied, "Because I'm hungry, damn it, and I try hard never to go to bed without a meal in my stomach."

"Okay," he agreed agreeably, "I'm with you there, but… are you okay? Your reaction just then was kind of wild."

"I know," she muttered, raising her hands in her defense. "I had an eating thing when I was growing up. It took me a long time to get over the worst of it, especially after that whole being left at the altar thing."

"We all have our coping mechanisms."

"Yeah, we do. So, for me, I try hard not to forget about food. I try hard not to go to bed without having eaten at least something. So, when I realized how late it was—and that I hadn't eaten dinner—it just hit me hard." She laughed. "I probably sound like I'm three sheets to the wind."

"Which would be fine," he noted, "but you aren't, and we did get a little sidelined, so I don't think this will be a horrible change to your plans."

"I hope not," she added. "Let's go get food. I don't know about you, but I need to eat."

He laughed. "I could do with food. I was running around out there in the dark," he pointed out agreeably, "so I burned through a few calories."

"Right," she noted. "That is something I try to avoid doing."

"What? Burning through calories?"

She winced again. "No, not burning through calories," she countered, with an innocent smile.

"What then?"

"Mentioning calories and trying to burn through anything," she said, now looking not one bit ashamed of it. "That goes along with the eating disorder thing. I used to count calories meticulously and then kept moving until I burned up enough calories according to all the charts, so I never had anything left to be hung around on my body."

"Oh, wow. I've never known anybody with an eating disorder background, so I really don't know that much about it."

"Yeah, well, you may not want to by the time you figure out who and what I am," she said, with a laugh. "It's pretty easy to mess yourself up."

"It also seems that you've done a good job on straightening yourself up," he noted, giving her a searching look, "so cut yourself some slack."

She glanced at him and nodded. "I keep trying to."

"Try harder."

She groaned. "You'll be one of those, won't you?"

"Nope, I won't be one of anything," he declared. "You obviously made a lot of changes. You know what you need to do, and you're doing it. So, instead of getting hung up on it, you can admire your progress instead. I'm really glad to see that you're not ashamed of it and just own it. It's not a bad thing."

She straightened up in the seat and looked at him with confusion, then smiled. "Most people have something completely different to say when they find out I had an eating disorder. They say the stupidest things. Anything from Oh no to Of course you didn't or, one I particularly hate, It couldn't have been too bad. You're a great weight now . The rest I just ignore as blah, blah, blah because that's exactly what it is."

He shook his head. "I would never do that because it's your eating disorder. It's your body, and I couldn't possibly have any idea what you went through." He eyed her intently. "So, not my cup of tea. I think sometimes people have no idea what to say, and then the dumbest things come out."