***
ANNA
Tomorrow morning at sunrise we leave for Bonham, and this is officially the most nervous I have ever been. We’ll be arriving two days early to allow Mateo’s men to make necessary changes to ensure everyone’s safety, and according to Mateo we’ll have a better idea if they too will send security in early.
We have no idea if Vater Henry or anyone for that matter from the church will show up. They didn’t send a reply, but in fairness the letter from Mateo and Lord Paul didn’t request one. We are going no matter what. If they don’t show up, then we plan our next move from Bonham.
Of course, not everyone is going to Bonham tomorrow, or even at all. I was hoping Ash would go for moral support, but she’d said she just wasn’t ready to see David. And we all knew David would be there. Last night she had said, “I don’t want to ruin this for everyone. If they can achieve peace, I think that’s good, but if I see him, I can’t promise I’m not gonna rip off his…”
You get the idea.
With Ash opting out, Chase chose to stay behind with her, and Cody as well. As far as our group is concerned it’s just me, Luke, Easton, and Tommy going. Then of course Mateo Daniel, and the General, plus Lord Paul. On top of that, each leader is taking an additional ten men.
Luke mentioned this morning his team is already stationed in or near Bonham. That’s another fifteen men and woman. Which is of course the difference in the church and the gangs. The church would die before they let women fight their battles for them, but Diablo, the Titans, they recognize women are just as capable. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to be a member of any gang, even Diablo, but that aspect certainly helps.
Even with all the preparations they have already made, and the ones they’ll make once we get to Bonham, my stomach is still churning, and I’ve been nursing a migraine all day. There are just too many things that could go wrong.
It could be that the Vater doesn’t show up at all, or that they set a trap for us. You know the one where they swoop in and kill us all when we least expect it, like when we are sleeping the night before the meeting. Or maybe they come, but the Vater denies everything, goes back to the compound and we accomplish absolutely nothing. That is the scenario I think is most likely. Luke agreed when I told him at lunch, Ash too.
But no matter what, at least we are doing something. At least we are taking a step in the right direction.
chapter 15 - Well That Escalated Quickly
ANNA
After arriving in Bonham yesterday morning, I spent most of the day in Luke’s room on the third floor while Luke and pretty much everyone else rushed around town taking all the necessary precautions. As a last minute decision they had reached out to everyone living in or near the downtown area and asked them to stay with friends outside the town limits for a couple days just to be safe. No one seemed to have an issue with that, and the last of the citizens of Bonham with the exception of Emily the Hotel owner had left town by this morning.
Luke had attended a meeting this morning after breakfast where they assigned each person their post. They would have several men hidden upstairs, and two back in the kitchen out of sight. Then they would have two men at each exit, along with another ten stationed in the street out front and five out back. They would also have at least two men in each building along the main road, and a couple placed in the alley where I had hidden waiting for Luke to find me weeks ago.
It seems like they’ve thought of everything, so as I sit on my stool at the bar, waiting on Luke to have dinner with me, I can’t figure out why I’m still so nervous.
“Loca, chica!”
My head shoots up, connecting with Brea’s beautiful face. “Brea! What are you doing here? I didn’t think you were coming,” I say, leaving my place at the bar and crossing to her.
Throwing her arm around my shoulder and dragging me to where I was, she laughs. “Don’t every leave the bar on my account, chica.” The two of us take up the same seats Ash and I had sat in the very first time I had visited Bonham, and spinning on her stool, she faces me to explain. “Well about five hours after you guys left, Camila and I both felt like it was bad luck that we weren’t going to be here. And once we got that in our heads, well…we loaded up and headed out.”
“Thank God,” I laugh. “I’m pretty much the only girl and it sucks.”
“Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” A very pretty woman appears through the kitchen door before making her way down the bar to face us. Emily.
We all share a laugh, and then Brea yells, “Shots!”
And when someone yells shots, they all come running.
Camila is the first to round the corner, sliding in her socks and nearly busting it, clearly having been upstairs. Daniel isn’t far behind her, laughing at her near fall. Luke steps through the front door next, followed by Mateo, Easton, Lord Paul and Tommy. A few other members of Diablo, including the General join us, and before long I’m three shots in.
You would think I had learned my lesson about tequila, but clearly not.
The fun lasts late into the night, with everyone eating, drinking, laughing, and talking. No one even mentions the meeting tomorrow, or the church. The conversation stays light, and
