Page 147 of Patching Over

Sleep doesn’t come easily. Every noise startles me and I end up deciding to stay awake. Once the light of day begins to show, and I can hear the hustle and bustle start on the streets again, I make my way out of the alley.

Straight into the clutches of Hell.

My last thought as I lose consciousness from being bounced around in the back of a nondescript van is,Kracken, I’m so sorry. So, so sorry.

CHAPTER

FOUR

Kracken

We head into church now that Butcher and his woman, Selah, have arrived. Dragon gave Brick the heads up that they were enroute, and that Selah will likely be able to help us narrow down where those fundamentalist bastards are hiding. All I know is I want Moira back. I feel confident that eventually, I’ll break through and help her heal. I know a lot of it is up to her but at the same time, I want to be there when she realizes she’s something special.

Brick stalks into the room and settles at the head of our table. Picking up the gavel, he slams it down and says, “Shut the fuck up, we’ve got shit to discuss!”

“Selah, Butcher, we added two chairs in the center for you two. Please have a seat and we can get started,” Banshee states, indicating where they should sit.

I look at them with interest, wondering if Selah ran across my woman during her escapades. I’m unsure how to ask, so instead, I decide to observe. If I have questions, I’ll ask them when appropriate.

“Thank you,” Selah replies as Butcher pulls out her chair for her.

“Selah,” Brick calls out. “We have the gist of you and your siblings' upbringing. Wrecker opened up and gave us that intel. So, we won’t need you to rehash any of that. But what I’d like to hear from you, is anything you know about the inner workings of the community. Those fundamentalist pussies have hit my house, and that’s something that I won’t let sit without doing something about it. Here’s the problem we’re having, they don’t stay in one place for long before packing up their camp and going to a new location. What we’re running up against is how they’re getting their funding and how do they know when we’ve finally got them locked down.”

“What do you mean locked down?” she asks, confusion marring her face.

I listen intently, my mind worried about Moira. Hawg created an internet search to see if she uses her debit card, since Belle let us know she has money in her account. So far, she hasn’t, which concerns me because she isn’t speaking. How is she getting food? Shelter? Is she safe? My fists clench beneath the table in order to focus back on what’s being discussed.

“We have scouts out there searching for them, whenever we do find them, by the time the cavalry arrives, they’ve vacated the premises without our surveillance team seeing them leave. How is that possible?” Brick questions.

It’s definitely gotten to Hawg, our IT guy. He’s damn good at what he does, but even he has been stymied. My brother has practically been sleeping in his office, all of his computers running data searches and each monitor constantly scanning for intel based on whatever parameters he put in place.

“There are things about me that I don’t want to become public knowledge, Brick. This may go against y’all’s code, butI’m gonna need to answer that with only your inner circle and Butcher in the room,” Selah replies.

“Is this one of those spiritual things?” Brick leans forward and asks her.

She clears her throat and quietly says, “Yes, sir.”

Brick’s voice booms in the air as he orders his men, “I need everyone outside of Banshee, Scythe, Kracken, and Hawg to clear the room.”

Several of our brothers narrow their eyes at her, but I know that Brick will fill everyone in on what he can once she’s done.

“I’m sorry,” Selah says, looking at Brick. “I don’t know how much of this is allowed to be spoken about to the general masses, and I don’t want information being disclosed that shouldn’t be. I know at some point some of this will be shared with them, but that’s a decision I feel you should make once you’ve had a chance to allow what I’m going to tell you to sink in so you can process it.”

“I get it, Selah. There are things that I don’t understand, and I know that there are things that shouldn’t be out there to be used against you and your family. If this was Ryleigh we were talking about, I’d want her gifts held close to the ones who wouldn’t pass them off during a drunken stupor,” Brick declares.

I hide my grin at his words. He’d move Heaven and Hell if his woman needed it done.

Selah takes a few deep breaths before she starts talking. “Thank you. I guess I should start by telling you a little about myself. There are things about me that I haven’t shared, and up until now, it hasn’t come down to me needing to expose myself.”

“Take your time, Lah. Only tell us what’s pertinent and a need-to-know basis of intel,” Butcher states, putting his arm around her.

Brick pats the top of her hand in a brotherly way, then removes it, and says, “He’s right, Selah. I know how those ofyou who are skilled and prodigious need to safeguard yourselves against certain types of vulnerability. We just need to know what is going to help us move forward in this instance.”

“Okay. Um, so… my mother discovered something unique about me when I was younger that she used to her advantage, so it’d give her a leg up in the hierarchy of the zealots. When I hear or see something, mathematical problems and whatnot, it becomes like a puzzle in my brain that I have a compulsion to solve by putting all of the pieces together in a systematic order. She used to call me her own rubix cube or computer brain, depending on the circumstance. I can get all of the colors to realign with a few maneuverings and keystrokes in my mind.”

“Interesting,” Banshee says, whistling as he leans back in his chair, and hovers above the ground. “So, if I were to give you an equation, you could figure it out without needing to use a pen and paper to go through the steps?”

“Pretty much,” she remarks, shrugging her shoulders.

---