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figured out
she could have more fun playing the market with her money than arguing with me
about it.
    I liked
knowing that when my woman put on something new that it was my money that had
bought it. Or when she went out with her girls it was her man footing the bill.
She got around that shit by spoiling my kid but that was okay. As long as I got
my way we were cool.
    I had to put
her out of my mind and focus on the shit I had to do tonight. It had been a few
weeks since we’d started on this particular job and things were coming to a
head soon. Shit had gone down that I wasn’t too pleased about and   I knew from
experience that coming into the stretch usually put assholes in a panic and
made them do stupid shit.

Chapter 7

 
 
    The boys were
already mounted up and waiting when I rode up to our designated meeting place.
With just a slight nod of acknowledgment, I went to the head of the crew and
waited until they formed in line behind me and we headed out of town under
cover of night.
    In the next
town over was a little nine year old girl who’d barely survived the barbaric
attentions of a two hundred and fifty pound pedophilic piece a shit who’d
raped, battered, slit her throat and left her for dead. As an ex-cop I
understood that the powers that be frowned on vigilante justice, as a father,
if I’d caught the motherfucker before the law did he would be dead already.
    Stephanie was
now one of us; anyone who could survive that shit had to have steel running
under their skin with a healthy rod of it in their spine. Her mother had
sounded the alarm a few weeks ago when it was coming on time for the trial. Our
little warrior was having nightmares about her personal boogieman coming to get
her in the dark. Can’t have that shit, can’t let him take not so much as
another second away from that precious child, so every night for the past two weeks
we’ve been standing guard outside her home.
    One crew took
up night duty and another relieves us in the morning to escort her to school.
Until the trial is over, she won’t be alone, and if she still needs us after
that, well that’s what the fuck we do, we don’t leave until the job’s done.
    We pulled up
outside the ranch style house in the little cul de
sac. Every light in the house was on and I could see someone peeping through
the curtains at the window. My heart hitched in my chest that one so young could
know such fear. There was no justice in that, nothing good at all about this
fucked up situation. No matter what anyone does or says from now on, this will
be a part of her. It’s my job and my crew’s job to see it doesn’t become what
defines her.
    As a cop my
job would’ve already been done, unless the D.A. chose to call me to give
evidence or something, I wouldn’t be involved in this side of things. I
wouldn’t know of her fears in the night, or see her mom’s worry. I liked this
way better, this way I get to see the job through from beginning to end.
    There were
twelve of us who alighted from our bikes and removed helmets before heading
towards the front door. We had a routine worked out by now. Each case is
different; each woman or child has his or her own unique needs. Whatever it
takes to make them feel secure is what we offer.
    Stephanie’s
mother Donna opened the door just as we reached it and ushered us in. “How is
she tonight?” We stood around the living room, which is where we usually
started our nightly ritual. After getting a rundown of the day’s events from
Donna I headed back to the room where Stephanie slept with her mom these days,
too afraid to be in her own bed alone.
    She was
sitting up in the middle of the bed, wide-eyed and alert. There were still some
faded bruises around her face and the sight of the dark ugly puckered flesh
around her neck where the monster had cut into her made me see red. The only
draw back to having a conscience is that it keeps me from exacting vengeance
the way I see fit.
    I have no
qualms about