Lightning: Soldiers Of Hades MC, #4

Lightning watched as Paco wolfed down his sandwich very quickly. The poor kid must have been starving.

He drank his glass of milk fairly quickly as well.

He shook his head. “Slow down kid. Or you’ll get sick.”

Paco stopped and stared down at the floor. “I’m sorry Mr. Lightning, but I was so hungry.”

“Hey no problem, been there done that myself but if you eat too much too fast, you might get sick and I’d rather you didn’t do that.” Lightning leaned toward the kid. “I don’t clean up puke, you got me kid?”

Paco nodded. “I got you, Mr. Lightning.”

“Ok then, let’s go see if your sister is awake,” Lightning suggested.

Paco grinned showing off his missing tooth again and scrambled off his chair, running down the hall to the Infirmary.

Lightning followed more slowly.

His brother Eli joined him. “So what’s up with the kid?”

Lightning shrugged. “He found me this afternoon and asked me to help his sister. She was hurt after the warehouse went up. I found her unconscious, so I brought her here. I don’t know her story yet, but hopefully, she’s awake now.”

They both looked down the hall to see Paco standing in the doorway smiling widely. “Come on Mr. Lightning, Nala is awake now. That is a good thing.”

Eli turned to his brother and mouthed, “Mr. Lightning?”

“Shut up. His sister taught him to respect his elders, so what?” Lightning growled at his brother.

Eli grinned. “I’ve got to meet this woman.” Slapping his brother on the back he said, “Let’s go, the kid said she’s awake now.”

Lightning groaned and allowed his brother to push him toward the Infirmary.

When they entered, they found Paco sitting on the bed with his sister Nala.

Nala was indeed awake.

Lightning paused as somehow, he’d expected her to have the same brown eyes as her brother, but her eyes were a brilliant blue color. He frowned then noted that while were skin was a golden brown color it was mostly brown due to working out in the sun while Paco’s skin was brown due to the fact one of his parents was of Spanish decent.

When they came inside and Nala saw them in their MC cuts, she tugged her brother close and frowned. “What the hell is this place and how did we get here? The last thing I knew, we were in the woods.”

“Sister, that’s my fault,” Paco supplied the answer. “When you wouldn’t wake up, I went to get some help. Mr. Lightning helped me. He brought us here to help you.”

She hugged her little brother close and told him, “That’s okay baby, but it doesn’t answer where we are.”

“We’re located near Hondo and this is the clubhouse of the Soldiers of Hades MC,” Lightning told her. “You are safe here. Can you tell us what happened? How did you get hurt?”

Her eyes darted to her brother and then she looked back to him. “Let’s just say, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time this morning and some fool of a coward caught me by surprise.”

Lightning caught on to what she was saying and turned to Paco. “Hey kid, you wanna go with my brother Eli and get your sister some food? I imagine she’s hungry too.”

Paco looked over at Nala. “You hungry, sister?”

“Starving. Did you eat something?”

Paco nodded. “He made me a sandwich.” He looked over at Lightning. “Mr. Lightning, is your brother as nice as you are?”

Lightning nodded. “He’ll take care of you, and he’ll bring you back real quick okay? You don’t have to be afraid here. No one is gonna hurt you or your sister. I won’t let them, all right?”

Paco nodded. “Ok.” He scrambled off the bed and walked over to Eli. Holding out his hand, Eli took it and turned toward the door.

After they left, Lightning turned to Nala and asked, “What happened this morning?”

Nala shook her head. “I finally found Paco’s mother. We’ve been looking for her for over a year. We thought the cartel kidnapped her after my dad died. No that’s not right, she set it up to look like she’d been a kidnapped, but I heard the whole thing. She only made it look like a kidnapping.” She shook her head again, even though her head hurt she looked more than pissed about what she learned this morning. “My dad married that witch seven years ago and then they had Paco. She is Mexican but she’s also a chemist. We didn’t know she was cartel until a year ago. The cartel wanted her to work on a new drug and she played her part very well in the drama that followed. She had me convinced that she didn’t really want to do it, as she had a new husband and a small son. The cartel took her reason for denying them away when they shot my dad in front of us. They put one bullet into him and he was down but not quite dead yet. They dragged her away with them in what I thought was protest, that was until I finally found her this morning. Paco didn’t see what they did to our dad, all he ever knew was his mother wasn’t home anymore.”

“How did you find her this morning?” he asked.

“We saw the fire last night and I went out early to see if she was among the dead,” Nala told him. “She wasn’t dead, she was standing there gazing at the destruction. There were two men with her, she called them Loca and Luis. Then she turned around and found me standing there. I had a gun in my hand and I told her to get away. She laughed at me and told me not to play a hero. She told me that she just lost five years of her very best work last night and she was pissed.” Nala paused to take a drink of water from the bottle on the stand beside the bed. Shaking her head she admitted, “That bitch has been working for the cartel all along. She told me that in no uncertain terms this morning. I asked her what about Paco? Her own son. She told me he was better off with me than her. I could at least offer him a good life. She said she only had him as a cover for her work,” she finished with tears running down her face.

“She’s not your mom is she?” Lightning asked while already knowing the answer.

“Oh hell, no.” Nala snarled. “My mom died when I was two. My dad raised me until he met her.” She frowned. “I should have known she was a traitor. She might have given birth to Paco but she never cared about him, not like a real mother should care about her kid. I cared more about him than she ever did. My dad and I took care of the baby because she wouldn’t.”

“So how did you get hurt?”

“One of the men with her this morning slammed a gun into my head while I was arguing with Monica. I blacked out for a moment and when I woke up she was gone.” She looked toward the door but Paco wasn’t back yet. “I found my way back to Paco and our camp and well, you know the rest.”

“So, this Monica person was the cartel’s chemist and Afternoon Delight was her drug?”

Nala frowned. “No, I don’t think so? She said something about a different drug before she knew I was even there. I can’t remember now what she said but it wasn’t Afternoon Delight.”

Before Lightning could say anything, Paco and Eli returned with a plate of sandwiches and can of cold Dr. Pepper.

Paco carried the plate over to the bed and set it down, then he looked at his sister carefully. “You can’t eat too fast now, cuz if you do, you’ll get sick.” He leaned in closer and told her in a loud whisper, “Mr. Lightning says he doesn’t clean up anybody’s puke, so you can’t get sick.”

Nala giggled and that made Paco giggle too. She leaned in close and laid her forehead on his. “Ok, baby, I promise not to eat too fast.”

Paco stared at his sister. “Can I sit with you sis? I need to be close right now.”

Nala nodded. “Of course, you can sweet boy. I think I need you close too. This has been a day from hell for both of us.”

Paco scrambled up on the bed without upsetting the sandwiches and snuggled in close to his sister. He watched her pick one section up and raise it to her mouth.

She bit down and groaned at the burst of flavor in her mouth. “Oh my, this is good.”

Paco smiled. “I made it for you.”

“You did?” She looked at him quickly.

Paco nodded. “I know how to make a sandwich, sis. And I know how you like your food. I may not know much else but I do know that.”

Nala nodded at her brother. “Thank you, kiddo.”

“For what?” Paco whispered.

“For just being you. You take very good care of me and I love you.”

Paco leaned into her. “I love you too. You’re my only family left now. We got to stick together.”

“Yeah, we do and we will,” Nala promised him as she looked over the top of his head at the men watching them.