Page 28 of Heartless
Vance ended up meeting his wife, Kyrie’s mother, at one of these community projects. It was a classic opposites-attract love story. She ran herself ragged working three jobs to support her disabled parents, and had come to a food bank for assistance. He was the son of a US Senator, at the same location to volunteer, and also to keep up a positive image for his family.
“I wasn’t a go-getter at that age,” he said leaning against his desk. “I was shy, nerdy.” He nodded at me. “Guys like you probably would have put my head in the toilet.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
“But when I saw Val, I just,” his eyes went misty, “Ihadto talk to her. Trust me, Gunner, I was not the type of guy to just strike up a conversation with a girl I’d never met before. I was terrified.”
“Yeah, can’t relate.”
“But I pulled it together, introduced myself, and well,” he smiled wistfully, “the rest is history, as they say.”
“I’m sorry you lost her,” I told him sincerely. “The thought of losing Mari, just…fuck, I can’t even handle the thought.”
“Thank you. Yes, I’m sorry too. Kyrie barely remembers her. And it’s painful because I see so much of her mother in her. They’re so much alike and our daughter has no idea.” He sighed and lifted up his glass. “To our women, eh?”
That conversation told me more about Governor Vance than what he ever said in words. I watched his mannerisms—where he looked and the tone of his voice as he spoke of his daughter and late wife.
When corruption was so easy, and with no system in place to hold him accountable, I was hard-pressed to believe that a governor would ever truly act in his people’s best interest. But every doubt I had since first meeting Vance slowly began to erase. He was of a different generation than us, and differing opinions would cause some friction, sure. But he was sincerely good, and that kind of person was a rare find.
I still got that timid vibe from him now that he spoke of in his office, and suspected it to be the reason why he still hadn’t taken military action on Blakeworth for kidnapping his daughter. While he was taught to be a leader, it still didn’t come to him innately. Luckily for him, he did the next best thing—surround himself with capable people who could advise him.
Governor Vance was hesitant to use violence, but that didn’t make him a weak leader. In his interactions with Josh, General Bray, and men of his cabinet from the dinner party, he allowed none of them to steamroll over him. The man had a backbone without a thirst for blood—a rare but highly useful combination.
The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if Horus and the other gods steered us here, to give us the best chance to win against Tash.
As the last person to our meeting arrived, a gangly teenage boy in army camouflage at least two sizes too big for him, we all began to settle around the table.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Eduardo.” General Bray clapped a hand on the teen’s shoulder. “He’s a newer recruit, a refugee from the Blakeworth territory. He hopes to be a general one day, so I’ve taken him on as a mentee. He’ll be shadowing me for a while to get a sense of what I do from day-to-day.”
My eyes darted around the table as everyone took their seats. Was no one else concerned about a brand-new recruit hearing sensitive information at this meeting? Only Shadow met my eyes before flicking back to the young man sitting next to Reaper’s father. But Shadow was suspicious of everyone he didn’t know, which didn’t mean he shared my concerns. In any case, he chose not to speak up, so I filed my own thoughts away.
“Welcome, Eduardo. Thank you for coming, everyone. Have a seat, please.” Vance took his place at the head of the table while everyone got settled.
It was quite the crew of faces. Me, Reaper, Jandro, and Shadow lined one side of the table. The Sons of Odin lined the other. General Bray, his recruit, and a lieutenant sat across from Governor Vance and Josh.
“You’re all here because I believe you’re key players in Four Corners’ defense,” Vance began, his palms together on the table. “Every one of you has different abilities, different strengths. I want to utilize every advantage we have to keep the territory safe and our enemies at bay. An army general is not necessarily better than a biker’s sergeant-at-arms when it comes to combat.”
T-Bone’s jaw ticked, clearly put off by that statement for some reason as he pulled his lip between his teeth.
“Blakeworth, and evidently General Tash, have no problem using underhanded techniques for their personal gain,” Vance continued. “They’ve taken someone from all of you, and I’m letting you know that I too, am not above using dirty tactics, as long as it’s for the right reasons.”
I allowed a small smile. The governor was wise to let us and the Sons in on this meeting. Biker gangs lived and breathed dirty tactics.
“With that, gentlemen, I’ll turn it over to you.” Vance spread his hands. “Many of you have told me I need to go on the offensive and I listened. Now is the time to start forming a plan of attack.”
“If I may, sir.” General Bray was the first to speak up, as expected. All eyes turned to the man who looked like Reaper’s twin aged by about twenty years. “We’re getting more and more refugees from neighboring territories by the day. Blakeworth and New Ireland have much bigger populations than us, but their numbersaredecreasing. Many of the younger men are enlisting with the army if they’re in good health, but that’s maybe thirty percent of our refugees. Thinking long-term, we’ll need to expand our border to make room for the population.”
“Any expansion toward Blakeworth or New Ireland, they’ll see as an attack,” I pointed out.
“Right. So we need to take care of the problem first. In the meantime, I think we should set up field hospitals just outside our borders, roughly five or ten miles or so. People are dropping dead out there, so we’ll save lives and boost our numbers for the long-term.”
“Do we have enough medics for field hospitals?” Josh pinched his forehead as he scribbled down notes on a legal pad.
“I’m not sure, but Dr. Brooks and his staff are training them as fast as they can.”
“Mari says they have about a half dozen trained combat medics ready, not including herself,” Reaper added.
“For an army of roughly a thousand? That’s stretching ‘em thin,” I remarked.
