“Yeah, they did, but that was years ago though,” answers Shaun.

  “Well, they made you sign your life away before sending in the samples. I remember the paperwork and agreements were like twenty pages long. I only read the first couple of lines and then just checked the boxes and signed where I needed to,” says Matt.

  “That’s where they would get you, the agreements would be so long that no one would read them and they could get away with anything,” says Shaun.

  “I hope you guys aren’t cloned,” I joke.

  The guys all chuckle.

  “Everything go okay with that guy and Faith though?” asks Matt.

  “I think so, but something was up with his eyes and his voice. And he heard our conversation when we left him in Shaun’s living room and went into Shaun’s garage to talk privately,” I answer Matt.

  “He sounded like a robot at times,” says Shaun.

  “He was definitely enhanced,” says Phil.

  “Enhanced?” asks Matt.

  “Yeah, enhanced. He had enhanced lenses or contacts in and I’m sure some kind of enhanced hearing devices implanted in his ears,” answers Phil.

  “Shit, what did I miss when I went to get the Pastor’s body?” asks Shaun.

  “Nothing really, we asked Bishop questions and he talked about URDNA, but I kept noticing the movements in his lenses or iris’s or whatever was moving in his eyes and then he’d blink, and his eyes would look normal,” I answer Shaun.

  “What do you think is up with the Island?” I ask.

  “Has to be a place where they are keeping people for whatever they are doing with them,” answers Shaun.

  “Most likely a secure location for human trafficking or trading or experiments,” answers Phil.

  “Where do you think it is?” asks Shaun.

  “I’m guessing somewhere close like the Bahamas, PR, or maybe even Cuba,” I answer.

  “Do you think Bakari and the Ghosts would know about the Island?” asks Matt.

  “Let’s get a hold of them and find out,” I answer.

  “You want me to call them?” asks Phil.

  “Yeah, see if they know anything about an island,” I answer Phil.

  “Maybe Hector or Javi know about it?” asks Shaun.

  “You going back to the Haven?” asks Matt to Shaun.

  “Yeah, I need to be getting back, I’m sure Lisa is starting to worry about me,” answers Shaun.

  “I’m sure,” says Phil.

  “Let me know what you find out and if you need anything from me. I’ll see if Hector knows anything about the Island,” says Shaun to Phil, Matt, and me.

  Shaun says goodbye to us, gets into his jeep, and exits Citrus Oaks.

  “I’m going to head home and call Bakari from the sat phone,” says Phil.

  “Keep me posted what you find out,” I reply to Phil.

  “I will,” replies Phil and then Phil walks away from Shaun’s house with Matt.

  I look down at where Bishop put the body bag on Shaun’s front yard and wonder what just happened, who is Bishop, what group Bishop is with, if Rachel is still alive, what the Island is all about, and what other craziness is out there that we haven’t come across yet.

  CHAPTER 2

  WHICH ISLAND?

  It’s the next morning and I’m cleaning off the Fall leaves that are scattered around our Citrus Oaks cemetery.

  “I thought that was you running by the house,” says Phil to me as he walks over to me as I stand in our cemetery.

  I toss two leaves away from Bobby G’s grave and I reply to Phil, “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t relax during my meditation this morning either, so I went for a run around the neighborhood to clear my head.”

  “We’ll have to make a trail outside of here for ya. You probably have to do like 30 laps around the neighborhood to break a sweat now,” says Phil.

  I turn towards Phil and ask, “You think we’ll ever get to that point?”

  Phil sees that I’m worried and frustrated and he answers, “Maybe, hopefully, but we have to keep fighting for that.”

  I nod my head in agreement to Phil’s answer and ask Phil, “Were you able to get a hold of Bakari or William?”

  “I talked with William and TJ and Ayo but not directly with Bakari,” answers Phil.

  “What did they say?” I ask Phil.

  “Nothing really, Ayo called me back late last night and said someone would call me back early this morning,” answers Phil.

  “What’s going on with TJ and William?” I ask Phil.

  “TJ said he’s going back to MacDill and he’ll try to swing by here later today or tomorrow,” answers Phil.

  As I’m talking with Phil, I’m half listening to what he’s saying for I can’t seem to shake the strong feelings of anxiety and nervousness.

  “Is everything okay Ry?” asks Phil.

  I quickly answer Phil, “Yeah, I’m okay. Just have a lot on my mind is all.”

  “Anything you want to talk about?” asks Phil.

  I immediately want to answer Phil and say that I’m scared, worried, nervous, and anxious all the time, but I don’t want Phil or anyone here at Citrus Oaks to know that I’m feeling those things.

  I decide to lie and answer, “Just thinking about my meeting with DK and what we can do about things around here.”

  “You still going to meet with him?” asks Phil.

  “I have to, we don’t need any more problems or headaches around here,” I answer Phil.

  Phil’s satellite phone rings and I look down at the satellite phone that Phil has in his right hand. Phil quickly answers the phone and I’m intrigued to know who is calling him so early this morning.

  “What time should we expect you?” asks Phil into his satellite phone.

  “Let me ask Ryan,” answers Phil into his satellite phone.

  “We aren’t doing anything today right?” asks Phil to me.

  “Who is that?” I ask Phil.

  “It’s Bakari,” answers Phil.

  “Give me the phone,” I say to Phil.

  Phil hands me the satellite phone and I ask into the satellite phone, “What are you doing calling us so early?”

  “I apologize for that, but I wanted to make sure it was okay for us to come see you today,” answers Bakari over the satellite phone to me.

  “Why? Is everything okay?” I ask Bakari.

  “I’ll explain when we arrive, we’ll be there in a couple hours,” replies Bakari over the satellite phone.

  “We should be here all day, come by anytime,” I say into the satellite phone to Bakari.

  Bakari ends our phone conversation and I hand Phil back his satellite phone.

  “What did he say?” asks Phil to me.

  “That he’s coming here today, and he’ll be here in a couple hours,” I answer Phil.

  “Is everything okay?” asks Phil.

  “I don’t know, but he said he’ll explain when they come here,” I answer Phil.

  A little white bird, I’m not sure if it’s the same little white bird that I’ve seen before around Citrus Oaks, flies into our cemetery oak tree and lands on one of the branches.

  Phil and I look at the little white bird and I smile. Phil sees me smile and asks, “You still believe in that reincarnation crap?”

  I know Phil doesn’t believe what I believe in, but I reply to Phil, while looking at the little white bird in the oak tree at the back of our cemetery, “Yeah, it helps me make sense of things in this crazy world.”

  The little white bird chirps and I say to Phil, “You got any peanut butter meal replacement bars left? I finished all of mine yesterday.”

  “I think I have a couple left,” replies Phil.

  I walk with Phil away from our cemetery and Phil asks, “What are you gonna give me for the bars though? I can’t just be giving you away some great bars for nothing now.”

  “What do you want?” I ask Phil.

  “I know Nicole wants something different for dinner, guess she’s tired of the same meals we’ve been having for the past month,” answers Phil.

  “You and Nicole can come by and see what we have in our pantry and we can work out a deal,” I say to Phil.

  Phil and I stop walking in Phil’s driveway and Phil says to me, “Jordan and Jon helped JJ remove Dalton and Dean’s bodies yesterday.”

  “What did they do with them?” I ask Phil.

  “Not sure, but I know they took them out of the community yesterday,” answers Phil.

  I’m about to end the conversation with Phil, but I wonder why Phil is up so early and I ask him why he’s up and talking with me.

  “I saw you run by the house,” answers Phil.

  “Yeah, you said that, but why were you up to see me running?” I ask Phil.

  Phil seems hesitant to answer and I wonder what is bothering Phil.

  “I’ve just been thinking about my old partner from Raleigh lately,” answers Phil.

  “What was her name again?” I ask Phil.

  “Riley,” answers Phil.

  “You wondering if she’s alive?” I ask Phil.

  “Yeah, she’s a good person and she was a great partner, I really hope she made it,” answers Phil.

  “Did anything happen between you two?” I ask Phil.

  Phil shakes his head no and answers, “Riley was super-hot, but I kept it professional. Didn’t want to mess up our partnership with us fucking, even though there was this one time we came close to hooking up.”

  Phil has this huge smile on his face, and he seems happy when talking about Riley.

  “What happened?” I ask Phil.

  The front door of Phil’s house opens and Nicole asks Phil and me, “Everything okay fellas?”

  “Yeah, everything is good. You and the babies okay?” answers Phil to Nicole.

  “Just wondering where you were and if you were going to make breakfast this morning,” replies Nicole.

  “You want some breakfast Ry?” asks Nicole.

  “I have to get home, but you’ll have to bring the babies over. I’m sure Lauren and Fran would like to see them,” I answer Nicole.

  “Can they babysit?” jokes Nicole.

  “Maybe,” I jokingly reply.

  I say goodbye to Phil and Nicole and start walking away from Phil’s house when Phil asks me, “You still want those peanut butter bars?”

  I turn around and answer Phil, “Yeah, I forgot about them.”

  “Can you get the box of peanut butter bars in the kitchen pantry for Ryan?” asks Phil to Nicole.

  “The ones no one likes?” asks Nicole.

  I chuckle at Nicole’s question to Phil and Phil answers Nicole, “Yes.”

  Nicole goes back into Phil’s house and I say to Phil, “You lost all the bargaining power now, I’m basically taking your trash away.”

  “Well, you have to give us something for them,” replies Phil.

  “Come by the house later and we’ll see what you and Nicole want for them,” I say to Phil.

  Nicole comes back outside with a box of peanut butter flavored meal replacement bars and she hands the box to me.

  I thank Nicole and tell her to come by the house later with the babies and to see what she might want for the bars.

  “We’ll come by later, but you don’t have to give us anything for the bars. Phil and I don’t like them,” says Nicole to me.

  I say goodbye to Phil and Nicole and start walking down the sidewalk away from Phil’s house with my box of peanut butter flavored meal replacement bars.

  Our Armory house is coming up on my right and I think about calling DK on the walkie-talkie.

  I decide that I need to talk with DK, and I enter the Armory house and remove the walkie-talkie from the safe.

  After trying to reach DK over the walkie-talkie several times without success, I’m about to switch off the walkie-talkie and DK asks over the walkie-talkie, “Why are you calling me?”

  “Good morning to you as well,” I say into my walkie-talkie to try to break the tension.

  DK doesn’t reply over the walkie-talkie.

  “I was just checking that our meeting is still on in two days,” I say into my walkie-talkie to DK.

  “Yes, we are all set for the meeting still,” says DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “You sure it’s okay to meet behind Jacob’s back? Where is he anyway?” I ask into my walkie-talkie to DK.

  There is an awkward silence over the walkie-talkie.

  “You still there DK?” I ask into my walkie-talkie.

  “I’m here, and the meeting is fine. Jacob just left to go meet with another group of people this morning,” answers DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “Anything you can tell me about?” I ask into my walkie-talkie.

  “No,” answers DK over the walkie-talkie.

  “Did he keep you out of the loop?” I jokingly ask into my walkie-talkie to DK.

  There is another awkward silence over the walkie-talkie between DK and me.

  “Just remember to be at the meeting in two days,” says DK over the walkie-talkie.

  I reply to DK over the walkie-talkie, but DK doesn’t reply, and I think it is because he turned off his walkie-talkie already.

  I place the walkie-talkie back into the safe and I think about DK and Jacob and who Jacob may be going to meet as I look at our weapons and ammo in what should be the formal dining room in this house.

  We have a wall full of various weapons and boxes and crates of ammo, but is it enough? Is any number of guns, weapons, and ammunition enough for us? I ask myself those questions, but I guess only time will tell if we are prepared for what comes our way.

  Several hours go by and Lauren and I exit our house and walk over to our back patio table.

  “Nicole should be coming by with the babies today,” I say to Lauren as I sit with Lauren under our outdoor back patio.

  “Oh yeah? That’s nice,” replies Lauren.

  “I think we have to give them something for the box of peanut butter bars they gave us,” I say to Lauren.

  “What do they want for them?” asks Lauren.

  “I’m not sure. Nicole said she doesn’t want anything, but I don’t feel right not giving them something in return. There were like 23 bars in that box they gave us,” I say to Lauren.

  “We have tons of pasta, I could give her a couple boxes of pasta,” replies Lauren.

  “Yeah, give her some of the big fatties, and not the super thin pasta,” I say to Lauren.

  “Come in Ryan, two cars just arrived at the front gate,” says Brody over the radio that is sitting on my back patio table.

  “Who is it?” I ask into my radio that I just grabbed off my back patio table.

  “The Ghosts sir,” answers Brody over the radio.

  “Let them in and direct them to Shaun’s house,” I say into my radio.

  “Will do sir,” replies Brody over the radio.

  “Phil, Jon, Matt, are you there?” I ask into my radio.

  Phil and Jon reply over the radio and I tell them to meet me at Shaun’s house.

  I stand up from the back patio table and Lauren asks, “You don’t want me at the meeting?”

  “Of course, I do, but Nicole and the babies might be coming by,” I answer Lauren.

  “Okay, I’ll hold down the fort,” replies Lauren.

  I kiss Lauren and then enter my house through my sliding glass door.

  I exit my house and see two all-black vehicles parked in front of Shaun’s house.

  Several doors of both all-black vehicles open as I walk down my driveway and I see Cyrus, Ayo, and Saba exit from the vehicles.

  Bakari exits from one of the vehicles and I see another person exit from the rear passenger side door of the vehicle that Bakari just exited from.

  I make out the person that just exited from the all-black vehicle and I’m shocked to see who it is.

  “Good to see you again Ryan,” says Isiah as I walk over to him.

  I smile and reply, “Good to see you as well. How are you feeling?”

  Isiah takes a step and places the base of his wooden cane on Shaun’s driveway.

  “Why didn’t you tell me your brother was coming today?” I ask Bakari.

  Bakari smiles and answers, “He wanted to make it a surprise.”

  I look at Isiah and Isiah says, “I wanted to see where you lived.”

  “I am honored, and we are glad you are here,” I reply.

  “He’s a little tired right now,” says Bakari to me.

  “Let’s go right inside this house here and sit down and talk,” I say.

  “Who lives in this house?” asks Isiah.

  “It’s vacant right now, but it’s Shaun’s house,” I answer Isiah as I walk with Isiah up Shaun’s driveway.

  I notice that Isiah is using an all-black cane that looks to be a little too long for him.

  “No power chair today?” I ask Isiah.

  “Not today,” answers Isiah.

  Isiah sits down on a recliner chair inside Shaun’s living room and Bakari, Ayo, Saba, and Cyrus enter Shaun’s house.

  “Phil and Jon should be here shortly,” I say.

  “Is anyone else joining us today?” asks Bakari.

  “I think that’s it,” I answer Bakari.

  “Do you want anything to drink?” I ask everyone in the room as I look at Isiah.

  “I think we are good for now. We had a big lunch before making our way over here,” answers Isiah.

  I’m glad to see Isiah and the Ghosts, but also kind of shocked to see Isiah walking around so well with just his cane.

  “Oh, we forgot to bring in the items we brought for Ryan and the people of Citrus Oaks,” says Isiah.

  “I’ll get them,” says Cyrus.

  I look at Cyrus and wonder what Isiah brought for us.

  “Thank you Cy, but go help him Ayo and Saba,” says Isiah with some struggle in his voice.

  Ayo, Saba, and Cyrus exit Shaun’s house through the front door, and I look at Bakari and Isiah as I stand in Shaun’s living room.

  “Are you still meeting with DK in two days?” asks Isiah to me with no struggle in his voice.

  “Yes, the meeting is still a go at World of Trade,” I answer Isiah.

  “Our people will stand watch both inside and out for your meeting,” says Bakari.

 

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