Quaranteam - North West

====================================

QT:NW continues the official Spin-Off for the Quaranteam universe originally created by CorruptingPower. You do not need to have read the original series to enjoy this one, but you really do need to start with Chapters 1-4 (I really suggest you read the original though, it's great!). Fans of the original should be pleased to know CP has approved the story and the continuity.

In this chapter you can expect meeting with a Biker Chick, Decompressing from the Raid, Salvage Operations, and a promised surprise.

Returning Dramatis Personae

House Black

- Harrison 'Harri' Black - Sheriff of Black County, 'Jason Momoa-looking motherfucker' mountain man (mixed heritage), former Army MP

- Kyla Bautista - Trained dancer, Phillipino Spy, Harri's Deputy Sheriff, Raven hair

- Kara Swiftwater - Harrison's high school sweetheart, former community leader of the local Native band, Gerty's second cousin, Raven hair

- Ivy Gauthier - Quebecoise stripper, half-tattooed, Dirty Blonde anal queen

- Tanaya Airington - Former rodeo barrel racer and native relay rider, petite and stoic native

- Gertrude 'Gerty' Swiftwater - Kara's second cousin, Tribal police on the Rez, Voluptuous Native, Raven hair

- Erica LaCosta - Fiancee of Harri, Italian Tattoo Artist, Leo's sister, Dark Brunette

- Vanessa Peters - Construction Forewoman, Daughter of Brent Peters the head of the construction project, Brunette

House LaCosta

- Danielle 'Dani' - Australian stripper, Brunette

- Leo LaCosta - Harri's best friend and former roommate, Italian carpenter, Erica's brother

Guns of Thunder MC

- Kashm - Short Persian woman with an attitude, daughter of???. Big tits, hourglass figure. Dating Chuck.

Other

- Julia De Luca - Helicopter Pilot, former Air Force Pararescue Pilot. Friend and Client of Erica.

Referenced Characters

- Chuck - Young, dumb, relatively attractive biker. Dating Kashm.

- Garret - Older biker, dangerous hippy vibes.

- Lt Col Miriam Abarbanel - Military friend of Harri's, Air Force Lt Col, Jewish heritage, Commanding Officer for Valhalla Hills construction and the Oregon Quaranteam research project

- Captain Laura Bloomberg - Air Force JAG serving as Miriam's second, Blonde

- Aria - Girlfriend of India, Stripper/Sugar Baby, Ginger, Member of House LaCosta

- India - Girlfriend of Aria, Hippy Stripper/Sugar Baby, grew up in a commune, Brunette dreads and braids

====================================

"So," Kashm said, leaning back in her chair and kicking her booted feet up onto the desk in between us. "What brings the Lone Ranger and his Lady Tonto into my office?"

We were in the back of the old Lumber Warehouse. I was pretty sure I could see a blood stain on the thin, dusty carpet from when I'd smashed her boyfriend - whatever his name was - in the mouth with the butt of the shotgun that had helped me to survive my first visit to their hangout. The place was dead quiet, and other than the old hippy-looking dude we hadn't been greeted by any of the other bikers when we banged on the back door. I'd sort of been expecting to get the chance to actually see their Black Market while it was running for once, but no luck.

Kashm was wearing a shirt I recognised as merch for a local metal band from Portland; a shirt that I knew was also in Erica's wardrobe of outfits. Kashm hadn't done the same modifications that Erica had though, so her significant cleavage wasn't showing even if it was still hard to miss. She was also wearing that thin leather jacket she seemed to always have on, and I realised it might have been her personal affectation to make herself feel more part of the gang. Bikers were notoriously sexist and the chances of her being able to actually join the motorcycle club and wear a cut with the Guns of Thunder on it were slim to none.

"First, that's racist," Kyla said as she folded her arms over her chest. "And second, I'm Filipina, so that's not even the right

kind

of racist."

"Oh," Kashm frowned, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry, I didn't realise that we were suddenly trying to be all PC at the end of the world. It was a joke, no need to get testy."

I let out a short, exasperated sigh and shook my head. "I was hoping to meet with your father, but I assume you can vouch that my end of the bargain's been handled?"

Kashm pursed her lips a little, eyeing me up, but eventually shrugged. "So far. If the work suddenly dries up for some reason we'll have issues, but for now, the guys are out on the road and getting paid to do it. You didn't send me that picture I asked for though."

"We were a little busy," Kyla said. "And considering the kids had been recently kidnapped, it would have been a bit of an invasion of privacy to stack on top of all

that.

"

Our host frowned again, glancing away for a moment before looking back at us. "How many?" she asked.

"Twenty-eight kids, fifty-two women rescued," I said. "We were too late for some of the women, there were fresh graves. I haven't got a report about what's being done about that yet."

"Fuck," Kashm grimaced. "And the culty fucks?"

"Dead," Kyla said. "All of them."

"You didn't arrest a single one?" Kashm asked. "None of them surrendered? Those kinds of assholes usually fold like cardboard when they're cornered."

"They're all dead," I said evenly.

Kashm looked us both over again, obviously re-evaluating things. She took her feet off the desk and sat up, leaning forward as she stared intently. "Is that how things work now, then?"

I glanced at Kyla, who met my look and nodded after a moment. I refocused on Kashm. "The prisons are wiped out," I said. "If you, or your father or anyone else, knew someone who was incarcerated or part of the system it's a 99 per cent chance they're dead. Guards, prisoners, everyone. And it's probably not surprising to hear that all the different kinds of cops are stretched thin as hell right now - one of several reasons I could give a fuck about this place. So... Yeah, Kashm. I'm not exactly looking to go out of my way for the legal process when it comes to zealot kidnapper nutjobs, and the legal system isn't gonna come looking."

Kashm slowly nodded, leaning back again and chewing on the inside of her cheek as she continued frowning.

"You're either thinking how you can use that to your advantage, or you're thinking there's someone who needs the same treatment," Kyla guessed.

Kashm hesitated, then sighed. "Both," she admitted. "Not here in town, but... around."

I could practically hear Erica in the back of my head, telling me I was sticking my head in the jaws of a lion without needing to. Telling me I was being an idiot and chasing my hero complex

again.

"How bad?" Kyla asked.

"Right now? I don't know," the busty Persian woman said. "Before? Less than the Tweaker Cult, but way worse than us by a mile. My father would have done something about it himself over the years but the connections of connections in our world make it risky to shake things up like that."

I took in a deep breath and let it out, feeling an alertness settle over me and a comfortable tension in my shoulders like I'd just strapped on the old football pads and wanted to tackle something. "Be more specific."

"Traffickers," Kashm said. "Pimps. Not kids, as far as I know - my Dad wouldn't have given a flying fuck about connections if it was kids and he found out about it. I don't know where they are

now,

or if they're even still alive, but if you're in the business of cleaning up things permanently like that... Well, let's just say it wouldn't take much convincing for me to put in a little effort and make some calls."

"Make the calls," I said. "I don't care about drugs right now, but I'll take sex crimes all goddamn day."

"And anyone running protection rackets," Kyla added. "You can probably tell the difference between someone doing actual security and running a racket."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kashm said. "Anything else we need to talk about? I'm expecting a call from one of the Shippers to set up another set of runs for the week."

"I think that's it," I said, standing up and offering Kashm my hand. "Good doing business with you."

"You too, cowboy, though I think you still owe me that date," Kashm said with a dose of sarcasm, standing up and shaking it. She shook Kyla's hand as well, and we headed for the door outside, which she opened to let us out. We'd just hit the gravel pad where the bikers generally parked, only one bike there at the moment, when Kashm cleared her throat. "Out of curiosity, you're together, right?" she asked, looking between me and Kyla. "Not just partners."

"He's got a fiancee," Kyla said.

"Oh," Kashm replied, raising both eyebrows in surprise. "I could have sworn you two were fucking."

"I didn't say we weren't," Kyla said, snaking a hand around my lower back and hugging herself to me. "She shares, and Harri can handle

all

of his girlfriends very well."

I coughed, choking on embarrassment and trying not to laugh at the look on Kashm's face.

"But you're with... whatever his face was called, right?" Kyla asked. "I'm sure he's... something."

"Sure, right," Kashm said, a mild grimace leaking across her lips. "Something."

Kyla pulled me away and around the corner of the building before I could find something to say. I was a little thankful because my rational brain was waving a red flag like a madman, but that other part of me was ready to tell the gorgeous, busty Persian woman exactly what I thought of her 'boyfriend' and what I would do to her when I made her mine.

"Erica is going to laugh her ass off," I finally said as we reached the road and started back towards the grocery store.

"Probably," Kyla smirked.

"You know teasing and tempting that woman can't lead anywhere good."

"Says the guy who was flirting with her and being dark and broody in a hot way," Kyla said.

"I wasn't flirting," I said. "And... really?"

Kyla took out her phone and texted someone, getting a response back. "Come on," she said, grabbing my hand and walking us a little faster towards the green space between the store and the road.

"What is it?"

"They've still got a bunch of shopping to do," Kyla said. "So we have time, and I haven't gotten a 'vaccine uptick event' for a couple of days and I want your

uptick

in my

event,

if you know what I mean."

I was left floundering for words again as I was pulled towards the lightly forested area until I finally managed, "We're in the middle of town!"

"That's what trees and bushes are for, Harri," Kyla said, grinning at me. "Now are you going to fuck me here behind the grocery store like we're a couple of horny teenagers or not?"

"Well, I didn't say

no.

"

*****

I felt like I had so

much

to do, and the day slipped by so fast that barely anything had gotten knocked off of the long list. By the time we were back from the grocery trip, which had included a run to the Butcher and a stop at the Pharmacy, it was coming up on dinner time. That meant it was time for me to do some grilling while the ladies and Leo sorted through getting all the food split into the various fridges and cupboards in our portable homes, dispensing out the various necessaries from the pharmacy and generally doing check-ins.

One thing that had been on my list was touching base with Kyla on how she was feeling about the raid, but between the meeting and the hook-up in the bushes, I hadn't exactly gotten to the place to open the conversation.

Dinner was served just as Miriam and Laura came back up from their work down at 'the Base' as we were starting to call their corner of the site, and my partner-to-be quietly let me, Kara, Gerty and Tanaya know that she and Laura had tracked down the National Guard Lieutenant that was currently in charge of the Rez. She'd arranged for us to be able to head over there the next day for the three of them to start grabbing stuff from their homes. That led to us making a whole plan about what would be needed to get done - we weren't going to be able to empty out their places and bring all the furniture and everything out, but we

could

get more than just the clothes and stuff that we'd done for Erica. Between my truck, and Kara, Gerty and Tanaya being able to grab their cars, we could probably get anything of particular value, either sentimental or monetary. The real problem would be trying to secure the places for the foreseeable future - the doors had all been kicked in during the raid or while the National Guard was searching for survivors.

That led to a whole extra plan of Vanessa scavenging some lumber and us borrowing an extra truck so we could board up the homes when we were done.

I ended up leaving the ladies making lists of what they needed to look for or bring back when I noticed that Dani and Julia had wandered off a bit and were sitting across the yard, talking quietly. Kyla wasn't the only person I'd wanted to check in on, and their conversation seemed casual, so I decided now was as good a time as any.

"Hey," I said as I came around from behind them. It was nearing sunset but the overcast sky meant we were getting more of a silvery light than the gold of a clear sunset, and they both welcomed me with soft smiles. "Sorry to interrupt, you guys into something?"

"Not really," Dani said, checking with Julia and getting a nod. "Want to join us?"

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to go for a walk," I told Dani. "To check in on how you're doing?"

Julia chuckled and grinned. "Honestly? Great minds think alike, Harri. I was doing the same thing."

"Aww, you guys," Dani said, making a sympathetic face as she pouted out her cute lower lip. Her accent, that weird mix of California valley girl and Australian, stretched the words out but her sweetness kept it from coming across as sarcastic. Then she looked over at the main group around the campfire pit we'd set back up, and where Aria and India were heading back to the RV they were sharing with Leo. "Actually, a walk sounds good. Let me go change?"

"Sure," I said.

Julia decided she should change for an evening walk too and disappeared into the 5th Wheel trailer with Dani, and I went and grabbed a light sweater for myself. Two minutes later, with Dani now in tights and hiking boots instead of shorts and flip flops and Julia wearing her combat boots to go with her jeans, we set out and decided to head up the hill and check out the lots, then circle back around through a trail I knew that ran off the edge of the property and came back around.

"So you guys are worried about how I'm feeling," Dani said once we'd cleared the row of vehicles and had the evening to ourselves.

"Concerned, not worried," I said. "What you ended up needing to do wasn't an easy thing. And I'm not

just

checking in on you. Kyla and I need to hash it out too. And I wasn't exactly forgetting about you, Julia."

"I'm good, big buy," Julia said. "I've probably seen more action than you."

"That close up?" Dani asked.

Julia hesitated, looking up the hill for a moment before sighing. "A couple of times, though only one was

really

that close. It was overseas. Afghanistan. We were doing a rescue op for a unit of marines that had gotten ambushed earlier in the day. They'd rucked it over ten kilometres through rocky terrain out of a danger zone where we couldn't get helicopters in because ISIS had gotten their hands on some serious anti-air munitions. I wasn't flying on the mission since when we got the call my regular chopper was in maintenance, so I got tapped to be a door gunner. We touch down in the LZ, start loading the Marines, and then the enemy just starts pouring up out of the ground like they're the fucking bugs in Starship Troopers. Turns out the LZ was right on top of a damn underground cave complex we had no idea about. That was messy, and... well, let's just say that I had a lot more blood on my hands then than I did this time. Heavy machine guns aren't exactly delicate weapons." She shook her head. "I had nightmares for about a month, spoke to the Chaplain at our FOB who suggested that I should find a way to decompress and I'm still pretty sure he was hinting we should fuck. I ended up getting leave in Germany not long after, got absolutely trashed for a weekend, and the next time I got in a gunfight like that it was a lot easier - especially since I was focusing on being a pilot first and not just straight up gunning."

"What about you, Harri?" Dani asked, reaching over and patting my arm. "Erica's mentioned the last couple of times you had to do this sort of thing that you had to 'decompress,' but she didn't say how."

I clenched my jaw for a moment, but I knew talking about it openly would help

her

talk about it, and I cared more about that than keeping up my manliness facade. "Despite what Erica or Miriam might joke about, I wasn't some action star in a movie. I was an Army grunt, so I saw my share of action but never like at the church. That changed when I was an MP; I supported a few different raids that ended up with shooting. Only one ever got as intense as at the church, but it was over faster and there weren't any hostages to account for. Killing people..." I sighed, stopping and turning to look over the ridge and out at the now-pockmarked treelines weaving around what had once been almost all forest. "I've heard people say that killing people

takes

something from you, but I don't think that's true. Or maybe it is for some people, but it wasn't for me. Killing isn't hard, especially when the training kicks in and the emotions turn off. Doing it with

skill

is hard, doing it without getting hurt yourself is hard, but the actual... killing part isn't. I don't think I've ever killed someone who didn't deserve it, which is more than other Vets can say with confidence, so maybe that helps."

"And it gets easier," Julia said quietly.

"It does," I said. Then I sighed again. Heavily. "The first time during all this, at Mary's place, it was like all those old practices just locked back into place when I engaged the enemy. My mind was in full Fight mode, I didn't have time to process emotions until well after the fact, and then I sort of had to have a breakdown once I was in a safe spot because those hadn't been the

enemy,

we hadn't been in a war. They were people like us who made really bad choices that led them to do bad things. That was a lot for me to work through, and Erica, Kyla and Ivy were all - well, let's just say therapy doesn't have anything on three women like that making sure you process things. The next time, with the bikers in Portland,

they

attacked

us

and were even more obviously criminals. And I got shot in the process. That made it a lot easier to process the emotional blowback afterwards, weirdly. This time... This time is different."

Arms wrapped around my waist and I felt Dani's slender frame press against my back as she hugged me tightly. "You did what you had to do," she said.

"I don't know if I did," I admitted for the first time. "Not all of it, at least." I'd ordered, and participated, in the execution of criminals that had surrendered. Kidnappers, traffickers, cultist zealots. I still believed exactly what I'd said to Kashm a few hours ago, but there was still that part of me that expected me to be honourable, and virtuous. The little kid in me that wanted to be the hero.

"Don't start second-guessing it, Harri," Julia said, moving up to stand next to me and grabbing my hand with both of hers to get my attention. "The situation was fucked from the start, and you didn't have any proper backup. One year ago, how many FBI agents would have been on that case? There would have been a task force of

hundreds

of police, federal agents, and whoever else all working on it together. And there would have been a jail to put them in, a court system to prosecute them, and a prison to lock them away in for the rest of their miserable lives. Except in this fucked up world you got four vets and a sociopath soccer mom showing up as a favour, your pregnant girlfriend and your friend's girlfriend. You did the only thing you could do; you solved the problem and served justice."