~Chapter 8~

Across the street in a white BMW, Pallas and Apollos sat watching the Taske house.
Pallas was behind the wheel, and her blue eyes stared unblinkingly at the house. Her whispery voice glided across to Apollos.
“We watch for now, Brother.”
Apollos, also staring intently at the house, nodded slightly.
“Yes, Sister, we watch, and when a pattern had been established…”
“We strike.”
Pallas’ eyes flicked over the garage, “Our plan…”
Apollos’ eyes did not move from the front door.
“…You go in the front door, killing whoever you find…”
Pallas finished her brother’s though, “…While you go through the garage and into the back door…”
“…Cutting off their escape.”
Pallas’ eyes flicked to where Nathan’s jeep was parked next to Wraith’s Yamaha motorcycle.
“The Wolf and Wraith will not be a problem…”
Apollos brought his gaze to look where Pallas was looking.
“…Neither will Scarlet. We are ready for her this time.”
Pallas nodded slowly, “Yes, this time…”
The Twins spoke together, “She will die.”

~June 20th, 2019- Josh Taske’s House in Eugene, Oregon
It wasn’t until a four days later that Lexy and Josh were able to get out of the house to let Nathan, Scarlet and Wraith play their traditional poker game.
Wraith watched their hosts drive off in Josh’s Pontiac GTO, and then turned to go inside.
In the living room, Elijah and Lola raced each other on the PS5, while Jackson dozed on the couch.
Maria sat next to Scarlet, who was explaining how to play poker with anaconda rules. The little girl understood the passing of cards between players during between the first two bidding sessions, but she didn’t get the card combinations one bit.
Nathan set a case of beer on the table between him and Wraith, and placed a Coke in front of Maria.
He winked at the girl, “Always gotta have a drink when you play poker. ‘Goes together like guns an’ bullets.”
Maria nodded solemnly and, with minor difficulty, popped the top on her Coke.
Wraith walked in and picked up the deck of cards.
He smiled slightly when he saw Maria, “So, is she joining our little club?”
Scarlet looked up, her eyes sparkling, “It looks like it; she’ll be my assistant if it’s alright.”
Wraith shrugged and Nathan popped the top on a tequila and grinned at Scarlet.
“Fine with me, Red. By the way, don’t bet big, ‘K?”
Scarlet looked at him in confusion, “Why?”
Nathan sat down in his chair and laughed.
“Heh, ‘cause I don’t want you to loose it all in the first few hands.”
Scarlet threw a wadded-up napkin at him and Maria stuck her tongue out.

As it turned out, after the fourth hand it was Nathan who was going broke.
Nathan looked over his dwindling pile of chips and ran both his hands through his ragged black hair.
“Damn, start dealing me better hands, Wraith!”
Wraith didn’t look up from blur of cards he was shuffling.
“I don’t choose what cards you receive or do not receive. It is all determined by fate.”
Nathan glared at the green-eyed informer, “Like Hell it is.”
Scarlet, who, since Wraith had agreed not to count cards, was winning, smiled at the two men.
“Now boys, lets not fight.”
The weight of Maria’s head on her shoulder caused Scarlet to look down. The little girl was sleeping soundly.
Scarlet looked over at Wraith, “What time is it, Wraith?”
Wraith’s eyes clouded over slightly, then came back into focus.
“Ten-twelve.”
Scarlet carefully stood and picked up Maria’s sleeping form.
“I’m going to take her up to bed. And then check on Jackson and the other two kids.”
Nathan nodded and went to the fridge for another beer.
“Fine with me, Red.”
As Scarlet took the girl to bed, Wraith went to the front porch for a breath of fresh air. He stood with his hands in his pockets, staring into space. After a second something caught his eye. He only glanced once, but that was all he needed. After waiting a moment or two, he nonchalantly turned and reentered the house.
Once inside he quickly locked the door and hurried into the living room.
He was in the process of checking and locking all the windows and the back door when Nathan came in holding a beer.
Nathan leaned against the kitchen bar watching him, a look that crossed confusion and concern perfectly.
“Something up, Wraith?”
Wraith opened a drawer on the coffee table and brought a Colt .45 and an extra clip and checked the action.
“Silver BMW across the street.”
Nathan nodded slowly, “Yeah, what about it?”
Wraith reached up onto the top of the DVD shelf and retrieved another .45 and tossed it to Nathan.
“You remember the assassins and mercenaries Pyros and Carl Mash hired to invade Matt Gold’s estate in Washington DC five years ago?”
Nathan caught the gun and automatically set his beer down on the bar and gave the weapon a once-over.
“Yeah, anyone in particular?”
Wraith slipped his extra clip into his pocket and, walking into the kitchen area, retrieved another from the junk-drawer and tossed it to Nathan.
“Yes, a pair of twins calling themselves Pallas and Apollos.”
Nathan thought a second, “Yeah, silver hair, blue eyes, looked like cover-models for “Anime International”. Scarlet kicked their butts before going on to distract Carl so me an’ Josh could get out with Lexy. What about them?”
Wraith took a drink of Nathan’s beer, “They are sitting in the silver BMW.”
Understanding dawned over Nathan’s face, “They’re watching the house.”
Scarlet walked into the room in time to hear Nathan’s statement.
“Kids are in bed, whose watching the house?”
Wraith sat at the table and placed his Colt next to his pile of poker chips.
“Pallas and Apollos.”
Scarlet took a second to take Wraith’s revelation in.
“Oh… James maybe?”
Nathan slipped his extra clip into his back pocket.
“Can you think of anyone besides the Chairman of the Board that has the guts or resources to send a couple like those two after Josh?”
Scarlet noted Wraith and Nathan’s weapons.
“Good point, don’t I get a gun?”
Wraith looked at Nathan, “You remember the combination for the gun cache upstairs in Josh’s office?”
Nathan grinned, “Yeah, don’t you?”
Wraith shot an exasperated look at him.
Nathan looked sheepish, “Yeah, yeah, stupid question for the guy who memorized the dictionary by speed-reading. I remember it, why?”
Wraith gestured to their pistols, “We might want more than just these.”
Nathan nodded, “Hey, think it’ll tip ‘em off if I make a trip to my jeep?”
Wraith shrugged, “Have any good excuses?”
Nathan thought a moment, and then grinned.
“I gotta case of Sam Adams under the back seat, another .45 in the glove box, and a .22 under the driver’s seat.”
Scarlet headed for the door, “I’ll get them. You get into the gun cache and see what you can find.”
Wraith started picking up the card game.
“Wake Maria up if you need to find anything else, she knows where most of Josh’s hidden weapons are.”
Nathan started for the stairs, “Gotcha.”

Outside, Pallas and Apollos watched patiently from their car.
“Do you think the green-eyed one saw us?”
Pallas shook her head at her brother’s query.
“I do not believe so. Either way…”
“…tomorrow we make our move.”

Josh and Lexy came out of the restaurant, laughing at a joke told by their waiter.
Lexy, looking stunning in her black dress, leaned against Josh as they walked.
“Do you remember our first date?”
Josh laughed, “You mean the one when we were attacked by two guys and I shot one with his own shotgun?”
Lexy laughed as well, “I was thinking more of the fortune-cookie that told us to “Follow our hearts”.”
Josh turned and looked into his wife’s eyes. He couldn’t help get lost in her deep blue eyes. Eyes that were bluer than the sky, deeper than the ocean.
“I remember.”
Lexy kissed him, and they stood in each others arms for a moment.
“I’m glad we followed our hearts,” Lexy whispered.
Josh breathed in her scent, and sighed.
“I am too.”

They reminisced all the way home. About their first date, their wedding, their honeymoon.
They had been married on August third, and after a ceremony that one of Matt’s pastor friends had presided over, they had been whisked away by Josh’s friend Steve Marr to Hawaii. After almost three weeks of paradise, they had come back to Oregon and not to long after discovered Lexy was pregnant with Lola.
After Maria and Elijah were born, they got Nathan, Wraith, and Josh’s old buddy Anubis to come help them remodel parts of their house. They had sold Josh’s old pool table to a local bar Nathan had selected and framed the area it used to be in to make a play room. Then, upstairs, they remodeled the guestroom into Maria’s and Lola’s room, the guest-bath into the kid’s bathroom, and they combined the large storage closet and smaller walk-in coat and clothing closet into a bedroom for Elijah and, later on, Jackson.
Josh parked his Pontiac in the left side of their two-car garage and they headed for the front door.
But when Josh went to open the front door, he found it was locked.
He looked at Lexy, and then unlocked the door so they could enter.
They found Nathan, Scarlet and Wraith waiting around the kitchen table. On the table were a few of Josh’s smaller guns and plenty of ammunition.
Nathan silently handed Josh a gun belt, on which was holstered Josh’s twin .357 caliber Desert Eagle handguns and two Japanese Sai, Josh’s signature weapons.
Josh accepted the belt and looked at them a moment.
Then he looked up at the Nathan, “I think you had better explain.”