The Warrior

Life is a funny place. To me life was always
a mystery. To me life is where you are and who you are with. That
is the only way I feel like I'm living. When I was growing up my
life was a mysterious story. No one spoke about my mother or even
her name. I was raised by my dad. He wasn’t the fatherly type. I
was always told how much of an inconvenience me and my brother
were. My brother was my life as we grew up. We relied on each other
more than anyone else. We were raised to be soldiers. We were never
anything less. We took our punishments for what we did wrong which
were usually beatings. The beatings were the worst thing
imaginable. We were beat with whatever happened to be near us at
the time. My father Randy, wasn’t always the one doing the beating.
He had men for that. They were told to teach a lesson. After we
reached about the age of 15 the beatings came to a stop. We were
trained then. We were warriors and we knew we would never be
anything more than that. My brother caught onto the fighting right
away but I was a hard ass. I didn’t want to hear anything. When I
turned 18 I was sent to be in the Marine Corp. That is where my
hell started again. I went through my training and made the top of
my class but that wasn’t a surprise with the training I had before.
I went through 3 tours in Afghanistan too. The hell I thought I
lived when I was younger was nothing compared to what I seen over
there. That is something you never come back from the same. You
will never be the same person you were no matter how you were
raised. Now I'm 25 years old and I have decided I had enough of the
Marines. I'm going home.

***

“God damn man I can’t believe you are finally
back.” Bradon my brother says as I step off the bus smelling that
sweet California air. That is something I missed.

“Never thought I would be.” I say as I grab
him into a hug.

“Fuck Cadence I missed having you around.”
Bradon says as he slaps my back. I nod my head as I collect my bags
from the bus and follow my brother over to the truck he drove to
pick me up. I take a deep breath before I get in the truck knowing
this is going to be a defining time in my life. This is the time
where I prove to my dad that I am the man he raised me to be. I'm
the fighter. The warrior.

“We can grab something to eat before we head
back if you want to.” Bradon says as he starts to drive.

“Yea let’s do that. I'm in no hurry anyways.”
I say as he smiles and drives. We ride in silence for a long time
until we pull over at a small diner. I know this diner. We used to
come here for my dad’s “Meetings” as he’d like to call them. We
park and jump out heading inside to a back table. The people in
here all know my dad and brother. They know me too but they haven’t
seen me in years.

“Damn is that you Cad?” A taller guy around
my age says as he walks over towards the table.

“Well fuck me, Dell. You grew the fuck up
huh?” I say smiling as I stand to meet his extended hand.

“Looks like we both have man. How you been?”
Dell asks as we all sit down at the table.

“Glad to be out but I don’t know how glad I
am to be back here.” I say with a hint of annoyance in my voice. I
am happy to be back with my family but to come home to hell is a
whole other issue.

“Yea I hear that. We missed you though and
I'm glad you’re back around.” Dell says as I nod and grab my drink.
We sit and talk awhile until a pretty little girl brings our food
and sets in on the table in front of us. She smiles and nods as she
turns to walk away and I lean out of my seat to watch her ass as
she goes. Damn that is a nice piece of ass.

“She’s been around for a while. Came about a
year ago looking for a job and Susan gave her one. She works here
and over at the gym too. David liked her so he offered her the
weekends over there. Name’s Nina. Don’t have any family that we
have found out about.” Bradon says as I nod.

“Not bad looking either.” I say with a smile.
Bradon nods his head.

“Don’t let dad hear that. He will have her
ass on the bus.” Bradon says without looking up.

“What is it we are into now?” I ask not sure
I really want to know the answer to that question. Dad was in a lot
of stuff back when I was around and I can only imagine things are
far more complicated now.

“Trafficking.” Bradon says plainly. I watch
his face for a few minutes and he knows I want him to elaborate on
that. He rolls his eyes before he speaks.

“He traffics girls. He still dabbles in drugs
and guns obviously but his main thing is women. I don’t know how
the hell that one slipped past him.” Bradon says thumbing over his
shoulder. Women. So that’s what he is into now. I know my dad is a
lot of shit but I never thought he would be into human trafficking.
This is way beyond my wildest dreams.

“How long?” I ask as I eat.

“Couple years now. Started out down in
Columbia with that guy Jorge. Now it’s centered around college
towns mostly. Sends us young ones out to pick them up. I can’t
complain the pay is a hell of a lot better than it was.” Bradon
says like it’s no big deal. I guess after you do these things for
so long they just come as second nature. I'm not sure I will like
doing this but what the fuck else do I have?

“So you scout them first or just head out?” I
ask as I take a drink and watch my brother.

“Sometimes we scout them. That’s usually when
there is a certain one we are after. He started with prostitutes
and we still pick some of them up but he likes going after the
college girls. I don’t know why but that’s on him I guess.” Bradon
says as he finishes up. I nod my head as I finish up and we all
stand.

“I will see you guys later at the meeting.”
Dell says as I turn to look at him. Shit Dell is in this now
too.

“You in on this now too?” I ask as I face him
and he nods. He doesn’t say anything else as I nod and we turn to
leave. I throw a tip down on the table as I walk over to pay. I
hand that pretty little thing our ticket as Bradon tries to
pay.

“Everything ok guys?” Nina asks as I slap
Bradon’s money out of his hand and grab my wallet.

“Everything was great.” I say as she smiles
and I nod at her.

“Keep the change.” I say as I wink and turn
and slap Bradon on the back as we walk out to the truck.

***

“It’s damn good to see you son.” My dad says
as we walk into his office. He grabs me into a hug which totally
throws me off. He was never affectionate when we were younger. He
was the exact opposite.

“Good to be home.” I say as he pulls back and
smiles at me. He doesn’t let go immediately as he just looks me
over. I'm sure he is trying to gauge my reactions to everything but
he won’t be able too. Not anymore anyway. I have learned how to
close myself down. If I don’t want you in, you won’t be.

“Well I'm damn glad to have you home Cad. We
need some fresh blood around here. We have a big meeting tonight
and I'm sure Bradon filled you in on most of it too. We have a
bigger operation now. We need more skilled warriors around here.
I'm hoping to get you into some of the training too.” My dad says
as I look around his office. It’s a large office centered in the
middle of the house. I don’t know that I’d call this a house more
of a mansion on a compound. There are five other buildings plus
multiple storages. If you don’t have the code you don’t have
access. I haven’t missed this place one bit. While I look around
all the memories come rushing back to me. The abuse, the hate all
of it. You can’t shake that feeling. That is something that stays
with you your whole life. I guess that’s what the training was for.
Your mindset is far different than a normal person but again normal
people aren’t warriors either.

“What times the meeting?” I ask pulling my
gaze back to my dad’s.

“7 pm sharp. You can go ahead to your room if
you want. Put your things away and settle in. We will have dinner
around 5. Bradon can show you to your room.” He says as he shuffles
through some paperwork. I nod and as I start to turn away he speaks
again.

“I am really glad you’re back Cadence.” He
says as I nod and follow Bradon out of the office.

We wander around the house and Bradon shows
me some of the new rooms and different stations throughout the
house. We walk down a long hallway until he stops at the last
door.

“This is your room. All the soldiers are on
this hall. A few are on the north hall too. Dad likes to keep his
best over here though.” Bradon says as he nods towards the
door.

“So I guess you’re on the north hall?” I ask
with a straight face until he slaps me and I start laughing.

“I'm next door to you asshole.” He says
laughing as he points to his door. I smile at him as I turn and
open my door and walk in. The room is large with a king sized bed.
Its décor is all dark colors. I don’t know why that surprises me. I
set my bags on the bed and start to put things away when I hear a
knock on the door. I walk over and open it.

“Want me to show you the new shit?” Bradon
asks standing in my doorway.

“Why not? There isn’t shit else to do around
here.” I say as I follow Bradon down the hall. He stops at a few
doors and introduces me to some of the other guys that I didn’t
know before. There are a few left that I grew up with too. We walk
around the grounds and he shows me the weapons building. Now this
isn’t what I remember it being. This building is huge and full of
guns of all shapes and sizes. After being in the Marines I really
like this room. This is my kind of stuff. I walk around picking up
and looking at all the guns.

“What was it like over there?” Bradon asks as
I sit an AK-47 back in its place.

“It was hell on earth Bra. I mean all you saw
was death. Body parts. Dead women and kids. It was a trip to hell.”
I say as I keep moving around the room. I hear Bradon sigh. I don’t
want his pity. I did what I had to do to survive just like I have
my whole life.

“What was it like around here?” I ask as I
turn to face him. We knew our own hell growing up in this
lifestyle.

“It was hard without you at first but I
learned really quick how to man the fuck up. I guess you could say
it was my piece of hell on earth.” He says as he shrugs.

“Yea guess you could.” I say taking one last
look around before we head to the meeting.

***

“Glad everyone is here. First of all I want
to welcome my son Cadence home. I'm glad to have you back son. For
those of you that don’t know, Cadence will be our new training
command. You will show him the same respect you show the rest of us
that rank higher than you. Ok. Now that’s taken care of. Sunday
night we have a shipment coming in. We will only be holding that
cargo for 24 hours and then it will ship out. Shipping instructions
have changed this time with half being sent to Columbia and half
going out to Tijuana. As always I don’t give a fuck which half goes
where as long as they are all accounted for. Rory will be in charge
of the cargo while it’s in our possession. Next order. We have 2
special orders this week. Bradon this is your area of expertise. I
have the requirements all ready for you. Maybe this round you can
take Cad out with you and see how he works out. Any questions?” He
finishes as he looks around the room. A few of the guys don’t look
all that happy but they sure as hell don’t say anything. I watch as
all the guys stand to leave but my dad’s gaze locks on mine.

“Stick around a minute I want to talk to
you.” He says as I nod and wait for the rest of the men to leave
the room.

“As happy as I am to have you home I'm also a
little worried.” He says as he sits across from me.

“Oh yea? What is it that you’re worried
about?” I ask as I watch his face. He is trying his hardest to read
me but I won’t budge.

“Heard you had some PTSD. I'm a little
worried about that.” He says as he looks up at me. I nod my
head.

“I don’t think that should be a cause for
concern considering our line of work.” I say as I lean back in my
chair. With that being said my dad chuckles a little.

“You are right there. I just need to know
that you can handle where I put you.” He says in a now serious
tone. This is the tone he used to use on us when we were younger.
The scare tactic. I'm a grown man now he needs to realize that
won’t work.