The Woman of the North [Simon "Ghost" Riley X OC]

8. A Street Fight

So much writing!

Tracy sighed and rubbed his head.

Kayla had been gone for four days. 

He didn't know why her being gone for just four days bothered him. She had been gone on a three month long canoe trip and it hadn't bothered him. Maybe that was because he knew she was safe and would be coming back. This time, she was not safe and she was most likely not coming back.

He wasn't stupid. He knew Kayla had gone back to the military. He had driven past the base and seen her truck there with tire locks on. The soldiers there had probably done it to keep anyone from taking it. He had also seen a helicopter leave the base, she was probably on it. 

The family had been very quiet since she was gone. Grandpa Joewood had left at top speed for an important meeting with someone so things were much more tamed at home. The family also talked about Kayla since he wasn't there to stop them or get mad at them. The kids who cared the most about their Aunty being gone were Mary and Nathan. Only they out of all the kids knew why she had gone. Both stayed silent about it.

Often, he would catch Mary in Kayla's old room, looking around. She had asked if she could move in, but the answer had been a stern no. Nathan had taken up a great interest in guns and had been learning how to take them apart and put them back together at high speeds. Tracy had the feeling that Nathan wasn't learning so he could join the family business. 

Right now, Tracy was writing a gun sales deal. Around an hour ago he had gotten a call from Grandpa Joewood, requesting that he get to work on it right away and that it be done when he returned in four days. 

Tracy's father was...well...under a type of house arrest by the family. He wasn't allowed to leave after he had broken Grandpa Joewood's nose when Kayla had been sent away. It's hard to take down your own father for doing something you would have loved to do.

When Radja, his father, had been questioned about Kayla being in the military, Radja had not been very cooperative. The story came out in the end.

When their parents had divorced, their mother had taken Kayla, meaning it had been her who put Kayla in the military. Radja knew, he had to sign papers to allow it. When their mother had gone mysteriously missing and Kayla had moved in, Radja continued to keep it a secret. Tracy had only found about it five years ago when Kayla had asked him to lie for her. She had taken a bad fall off a roof and busted up her arm. She wanted him to say that she had been paragliding and gotten in a bad wind.

The lie worked, Kayla did all kinds of crazy things in her life. Tracy had decided a long time ago that it was because she was a soldier. Who would know when she would die or maybe become unable to walk or use her arms. It was best to live life to the fullest while you were still breathing.

Tracy looked up as two of his kids raced down the hall with paper airplanes. 

Ignorance is bliss they say. And to be a child who was ignorant of many trouble in the world...that must be paradise.

Tracy wanted to leave. He wanted to get his kids, his wife, and himself out of the family business. He couldn't do it alone though and right now, being with his family protected him. If he did get out of the business, enemies of the family would hear and kill him. 

Unlike his brothers and his sister, Tracy was not a good fighter. He could fight and win, but they could fight and dominate. He could never beat any of them in a wrestling match and non of them had ever beaten Kayla in one. The enemies that would be out to get him would easily kill him and his family. They would start with his kids, then his wife, then him, just to add to the suffering.