They had safely made it back to their hide out. They were tired, exhausted and on guard.

It had been several hours and felt like at any moment Babul's men, and possibly Babul himself, would come down upon them. They had to be looking after what had happened.

"If they wanna come let them niggas come" Solomon said. "I'm ready".

"You don't look ready" Becca teased. She had just finished wrapping Solomon's ankle.

"Swellings gone down" she reported. Solomon nodded. It felt better. A lot better.

"I'll be right as rain soon" he said. Becca instinctively pulled on the locket on her neck. Solomon has noticed it before. Becca did not wear other jewelry. It seemed out of place.

And that was important because they'd already decided that it was just a matter of time before they'd be located. They had the guns and the ammo. They had everything they needed to strike and would strike soon.

"Got to be on offense and not defense" Woody had said, helping King catalog the firearms and ammo, putting everything together to figure out what exactly they had. "Better to strike when they're down and in chaos too".

They had automatic weapons, handguns, shot guns, a rocket launcher and grenades'. They had ammunition for everything. They also had some remote explosives that reminded Solomon of something he'd used in Nam to blow up one of Charlie's dams once.

"It's a good thing Babul didn't find this stuff" Khalid said. "We'd be fucked".

"Damn right" the usually silent Rocko chimed in, his voice deep. He was looking out through slat in the wood boards over the windows, keeping an eye out. The early afternoon light came through the board and cast a hot white line on his dark skin.

"You were impressive out there" Solomon said finally. "I mean that was some good shit".

"Aww...gee, shucks. Thanks" Becca said, actually blushing a little. "Just remember I'm not into that black snake you keep between your legs. I like fish".

"Goddamn girl..." Solomon shook his head, chuckling.

There was a pause. Becca looked around and leaned in.

"What was that shit back there?"

"A buncha towelheads gettin' their shit kicked in" Solomon said, smirking. But then she realized Becca was being serious and leaned in.

"No, that shit... with the birds... you didn't think that was weird?"

It was weird and Solomon had noticed it, but wasn't ready to admit it yet.

"Those fuckers... well, I mean, it was like they defended you. Like you...caused them to attack them..."

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"I ain't cause shit" Solomon said and of this much he was sure... at least he hadn't done anything intentionally, that was.

"I ain't got control of them birds". But was clear they had attacked Babul's men and it was like they'd done it to help him.

"And that dog..." Becca continued, ignoring Solomon. "That dog has a special bond with you. I've never seen anything like it. It's like he can communicate with you..."

"I just used to feed him down at the railroad tracks. That's all"

Neckbone was curled up in a ball beside Solomon. Right on cue, he looked up at him.

"So did I" Becca said. "He doesn't have that with me".

Solomon knew Becca had a point. It was something he'd experienced since he was a kid: he had a way with animals, and it ran in his family too.

His grandmother especially had a way with them. She used to tell Solomon some story about how they had a kinship with animals because they had Native American blood in them.

But Solomon didn't own a casino and he hadn't taken a 23 & Me test so this was all heresy to him.

Still, when he was a kid he used to sit for hours and have silent conversations with animals. He couldn't do this now.... maybe it was something his mind had made up. Some TV show on his grandma's on wood grain black and white Zenith that he thought was real life.

The memories of his grandmother were true though. Deer and rabbits never ate her garden. Instead she brought scraps from the garden to the edge of it and they ate only that. It was like that had an agreement.

For awhile she raised Catahoula's, the only dog breed to originate in Louisiana, and she could train them like no one's business.

Something else: out here there were deers everywhere and he didn't know a single person who hadn't at some point in their lives hit one but he never had. He'd drive and when one was about to dart out in front of him it would stop dead in its tracks before going out into the road or hop back.

Solomon gave his head a shake, pushing it all away.

"What?" Becca asked playfully. 'You're thinking I'm right, aren't you?"

"I ain't say that"

"But you're thinking it" she said.

Solomon grunted in response and Becca let it die. Solomon swung himself upright and stepped onto the ground, taking some slow steps.

He felt good. Really good.

"That would be the Vicodin I gave you" Becca said laughing.

"You niggas ready" Solomon announced. They all turned towards him and nodded in unison.

"Alright, let's get to work" and with that they drew up their plan of attack on Babul's compound.