Quaranteam - North West

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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 all action, no brakes.

Returning Dramatis Personae

House Black

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

- Josie 'Joss the Boss' Draper - Professional Wrestler, Athletically Trim Blonde

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

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

House LaCosta

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

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

US Military

- Doctor Sheridan 'The Doc' - A female doctor from the Portland Serum Test facility. Was part of Harri's care team when he was shot, and then the emergency response team following the Hostage rescue.

- General Prewitt - The new head of the Oregon State vaccine rollout, having taken over from Miriam in the hours before it began

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.

Reference Characters

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

- Danielle 'Dani' - Australian stripper, Brunette

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

- Melina Sanzo - Harri went to Eugene for her, Professional Fitness Model, Muscular Curvy Blonde

- Lt Col Miriam Abarbanel - Military friend of Harri's, Air Force Lt Col, Jewish heritage, Commanding Officer for Valhalla Hills construction

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

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

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

- Abigail 'Abi' Jónsson - Harri's Personal Trainer, Co-owner of Valkyrie Falls women's athletic retreat, Icelandic Personal Trainer and Crossfit Competitor, Tall Athletically Muscular Blonde

-??? - Leader of the gang, somewhere in his mid-fifties. Served as a Marine in the Gulf War, and the early invasion of Afghanistan. Father of Kashm.

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It had been a long while since I'd gone through my various training courses in the military, and only slightly less than that since I had to carry an unconscious person, but I was still a little shocked at how heavy a body was when it was dead weight.

I'd proven, not that long ago at all, that I could lift Josie up, move her around and generally manhandle her pretty easily even after a very physical afternoon. But that was all with her conscious and reacting, her muscles adjusting as she held onto me or braced or movedwithme. Unconscious, unreactive,floppy, was an entirely different story and the difference between travelling with a solidly bound book or the same number of pages shoved into a file folder - stuff moved, and shifted, and threatened catastrophic falls. Except stuff, in this case, were limbs and her head.

The good news was that I at least knew how to pick her up once I had her dressed again - a bit of an awkward set of moments by itself - then I had to set her down carefully to put my shoulder holster back on, because I wasn't abandoning that, and pick her up again.

We'd jogged and ran for half an hour. Even if I felt physically comfortable with her on my shoulders once I got her weight balanced safely, I wasn't going to be able to jog or run back. It was going to be a long walk.

And it was still raining.

Once I hit the gravel shoulder, Josie balanced in a fireman carry on my shoulders, we were both soaked again in moments. I blew out a heavy breath, looking through the overcast, dreary weather back the way we'd come. Drops of water spattered from my lips as I exhaled.

At least the long walk back would give me time to figure out how to try and explainthiswhole situation. Unless someone drove by and stopped to ask why I was carrying an unconscious woman down a rural back highway, half naked and armed with a handgun.

"Yep," I grunted to myself, kind of angry with that feeling in me that was still wolfishly smug. "Shit's fucked."

- - - - -

"What happened?" Leo asked as he was hopping out of the truck into the rain.

I'd lost track of time as I'd been trudging down the highway. Not a single car had passed as the afternoon wore on - probably a good thing, but a bad sign as well. I'd been broken out of my rhythmic reverie by the sound of my truck's engine ahead of me. The rain had been off and on, and it was on again at the moment, but I could still tell it wasmytruck since it had the lightbar going without sirens.

Kyla was in the driver's seat and pulled across the empty lane of traffic to stop right in front of me, and Leo was out the door before the truck was even fully stopped.

"It's complicated," I grunted, not stopping my forward momentum for fear of toppling backwards - my body had been through abitof a rough afternoon and my internal engine was running on fumes. I likely had blisters on my feet from the wet sneakers and socks, and the only thing keeping my legs moving was the mindless will of going mechanical and shutting off the thinking part of my brain. "Door. Get the back door."

Leo had been coming towards me, and Kyla was coming out of her side, and he rushed past her to open the door for me. Kyla's confused concern softened slightly as her eyes went up and down me and saw I wasn't hurt, and she caught and helped steady me as I trudged to a halt at the door. It took both of them to help me ease Josie down from my shoulders while being careful with her head and neck. We got her into the backseat of the truck, more them than me, and I stumbled back and my legs gave way as I sat heavily onto the gravel of the highway shoulder.

"Fuck," I exhaled. My legs were shaking. All the little pains I knew I would have were still numb in a throbbing buzz sort of way, but I could feel cramps would start sooner than later.

"Harri," Kyla said, appearing above me. I'd apparently laid back when I closed my eyes, my bare back to the gravel as well, and I opened them now to see my Filipina angel kneeling over me, concerned again. She made me sit up and take a drink from a Gatorade bottle.

"Dude, what happened?" Leo asked, repeating himself as he nervously stood between me and the truck, glancing back to check on Josie repeatedly. It looked like they'd used a hand towel to wipe her down so she wasn't coldandwet now that she was out of the drizzle.

"It happened again," I grunted, then coughed. That cough made thingshurt, but I sucked in a breath and then took another drink from the water bottle.

"Really?" Kyla asked. "She's-?"

I nodded.

"She's what?" Leo asked, slower to catch on. To be fair, it hadn't happened to him or in his house or relationship.

"She's like Vanessa," Kyla said, looking back at my best friend and then turning back to focus on me. "How long ago?"

I shook my head, unsure, then shook my head again to try and clear it. "We jogged and ran for about half an hour, then... yeah, in the woods off the highway. For a bit. So that much time until now."

"You're a fucking idiot," Kyla said, grabbing me by my beard and looking me in the eyes with a hard glare. "Going without a phone."

"I know," I grunted. "I wasn't planning on it, but still. I know."

"I know you know," she growled softly, then pulled my chin up a little to kiss me before letting me go and standing. "What now?"

"We need to get her to Portland, to the Doc," I said. "It was different circumstances than Vanessa, obviously, so... Fuck." I shook my head again. "We need to make sure she's OK. We don't know what could be fucked up."

"Alright," Kyla said, taking charge. "We'll get you in the car, Leo, can you sit in the back and keep Josie still? We'll go straight for Portland and make calls on the road. Dani and Aria can get picked up by someone from home."

"I'll drive," I grunted, trying to stand up and feeling my legs wobble again from the effort.

"I'm driving," Kyla said sternly, poking me in the shoulder firmly. "You need to sleep."

I gave her a look. "Like I could sleep right now."

She sighed, grimacing at me in a way that gave me flashbacks to my mother shaking her head at my father as she watched him toil over fixing something out in the old barn. "You need torest." I gestured for Leo to help me up, but Kyla stopped him. "You can drive if you can pick your ass up off the side of the road by yourself, dear," she said.

I tried because I was a stubborn idiot. I failed. "Fine," I grunted, relenting. "Fine."

They both helped me up and around to the passenger seat, and I eased up onto it and had to shift the MP5 from where it was leaning against the centre console. Kyla, when they decided they needed to come looking for me, had likely pulled it out of the back compartment in the bed of the truck just in case.

I was startled awake as the truck went into motion, realising despite my arguing that Ihadquickly drifted off. Kyla was in the driver's seat, a weird feeling for me to look left for her instead of right, and Leo was behind me with Josie's head in his lap, holding her braced and still.

Kyla made the first call, to Melina of all people, who was apparently driving Dani down the other direction of the highway looking for us. Both women were thankful that we'd been found, but alarmed when Kyla quickly explained she was going to bring us to get a 'check-up' - she avoided questions, though, and got off the call with assurance that they'd be looped in when we could, but there were other calls to make.

Then it was my turn to do the talking.

"Harri, what the fuck?" Erica demanded. "You go off the fucking radar and leave your phone behind?"

"I'm sorry," I grunted. "It was... spur of the moment. Josie and I had some stuff to work out."

"Well, where is she? Can she hear me? Fuck, I'll twist her fucking nipple off next time I see her, getting all moody and dragging you out without a phone or anything"

I coughed, looking at Kyla, but she smirked and shrugged at me, mostly focused on the highway. She wasn't letting me out of this one.

"Erica," I said. "Uh... it happened again."

"What?" she asked. "What doesthatmean?"

"Josie and I, uh... well, we fucked," I said. "Andithappened-"

"Ooohohohohoooo," Erica started laughing. "No fucking way. Nofuckingway! Are you- Really? For real?"

"Yes," I sighed.

"He's for real," Kyla added.

Erica snorted, and then the call went muffled as she spoke to someone else. When it unmuffled there was more laughter, and a lot more snickering from my fiancee. "Alright, well, I guess she's one lucky bitch, getting what she wanted. Was it good?"

"Erica," I groaned.

"Harri was carrying her on his shoulders, trying to get back to the Falls, in the rain. For several miles," Kyla said. "He's feeling pretty shitty right now."

"Oh, poor baby," Erica said, her smirk obvious by her tone. "Worries the fuck out of all of us, but was getting his dick wet and adding another hot bitch to his harem. God, Vanessa is gonnalovethis. And Miriam's going to besofucking mad -God, if you hadn't been wearing a condom with Julia-Hah!"

We told her the current plan, and I got out of needing to share extra details. Gerty, Ivy and Kara had all been listening in and laughing along. Apparently, the women in my life were a lot less worried about the situation Josie was suddenly going to be in than I was. Or at least half of me was.

I didn't find it quite as funny as they did.

The next call was going to be just as awkward but in a different way.

"Yes?" Captain Bloomberg answered her phone curtly. Not unfriendly, but in an 'I'm busy and expect this isn't going to be a waste of my time' sort of way. All of the calls were coming from Kyla's phone, so I was a little surprised she wasthatcurt, but then Laura and Kyla hadn't developed afriendshipyet and Laura was in charge of the base at the moment.

Kyla looked at me, and I realised I was going to need to do the explaining again. Fair, since I'd caused the mess, but still.

"Captain," I said. "I... need another favour."

There was a beat of silence, and then the sound of a door closing, and another beat before Laura sighed heavily. "What now, Sheriff?"

"I'm here with Kyla and Leo," I said.

"Hey, Laura," Leo chimed in from the back. Part of me still couldn't believe he'd had sex with the stern blonde.

"I- well..." I continued. "You know that thing that happened with Vanessa?"

Another beat of silence. Laura was usually quicker with the repartee and I had a feeling this wasn't her being sluggish, this was her processing three steps ahead.

"You've got to be shitting me," Laura finally said.

"He's not," Leo said.

"Miriam is gonna- Jesus, Harri," Laura grunted. "Who?"

"Her name is Josie, she's one of the women from the Falls," I explained. "Erica was... encouraging us, with the idea that eventually things would, uh, blossom. Josie and I had some emotional stuff going on between us and we sort of crashed together to figure it out, but it ended with... a Vanessa situation."

Another long beat. "You really know how to take 'Problem Child' to a whole new level, you know that?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, well, fuck me," I sighed.

"Where are you now?" she asked. Kyla told her, tracking our progress on the built-in GPS maps on the truck, and about the plan to get Josie to Portland to get checked out ASAP. Laura promised to make calls to smooth our way in to get to the Doc, who was likely going to be equal parts shocked, thrilled and resigned that her entire week was about to be derailed days after the public rollout started.

"Prepare to be a lab rat for a bit, you big fuckin' problem," Laura signed off. "Leo, don't do anything stupid. Your balls are necessary to my survival."

That last bit managed to make me snort softly.

With Miriam still in her imprinting sleep, and the rest of our families getting informed by the others - Leo called Dani again to give her more details, and what to pass on to the ladies of the Falls.

Somehow I kept finding ways to put more strain on that relationship. One of these days I was expecting Abi to meet us at the gate and turn us away.

I asked Leo how Josie was doing, and he said, "She's zonked out with an imprinting sleep, Harri. For the third time, nothing's changed. I'll tell you if it does."

"OK," I said, settling down a little more into my seat as I realised Ihadbeen repeating myself. "OK." I looked out the front window, or more glared, and then sniffed in a breath as I realised I'd started to doze off again. Kyla's hand on my thigh, warm and small, made me look over at her and she glanced at me with a knowing smirk as she drove comfortably one-handed. I rolled my eyes, making her chuckle, and she let go of me to turn on the radio.

I woke up again, with her hand on my leg, but this time she was grabbing it and not just holding it like I did hers when I was driving.

"What is it?" I asked, looking around quickly. The rain had stopped for the moment, but there weren't any landmarks to tell me where we were. It was a little after five, so I'd only been out maybe ten minutes.

Kyla glanced in the rear-view mirror, taking her hand from me and putting it on the steering wheel. "It might be nothing," she said. "But I think we're being followed."

I frowned and adjusted so I could look back through the side mirror. Therewasa car back there. Turning in my seat, I looked more pointedly out the back window, past Leo and Josie. Leo was frowning and looking back as well, and Josie -myJosie, my gut smugly tugged on my thoughts - was peacefully out like she had been since I'd imprinted her. That little smile she'd gotten when she'd started muttering the broken, stuttering 'imprinting' mantra was still on her lips, and part of me felt like she almost lookedaccomplished.

The black, sun-spotted beater was lingering maybe twenty car-lengths back from us. I wouldn't have been surprised to see it on a highway at all back at the start of the year. But with the way traffic had been lately... questionable.

"When did it show up?" I asked Kyla.

"A few minutes ago," she said. "It didn't turn onto the highway, it was parked on the shoulder and pulled out behind us when we passed. It could be nothing." The last part had a heavy'But I've got a feeling it isn't'mixed in.

"OK," I said. "We'll keep an eye on it."

Ten minutes with my eyes closed wasn't nearly enough for me to recover. Even the protein bar I'd pulled out of the centre console and ate quickly between phone calls while washing it down with more Gatorade wouldn't have been enough. And yet, I found I wasn't tired anymore. I didn't have a good feeling about that car either, and I found myself twitchy as I kept watch. Maybe I really did have some sort of extra-deep issue with not being the driver in control of the car.

"There's another one," Leo announced after a few minutes, and I leaned around to look back. A second vehicle was behind us, trailing close to the black sedan. This one was an equally old brown pickup truck. It was also, strangely, flying a flag from its back bed, but from the angle we couldn't see what it was.

"I don't like it," I said. The black beater had matched our speed, staying back from us, and now the pickup did the same.

"Me neither," Kyla murmured.

The highway took a long right bank around a craggy hill a minute later, giving me a chance to look back at the cars again from a new angle. The black one was plain, with one driver and one passenger as far as I could tell, while the brown pickup behind it had a distinctive rust spot over the back driver-side tire. Leo and I also got a look at the flag.

"Was that... It kinda looked like a UN flag?" he asked.

I grunted. "Not quite," I said. "That would be a lighter blue, and both harder and easier to make out. That was-" I closed my eyes, trying to remember the ridiculous conversations I'd had in the Golden Beaver with Rod and Big Paulson. "Roman numeral three, rounded by a ring of stars. Three-percenters? One of the ridiculous groups that associate with the sovereign citizens and shit like that." I turned to Kyla. "Try to lose them."

She nodded, and the truck leapt forward as the engine revved into high gear. She'd been going over the speed limit, but nottoofast since the Josie situation felt more like a simmering emergency than a true, 'Oh shit, go as fast as possible' moment.

None of us needed to voice the fact that, after a moment, the cars behind us picked up their pace as well.

"Fuck," I said.

I grabbed the MP5 from where I'd leaned it between my legs and the door, pulling it out and giving it a check. Loaded and ready.

"Extra mag in the glove compartment," Kyla murmured. "Handgun?"