Raven and Amber stepped out of the house and walked down towards the driveway. A huge smile appeared on Amber’s face because both girls knew who the bikers were pulling up into the driveway. Both women wait until the motorcycles are turned off before approaching the riders.

Hammer and Spider spotted the two women walking out of the house toward the driveway. Both men recognized one of them, but didn’t recognize the taller, black-haired woman. Spider noticed her US Marines tattoo on her right arm and caught a glimpse of the full-length tattoo, which he figures was a ghost or something on her upper left shoulder.

As the two women got closer, Spider and Hammer watched as Amber walked up to them.

“Hi, Daddy!” Amber runs over and hugs her father. She hasn’t seen her father for the past six months.

Hammer couldn’t believe his little girl was home. The last time he heard from her was four months earlier. He hugs his baby girl and holds her against his body. He noticed she was wearing a skintight custom body suit. He doesn’t see her motorcycle parked anywhere.

Raven had stopped near the bikers and watched as her friend Amber ran up to her father, Hammer. She spotted Spider examining her with his eyes. She knew Spider was a very detailed person. He could look at something for just a few minutes and remember every detail about the object or a person.

“Hello, Spider, long time, no see.” Raven figures she would put her old teacher/friend at ease.

Spider looks at the black-haired raven woman who just spoke to him. There was something about her voice that was familiar. “Do I know you?”

“You should, Spider. You gave me my first tattoo.” Raven turns around and lifts her t-shirt so she can show him her Raven tattoo.

Spider watches as the young woman turns around and lifts the back of her t-shirt. As soon as the t-shirt was lifted high enough to see the tattoo. He knew immediately who it was. He knew that was Raven “Raven?”

Raven lowers her t-shirt and turns around to look at Spider and Hammer. She saw the surprised look on both men. “What? You guys look like you have seen a ghost.” A playful smile appears on Raven’s face.

“We were told that you had died, Raven.” Spider couldn’t believe that Raven was standing in front of him and Hammer.

“What happened?” Hammer still had his arm around his baby girl.

“Why don’t you guys come inside, and I’ll explain everything, after I check on Eddie.”

“Eddie is here?” Both men park their motorcycles and dismount.

“Yeah, but she is recovering from her injuries.” Amber looks at her father and Spider.

“You girls better start from the beginning.” Hammer walks towards the house holding his little girl’s hand.

“I want to hear why we were told you were dead, Raven.” Spider has always had a soft spot for Raven. He was one of the men who found Raven when she was little.

Raven, Spider, Amber, and Hammer walk inside the house and spot Eddie leaning against the hallway corner. She had her handgun in her hand.

“What are you doing out of bed, sis?” Raven walks over to her little sister.

“I heard the motorcycles outside and didn’t know if they were family or enemy.” Eddie was glad it was family.

Hammer walks over to Eddie and notices how badly she was hurting. He scoops her up and carries her over to Jake’s old recliner. He gently places her onto the recliner.

Eddie looks up into Hammer’s brown eyes, “Thank you, uncle.”

“You’re welcome, baby girl.” Hammer stands back up and looks at his daughter and Raven.

“I have freshly made coffee, or I can bring you, gentlemen, a beer.”

“Dad is going to have coffee.” Amber looks at her father and remembers that he doesn’t start drinking until later in the afternoon.

“How about you, Spider? Do you still drink coffee?” Raven looks towards Spider.

“You know I do.” Spider was sitting in the other recliner Jake had in the house.

“I’ll get the coffee, Raven. Why don’t you go ahead and bring Dad and Spider up to date on everything?” Amber turns and walks towards the kitchen.

“Amber, can you bring me some aspirin, please?” Eddie was still hurting.

“Are you sure you want aspirin, instead of moonshine?” Amber knew her uncle Morrison always kept some hidden moonshine in the house.

“As much as I would want to drink Dad’s moonshine. I'd better stick to aspirin right now. I have to call my boss in a little while and explain what happened during the op.”

“What's up, baby girl?” Hammer looks at Eddie with a puzzled look on his face.

Hammer considered Eddie like one of his daughters. She was born on the same night as Amber. Her mother was a childhood friend of his.

Spider looks towards Raven, “Why don’t you start, Raven?”

Raven looks at Spider and Hammer, “Here’s why you guys were told I was dead. My team and I were ambushed by heavily armed insurgents.
They were supported by state-sponsored militants from Pakistan. My team fought as hard as we could before we were overrun. I came under attack after the insurgents located my position. One of them launched a rocket-propelled grenade towards my location, and I got hit by shrapnel.” Raven stops and looks at her uncle and Spider.

“How did you survive, baby girl?” Hammer could picture the scene in his mind.

“I crawled over to the edge where my overwatched position was and climbed down on my bloody arms and legs. I got halfway down the mountain before I lost my grip and tumbled the rest of the way down like a sack of potatoes. I passed out and woke up days later in a cave. I was found by an Afghan father and son and was nursed back to health. Weeks went by before I was well enough to make it back to the base I was stationed at. My superiors thought my dead body, along with members of my team, had been taken and dismembered by the insurgents.”

“That’s why we were informed you were dead. They couldn’t find your body. Your father and the rest of us were told you had died. When did you decide to change your gender?” Spider looks at Raven.

“After I was medically discharged from the military. I made my way to Thailand and found a doctor who would do the surgery without a letter from a shrink. I used some of the money I set aside from my investments to pay for the surgeries I had to my body and to stay in Thailand for a while to recover. I still have problems with my shooting hand, but thank goodness I’m ambidextrous. I also suffer from PTSD.”

“After what you went through, baby girl. I think anyone would, but know you have the family to help you recover, sweetie.” Hammer stands up and walks over to Raven and hugs her.

Raven returns the hug and lets the tears that have been building behind her eyes leak out. She was feeling emotional right now. She feels Spider grab her left hand and squeeze it.

“So, that’s what happened to you.” Eddie looks at her older sister.

“Yeah.” Raven looks at her little sister.

“What happened to you, Eddie?” Spider looks at Jake’s youngest daughter.

“The task force I was in got suckered into a trap. We went after the Scorpion gang, and they were prepared for us. They had the front yard mine and set traps. The house they were in was reinforced with armor plating, and they gunned us down with a fucking minigun. All their guns had armor-piercing bullets that cut through our body armor like it was tissue. We didn’t stand a chance. I barely made it out alive. One of the Scorpions was careless and left his motorcycle accessible. So, I took it.” Eddie felt the aspirin kick in.

“What about you, baby girl?” Hammer looks at his youngest.

“I heard Eddie was back in town, and I wanted to see my sister. I’ve been out of the country for the past six months. I heard through the grapevine that she had been assigned to a task force and went to see if she was alright. That’s when I learned they hadn’t found her body. So, I knew there were only three places she could be hiding.” Amber looks towards Eddie, whom she considers to be her twin sister and best friend.

“Raven, how long have you been back home?” Spider looks towards Raven.

“Only two weeks. I came home in the middle of the night and didn’t want to tell anyone yet that I was home. I don’t know how the rest of the MC is going to handle the new me.” Raven was feeling insecure about how the other members of the MC would accept her.

“Baby girl, your family and nothing will ever change that. That includes all three of you.” Hammer looks at the terrible trio.

“Now the question is. Do we want to get involved with what the Scorpions are doing in our town?” Spider knew the MC would want to run them out of town.

“That might be a bigger problem, Uncle Spider. According to the intel that the task force has on them. They are being backed by several cartel families down in Brazil with connections to several US military suppliers near Washington D.C. Every lead or snitch we had on them ended up dead. We can’t even get anyone undercover into their organization. According to a snitch, I had before he was found chopped up by a wood chipper. They have someone in our intel community feeding them information.” Eddie felt bad about what happened to Benny Lucci.

“Do you think that is how they found out about your raid?” Hammer looks towards Eddie to see if she suspects someone.

“It’s possible, uncle. However, no one knew our plan or when we were going to strike. Everyone in our task force was hand-picked and clear. We kept the plan of what we were going to do under wraps.”

“I can tell you this, Daddy. Commander Hicks is worried that the MC and your connections to other MC’s might get involved. However, since sissy there was hiding out here. It might be a good idea to just inform the MC, but stay out until things turn bad.” Amber looks at her father.

“Sweetie, you know we can’t allow another gang in our territory.” Hammer knew their current President wouldn’t allow anyone else to trespass on their territory.

“Uncle, I agree with Squeaky there. But I’m not saying the MC shouldn’t do anything, but it might be best if you guys stay out of the situation. Having the MC as a backup plan would be beneficial and a surprise. You already know who you can trust and who you can’t trust.” Eddie didn’t want to get the MC involved unless it was necessary.

Hammer and Spider look at each other, and something unspoken passes between them. Hammer turns back to face Eddie, “Let's get you looked at and make sure you’re going to be okay.”

Spider starts dialing their new doctor’s number. Their older doctor, the one who delivered Eddie and Amber, along with several other children in the MC, had passed away from a heart attack in his sleep. Raven stands up and heads towards the front door. She steps out onto the porch and inhales the air.

“Are you okay, Raven?” Amber had followed behind Raven when she stepped out onto the front porch.

Raven turns around to look at Amber and wonders how she should answer her. She just looks at Amber and wishes she hadn’t gone through what she did.

“Not really, Amber. It was just getting too crowded in the house for me.” Raven felt like she was ready to panic.

Amber walks over and wraps her arms around Raven. She feels Raven shiver from being held. She has seen a lot of other members of the MC who suffered from PTSD.

“You're home and safe now, Raven. No one is going to hurt you.” Amber just holds onto Raven as she feels Raven shake, and finally calms down.

Raven hugs Amber back. The two of them stay like that for a while. She needed this and was happy she had family who understood her.