Judge

by KJ Dahlen

  Sage swallowed hard and nodded. She was pathetic with nothing of her own, but she needed to just get over the pride thing. Right now, she should just feel glad she was with this man. She pushed away the doubt that she was too lucky. Then she stepped back and let him lead her into the clubhouse where everyone else was waiting on them.

  To her, just seeing the dozens of people staring at her made her nervous. These men were huge, imposing and they were all glaring in her direction.

  She slipped behind Judge’s body and she so wanted to reach out her hand and take his. Judge reached back, drew her to his side, and marched her up to the main table where every chair was filled. She knew Deke, Sam, Black Jack, Iceman and Mountain but the rest of the men were strangers to her.

  Looking around the room, she did take note of the fact there were no other women present. That made her gulp a bit but she didn’t let on that she was nervous.

  Judge crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Deke. “What’s this all about Deke? There hasn’t been time enough for you to find that much yet.”

  Deke smiled at the couple in front of him. “Well now, that depends of what you’re looking for doesn’t it?” Glancing over at Sage, he noted her clothes and had to raise his eyebrow. “Do you have any idea what was on that flash drive you gave us?”

  Sage glanced at Judge then back at Deke. “I have no clue. It was my mother’s business not mine. Why, what did you find?”

  “We found out something I very much doubt Nelson wants the world to know.” He grinned.

  “And what’s that got to do with me?”

  “Don’t you want to know what she had on him?” Sam asked with a snicker. “Zipper here, our techman found a whole lot.”

  Sage paused to glance at this Zipper and shrugged. “I don’t really care one way or the other. Whatever she had on him must have been worth something but it has nothing to do with me. She told me time and time again, never to mess with her business.”

  Deke stared at her for a moment and he had to ask, “You really don’t care do you?”

  Sage rolled her eyes. “Am I supposed to care? I would have to have feelings for one or both of them to actually care what happened between them. They never gave a damn about me and I learned a long time ago not to care about the woman who gave me birth. Let’s just say, she never appreciated having me around and leave it at that.”

  “His blood is part of you, don’t you care about that?” Mountain asked.

  “No I don’t. He never gave a rat’s ass about me and I got along just fine without him. He was never there for me my whole life and about the only good thing my mother did for me was she gave me some protection against Luke. It wasn’t until she died that he became more aggressive toward me. The fact that he deals the drugs she overdosed on is no real surprise to me.”

  “Did he have anything to do with her death?” Sam wanted to know.

  Sage glanced over at Black Jack and she saw him nod. “My mom overdosed but not willingly. Someone held her down and administered a lethal dose. There were fingerprint on her arms and fingerprints on the syringe that didn’t belong to her. I had to ask the coroner and he didn’t want to give me the info but he finally did. He did tell me it would make no difference whether I knew or not because nothing would come of it anyway. But I knew that already. He also told me he wouldn’t testify against Luke or Harry. He knew if he did, he would never work again and he had a family to support.”

  “So what did you find that’s so important?” Judge asked his president.

  “Seems ole Nelson has a mean streak in him,” Sam informed them. “When he drinks too much just about anything can happen and one night a long time ago, anything did happen. He was with a stripper having a little more fun than what’s legal and when he woke up the stripper, Star, I believe her name was, was dead and he was covered in her blood.” He paused and looked at Sage. “The club’s manager Simon Grant found them early the next morning. He got rid of the body and Nelson paid him hush money. But your mother saw them carrying the body out of the club then she and Nelson hooked up and he’d been paying her ever since, right up to the day she died.”

  Sage started when she heard the stripper’s name. She’d heard that name before. She had seen the man they called Simon Grant too. He had been to visit her mother off and on when she was a kid. She never liked Simon Grant. He always had secrets and she didn’t trust him. She knew from experience that he liked to hurt people too.

  Deke noted her uneasy manner and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  Sage started to shake her head but Deke wasn’t going to let this slide. “What’s wrong?” he asked again. “If you know something, you need to tell us. We have to know all the facts here, not just the ones you think we need to hear.”

  “Simon Grant is not a very good man,” Sage finally told him. “He likes to hurt people and he’s a real nasty sort of guy. Not one I care to meet in a dark alley, if you know what I mean. I’d seen him with my mom a few times while growing up and he scared even her.” Shrugging she went on to tell them, “I’ve seen Nelson Nichols and I’ve seen Simon Grant. Out of the two of them, I’d be more afraid of Simon when he’s drinking than I ever would be of Nelson.”

  Deke thought for a moment then looked around the room. Everyone there had the same look in his eyes as he did. He looked over at Zipper and nodded slightly.

  Zipper got up and went over to the corner where he had his computers set up. Sitting down, he began to type.

  “We found a money trail from Nelson to you mother,” Deke informed her. “He was paying her three grand a month in blackmail.”

  Sage’s eyes widened and she stumbled against Judge. He caught her in his arms and held her up. She stared at Deke like he was a two horned monster. For a moment, she couldn’t even speak.

  Then she cleared her throat and asked, “H-he was paying her three grand a-a month?”

  Deke nodded. “From right after Star’s murder up until the day she died.”

  She turned in Judge’s arms and placed her face in his chest. She was stunned. Her mom had money coming in the whole time she’d been growing up. She remembered growing up with nothing, not even food in the house some days. No clothing, shoes or anything new. But her mom was getting money the whole time? What little feelings she had for the woman who gave her life evaporated in that instant. She realized her mother never really loved her at all. She’d just been a means to an end all her life. What she thought she knew was nothing more than a lie.

  Wiping away the single tear that rolled down her cheek she turned again to face Deke. She had to know everything. Taking a deep breath, she asked, “What else did you find?”

  “Your mother was into some other shady stuff,” Deke told her with a glare in his eyes. “We found a ledger of sorts in that notebook dealing in shipments coming and going. These shipments started about ten years ago and suddenly, stopped six years ago. Ten years ago, there were three shipments in and out of town but gradually the shipments increased to ten a year or more. The last recording was April 6th six years ago.”

  “She died a few days after April 6th, six years ago,” Sage informed them.

  “Any idea what these shipments were?” Sam asked.

  Sage began to tremble as her darkest fears began to rise. This was her nightmare coming to light in the middle of the day. This particular nightmare only came in the middle of the night, usually when she was awakened by shouting and screams of pain. Her mother’s screams were only part of the nightmare, there were others screaming. She never had the courage to look, instead her small body always crawled under her covers, and she covered her eyes until the shouting stopped. She would stay trapped under her blankets huddling in the corner until the sun came up and the nightmares were gone.

  She looked at the men sitting there, her eyes were blank with fear. No, she couldn’t tell them about this part of her life. She couldn’t tell them because she never had the strength to look out her door and see for herself what was happe
ning, except that one time. One time, she’d looked out her door and her mind went blank at what she witnessed.

  She licked her dry lips and shivered in Judge’s arms but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words they wanted to hear. A chill was growing inside her and it was one she could stop. Instead, she shook her head in denial. “I don’t know and I don’t want to know.”

  Then the fears rose to another level inside her. She could feel the truth clawing at her insides waiting to come out and she felt lightheaded. Memories of this surfaced and showed their ugly face. The chill was now a frozen feeling from deep down in her soul. Her nightmare was trying to consume her and she couldn’t let it out. She whimpered and tried to stay focused but she couldn’t stop the images of what she saw that night. It was too much and she fainted dead away in Judge’s arms, as she let the nightmare take her.

  ~*~

  Out cold, Sage missed the alarm on everyone’s faces. Chairs were pushed back as they all scrambled to figure out what happened.

  Judge swore when he felt her suddenly slump against him and he almost let her slide to the floor before he caught hold of her and gathered her in his arms then carried her over to the sofa. He called out for Raine and everyone rushed over to her.

  “What the hell happened?” Deke yelled as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  Raine was kneeling beside her checking out her vitals. He turned to Deke. “She fainted. Whether from the beating she took or something else, I don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait until she comes to, then find out but her pulse is racing way to fast. Her body couldn’t take it and it just shut her down.”

  “What the fuck is she so afraid of?” Black Jack asked no one in particular.

  “Whatever it is, I think we should find out don’t you?” Sam asked quietly.

  Judge glared at him.

  Sam sighed and shook his head at Judge.

  Deke also stared at Judge who looked furious. “I hate to agree with my old man, but we do have to find out.

  ~*~

  A few minutes later, Sage gasped and opened her eyes. She was laying on the sofa and all the bikers were standing around her. She tried to sink deeper into the cushions.

  Judge leaned down and gathered her up in his arms again. Then he sat down and pulled her snuggly onto his lap. “I got you baby,” he whispered in her ear. “I got you and I’m never letting you go. Whatever you need I got your back.”

  Sage turned her confused gaze to his. She could read the truth in his eyes and she nodded slowly. “Ok.”

  Deke knelt in front of her and she turned to look at him. She saw concern in his eyes and he knew he was going to ask. She just didn’t know if she could put it all into words. She shuddered.

  “What happened?”

  Licking her dry lips, she tried to focus and push down the fear inside her. After a long moment, she began telling them some of her story, “When I was little we moved around a lot. Someone had turned my mom into social services when I was four, for not taking care of me, but she fought to get me back and after that, she made sure she took care of me at least until she didn’t anymore, but at least for a while, things were good for us. Anyway, one dump was just that, a dump. I hated that old house. It smelled bad and there were rooms I wasn’t allowed to go into. They were always locked. I had my own room but it wasn’t really a room at all, more of a closet at the top of the stairs. I didn’t even have a real bed while we were there, instead I had a pile of blankets I slept on.”

  “Where was this house?’ Sam asked gently.

  “It was just outside of town. We never had neighbors, but we had a lot of company, they usually came late at night and when they did, I knew I had to stay in my room. Sometimes if my mom knew they were coming, she would lock me in my room. I knew I couldn’t ask about what was going on, she would scream at me and tell me it was her business and I shouldn’t know her business.”

  She paused long enough to lick her dry lips again and someone handed her a glass of water. She drank it down then cupped the glass in her trembling hands. “I think I was six when something happened. Mom forgot to lock my door and three men came into the house. Mom wasn’t happy with them and one of the men smacked her. Then they brought in three young girls. The girls were scared and one had a black eye. Mom started screaming at the men asking what the hell were they doing. She kept saying the girls couldn’t stay there with her. One of them backhanded her again, telling her they needed the girls to stay here for a couple of days. When Mom protested, the men told her she had no choice. But they told her not to worry that one of them would stay with the girls as they were worth more to them than her.”

  When Sage finished she was trembling again and Judge wrapped his arms around her tighter. “I didn’t see anymore than that because I went back to my room and I stayed there. I was so scared I couldn’t sleep but at some point, I must have. When I woke up, I tried to get ready for school but my door was locked. I couldn’t get out. I knew I couldn’t let anyone know I was there, so I was trapped until my mom unlocked my door. I found some food and water next to my bed and I was there for two days before I was let out. My mom told me I had to shut my mouth and never tell anyone what happened. She made me swear I wouldn’t tell her secret and rather than take another beating, I swore.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know what was going, I just hoped those three girls were ok.”

  Deke got to his feet, his eyes were troubled at what she’d told him. Looking down at her he asked, “How old are you? How long ago did this happen?”

  Sage frowned. “I was six so it happened about sixteen years ago as I’m twenty two now.”

  Deke tightened his lips. He was remembering something that happened a long time ago. He looked over at Gator and saw the same look in the other man’s eyes. All they ever had was speculation before now about what was going on in their town but now they both knew the speculation was right on the money.

  Sam noted the look in his son’s eyes. “What’s going on here boy?” He motioned at Sage. “What is she remembering?”

  Deke sighed hard. Looking down at Sage, he told his story, “A few years after I took over the club, another club tried to move into Troy. They called themselves Lords of the Devil. They were true 1 percenters and thought they could just push us out, take over our businesses and run this town. They were really mean bastards and they didn’t care who got hurt. Well, we weren’t going to let them come her and tear us down so we fought back. We heard rumors they were into some really bad shit and when we found their drugs and guns on the street, we destroyed them. There were also rumors of a human trafficking route coming down from Canada through Troy on its way to Boston. We looked for possible places but never found anything. Then we thought it would come down to an all out war. The whole town was living in fear, until Nelson Nichols put his foot down. He called in the state police and drove the other MC out of town. That’s what got him into the office of Mayor and he’s been there ever since.”

  Sage shivered in Judge’s arms. She tried to sink deeper in his embrace. “They didn’t leave though did they?” she whispered.

  Deke snapped his head around to stare at her. “They left for parts unknown. We never saw them in town anymore.”

  She lifted her gaze to his. “You might not have seen them but I did. They came and went from my mom’s place for the next five years or so. They would bring in whatever they were transporting and they used her house as a stopover point. They would bring shit in and other people would come and get it. I saw Simon with them more than once. I even saw Nelson once or twice. He knew they were using his town as a stopping point. He didn’t like it but he didn’t stop it either.”

  Deke looked over at his dad and then to the other men standing there. Then he looked back at Sage. “When was the last time you saw any of them here in town?”

  Sage wrinkled her forehead. “Maybe a year ago? The man was younger than the usual and he didn’t want to be seen but he was with Luke and Luke told him not to worry, his dad h
ad everyone in town under his thumb.”

  “How the hell do you know what Luke told him?” Gator asked.

  “I got really good at hiding from Luke when he was looking for me. One day, I saw him coming before he saw me and ducked behind some dumpsters and the two of them walked right past me without seeing me. Luke told the other guy he was looking for someone he wanted the other guy to take with him when he left town. He was even willing to pay for him to take me. He laughed with the other guy saying he’d make a bundle off the deal.” She paused then added, “They stopped almost in front of where I was hiding and talked openly about who they were looking for. Luke described me to a T. The other guy laughed and said he would enjoy breaking me. He said the club always liked breaking in the new girls and that if I were good enough, I’d find a good home with them.” Tears ran down her face. “Luke just laughed at the thought of them using me. I didn’t know who the other guy was because he wasn’t wearing a vest at the time but he did have a tattoo on his arm. It claimed he was a Lords of the Devil.”

  Deke dropped down to his knee. Reaching out, he brushed her tears away. Judge glared at him but Deke ignored him. “You’re safe here with us. You did the right thing hiding from him but you won’t have to hide anymore when this is done. If, and I stress the if he makes it to prison, he’ll find his arrogance won’t do him any good in there. He’ll learn to feel the same fear you’ve lived with your whole life.” Deke got back to his feet and glared at the brothers. “Looks like we have a club to find. I want to know where the Lords are operating out of and I want to be able to link them to our Mayor. I want to destroy them once and for all, along with the Nichols’ son. I want both of them broken and bloody before they go to prison for the rest of their lives. We are going to crush them both.”

  “You’ll need to take out most of the city council as well, you realize that don’t you?” Sam asked his son.