New York Minute

by Louis Scott

  It really didn’t matter to him where it was made, but he wanted to make a point. He watched the Army vet’s face redden as he thumbed and fingered a tiny piece of material on the inside of the vest.

  Stepping toward him, Pike repeated himself. “Well?”

  “Screw off.”

  “Ha, so yeah, bitches, I do drive a Porsche Cayenne. And it’s Italian.”

  “Settle down, children,” Alex snapped.

  It was time to move out—she grabbed the scrabbled sheet of paper to review her notes. Everyone was too exhausted to continue hazing each other, although they’d tried keeping the rowdiness down while Voodoo slept on the other side of a paper-thin wall. Tension and reality weighed more heavily as each minute clocked by.

  “I’m not leaving Voodoo by herself,” Pike blurted. “Just letting you know before you read off your ops plan. No offense, but I’ve got no clue who your doctor friend is.”

  “I told you I vetted her myself,” Alex replied. A smile scraped across her white teeth.

  “That’s not protocol,” Pike retorted.

  “She’s trustworthy,” she declared. Agitation over fatigue, more than being challenged, made her flush.

  Restless, Alex crossed her legs, let her foot bounce rapidly a few times, and then stood. Her fingers danced, brushing off dust, straightening seams, smoothing her hair.

  “Jonas doesn’t trust her either.” Pike added.

  Alex’s glare rotated like a turret toward her always-loyal second in command. Pike took in her reactions—he wasn’t reassured.

  “Jonas, is this true?” Alex stepped close to him, ignoring the Savage laid out across the floor with his hands tucked beneath his head.

  “You gave her name,” Jonas said.

  “What?” She asked.

  “You broke rule number one—identified the doctor” Jonas said calmly.

  “The heck I did,” Alex yelled.

  “Doctor Hailey. You saying you never said that? Did I make that up?” Pike’s gut knotted at throwing Jonas under the bus and now verbally attacking his friend in front of everyone. But, his only priority was protecting Voodoo.

  “It was a slip, I’m sorry. We’ve all been under the gun—it happens.”

  “Not to you, Alex.” Jonas said.

  “Well, you’ve got a decision to make—she’ll be here any second. We need you on this mission. Let one of the Savages stay behind.”

  “Ain’t happening,” Justice growled.

  “I agree with the big man. Ain’t happening,” Pike said.

  Alex stood her ground—Pike admired the hell out of her gumption, but he wasn’t sure he could trust Voodoo’s care to some stranger. He felt a twinge of guilt for abandoning his team, but his life had changed and so had his priorities. Alex's look pleaded for him to reconsider. Swiping both hands across his brow, he used the break in eye contact to leave the room. He stopped when a coded rap came against the back door. The doctor.

  Lawless sprung across the room from his seat in deep shadow. Absent Alex’s usual smile, Lawless hesitated.

  “We just caught a break with intel from the Task Force. Can I speak in front of her?” Lawless nodded at the older-looking Hispanic female doctor.

  Alex slightly bobbed her head up and down.

  Pike caught Lawless’ attention and silently mouthed, “No.”

  The garage flooded with tension. Eyes cut back and forth between FORCE and Savage Souls as allies, no longer adversaries. Alex stood her position next to Doctor Hailey. Everyone else had shuffled back against the walls or workbenches.

  Time was wasting.

  Lawless stood with palms open, looking to share his secret. He turned to Justice for some clue.

  “Alex, I think it’s best to close the circle,” Justice suggested. “Time is becoming rare.”

  “We’ll be with Voodoo,” she snapped, jerking the doctor by the elbow. Doctor Hailey frowned.

  “Mercy, go with them,” Justice ordered.

  His command resonated like Zeus from atop Mount Olympus, the tool bench his throne. No one debated Justice’s decision. Pike had noticed the power shifting over the past several hours. Now it seemed complete. He barely cared. As long as Voodoo was protected, his loyalties were negotiable—just not his principles.

  Mercy, another blood brother, Boudreaux and military vet, snapped to attention and trailed behind Alex and Doctor Hailey.

  “No,” Alex said forcefully.

  “Then no one goes in there,” Justice countered.

  “Alex, we’re no longer under federal authority, which basically means it’s every man for himself,” Pike reminded her. “We’ve agreed to save the president whether she deserves saving or not. Jeopardizing Voodoo’s safety isn’t part of the bargain. Rules have changed. Mercy goes in, or I do. If I go in, you’re alone on this mission. You make the call right now, or your unsecured doctor friend hits the road.”

  Pike’s words were a far cry from the former playboy Navy SEAL who used to work harder at getting laid than hunting terrorists. His love for Voodoo had changed the very core of who he’d become.

  He motioned to the biker named Mercy to accompany Alex and the doctor into the break room.

  “Excuse me, ma’am,” Jim said as he bumped into Doctor Hailey.

  He grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her from tumbling. She sneered at his touch.

  “Go, Lawless,” Justice ordered.

  “My Task Force got a bead on none other than NOPD Detective Alphonse Hebert, aka, Fats. Seems he’s in New York for the memorial ceremony. Kinda pisses me off to think that dirty bastard is here to honor law enforcement.” Lawless’s eyes never left his cell phone screen.

  “Heck yeah, Lawless. Great job grabbing his cell. Where is he?” Pike leaned in to give Lawless a high-five, but the police captain offered a simple handshake. It was probably extra hard to show happiness in front of his six brothers.

  “Let’s set a plan in motion,” Jonas said.

  “Lawless, you still got the balls to master that HOG?” Justice’s voice drowned over Jonas’s.

  Lawless nodded.

  “You take Mercy’s Fat Boy and track down Fats. Vengeance will go with you. Understand?”

  “Okay, Justice. Sure Mercy won’t mind?”

  “This is business. Do as I say and go, now,” Justice tossed a set of Harley Davidson keys to him. Vengeance quickly followed.

  “Thanks, Lawless,” Pike said.

  “The rest of us need to get to New Jersey and flank the ceremony’s entrances,” Justice said. “I doubt Fats will accompany Bonny—he doesn’t have the juice to get that close. So many armed cops make this a nightmare. No matter, we know what this witch looks like, so peel your eyes and be ready to yank her fast.” Justice’s intensity was high.

  “Agreed,” Pike nodded, “but honestly, I’m more worried about Voodoo than the POTUS.”

  “Mercy won’t let Voodoo out of his sight. He knows to kill the doctor if anything goes sour. Pike, tell Alex it’s time to roll and say your see-you-later to Voodoo.”

  Ice water in his veins, Justice directed resources like he’d probably done his entire time working with the CIA’s Special Operations Group. Like Alex, he’d naturally emerged as a leader in crisis. Both groups showed him the respect, and trusted him to stop this threat.

  “If she dressed as a cop, Bonny could enter with a weapon—no questions asked.” Pike suggested.

  Justice directed a finger his way. “Good point—you’ve just complicated the crap out of things. But good point.”

  This is really going to suck.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It was still an hour and a half past sunrise services, and about the same spread until traditional church services began. Everyone had taken the opportunity to use the garage’s employee locker room showers. It didn’t transform them into cops, but it helped. Unfortunately for FORCE and the Savages, Easter morning brought out those who’d not seen a pew since the last time they’d forced the children into dre
ss clothes.

  “We’ll need to give the Savages our wallet badges so they can get through security. Pike said. “We’ll have our other badges around our necks.”

  “That’s bull crap. I’m not handing mine over to them,” Ellie snapped.

  Pike’s agitation was fueled by exhaustion.

  “The damn thing isn’t worth more than a trinket. Just give it to them.”

  Jim nodded for her to do so as he dug his other badge from his wallet. The others followed suit.

  “Well, ain’t this something?” Justice howled. “Never in my life would I have thought I’d hang one of these toys around my neck.”

  “Don’t get used to it. It’s just for today.” Ellie snarled.

  The April morning was cool and crisp. Pike looked in the side view mirror and wondered how the heck the bikers weren’t freezing their butts off. He’d battled the cold during BUD/S, but the one thing he'd come way with was an appreciation that cold was freaking cold, and being cold sucked.

  Pike looked at the team and thought how much everything had changed since Jim first arrived in Pennsylvania a few month earlier on a mission aimed at dismantling the Serpent’s terror network. FORCE’s mission was a strict undercover mission to bust his disciples who tried to purchase high-grade weapons.

  It’d been a nonstop rollercoaster ever since, which led to his meeting Voodoo. It had also led to the death of a damn fine Navy SEAL, Falcon, and now an anonymous police officer whose body possibly still lay in the weeds off of I-78. Pike drew in deep breathes while he recalled the thousand yard shot he’d made back in the south Louisiana marsh to save Voodoo’s life.

  Wow, I lucked out on that one.

  He wished they'd get to the memorial site. These trips down memory lane were killing him. Now that he looked at life with optimism instead of dark fate, he was ready to live life instead of waiting to take it.

  Pike crunched forward as his gut spasmed. He distracted himself with thoughts of how much damage Bonny had caused for so many people. He grimaced from the memory of the first night he met her in the French Quarter nightclub. In hindsight, he would’ve been better off had he just returned to his room that night.

  Everything lay like lead in his stomach. Beads of moisture formed across his brow. His empty stomach wasn’t receiving the chalky chocolate bar well. He’d not fed it high grams of pure protein in months.

  Pike considered the top-secret security clearance he’d obtained while running overseas with Operation Neptune. Although privy to information that led him directly to pulling the trigger that killed Osama bin laden, he’d never once, even in his most-trusted status, ever heard of a “blue star.” Who knew such a secret society existed? And one so powerful as to control the federal government. Bonny had to be a loose cannon—no way they’d remained a secret for hundreds of years acting the way she did.

  “Which way?” Jim demanded, as if he’d asked before without response.

  Jim’s question shook Pike out of his trance. He scrambled through his cell for the address.

  “Empty Sky Memorial at 1 Audrey Zapp Drive. Jersey. Just stick to I-78 like we came last night and hit the Zapp Drive exit.”

  Pike shoved his feet hard against the Suburban’s floorboard as they rocketed toward the location. Pike’s eyes dampened as they blew by the area where the patrol officer had stopped the Savages the night before. He wasn’t sure whether they’d killed the young officer or not, but the very idea that they did, made him sick. This wasn’t the killing grounds of the Middle East, but he continued to struggle between periods when adrenaline dumps left him introspective and emotional.

  Alex asked Pike to put her incoming call to speaker so all could hear Lawless’s report. He and Vengeance had left earlier on bikes to locate Fats with a hope that Bonny would be with him.

  “Lawless, you’re on speaker, go ahead.” Alex said.

  “We found Fats. He’s holed up with a police contingency from New Orleans. I even saw Kymani at breakfast with him.” The thick thud of the idling HOG made Lawless’s report hard to hear. "I gotta be careful not to be spotted.”

  “Kymani, the SWAT commander? You think he’s involved?” Pike asked in disbelief.

  “Doubt it, old man’s good as gold. Looks like Fats is trying to fly below the radar by hanging with a legitimate flock of blue geese.” Lawless replied.

  Alex leaned against the center console. “Any sign of Bonny?”

  “Not yet. Looks like they’re going to convoy to the memorial with a ton of other cops from all over the place. These hotels are full of cops. I think Vengeance is crapping his pants,” his voice sounded light, almost relaxed.

  “Screw off, Bro.” They heard Vengeance’s yell from the background.

  “Okay, good work. We’re heading to the memorial sight to scan for Bonny. Stay in touch,” Alex instructed.

  Again, Jim cut a glance over her head to meet Pike’s sneer.

  “Guys?” Lawless said.

  “Yeah, Lawless?” Pike answered.

  “What ya’ll think they did to that cop last night?” he said in a low voice.

  “I don’t know,” Pike replied.

  “I asked Vengeance, but he said I’m better off not knowing.” It sounded like he was trying to talk without being detected by his brother.

  “They’ll pay for what they did if they hurt him,” Alex said just before Lawless disconnected.

  Jim got their attention as he neared the memorial site. Traffic was backed up everywhere.

  “You don’t think the guards will just let us roll on through, do you? Security’s going to be tighter than a gnat’s butt.” Jim spoke so everyone could hear.

  “We can roll our gold,” Ellie offered from the rear seat of the extended ride.

  She reached into her pocket to remove her gold-plated federal agent’s badge.

  Alex had been unusually quiet. Pike suspected the presence of the Savages had become overwhelming. Sure, she was one of the best operatives he’d known, but the nonstop outlaw ethos could wear anyone down.

  “Or, I could just flash my tits," Ellie said. "You know what horn dogs cops are.”

  Pike chuckled. Now that was the Ellie he knew. She seemed much more comfortable now that the bikers were elsewhere.

  “These badges might get us through, but the Savages stick out like a boner in a Speedo." Jim laughed at his own joke. It was one of his favorite sayings, and Pike laughed more at Jim's response than it actually being funny any longer.

  “Son of a gun. Look at that traffic line. Pull off onto the next shoulder,” Pike suggested. “Tell Justice we’ll get through at this gate with our badges, and they’ll have to go south to the motorcycle entrances,” Pike stated.

  Jim looked at his phone’s screen, and balked.

  “Oh no, this is bad. Real bad,” Jim barked.

  Pike took the wheel as Jim fumbled with his cell phone. Jim glared at a map with flashes of light.

  “What is it?” Alex fell back against the console.

  “I didn’t trust your doctor friend, Alex,” Jim said.

  The SUV fell silent as he slowed. Tires crunched against gravel covering cement and mud.

  “And why not?” Alex demanded.

  “You broke protocol, that’s why not.” Jim countered.

  “We’re on our own out here without authorized resources. I can’t keep pulling rabbits out of my butt.” Alex said.

  “I understand that, so that’s why I bumped into her at the garage,” he said.

  “Yeah, I saw that,” Alex huffed. “It looked to be on purpose, and Hailey didn't appreciate it.” Her eyes rolled with an exaggerated exhale.

  “It was on purpose so I could plant a tracking beacon on her.” Jim said.

  Standing outside of the driver’s window, Justice rapped his knuckles against the glass. Jim looked surprised and lunged away while grabbing for his weapon. Pike held up a finger for Justice to wait. The big biker looked pissed to be put off.

  “Why in the hell would you
do that Jim?” Alex’s voice went up in tone.

  Pike crossed his arms and wondered why Alex was acting so suspicious. He felt it—Voodoo was in danger again.

  Jim rolled his window down. Even with fresh air, the vehemence inside the SUV’s cabin was stifling. Justice poked his head through the opening, not amused at being ignored.

  “Why are we stopping?” agitated, Justice asked.

  “Voodoo and the Doc are no longer at the garage.” Jim said.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What about Mercy?” Justice demanded.

  His big body grasped the SUV and it rocked at the strength of his grip.

  “Don’t know.” Alex replied overly casual.

  “Who is your doctor friend?” Pike yelled from over the seat.

  “Doctor Hailey, who else.” Alex had taken a very defensive tone.

  Pike exploded.

  Jonas and Jim shielded Alex as Pike lunged into the back seat. She leaned back with feet ready to strike him. Pike’s face flushed with hatred as he cursed Alex for her carelessness. The SUV rocked as violent bodies swayed it.

  Two New Jersey State troopers pulled their vehicles across the lane to block highway traffic. A booming voice over the loudspeaker ordered the driver to exit the Suburban.

  Justice kept his back to the troopers but stepped to the side so Jim could exit with his gold badge in his left hand.

  “We were changing clothes in there. Too many brother cops in one place. Sorry officers, on our way to the memorial.” His words matched his embarrassed smile, and it worked.

  “Sorry, just had to check out the suspicious activity.” The stoic trooper said. “Got a VIP coming through. Stand clear,” the anonymous voice ordered. Jim nodded, hands still half raised.

  Jim tapped his elbow against the SUV’s door, and everyone’s face pressed against the heavily tinted glass. Lumbering toward the Zapp Street exit was a beautifully custom painted Hummer H-1. The 300 horsepower behemoth slowed until it crept past their SUV. The red, white, and blue motif and American flag graphic wrap was specifically created to honor America’s hero, JW Colt. The H1 also bore the former Navy SEAL’s name and movie advertisements.