Mammoth (San Francisco Steel, #4)

by KJ Dahlen

  He could see how nervous she became, and he wondered why. Or maybe he already knew why. “What’s wrong Amber?” Slammer asked. He motioned her closer.

  Amber didn’t move, she seemed to be frozen in place. Then she began to tremble all over. She couldn’t take her eyes off the photo in his hand. “It’s not what you think,” she finally whispered.

  “What isn’t like I think?” he snarled.

  Amber flinched. “Ricco just asked me for some help. I didn’t know he was part of that gang until much later. He just asked me for some help, that’s all.”

  “What kind of help?” Slammer demanded to know.

  “I’m not sure I want to tell you that.”

  “You’d better tell me or I’ll throw you and your friends out on your asses.” He shook the photos at her face. “Do you have any idea what these photos tell me? It suggests we are harboring a traitor within our compound and you don’t want to know what we do to traitors, but you might find out if you don’t tell us what we want damn well need to know.”

  “He wanted to know if there was a place in the compound a person could hide for a while without being— caught. That’s all I-I swear.” Amber began spilling her guts. She as shaking so bad she could hardly speak.

  “And what did you tell him?” Shotgun asked.

  “I told him there was an old shed at the back of the property that no one ever went to...He wanted me to open the back gate so he could get inside and hide there until the time was right, but I told him I couldn’t do that.”

  “Then what happened?” Slammer asked as his glare pinned her.

  Amber raised her head slowly. Tears ran down her face as she answered him, “He told me if I ever wanted to see my brother alive again, I’d find a way to get him inside the compound. That was a week ago.” She sobbed. “He said they would create a distraction and all I had to do was get him inside. They would do the rest.”

  “And did you?” Slammer growled. “Is there one of Anaconda’s men lying in wait for us?”

  “No!” she finally admitted as she dropped to her knees. “I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t do it!”

  Slammer grabbed her by the arms and hauling her to her feet, he began shaking her. “Do you know what you would have done you stupid bitch? You would have gotten all of us killed, murdered in our dammed sleep. He wouldn’t have spared you or your brother. In fact, it’s a given your brother is already dead.” He threw her to the floor and when she collapsed, he just stood there a moment and glared at her.

  Amber raised her head. Tears were present on her face and she stared at him. “Do you think I don’t know that?” she screamed at him. “I’m not completely stupid you know.”

  Trisha stood up and suggested, “We’ve been trying to come up with a way to tell you about this without you guys thinking we were traitors to the club.”

  Slammer snapped his head up and glared at the other two women. “So all three of you knew what was going to happen and yet, we didn’t know anything about it? You’ve known for three weeks, since all of this began, yet you never said anything to us?”

  “No!” Amber cried out. “I didn’t tell anyone until three days ago when the car crashed against the gate. I didn’t go out to open the back gate that night because I was afraid of what Ricco had planned. Then yesterday, I got another message from him telling me tonight would be my last chance to do it. I was scared ok?” She was openly weeping now.

  “Maybe I should just throw all three of you out into the streets,” Slammer suggested. “As traitors to the club.”

  “Oh god, you can’t do that!” Amber cried out. “We’d be dead within minutes.”

  “You would have let them kill us.” Slammer drove his message home.

  Amber shook her head. “I know I’m selfish and not much of a friend but I couldn’t do it. Don’t you see I couldn’t betray you like that?”

  “Only because in the back of your mind, you knew he’d kill you too, I’m thinking.” Mammoth growled.

  “Booker, take all their phones so they can’t contact anyone outside these walls,” Slammer ordered. “Then take all three and lock them up somewhere with no computers and no way for outside contact. They’ll just have to wait it out like the rest of us.”

  “If I don’t answer him when he texts me, my brother is dead!” Amber told them desperately.

  Slammer looked angry at her pleas. “He had a choice to make when he joined this gang. He had a choice and he made it. Besides, if Anaconda set you to spy on us, your brother is dead already. He’s waiting for you to join him in hell.”

  Booker led all three women down the hall and ushered them into one of the smaller saferooms. Then he locked the door behind them. When he returned, he laid the key on the table beside Slammer.

  Everyone heard the girls banging on the door, begging to be released but no one cared enough to listen.

  “Now, what are we going to do?” Mammoth wanted to know.

  “We make sure that room is guarded. I will have Blaze take the first shift. Then we get ahold of the Triad and set up an appointment between them and Zoe. If they listen, they might join us against Venom and his boys.”

  “And if they don’t?” Grinder asked.

  “Well hopefully, they won’t stand in our way. Because we are done with this shit,” Slammer stated. “It is time to end this one way or another.” He took out his phone and tapped the screen. He held his hand up at everyone to be quiet.

  Someone answered, “Yeah? What do you want Steel man?”

  Slammer recognized his voice. “We have to have a talk.”

  “Oh, yeah? Well, when we do, it is never pleasant. There always seems to be some kind of beheading,” the man joked.

  “Well, it is funny that you should say that,” Slammer replied.

  Chapter Seven

  Texas had the large laptop screen set up in the Church room.

  Slammer, Shotgun, Booker and Grinder came in.

  Slammer sat down in front of the laptop.

  “It’s all set, Texas said. “7 pm.”

  Shotgun looked at the clock on the wall. “Did you tell Mammoth to bring her?”

  “Yes,” Slammer replied. “And he needs to get here pretty quick.”

  “Zoe didn’t seem too eager to do this,” Booker said.

  “No, she isn’t,” Shotgun added. “But she has to see that running won’t solve this anymore.”

  Texas heard a beep and pressed a key on the laptop. Then nodded at his Prez.

  Tommy Fang’s face came on. Dark hair, Asian, well dressed with a glint in his dark, keen eyes. He nodded his head.

  The leader of the Triad looked young but Slammer knew he wasn’t, he was older than Tommy himself even, the man aged well is all. Slammer nodded back. “We have a common enemy it seems, yet again.”

  Tommy tilted his head. “Yes, we have several. To whom are you referring?”

  “Venom’s Tears.”

  “Oh, yes. Those scaryass, slimy snakes.” Tommy laughed as he placed his hands up in mock fear. “Pardon the pun, but they are snakes.”

  “Yes, and they are associated with our enemy, Anaconda.”

  Tommy leaned forward looking curious. “Yes, I hear they have you under siege.”

  “They have but I am done with that. I make the moves now.”

  “And one of them is an alliance with me?”

  “Not necessarily an alliance. No... I have some knowledge that may be very useful to you.”

  Tommy leaned back and studied him. “Oh?”

  “Yes,” Slammer went on, “I heard about your holy man last year. My condolences.”

  Tommy’s casual demeanor dropped away as he sat forward. “You have knowledge of this?”

  “I do. I have a witness to his death in fact.”

  Tommy glared at the screen. “I warn you my friend, if you are yanking my chain—”

  “No, I wouldn’t do that. You should know better.” Slammer looked toward the door to see Mammoth come in with a v
ery frightened little Zoe. He held his hand up for them to stop where they were.

  Booker got up and went to the door. He looked out into the hallway. Then shut the door.

  Slammer looked back to the screen. “I do want a guarantee though, before I have this witness tell you what they know.”

  “I do not like stipulations Steel man,” Tommy stated with a snarl.

  “It is a request,” Slammer rephrased it.

  “So what is it? You wish for us to get rid of your enemy?”

  “No.” Slammer stared at him.

  Tommy looked surprised.

  “Because you will be getting rid of them anyway, when you hear this witness.”

  Tommy looked curious. “You believe this eh?”

  “I do. This concerns the Triad more than it does the Renegades.”

  “This must be some story, and it has to do with our dead holy man?”

  “It does. It is all about that.”

  Tommy looked disgusted and doubtful. “So what is this request?”

  “I want a guarantee that the witness remains protected or rather will not be harmed by the Triad.”

  “We have no reason to harm this person unless they are lying.”

  “I think you will find out that this witness is not lying.” Slammer stared at him without looking away.

  “Ok. I agree, so where is this person?”

  Slammer nodded at Mammoth.

  Zoe looked hesitant.

  Mammoth whispered to her, “You need to have a life and not be in hiding. You need to do what you told me to do. Face this fear and move on.”

  Zoe wiped away a lone tear from her cheek with a shaky hand. Then she took a deep breath and nodded. She took slow steps toward Slammer as if this might be her last steps. She slowly sat down next to Slammer.

  “So you, little slip of a girl, are this so called witness?” Tommy Fang asked as he studied her.

  She nodded. “I was a bartender at the Snake’s Head bar.”

  “So?” He looked unimpressed.

  “A year ago, I was the only employee there one night when the owner had an old man dragged in.”

  Tommy sat forward. “And do you remember anything unique about him? Like maybe his clothing?”

  Zoe tilted her head as if she was pondering this and then she nodded. “He wore this gold fringed jacket.”

  Tommy gasped and leaned closer. “What else?”

  “He had gold buttons on it and a dragon across the back of it.”

  Tommy let out a breath, as he looked like he believed her now. “What did you see, young lady?”

  Zoe looked over at Mammoth.

  He nodded.

  She looked back at the screen. “Your holy man told them they would be cursed if they killed him. Venom, my boss at the time... He laughed and said he didn’t care and that it was bullshit. He...” Her voice faded away.

  “He what?” Tommy asked.

  “He got a machete and cut his—head off.” She lowered her head. “It was so awful, the blood...” She visibly trembled.

  Tommy looked enraged. “Do you know where his head is at?”

  Zoe raised her head. “Venom thinks it’s a joke to keep it right there at the bar in a glass jar. At least it was there a month ago.”

  Tommy glared at the screen. “So if you saw this, how are you still alive?”

  “Venom didn’t know I was still there in the wine rack room and I saw this through the crack in the door. Then I ran after they all left. They figured out alter on that I must have seen something so I have been hiding for a year now.”

  “So, I am just supposed to believe this? If the Steel MC says so?”

  Slammer opened his mouth to argue.

  Zoe leaned close to the screen and raised her closed fist. Then she opened her hand and there on her palm was an object.

  Tommy stared at it, then he moved his chair closer and peered at it. He looked a bit pale as he recognized the object.

  “Is this proof enough?” Zoe asked as she held out a gold button with a small detailed dragon crafted onto it. “These men here in the MC never saw me before yesterday. I am not saying it at their behest. I am not a liar. I witnessed this. This was left in the room after they cleared the body away and I scooped it up. Since I was present at his death, I too, am cursed and until he gets justice by his head being reunited with his body, I will remain haunted by him. So believe what you will.” Then Zoe started to shake badly as she dropped the button and it hit the table with a little metallic clink. She looked like she might collapse.

  Mammoth came over and got her then led her to another chair.

  Tommy looked more than enraged as he stared at Slammer. “I see now. We will be wiping them out as soon as I verify this. Better keep your people off the streets for a day or maybe two. It is gonna get bloody real fast on the streets of Frisco.”

  The screen went black.

  Mammoth took Zoe back to his room. She was shaking badly, so he wanted to get her alone and calm her down. He knew it took a lot of courage to tell her story to a man as dangerous as Tommy Fang. But she did it and she did it clear and concisely.

  He didn’t know about the button and that had been their or rather, her Ace in the hole. She’d kept that to herself until the last minute. He had to admit, it even surprised even him.

  Zoe sighed and sat down on the bed, placing her hands in her lap.

  Mammoth came over then knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his. “That was a brave thing you did.”

  She shook her head. “I was shaking inside so bad. I’d wanted this to end for so long now.”

  “And this will do that.”

  She raised her head to stare at him. “Will it?”

  He nodded. “The Triad don’t play at this game. They will take the Venom’s out.”

  “I hope so. I want my life back. I’ve been living in abandoned shacks and the worst places. I spent 6 months with the homeless down under the bridge.”

  Blinking his eyes, Mammoth was troubled by this story. How awful it must have been for this little woman to be all alone like that. “Where did you get the scar?” he asked suddenly. It had been bothering him since he’d seen it.

  Zoe swallowed heavily. “It happened six months ago.”

  “When you were with the homeless?” he asked as the thought of her living on the streets tore at him. How did a small woman like her even survive such a thing? He then remembered her handing him a gun when she was bringing him back here. Damn, she was tough though.

  “I...” She had new tears in her eyes. “...I killed someone.”

  He tucked his head back in surprise. “That’s how you got the scar?”

  She nodded. “I had been caught. It was one of Venom’s men. He...” She swiped away a tear. “He grabbed me but instead of taking me to Venom, he said he wanted to have some fun first.”

  Mammoth didn’t think he could stand to hear this but he bit at his lip and nodded for her to go on.

  “He had me tied up and he—he tortured me.”

  Mammoth lowered his head as he clenched his fists.

  Zoe reached out and raised his chin up. “I survived it. I turned the tables on him. He left the room when he got a call from his boss and then something strange happened...” She had a faraway look in her eyes as she spoke. “The rope I was hanging on that I was tied with... it suddenly unraveled. It was so odd. Like it was supernatural almost? Then I dropped to the floor and crawled to the table where he had left the very knife that made the scar you saw.”

  Mammoth held his breath as her face paled.

  She went on almost breathlessly, “I staggered toward the door he went out of before and then here he came, barreling in. I simply ran toward him with the same rush he had and gutted him full on. I twisted that knife and lifted it up with all my might.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I got him.”

  Mammoth gathered her in his arms. “Oh baby, I am so sorry.”

  She sniffled. “I’m not and I never have b
een since I did it. I protected myself. I made sure he was dead too. Then I...” She sat back to look him in the eye. “I took all his cash, and his car. I dumped the car later but I lived off that money for another month. I figured he owed me for the fun.” She actually laughed.

  Mammoth stared at her face. “You are a god dammed miracle, you know that?”

  She batted her eyes at him like her courage never occurred to her as being special. “No. I’m just another person with a hard life who was trying to survive. Well, it wasn’t always a hard life, but I thought many times that if I made it through this...I was going to help people.”

  He was surprised by this or maybe he wasn’t. This woman was an enigma and she was just this itty bitty thing with a huge person inside her. He’d never met a woman that was as tough as any biker he’d run with.

  “I mean I am going to help the homeless. Those people were the only ones that helped me and with what little they had too. It made me feel humbled. I will help them someday, somehow.”

  Mammoth picked her up and held her. “I will be there when you do. I don’t think I can ever let go of you now.”

  Chapter Eight

  Zoe stared at him in shock. “Isn’t it a little soon to be saying things like that?”

  Mammoth looked up at her. “No... In my life, it has always happened fast. Sudden like and I grab whatever it is before it is gone. Because that can happen. Things, people are there then suddenly, they’re gone. Like when...” His voice fell away as he lowered his head.

  She reached out and raised his chin up. “The nightmare? You were going to say when it happened...Right? Whatever it was happened fast and changed you forever.”

  Mammoth hesitated but he looked stunned that she had guessed this. “I have never talked about it.”

  She gazed into his eyes. “You freed me, urging me to tell that man what I saw. It lifted that burden from me. Then you asked about the scar and I had never spoken to anyone about that...EVER. You need to talk to me.”

  He shook his head.

  “Come on, Mam...” She paused. “What is your real name? I want to know it.”

  He sighed. “I basically shed that name after it happened.”