The old-timer tilts his head. “Urgent?” It must have been in the tone of my voice.
“Nothing more.”
He leans in closer. “These old eyes see a lot. Can put two and two together. Reckon Prez has found our traitor. Saw him, Mace, the VP and Thunder a while ago, looks like they had their man.” He taps his head. “After all these years, not much passes me by.”
But Taser’s at the bar with a drink in his hand. Unless there’s more than one, Prez is questioning the wrong person.
“Rusty. I need to see them. Now. Where the fuck are they?”
His hand points downwards. “In the basement. Doubt they want to be disturbed.”
“Shoot, you with me?” Then I leave Rusty with his jaw dropping, and push my way through brothers and women, heading for the cellar that I know is set up in a remarkably similar way to our storeroom back in Tucson.
With my brother at my heels, I race down the steps. The door’s locked. I bang on it loudly. When that doesn’t work, I try to kick it down.
Just when I’m wondering about the ricochet if I try to shoot the lock out, the door opens. Prez is standing there, a thunderous look on his face.
“No interruptions,” he snarls.
Looking past him I can see Runt strung up, tears rolling down his face, Mace, Thunder and the VP surrounding him. Their faces, turned toward me, all look furious.
Leaning forward, I tell Prez, “You’ve got the wrong fuckin’ man. Runt’s not behind this. Or not the lead, anyway.” Belatedly I admit he could have played a part.
“Who the fuck is then?” Prez’s eyes blaze. “You better have something to back yourself up.”
“Oh, I’ve got evidence,” I tell him. “It’s Taser.”
He rears back. Then gets into my face. “You’ve had a fuckin’ downer on Taser since you’ve been here.”
“I need to tell you what I know, Prez. Shooter was with me. He can back me up.”
“What the fuck’s holdin’ us up, Prez?” The VP’s walked over.
Hellfire turns. “Pal thinks Runt is innocent. Says he’s got shit to prove it’s someone else.”
“Yeah?” Demon turns, looks at the man who’s strung up and weeping. He pinches the bridge of his nose as he spins back. “Think we ought to hear it, Prez.”
I wait. Hellfire thinks. Then he calls to Thunder and Mace. “Get him down. Tie him to the chair so he can’t escape, then come to my office.”
Only minutes later, Shooter and I are standing in front of Prez’s desk. The spare chairs occupied by Demon and Mace. Thunder’s standing at my back. From the things they’ve been saying, I got back just in time to stop Runt being tortured. Now I know what that feeling of urgency driving me was. I may not like the prospect, but he doesn’t deserve to be put through a fuck load of pain if he’s innocent.
“Talk to me,” Prez instructs.
It only takes a few minutes to go over my story.
Demon lowers his head into his hands. “So,” he glances again at the pictures on my phone. “You’re pretty certain these are the parts that were stolen.” He looks at the Prez. “Only proves he was responsible for the break-in. The other shit happening the same night could be a coincidence.”
Hell’s shaking his head. “How much were those parts worth again?”
“Two, three hundred dollars.”
Thunder speaks up. “Not a lot in monetary value, Prez. But we lost business because of it. Promised a customer we’d deliver, didn’t have the parts to put on his bike. Loud-mouthed asshole, been bad-mouthing us across the city. Says we’re a bunch of cowboys who don’t know shit about running an auto-shop. He wanted those parts as he was showing his bike the next weekend at some festival or other.”
“Bad luck it was him, or…”
“Or Taser knew the effect it would have.”
Prez doesn’t seem convinced. “Pal, you’re new here. You might think you’ve added two and two together correctly, but you don’t know our brother like we do.”
“Hang on a moment, Prez.” Mace raises his hand. “Taser was pretty cut up when he didn’t make Enforcer.”
“But he’s moved on. Got over it,” Thunder objects.
“Has he?” asks Demon. “He was quick to throw his hat in the ring after Ingot died.”
“Ingot was your old enforcer?” Shooter asks.
Prez throws him a look as if wondering why he’s spoken. But Drummer always encouraged all members to speak up. He answers him anyway. “Yeah, we lost Ingot about six months back.”
“How did he die?” Shooter continues.
“Fuckin’ hit and run. Never found the fucker who killed him.” Mace sounds like he’s still upset about it.
“So your, our, troubles started then.” I throw in.
Four sets of eyes find me. “It’s not linked.”
“Are you sure?” I hold my hands up in a submissive gesture. “Look, I know I’ve not been here long. I’m lookin’ at this objectively.” Thinking I look like Drummer—well, perhaps I learned from the best—I start pulling at my fingers. “One, the enforcer was killed, two, Taser wanted to become an officer, he didn’t get the position. Three, someone wants to cause trouble for the club. Four, you don’t know of anyone on the outside with a grudge, so are looking inwards. Five, we’ve got Taser linked to at least one incident, and in my mind two as Taser wasn’t particularly happy I’d found the body.”
“Someone else would have,” Thunder breaks in.
“With rubbish being thrown on top of it? We’ve gone through this before. It was lucky I found it when I did, and before the dumpster was taken away and emptied.”
The VP’s looking at me carefully. “You don’t like Taser. He accused you.”
“Six,” I pull on another finger while watching Demon, “Taser accused me. Which he would if he was responsible, to get attention away from him.”
“Runt?” Hellfire tosses the name out, it seems hopefully.
“I don’t particularly like the fucker, but that’s personal. Remember, he got shot. I heard the gunshots from the drive-by. It was an automatic rifle on rapid fire. The shooter couldn’t have aimed accurately. Only answer is that he shot himself, and I don’t think he’s got the guts to do that. I wouldn’t have.”
“Pal’s got a point, Prez. Not sure I’d do that myself. You’d need to be pretty desperate.” Mace looks concerned.
“Or angry with the club.” Demon’s rubbing his temples. “You heard him in the cellar, he was scared, worried, but not angry. He got a beef with us? I reckon it would have shown up.”
Hell sighs deeply. “Pal, I tend to believe you. We were questioning Runt with less to go on. VP. What d’you reckon? Question Taser downstairs, or bring it up in church?”
Mace is frowning. “Didn’t mention this, thought it might just be shoddy workmanship. Had a quiet word with Pyro instead. But when my bike was in the shop a couple of weeks back, the brake pipe hadn’t been attached properly. Luckily I noticed the fluid was leaking before I rode it.”
“Taser?”
The enforcer shrugs. “Now I’d like to know if Taser was around in the shop that day. Possible he might want the enforcer position more than he let on.”
“If you’re right,” Prez says, his face going dark, “Taser’s murdered one brother and has attempted to kill another. Where is he now?”
“At the bar when I came in.” I tell them helpfully.
Hellfire leans over the desk. “Right. VP. Lock Runt in his room. Get a prospect to guard him. If he’s innocent, we’ll need to make it up to him. Don’t want him running without giving me a chance to explain.”
“If he’s a right fit for us, Prez, he’ll put the club first and know we were only protecting it.”
“If he leaves, then he’s not right.”
My eyes flick between Thunder and Mace, wondering what I’d do in Runt’s position.
“Mace?” Hellfire continues. “I want you out of it until we’ve got Taser secured. We’ll get him downstairs
on some pretext. He’s heavily armed, he always is. Any sniff that we’re onto him and you’re around? He might start shooting and if this crazy story is right, you’re likely to be the target.” He pauses, then looks at me. “You, too, Pal. Make yourself scarce. The dislike between the two of you is mutual.”
I’m only pleased that they’ve believed me. Or at least I’ve put enough doubt in their minds for them to release Runt and question Taser instead.
“Sure Prez. I’ll go and check on my girl. Just let me know if you need me.”
Chapter 38
Paladin
As Shooter and I walk across the clubroom to the stairs leading to the bedrooms, it’s hard to prevent myself glancing toward the bar and the man whose voice I hear loudly disputing something with Pyro.
“This is going to hit the club hard,” Shooter says quietly, once we’re at the top and walking down the corridor toward my room.
“Too fuckin’ right, Brother.”
“Buster was the only one we ever had go bad back in Tucson.”
“Don’t forget Chrissy. She betrayed the club.”
I had forgotten her. We both had only been prospects then. Our involvement helping to bury the body. It had been a bad business. But somehow, as she was a club whore, her betrayal hadn’t hit us so badly. Not like a brother who’s earned his patch.
We’ve reached my door. It’s slightly ajar. I push it all the way open, Jay’s not inside. I frown slightly, I’d expected to find her waiting for me. I can’t recall having seen her downstairs. Surely if she’d been there, she’d have come straight over to greet me. Instead, all there is waiting for me is Bitch. As I approach the bed, she starts spitting.
“Whoa,” I hold out my hand carefully like I’ve watched Jay do. Bitch’s paw shoots out, missing my fingers by inches. “Fuck.”
Shooter looks from me to the cat. He grins, assessing the situation fast. “Want me to move her?”
Before I can warn him, he’s approached her. “Fuck. Fuckin’ animal!”
I pull him back, eyeing the bleeding scratches on the back of his hand. He puts it to his mouth and starts sucking.
“Best leave her be, Brother. Jay speaks cat and can move her.”
“Where is Jay?” he mumbles, eyeing his bloody skin, then sending a glare at Bitch.
“Here somewhere,” I answer, unconcerned. “Let’s go find her.”
Exiting the room under the watchful eye of Bitch, swearing I can see her grinning a feline smile of triumph, we walk back downstairs. I pause before taking the final steps, confirming that Prez has wasted no time cutting Taser from the rest of the brothers. Mace has appeared too, he’s staring morosely into a beer, avoiding the others. Must be hard to think a man you’ve called brother might have attempted to kill you. As I approach him, I slap his back. He nods at me in understanding.
“Have you seen Jay?” I ask.
“Lost your woman already?” Pyro barks a loud laugh.
“Sindy’s in the kitchen, she might be out there.” I nod thanks to Buzzard. That was where I was going to try next.
But she’s nowhere to be found. I even send a club girl to search in the Ladies’ bathroom. It’s only when there’s still no sign of her that I begin worrying. Returning to the clubroom, I start to question people. No one’s seen her. Dan, who’s been minding the bar all afternoon swears he hasn’t seen her come down the stairs. With a sheepish grin, he says he would have noticed such a pretty girl like her. I tamp down thoughts of why he’d been watching for her in my absence, but that’s not the important thing now.
“Your bathroom?” Shooter asks. She couldn’t be hiding there, could she? “I’ll go and look,” he offers.
“You had words?”
I answer Pyro. “She didn’t like being told where I was going was club business,” I admit.
“Perhaps she’s sulkin’. Kid might not have the right attitude to be an old lady,” Lizard suggests.
There’s no point in me getting angry, he might have a point if she’s hiding away rather than facing up to me.
“Come, let’s search outside.” The enforcer looks like he’d be grateful to have something to occupy him while we’re hanging around, waiting for information as to what Prez has drawn out of Taser. As each minute passes, I’m getting more and more concerned, I’m not going to turn any help down.
“Mace,” I begin, as we step out of the clubhouse. “Can’t see why she’d be out here. She might be young, but she’s never been one for childhood games. And especially not hide and seek. She’s not going to expose herself out in the open, and she wouldn’t be in any of the sheds, she doesn’t like the dark or being confined in a small place.”
“Don’t worry, Pal. She’s got to be here somewhere. Best to let no stone go unturned while we try to find her.” He pushes open the door to the barn where brothers store spare rides. Suddenly his eyes sharpen, and he quickens his pace, going over to a spot where a tarp lies on the ground. “Where’s my fuckin’ car?” he growls.
“Your car?”
“Yup. 1969 Dodge Charger. Keep it in here out of the rain.” He picks up the tarp and looks as if he might find it underneath. “Where the fuck is it?” he roars, his eyes flaring. “You could be fuckin’ right Taser’s got it in for me. Stolen my fuckin’ car.”
That’s only an assumption he’d jumped too. And whether Taser is responsible or not, in my head it’s neither here nor there. “Car’s one thing, Brother. But where’s my girl?” Cars can be replaced. She can’t.
“Pal?” I exit the garage as I hear Shooter’s voice. Mace is right behind me. “Don’t know if this means anything, but the fire escape door at the end of the corridor where your room is, was open.”
Mace swings around to face me. “Would Jay try to leave the club?”
“She’s not stolen your car if that’s what you’re thinking.” I snap back. “She can’t even drive.”
He scoffs. “And unless she knows how to hot wire it, she wouldn’t have known where the keys were.”
“Jay wouldn’t have gone off by herself.” I’m trying to keep my panic under control. “Mace, she’s been living with threats all her life. She’s more used to being on lockdown than not. She wouldn’t put her life at risk. She wouldn’t.”
Shooter’s arm is around my shoulders. “We’ll find her, Brother. We’ll fuckin’ find her.” He looks at Mace. “Paladin’s right. Jay would not leave the club. Not when there’s danger on the outside. Not voluntarily.”
“Someone took her.” My eyes go wide. “Who the fuck? And how would they get her to fuckin’ leave?”
The enforcer’s face tightens. “I’m the one Taser wanted to kill to get me out of the way. But you’re the one he’s had it in for, Brother, ever since you arrived. He’s one of the few who would know where I keep the keys.”
“You think he stole your car and took Jayden?”
Mace shakes his head. “I don’t fuckin’ know, Pal. But where else can we point the fuckin’ finger?”
Shooter looks from Mace to myself. “If that’s the only lead we’ve got, I reckon we’re wasting time. We’ve got questions to ask Taser.”
A sharp nod, then Mace starts running back toward the clubhouse, I’m only a couple of steps behind him.
Unlike me, he doesn’t knock politely on the door to the basement. He hits it running and smashes it in.
“What the fuck?” Hell turns around.
I have a split second to take everything in. It looks like Taser’s already put up a fight. Demon’s mouth is bleeding, but it’s Taser who’s strung up, with Thunder’s fist hitting his stomach.
Hell gets right up in front of us. “Thought we’d agreed you two should stay out of this.”
“It’s Jay, Prez. Jay’s gone missing.” I sound curt, I can’t help it. “Taser might be behind that too.”
Prez’s eyes widen, then he turns. I look at the man hanging by his wrists, and don’t miss the slight smile on his face. As if what’s playing out in front of him is
causing him amusement.
“You know anything about this,” Hellfire snarls.
Taser says gloatingly, “Enough so I can prove my innocence.” Then the motherfucker looks at Mace and myself, and barks a laugh. “That’s the asshole you should be after. Fuckin’ Mace. He’s a lunatic. Didn’t join the dots up til now, but I saw him take your girl off somewhere, Pal. In his fuckin’ car. I’m not the person who’s been fuckin’ with the club. Mace is.”
I look at Taser, then at the man by my side whose head is shaking side to side in obvious denial. I go cold, not knowing who to believe. I’m too new to this club.
Shooter’s hand’s gripping hard on my shoulder. “Focus, Pal, Focus. Think who can find out if Jay went off the compound?”
“Cad. Cad can check the cameras.”
Mace is staring at me. “I had no hand in this, Paladin. That fucker’s setting me up. Lying.”
I just run. Now we know Jay’s been taken off-site, Cad has to be the place to start.
Cad’s in his spot at the corner of the clubhouse. There’s no privacy, but right now I don’t give a fuck. Quickly he calls up the footage on his laptop and goes through it. Starting at the most recent and moving back in time. There’s Shooter and I arriving back, then noting until… Taser’s bike leaving. He’s not alone. Jay riding behind him.
“Motherfucker!” I yell. Why would she go off with him? I can’t think of a reason. He had to have tricked her.
Demon’s come up from the basement. His fingers dig into my arm. “I’ll get the fuckin’ truth out of him, Pal.” He turns and heads back to downstairs fast.
I move to follow him. “Hang on a sec, Pal. Mace’s car’s got a tracker in it.” Cad’s fingers are flying over the keys. After a moment, he consults a map. “What the fuck is it doing there? There’s nothing around for miles.”
“Where?” He points it out. My head drops into my hands. Taser took Jay somewhere. Mace’s car is missing. No fucking proof, just a feeling inside. Fuck knows how long Taser will hold out before he gives them the information. He knows he’s dead once he does. Right now, I’d prefer to be doing something, anything. “Send me the fuckin’ coordinates, Cad. I’m going to find it.”
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