I let out a loud yawn as I parked my motorcycle in the yard. I was tired this morning, it was my turn to open the garage and it was fucking freezing. I took off my helmet and walked towards the garage trying to get my keys out of my jean pocket, the bundle was fucking huge and I was struggling. I finally got them free but dropped them on the floor. "For fucks sake," I shouted as I bent down to retrieve them. As I steadily stood, I noticed that the garage door was ajar. I knew none of the guys would be here this early and I quickly pulled my .45mm from my waistband and proceeded with caution as I pushed open the steel door. I quickly found the light switch with my right hand as I held out my glock ready to shoot if required to do so.
I stealthily made my way around the equipment and the two cars parked inside the garage but I couldn't see anyone or that anything had been removed. I continued through the building making my way into Diesel's office, when I noticed something out of place. The fridge door had been left open and there were an array of wrappers and empty cans left on the floor. Walking over to them, I continued to gaze around the office making sure no one surprised me by jumping out. I kicked the rubbish around using the edge of my boot looking for any clues but nothing sprang to my mind which left me confused. Why had someone helped themselves to the contents of our fridge?
I decided to give Diesel a call to ask if he had opted for a late night snack, and eagerly took my phone from my pocket waiting for Diesel to answer.
"This better be fucking good Hound, do you know what time it is man?" Diesel asked sleepily.
He made me chuckle, "Did you come to the garage after we locked up yesterday?"
"Is that what you've woken me for?" he asked clearly agitated.
"I think we've had a break in at the garage."
"What do you mean think, we either have or we haven't?" I could hear that he was slowly getting annoyed by my vague response but I wasn't sure myself.
"Well it's strange Diesel. No alarm went off, the door was left open and the only thing I can see that's gone missing is food and drink from the fridge."
"Are you having a fucking laugh with me Hound? Food from the fucking fridge?" he shouted down the phone. I lifted my mobile away from my ear slightly as he continued to rant and when it had quietened I responded, "You need to get down here."
"I'm already on my way!" he stated before hanging up.
I wanted Diesel to see the mess in its entirety so I didn't bother clearing it up. Walking around the garage I looked for clues but I was more confused now as I couldn't find a motive. In order for someone to get into the garage they would've needed a key and an alarm fob. The only people to have these were Diesel, Duke, Bear and myself. I had my keys but I needed to speak to the other three before we all jumped to conclusions. I decided to text Duke, rather than call him to stop the bombardment that was sure to come.
Think we've had a break in at the garage. Can you come over?
There was no immediate response and I assumed he was still asleep but I wasn't going to harass him. I heard the familiar rumble as Diesel pulled into the yard on his motorcycle and placed my phone in my back pocket.
He pushed open the door quickly and stomped into the garage, "So what's gone on Hound?"
"Like I said, I think we've had a break in but I'm struggling to think of anything that may have been taken." I walked into his office indicating for him to follow and pointed at the mess on the floor, "Did you have a midnight snack last night?" I asked humorously.
Diesel raised his eyebrows clearly not amused by my comment, "Nothing to do with me, I left ten minutes after you last night and I definitely locked the fucking door."
"What's happened?" Duke asked as he walked into the office rubbing his eyes, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts.
Diesel and I both moved out of the way so he could see the mess on the floor.
"I don't understand, did someone really break in to eat a few chocolate bars from the fridge?" Duke asked clearly bemused as he ran his fingers through his short hair.
I didn't have the answers but it was looking that way, I simply nodded and went about tidying the litter.
"Where are your keys?" I asked as I picked up the last of the rubbish and tossed it into the plastic waste bin in the corner of the room. "Bear's just text me to say he has his."
"I have mine here," Diesel jingled the bunch around in his hand.
We both looked towards Duke, to see his confused expression as he was clearly trying to recall where he left them.
"Fucking hell Duke, you couldn't have just lost them," Diesel said clearly annoyed. "You live in the fucking club house so you only walked across the yard last night, they have to be somewhere."
Duke pulled an uneasy face, "Get hold of Locke and tell him to sort this out, I'm going for a shower." He stormed off through the garage and out into the yard annoyed at his fuck up.
Diesel rolled his eyes as we watched Duke leave the garage. "Fucking great, I've gotta get hold of Locke now which is easier said than done," he rubbed his hands through his short hair clearly contemplating the situation. "Who do you think it is Hound?"
"Kids, it's gotta be an opportunist. They must've seen the keys on the ground and thought it would be fun to eat our food, although no one should've been in the yard last night." Even saying the words it still didn't sit right, something was off but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"I'll get CJ to look at the CCTV and see what we can find out. Are you okay to look after things?" Diesel asked getting his phone from his pocket ready to contact Locke and CJ.
"Yeah fine, I've still gotta figure out what's wrong with the Chevrolet." I walked over to the car that had stumped the three of us over the past couple of days.
"Fucking piece of shit, don't spend too much time on it. If it's not sorted by tonight, I'll tell the owner to scrap it and buy a motorcycle." He said with a wink as he walked out of the garage.
I went about my daily routine but I couldn't shift the uneasy feeling I had. I popped the release on the bonnet of the Chevrolet when I heard a loud bang come from Diesel's office. Quickly pulling my .45mm out of my waistband for the second time in an hour, I made my way into the office. I'd checked it thoroughly earlier so I knew that no one was in there but that was clearly where the noise had come from.
I quietly moved around the room and heard another noise, a dragging sound coming from the ceiling. Shit! I hadn't looked there earlier. I grabbed the office chair and positioned it directly under the loft hatch and stood on the chair carefully as a scene from Aliens sprang to mind which made me chuckle to myself. I shook my head trying to stay focussed as I slowly lifted the loft hatch with one hand and peered through the gap pointing my glock ready to shoot should there be a threat. I looked around the loft space and could make out an outline of something but couldn't be sure as to what it was because it was dark. I leaned forward to reach for the light switch and heard a shuffling...
"What the fuck you doing up there?"
"Shit!" I stumbled off the chair and landed on my arse, lucky that the gun in my hand didn't go off.
I turned my head towards the voice, "Fucking hell Locke, I could've fucking shot you." I stated still laying on the floor.
"What were you doing up there?" Locke asked walking over to help me up from the floor by grabbing my arm and yanking me hard.
I got to my feet and straightened my clothes before rubbing my now sore arse, "I thought I heard someone or something up there."
Locke jumped on the wooden chair and pushed the loft hatch aside to let in a stream of light making visibility a little better. Wanting to see the whole area he leant forward and switched on the light which gave him a clearer picture of his surroundings, "There's nothing up here apart from boxes, Hound." He turned off the light and moved the loft hatch back into place before jumping down from the chair, "What's gone on to make you so jumpy?"
I shook my head, "Something's not sitting right. Who would break into a place owned by an MC and steal food?"
Locke l
ooked thoughtfully, "Either a very stupid or desperate person."
"Exactly and either could be extremely dangerous."
Locke nodded at my statement and followed me out of the office and into the garage, "I'm gonna get on with this car, do you need anything before I do?"
"Nah, I've got everything I need to change the lock but I've gotta be out of here by ten at the latest." He stated resting his bag on the counter and taking out his tools.
"Have you got an urgent job on today then?" I asked intrigued. We all knew that Locke had things going on in his personal life although no one delved too much. We all had our secrets and as long as they didn't interfere with club business, Duke was happy for us to do whatever although he had been pissed with Locke over the years for disappearing at the drop of a hat.
Locke was a private man and I was surprised by how chatty and open he was being this morning as it was usually hard to extract even the simplest of conversations from him.
"It's an urgent job but not changing locks. I've gotta be in the Midlands later on this afternoon."
I could see that he was pissed for already saying too much and he went about his business.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked in case he wanted to share something.
He smiled, "Thanks but it's something I just need to deal with. Years of planning have gone into it and I may just finally get some closure."
He continued to smile which was a shock. Locke never fucking smiled and here he was happy in his work whistling away to himself. I hope he did find closure with whatever he was dealing with because no one should be as miserable as he had been over the years.
Chapter 6
Hound
The garage was now like Fort Knox, with an array of different locks and a new alarm system. Duke had shown us the CCTV footage after we'd finished work last night and we were shocked to see that the intruder had actually been inside the building. Strange as it sounds, we witnessed someone open the door from inside which obviously meant they had Duke's keys but why would they do that? How had they got into the building in the first place and were they planning on coming back? The situation was weird to say the least but at this stage we all still thought it was kids cocking around but it proved that we needed to tighten security or just stop Duke from getting pissed and losing his keys.
I opened the external door to the garage and went about my morning routine of opening the shutters and listened to the messages on the answer phone when I heard snoring coming from Diesel's office. I pushed the chair back and stood, quietly making my way over to the office door that was ajar. Peering into the room I saw a boy in his late teens curled up in the chair in the corner of the room. He didn't look to be much of a threat but I didn't want to take any chances and pulled my blade from its holster, proceeding with caution towards the sleeping teenager.
I cleared my throat but the boy didn't stir, he must have been knackered but was also fucking stupid to have been caught here. He was lucky it was me to find him rather than Duke or Diesel as they would've had his balls on a plate.
I cleared my throat again and this time I did wake him and saw the panic in his dark eyes as he franticly looked around the room looking for a way out as he grabbed for the spanner that had just fallen from his lap. I quickly kicked it out of reach and it skidded across the floor disappearing under the desk.
The young boy stood and clenched his fists ready to fight. He was a good build although a little undernourished and I quickly noticed the lacerations on his neck and the dark circles under his eyes. He was obviously sleeping rough by the stench and that would tie in with the food that was taken from the fridge yesterday.
"Calm down I'm not gonna hurt you." I said quickly to try and pacify the agitated young man, he didn't look like he was on drugs but I didn't want to take any chances and antagonise him further. I didn't want to fight him, I was getting too old for all that shit and someone with nothing to lose could be a real danger.
"I'll keep my distance all the same, I know what old fuckers like you want from young boys."
His statement made me snigger, here we were ready to grapple in the office and he was accusing me of being a predator to young men.
"Less of the old you cheeky fucker."
Now it was his turn to snigger, "But you didn't deny wanting something from young boys!" He stated dryly as he frowned.
He was clearly relaxing by the banter, "Only at the weekends so you're lucky it's Friday, now sit down so we can have a chat."
He looked uneasy and continued to look around the office for a way out.
"I'll sit at the desk, not blocking your exit and you're free to go whenever you want but I think you owe me an explanation, don't you?" I stated as I walked over to sit at Diesel's desk.
The young boy nodded and perched himself on the edge of the sofa that I had caught him sleeping on earlier.
"I want you to answer three questions. Who are you, where are you from and what do you want?" I could see the internal struggle as he contemplated what to tell me but I was hoping that he'd realise just how much trouble he was in and tell me the truth. I leaned on the desk resting my chin on my steepled fingers, waiting for him to respond.
He let out a loud sigh, "My name is Robert, I'm from Manchester and I was hungry so I broke in. I'm sorry and it won't happen again." He stood as if now that he'd answered my questions he could simply leave.
"Easy tiger, take a seat. Do you really think that I'm that gullible?"
"You said three questions!"
"And I want them answered truthfully. Look, you're fucking lucky it was me that found you this morning. Now I want to know who you are, where you're from and what you fucking want? But this time you'll answer truthfully!" I said this with a little more force and his eyes widened slightly.
The young boy rubbed the stubble around his chin and looked at the floor, "My name is Cade, I'm originally from Southampton and I broke in here because I was hungry."
I nodded my head and took in what he'd just said, "What I'm finding hard to believe Cade is that you broke in here because you were hungry." I paused and assessed him, "Because if I were hungry, I would've broken into a supermarket or a convenience store."
Cade didn't make eye contact and shuffled uncomfortably, "You've been hanging around here for a while now and I'm assuming you're very good at making yourself invisible if required to do so. So my next question to you is, why have you allowed me to notice you?" I sat back in the chair and could see him mull over what I'd just asked.
"You said three questions."
"And I've just changed the rules of the game!"
He huffed, "I didn't mean for you to find me today, I fell asleep and let my guard down which I'm annoyed about." Cade stood and paced around the room agitated.
"I'm not talking about today, I've noticed you out in the street hanging around."
He glanced at me before looking at the floor again as his demeanour changed slightly and he looked almost vulnerable, "I wanted..."
"Hound, you in there man?" Duke shouted from the garage.
I shot up out of the chair and made my way around the desk as Cade bolted into the bathroom.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna take a slash, I'll be out in a minute." I stalked into the bathroom to see Cade squeezing through the window, he winked and threw me two bunches of keys. I examined them quickly and noticed that there was an old and new set to the garage.
"How the fuck did you get these?" I asked genuinely intrigued.
Cade smiled and slithered further out of the window, "I nearly forgot, the third injector on the Chevrolet was broken."
I looked at him confused, "Bullshit! They're brand new."
"It was the rubber seal, it's working now." He winked at me before disappearing.
What the fuck!
I quickly gathered my thoughts and walked into the garage as Duke was getting out of the Chevrolet. "Nice one Hound, what was it in the end?"
"The rubber seal around one of the injectors,
" I said calmly not even believing it myself.
"Mother fucker, that had us all stumped. Get it priced up and call Lucy to come and collect it."
I nodded still dumbfounded about what had happened this morning.
Cade had intrigued me and I planned to run into him again soon, to find out exactly what he wanted.
Louise
"Hi Amy, I hope you don't mind us coming here this morning?" I asked as I led the twins to the seating area at the back of the cafe so we were out of the way.
"Of course not, how you doing?" she asked walking around the counter to come and give me a hug.
"We're good." I glanced at the twins as they removed their coats getting comfortable on the seats. I placed my hand in my pocket brushing against the new phone which made me frown.
"What's that face for?" Amy asked looking at me as she narrowed her eyes.
I pulled the phone out of my pocket and placed it on the table, "Spike bought this for me."
Amy smiled and sat next to me, "And by your expression, you're not pleased about this?"
I let out a sigh, "I don't know Amy, I'm confused. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to everyone including yourself for looking out for me but I've never had this type of kindness."
Amy placed her hand on top of mine and gave it a light squeeze, "I can't speak for Connor, but I wanted to help you out because I would like to think that if I were in your situation, someone may help me. The main problem is most of us think that people don't do something for nothing. I can assure you that both Connor and I don't want anything in return for helping you."
"I don't want to give Spike the wrong impression. I will be eternally grateful to the pair of you but I don't want him to think that he has to look out for me, I'm not his responsibility. I will be moving into the refuge tomorrow and will therefore be out of your hair."
Spike (Aces MC Series Book 3) Page 8
