She turned her head to gaze at me, giving me a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. I could see by her red rimmed eyes that she'd been crying for some time and I was pissed that I couldn't do anything to make her feel any better, only Diesel could do that.
"Talk to me babe, what's gone on?" She moved closer and snuggled into my side as I lifted my arm to wrap it around her shoulder.
"It was awful Spike, I watched him cradle her in his arms and whisk her off to hospital protectively. It sickened me to see him act like that especially after all that she's done."
It didn't happen very often but I was speechless, I didn't know what to say to her. All I could offer was a shoulder to cry on and hoped that Diesel would turn up soon to explain his actions.
After a long silence Ink sat up and rubbed her stomach with a grimace on her face.
"What's up babe?" I asked concerned.
"I've not been feeling well lately and now I've got a stomach ache. I just think I'm still a little run down from the whole 'Hawke and Patch' thing. My cast hopefully comes off next week and I may take a holiday in the sun, I think I've earned it."
"With or without Diesel?" I asked with humour in my voice.
She snorted, "Depends if he's sorted his shit out, I don't think I could handle him mourn his ex-wife. At this rate it will be with the girls, we could possibly visit Savannah in Paris."
"The only person you're ever going away with is me!"
Ink and I turned to see a dishevelled Diesel swaying back and forth with his hands in his pocket, his jaw was locked and he was staring hard at Ink. She ignored his comment and turned her head so that she was looking in the other direction.
It was my time to leave them to it, I stood and patted Diesel on the shoulder before I made my way through the yard towards the club house. Before I went in, I glanced in their direction to see that Diesel was holding Ink in his embrace stroking her head as he was talking to her, hopefully explaining his reasons for running to Amber's aid.
I entered the club house to see that the guys were getting ready. The guys from the Norfolk charter had already left this morning and we were just waiting for everyone to meet after being put up in various rooms or just crashed where they fell last night in various stages of intoxication. The club house was now looking fairly tidy but would need a proper clean once our visitors had gone and I noticed Ash, Ames and Maggie taking the last of the black bags out of the side door.
Duke, Recon and Bear were sitting at the bar going over last minute details. "I'm only a phone call away if you need anything." Bear said as he collected two large rucksacks from the floor.
"I'm gonna miss you man." Duke stated as he stood from his stool and patted Bear on the back.
We were all going to miss the guys, they all brought something different to the club and their absence would leave a gaping hole.
Skinner strolled into the bar stretching with a big smile on his face.
"Good night?" I asked with a smirk.
He nodded his head, "It was a fucking good night but now I'm ready to go." Skinner walked over to give me a brief hug before indicating to Buster to pick up his bags from the floor.
Duke laughed, "Get your own fucking prospects!"
"You're no fun, just let me use him one last time."
We strolled out into the yard and loaded the van with the last of the guys belonging.
Whip joined us, "Keep me up to date with everything and if you need me to come back just let me know." Hound nodded and I could see his internal struggle.
He had one child in hospital, one heartbroken and the other about to fly the nest without even mentioning Jayden. The man looked broken but I was pleased that he had Cade by his side, he was shaping up to be a good hang around and I wondered if he may become a prospect eventually and act as a surrogate son while Hounds kids were all sorting their lives out.
We waved our goodbyes as the group left the yard, "Church now!" Duke shouted as he stalked back towards the club house.
Duke
"I want details, what do we fucking know?" I paced the room back and forth as the guys looked at each other confused by my actions. I had instructed Justice to cover the wall with paper and he had a board marker in his hand ready to write down all the information discussed.
"Any news on the van CJ?"
He shook his head, "False plates so no further leads at the moment."
I suspected just as much and knew that this would be a dead end for our lines of enquiries.
"Well Amber's dead so she can't give us any fucking information and she was naked so she had nothing on her that could be incriminating." I stopped pacing to see if Justice had got everything down. "What else has happened recently, shout it out."
"Fire at the salon." Hound stated.
"Brick through the window at the gym." CJ said with anger in his voice.
I nodded my head at their responses, "Don't forget about the altercation with Tyreese."
"Yeah but that won't have anything to do with the other stuff surely?" Rex asked.
"Don't be so sure, now keep going."
"Well you gotta mention Angel's stalker, the kidnapping of Ink and the death of Jimmy also." Spike said looking at Justice as he wrote this all down.
"And Duke being knocked off his bike!" Woods spoke up.
"That's a fucking lot of coincidences over a six week period," I said as the group observed the list. "Now let's start thinking about if there is a pattern and whether we can think of anyone that may have a grudge against the club."
"There's no pattern there, it's just directed at the club." Hound said resting his arms on the table.
"I agree so let's think of who may hold a grudge." I stated looking around the group.
"Tyreese or Louise's husband," Hound shouted.
"O'Neil," Spike stated with venom in his voice to a round of chuckles from the guys.
Spike had been hauled in last week for having a shit attack at O'Neil which we all found amusing as Spike was the least likely club member to lose his shit.
"Rev!"
We all turned to stare at Lyric as he munched on an apple oblivious to the eyes on him until he looked up. He shrugged, "Well, has anyone seen his body? Or are we all taking crack pot Locke's word for it?" Lyric casually took another bite from his apple.
"Watch your fucking mouth Lyric, you're out of line!" CJ jumped in quickly to defend his friend.
Lyric was right we hadn't seen a body, we had just taken Locke's word for it but I didn't have any reason to distrust him although I was still confused as to why he hadn't come home.
Lyric raised his arms and shrugged again, "Just calling a spade a spade but come to think of it, you may as well add Locke to the list."
At a blink of an eye, CJ jumped out of his chair and flew across the table knocking Lyric over with the force. They grappled on the floor before I had even realised what had actually happened. Fists flew and CJ looked to be getting the upper hand before Rex pulled him off and Woods stood between them to stop any more bloodshed.
"Fucking cut it out you two. I don't have time for this shit right now but if you wanna do this, it will be in a controlled environment so that I can watch with a beer in my hand." Diesel stated as he walked through the door.
I knew he would be late as he had to smooth things over with Ink regarding Amber and the mood he was in, I didn't know if it was good news or not?
"Flex!"
"No fucking way Diesel." I said with shock evident in my voice.
"Don't rule it out man, put him on the fucking list." He said forcefully as Justice did as he was told. "And why isn't Amber on there? She was fucking murdered by some arsehole because of her links to the club, the least she deserves is to be on your mother fucking list!"
I glanced at him, "Do you know something you're not telling?"
"Whoever it is went for the easy options originally, Ink, Ash, Louise and now Amber because our women are easier to get to. Now, I fucking hated Amber as much as the re
st of you, probably more because of Shaun. I'd even wished her dead myself over the years but she didn't deserve to die at the hands of someone else because of her involvement in the club. They've gotten braver recently with the attack on you but I can't see them stopping until they finish what they've set out to do."
"And that is?" I asked impatiently.
"I wish I knew!"
Chapter 18
Duke
We had an afternoon of thrashing out possibilities yesterday but we were still no further to the truth of finding out who was responsible for the recent attacks and the death of Amber. Everything we considered was coincidental and there was no proof to decide one way or the other. I didn't have the man power to put our main suspects under surveillance or the funds to source an outside agency. I let out a sigh as I rubbed my face agitated as I didn't know what to do.
"You okay?" Spike asked sitting beside me on the bench.
I simply nodded picking up my can to take a swig as Spike's eyes narrowed with concern.
"We're just gonna grab some lunch. Do you want anything?" Hound asked shouting across the yard with Cade by his side.
I glanced at Spike shaking his head. "Nah we're good thanks Hound," I shouted back as they walked out of the yard.
"How's Cade shaping up?"
"He's working out great, he's a fucking good mechanic considering he's so young. He even knows his way around a bike."
Spike nodded his head and glanced around the yard taking off his sun glasses, "Where's Diesel?"
"Sorting out paperwork..." We both turned to the sound of screeching tyres and a blast of a siren as four police cars and a meat wagon pulled into the yard at speed.
"What the fucking hell is going on now?" We stood in unison pushing the table forward and stalked over to the plain clothes police man getting out of the car. "Can I help you?" I asked my annoyance evident in my voice.
"Are you Mitchell Groves?" He asked calmly.
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"I have a warrant to search your premises." He held up the paper work to show me the warrant. "How many people are on the site?"
Now that Cade and Hound had left there were only six of us here and hopefully they were hiding our guns in the relevant places. "Six in total. Do you want me to get them?" I asked calmly knowing full well I wouldn't be allowed.
"No, sit on the benches over there and give your phones to O'Neil while we do our investigation."
I heard Spike groan at the mention of O'Neil's name which made me snigger. O'Neil hated Spike even more than he hated the Aces and I just hoped that he would try and keep it together to avoid another evening in the cells.
"Get your fucking hands off me, I'm moving as fast as I can." I turned quickly to see Diesel being frogmarched out of the garage by a burly middle aged officer that stood a couple of inches taller than Diesel.
"Sit at separate tables, I don't want you communicating with each other." O'Neil spat as he swaggered towards us looking pleased with himself. "Well boys, let's hope you haven't got any narcotics especially you Connor otherwise you'll be locked up faster than you can say 'Setup!'" He laughed at his own joke as we glanced at each other bemused by the fucking head case in front of us. I caught Diesel's eye as he winked quickly indicating that he had hidden our weapons and I was just hoping that Woods had time to do the same in the club house.
"O'Neil, I know you've taken a personal interest in the club but I would just like to say that you won't find any narcotics here. We are a group of men that love to ride and enjoy the simple things in life hence starting a small motorcycle club where we can bond and talk about our mutual respect for motorcycles." I smiled as I saw the heat rise through his body resulting in him turning a bright shade of red, "Are you okay? Would you like me to get you a drink of water?" I asked sarcastically.
"Stick your mother fucking drink up your arse, I know what you're trying to do." O'Neil wagged his finger at us as I played dumb to his statement by shrugging slightly. "You won't fool me, I know you're up to something. I just need to prove it."
He stalked off in the direction of the club house like he had a cock shoved up his arse.
"Prick!" I mumbled to the giggles of Diesel and Spike.
An hour had now passed and the six of us had been positioned on various benches outside the garage with two officers keeping watch, to make sure that we weren't communicating. We had now been cuffed as we were considered dangerous due to the multiple previous offences. The cuffs were digging into my skin and I was getting annoyed by how long they were taking and the business I was losing while sitting here.
I was aware of each of our phones bleeping indicating that we were being messaged and could see the frustration build on Spike's face the longer he was sitting here.
Hound and Cade hadn't returned, they must have seen the commotion and had decided to stay away until it was clear. I knew Hound would've contacted all other club members to make them aware of the situation, which hopefully meant the other businesses were still functional unless they had been swooped on also.
"How much fucking longer, I need to pick the kids up from school?" Spike shouted at the small group of officers that had now congregated in the middle of the yard. A few of them glanced our way before continuing with their conversation clearly ignoring his pleas.
"Do you need to pick them up?" I asked concerned.
He shook his head, "I was going with Angel to collect them today." Spike said with a bright smile.
I was pleased that he had met someone who made him happy and I was also grateful that Louise hadn't told him what we had offered her. In time, I would explain why we had to do it and hopefully she would accept my apology but the fact that she could keep secrets would in turn help her to become an excellent old lady, if that's what Spike's intentions were for her which I'm sure they were.
Our phone's continued to bleep and ring and I was now concerned that something serious had taken place for there to be so much activity on the mobile's especially between myself, Diesel and Spike.
"You may as well get comfortable boys, you're gonna be here for a while." O'Neil snarled.
Louise
"Shit!" How the bloody hell did I get a flat tyre. I kicked the wheel out of frustration and ran my hands through my hair while I decided what to do.
I felt someone behind me, "What's up Louise?" I turned to see Ramsey hovering and looked down at the wheel so that he could see my predicament. "Sorry, I didn't notice that earlier when I checked the vehicle." He said clearly puzzled.
"Don't beat yourself up, I'll just have to think of something." I contemplated what to do next but decided that I should give Spike a quick call. He would be annoyed if I didn't tell him what I was doing. I dialled his number quickly and listened to it ring several times before it went to answer phone. "Hi Spike, it's Louise. I've got a flat tyre on the Jeep so I'm going to call a taxi to take me to the school. Nothing to worry about I just wanted to keep you informed."
I used the internet on my mobile to quickly find a taxi company and called them asking to be picked up as soon as possible.
I saw Ramsey frown, "You don't have to get a taxi, I can have this changed in ten possibly fifteen minutes." Ramsey said as he took the keys from my hand and walked to the rear of the vehicle.
"The taxi will be here sooner than you can change the tyre and I don't want to be late." Ramsey went to close the boot, "No please continue to change it." I said walking closer to where he was standing. "I don't need you to come to the school with me. I'll ask the taxi driver to wait while I collect the children and then we can get a lift straight back here, by that time you would've finished." I smiled brightly letting him know that everything would be okay.
"I don't know Louise. I got in trouble a couple of weeks back when I didn't listen to direct orders from Duke. I don't want to fuck up again!" He stated as he tucked his hands in his pockets.
"What harm could possibly come to me? Please don't worry, I'll be fine." I touched his upper
arm and squeezed lightly giving him reassurance.
"Promise me that you'll get the kids and come straight back here." I used my finger to mimic a cross over my heart, "Oh go on then but don't be long."
I noticed the blue Ford pull up in front of the Jeep, "That's for me Ramsey." I said as I walked towards the vehicle giving him a simple wave before sliding into the comfortable seat.
Arriving outside the school, I noticed the usually hustle and bustle of the parents jostling to stand in the correct position in the playground so that they could collect their child first. I usually hung back until the teacher brought the children into the playground, letting them leave the line one by one as the teacher recognised the parents.
"Are you okay to wait here while I pick the children up and then take us back? I'll obviously pay you extra for waiting."
The taxi driver didn't say anything audible and nodded his head which I took as a yes. Opening the car door, I noticed a chill in the air and drew my cardigan closer as I shivered. I still didn't own a coat and made a mental note of purchasing one soon as the weather was starting to change as we were now in October. By the time I strolled into the playground after hanging back a little to miss the exodus there were only a few children left but I couldn't see the twins. My heart started to accelerate but I tried to breathe slowly knowing that there would be a reasonable explanation. Maybe they were kept behind as the teacher wanted to talk to me or they had forgotten something and had to go back inside. I neared the teacher and her brow furrowed as she registered me.
"Mrs Walker, is everything okay?" Mrs Williams asked as she stepped closer.
I frowned, "Where are the twins?" I asked looking around the playground a little confused by her manner.
"Your brother picked them up around one o'clock this afternoon for their dentist appointment." She glanced at me with a small smile as she shook her head slightly obviously thinking that I had forgotten.
I stood still as the rush of blood filled my head, "I don't have a brother, I'm an only child!" I screamed.
I saw the colour drain from Mrs Williams' face as she turned and quickly ran into the school. I followed her as she burst into the reception area to alert the office staff and the Headteacher.
Spike (Aces MC Series Book 3) Page 22
