by Rachel Cade
“The truckers that were hijacked witnessed bikers in the area on both occasions before they were robbed.”
He could feel the man’s eyes on him before he turned around.
“Is this your clubhouse?” He pointed to the flat building that reminded him of a dive bar.
No one responded, which was fine as he casually walked over, scanning the grounds at the same time.
There seemed to be more guys here then when he’d first saw them ride through the town. He counted close to fifteen men. They were collecting here like roaches.
One of them was standing in front of the door as he walked up.
A huge man with a face carved from stone.
“Move,” Will said.
The single word struck a match in the man’s eyes.
He didn’t budge an inch.
Will didn’t have to look to know Callas was near the back of his right side.
“Bleed.” The old man’s quiet assertive voice rang out.
But it was undercut with a gentleness Will remembered hearing from his dad back in the day. Was Jeffries also some kind of father figure to these ghouls?
Will decided not to dwell on the thought, but tucked it aside as the huge man took two heavy steps from the door.
The room was dank and a little musty, and the smell of alcohol was faint but still in the air.
He made it a point to slowly walk around the room, knowing how much they hated him being there.
He felt the same way about them.
As he searched, he thought about how all this had progressed. At first, all he wanted was to see the last of them, but they had outmaneuvered him, got in good with Langley, and set up shop. And he continued resisting but it hadn’t been smart. He was going to have to use this situation to his advantage.
“You guys move fast,” he said, turning around in the middle of the room. His boots made a hollow sound on the hardwood floors. “I’ll give you that.”
Callas was seething.
Will checked every room in the clubhouse personally. From the condition of the bedrooms, most of them lived like rats.
“I guess it’s all clear.”
The gulp of fresh air Will took once he was out of the building felt better than the sunshine.
Henry walked up to him, his mouth flat.
“Any hits on the numbers?”
“No.”
“Check the bikes too.” Will wasn’t going to let it bother him, even if they were all clean. He was here to make statement. Besides, cars weren’t the stolen item he was looking for.
“That an RV?” He pointed at a black and silver trailer that was parked behind the warehouse.
He didn’t wait for an answer. Once he got closer, he recognized Callas’s bike.
Near the door, he saw something covered by a blanket.
Dexter, his other officer, spotted it too and quickly snatched the covering away.
Not long after, his boots skid in the dark. “Fuck! What the hell is that?”
Will couldn’t lie. The sight caught him off guard.
“Lucy,” Callas explained.
Will didn’t give as much reaction as Dexter, but there was a hint of smug amusement in those blue eyes.
“They’re fuckin’ poisonous.”
The biker nodded. “Hell yeah.”
The large black scorpion seemed barely contained in the aquarium.
“You want to go in there?” Dexter asked, trying to steady his breath.
Will narrowed his eyes.
*
Lyndie could hear voices. The air conditioning was on in the trailer, but she was still sweating. Softly patting Max was losing its effect. If she moved, would it give her presence away?
They were right outside.
Will was with another cop, along with Noa, and some others she didn’t recognize.
Lyndie moved as quietly as she could, staying low to the ground to fish Max’s pacifier out of her baby bag.
She quickly put it in his mouth, hoping he wouldn’t spit it out.
*
“Noa Aleixo Callas. Death Skulls President, Daytona Beach chapter. At least you were,” Will spoke from memory. “Your people died in a tragic explosion, almost two years ago to the day. I read the report.” The satisfaction of confronting him tingled his neck and shoulders. He watched closely for his reaction. “The whole crew was killed, except for you.”
Will inflected his voice for emphasis. “Don’t know about the law out there, but for them not to suspect foul play, ruling it an accident…” He focused deep on the eyes of the man that thought he was going to take his family. “How are you even still a member after some shit like that went down on your watch?”
Callas’s cold eyes flickered just a bit. Nothing else in his expression gave anything a way, but he saw that.
He was doing his best to keep his own emotions in check. There was still a part of him that didn’t want to process what he knew as fact. It made him feel a little better catching them all off guard, and humiliating Callas was icing on the cake.
This was just the beginning.
Will’s phone buzzed. He had no intention of checking it, but it continued to go off, irritating him.
He checked it to see a few missed calls from Ashley. Then he saw her texts.
Shit.
Will stared at the trailer, hard.
“Just your fucking luck.” He placed the phone back in his pocket, jerking his eyes back to the biker. “But you know it always runs out.”
*
When Noa opened the trailer door, she stood at the top with Max, staring down at him.
His hand hung loosely on the door handle.
Everything she was thinking but didn’t say poured into her face. Her heart weighed so heavy. Will was just cruel.
After a few breaths, his eyes lowered from hers a fraction. “It’s alright.”
She reached for his hand.
“No, it’s not.” Her fingers tightened hard around his palm. “It’s not alright.” Her voice shook with the anger that wracked her.
*
“Here you go, Mrs. C.” Someone set a bottled water on the table in front of her as she sat on the couch next to Noa.
“Thank you,” she answered as she reached for the bottle.
Max was near the bar with Chaos who seemed to be pretty good at making her baby laugh.
At least someone was laughing. She couldn’t.
She drank from the bottle until half was gone, then set it back on the table.
Noa’s hand found hers and laced their fingers.
“He could try to make it a weekly thing, you know,” Bleed spoke from the front door. “This has potential to get out of hand.”
“It’s already out of hand.” Noa’s head rested on the back of the couch, pointing his face up to the ceiling.
Lyndie sat quietly, listening.
“He’s going to keep going, Tin.” Noa stared at the light over his head.
“Yeah, and we’re gonna keep going too,” Tin answered. “This ain’t the first time I had to deal with a dirty cop.”
“He got rid of Langley, then he got rid of the drugs, now it’s us,” Bleed said.
“Us or him,” Noa answered quietly. But everyone in the room heard him.
Tin found her eyes.
Lyndie didn’t offer much in reaction. A lot of thoughts were going on in her head.
Then she felt her phone vibrate. When she looked at it for the first time since yesterday, she saw a missed call from Will, then a text.
When she read it, her eyes widened. “Langley’s awake.”
Noa sat up, looking over at her. “I have an old friend she used to work at the diner. She’s a nurse now and just told me he’s alert and talking.”
“Nine fucking lives,” Tin said.
“I bet that’s what sent Durand flying out of here.”
*
Langley was sitting on the side of his hospital bed.
He was wearing one of those
gowns and didn’t seem too happy about it.
When Will stepped inside, Ashley rushed toward him with a hug.
“I’ve been praying.” She smiled up at him with glassy eyes. “I’ve been praying so hard.”
“Mr. Langley. It’s good to see you.” Will stepped toward the bed to get closer to his future father-in-law. “How do you feel?”
“Just like I look,” he answered with a rasp. “Like shit. Once I get a shower and a decent suit that will change.” He swallowed, likely aware of the sound of his voice. “I was telling Ashley I want to see my home.”
“Of course. When you’re able to get ar-”
“Today.” Hugh looked up at him. “I’m signing out of the hospital.”
Will’s brows raised. “Hugh, you just woke up after all this time… You had surgery. You have to be monitored.”
“I haven’t let a doctor tell me what to do. Why would I let you?”
“I told Daddy he can come to the house with us. So he can heal.” His fiancée reached for his arm and looked up at him with wide, happy eyes.
*
In her uniform once more, she was on the passenger side of the running van as Chaos got on the other side. This was a different one, and she was able to safely strap Max into the back seat.
Noa was at her window. The barely-there smile on his mouth squeezed her heart.
She needed to get home. It was inevitable, but in the moment, leaving him felt wrong.
“Thank you for hosting us and thank Lucy too.”
He grinned. “I will.”
Chaos tossed on his cap. “Lucy’s alright with me too as long as she stays caged.”
Lyndie laughed.
Noa reached forward and caressed the back of his hand over her cheek, stealing her attention from Chaos.
Something flashed in his eyes at the same time her heart stopped. A moment later, he pulled his hand away.
“New terms, Mrs. Callas.” Don’t forget, he mouthed.
On the surface, he was dangerous and beautiful at the same time. But there was more to him than that. She felt it. He tried to brush off what happened with Will. But Lyndie knew it hurt him. He’d lost his family. People he was close to that he could never see again. Will purposely threw it in his face to be a bastard.
As Chaos began to back away, Noa waited, watching.
She could still feel his hand touching her.
Lyndie took a deep breath. Wind kicked up a mini dust cloud as Chaos began driving them off the property.
A few minutes later, they were on a street outside of town.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I found a new route. Don’t worry. I’ll get you home. I just didn’t want to draw too much attention going straight through town.”
“I need to get my car from the diner, though.”
“We’ll get it to you, Mrs. C. We definitely know how to move cars.”
“Will isn’t going to be able to get you guys for anything, is he? Something he could have found there today?”
“No.” Chaos shook his head. “We take care of things. It’s all good.”
Lyndie didn’t hide her concern. “I hope so.”
“He really likes you, you know.” He glanced at her. “I’m not just saying that. I know you guys got your situation ‘cause you’re already married and all. But Noa’s never into chicks like the way I’ve seen him with you. Granted, we haven’t hung out a lot before now.”
“Are you a Nomad too?”
“Yeah. We all are except Tin. He just pulled everybody together to get this place going out here. He’s like that. He keeps it all together.”
Lyndie listened quietly. “He seems… stern.”
“He’s gotta be ‘cause we’re assholes.” Chaos grinned. “But we love him and trust him. He’s put it on the line for us too many times.”
“I really want to thank you for helping me again. And Max.”
“Don’t make me blush.”
Lyndie smiled.
“Oh shit.”
Lyndie followed his eyes on the road.
“Who’s that?” A man buzzed by them so fast she barely made him out.
“Whisper.”
Chapter Eight:
What Lies Beneath
Noa watched them pull away.
Lyndie was one of the types that might not say it, but carried what she felt right on her face.
She trusted him, but she was worried.
And he couldn’t blame her.
There was no solid position right now.
He wanted to be with her, but he’d failed at fucking everything. And now this asshole Durand had showed up here to flex.
Langley was awake, but it was too soon to tell what that was going to mean.
He was annoyed and it was likely showed once Chaos left the property.
A cleared throat caused him to turn around.
Tin stood there by the club door. He’d been watching them.
“So this is it, huh?”
It was getting hot. Noa grabbed one of his wrist bands and used it to tie his hair up away from his back.
“You, the girl, and the baby.”
From the flatness of his voice, Noa wasn’t sure if he was asking or telling him.
Either way, he answered, “Yeah.”
“You love not listening, don’t you?” Tin stepped forward. “Families complicate things.”
“I realize that.” Noa was already irritated at the fact that they had to go.
“What if the Aztecs had taken you guys out in Vegas? Chaos could have been there to even the odds. I gave you a direct order, and you did what you wanted, for her.”
“It was wrong to go against the order. But it was right to protect my wife and kid. You’ve never had to make a complicated call before?”
Tin’s eyes narrowed.
They stood, eyeing each other.
“And how does being a Nomad mix with being a husband and father?” Tin cocked his head. “How fair is this going to be when you’re gone back to Mexico or wherever after this is done?”
Noa clenched his jaw. Before he could answer, his phone rang and Chaos was on the other end.
“Hey, Whisper’s heading back your way, man.”
He threw his hand up. “Son of a bitch.”
“I’ll have Mrs. C home in a minute.”
“Yeah, thanks.” He disconnected the call. “Whisper’s on his way.”
Tin shook his head and raised his weathered hands to the sky. “Nomads.”
Noa wasn’t too far from the gate when Whisper rode in on his bike.
In the haze of heat that rose up from the ground, Whisper slowed down until he was a few feet away from Noa and stopped.
Whisper pulled off his helmet.
“Good morning, Skorpio.”
“Where the fuck have you been?”
Whisper’s dark wet hair gleamed in the sun. He pushed some of it back with his hand.
“Out and about, old friend.”
Noa held his hips. “You said you would meet us back here. You dropped communication. How do you know we didn’t need you?”
“Aww.” He grinned in response, raising Noa’s annoyance. “It’s nice to be needed.”
“Not a fucking answer.”
“At what point are you going to get over our past?” He raised a brow as he walked his bike closer to the front of the clubhouse where Tin was waiting. “We were close once. I took you under my wing in Tijuana. You were a lost bird.”
Living up to his name, he spoke so only he and Noa could hear. The smile that followed made Noa want to punch him. Whisper liked to claim being smug was a part of his charm and Noa always reminded him he was full of shit.
And Whisper’s eyes gleamed as he read his demeanor. “Anyway, I come bearing gifts.”
Whisper lifted the hood on his side car, a custom he’d done himself to mimic a bullet.
A body was inside.
A living one.
He was tied up a
nd leaning forward, gagged.
“Shit.” Tin’s voice was low and gruff.
Noa had to laugh shortly, planting his hands on his hips as he looked up from the studded snake on the back of the man’s cut.
“I figured you guys would like a personal chat with a Los Bandidos member.”
*
“Is everything going to be okay?” Lyndie asked as they stopped in front of her house. “With that man showing up, Whisper?”
Chaos smiled softly, not looking at her. She knew he wouldn’t be completely honest with her about what he was thinking. “Yeah, It’s all good.”
“Be careful getting back. You guys stay safe, okay?”
“We will be boy scouts, Mrs. C.”
She stared at him. “You don’t have to lay it on so thick.”
Chaos sighed, shaking his head. “The prettiest girl in town and Noa had to get to you first.”
Lyndie let out a breath. She glanced back at her kicking baby. “Now you’re really laying it on thick.”
Chaos actually seemed to blush.
“Thank you,” she offered. “You’re actually sweet when you aren’t blowing up property.”
“My mom used to say the same thing.”
Lyndie didn’t think he was joking until he winked at her.
She’d barely been away a day, but she felt strange entering her own home.
“Munch, we are going to get some fresh clothes ASAP. And we’ll get you set to play with some of your toys, okay?”
Lyndie walked into the kitchen and put Max’s carrier on the counter.
She put her keys down and remembered she had left her bottled water out in the garage.
Cursing under her breath for forgetting it, she went to the kitchen side door that connected it and flipped the light switch.
Her foot hovered on the step.
A striped Mustang was sitting in her garage.
Not just any Mustang though.
Pick a car.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Noa.”
She covered her eyes for a moment, trying to gather herself, and when she opened them, the car was still there.
*
A loud grunt split the air then a thud as the Los Bandidos member hit the ground in the middle of the clubhouse.
