Bound by Lies (God's Reapers MC Book 3)

by Parker, Kara

  “Yeah,” David said, his voice still sounding detached and emotionless. “Big night, loyalty points to earn.” David took a deep breath. He felt better, or maybe he was just getting used to running around half beat up all the time. However, his headache was gone, his belly was full, and he was ready to destroy Rick, to bring him down. But how?

  “Where are we?” David asked, looking around the house. He wanted to get a good look at it to see if anyone else was inside. There was a very good chance he could end this whole thing right here and now. He had Rick’s trust; now all he would need to do was incapacitate Bill and take Rick to justice.

  “A house a friend owns,” Rick said. “But I don’t yet trust you to give you all my secrets, David. Do what I asked you to do, and then we can talk. Your motorcycle is out back; you should go now.”

  “Yes,” David agreed, but in reality he was thinking about Bill’s shotgun that was only a few paces away. He could make a break for it and try to go for the gun, but he was still outnumbered, and he would be defenseless while he lunged. It would be too easy for Rick or Bill to sucker punch him and lay him out. He could try to take the two men in a fight, but they were just plain bigger than he was, which gave them an advantage. Plus, he was still pretty battered and bruised.

  So David decided to wait, to bide his time. He wasn’t leaving that house without Rick.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Olivia took a deep breath, as she sat in her parked car looking at the clubhouse that belonged to the Reapers. The cops couldn’t shut down the club entirely. This was still America, and they did still have the right to assemble. Plus, the Reapers were devastated; there were less than a dozen still free and the ones who had been arrested had been processed and charged. Olivia hadn’t been able to find out how they had done it, but she knew that both Mike and Rick were cleared of all charges and they were free men again.

  Olivia was just glad that David hadn’t been arrested. She knew how deep his loyalty went, and she knew that if Mike had asked, David would have taken the fall for the older man. The unfairness of it all burned her. Who were Mike and Rick that they could enjoy freedom while other men went to prison for them? Olivia couldn’t understand why David was so attached to the club. She could sympathize; she just didn’t agree.

  Her gun was in her lap—not her police issued gun, her personal gun. She was debating if she should bring it in with her. Common sense said no. The Reapers would want to know if she was wearing a wire and would surely frisk her. However, going in there unarmed seemed insanely dangerous. In the end, she locked the gun in her glove compartment. Olivia wasn’t planning on going with guns blazing anyway, so bringing it with her would just create distrust.

  The street around the warehouse was unearthly quiet. No cars passed, no one pulled up or left, and there were no bikes parked outside. Normally, there would be a large door open, letting the noise escape and fresh air come in. It would have been normal to pass this garage on an average day and see a dozen men hunched over their bikes, like mothers over their newborns. However, today, there was only silence and the sadness of something lacking.

  She walked up to the front door and banged on it three times, waiting to see what would happen. A small window on the door opened and a pair of angry eyes glared at her from the other side.

  “Fuck off, pig,” the voice spit, and then the window slammed shut.

  Olivia rolled her eyes and pounded on the door again, but there was no answer. So she kept hitting it with her fist until finally the man came back and opened the window.

  “I want to talk to Mike,” Olivia said, before the man could speak. “I have some information for him and him alone.” She could see confusion in the man’s eyes; they shifted back and forth and looked at her, as the person behind the eyes decided what to do.

  “Wait,” he muttered, slamming the door closed. Olivia looked around the desolate streets surrounding the Reapers’ headquarters. She was on the lookout for squad cars, aware of how much trouble she would really be in if anyone found out what she was about to do.

  Finally, after three minutes, the door was opened, and Olivia was beckoned inside. From the bright outside light, the headquarters looked dark, and Olivia strained her eyes, but she couldn't see anything inside. Giving one last prayer to any God that might have been listening, she stepped into the darkness and heard the door swing and slam shut behind her with a finality that was terrifying.

  “Up against the wall,” a gruff voice said, and Olivia complied, pressing her hands flat on the cool cement walls of the headquarters and spreading her legs shoulder width apart. She felt the hands of the biker run up and down her legs and over her torso. She focused on keeping her breathing calm and reminding herself that she wasn’t hiding anything so there was nothing to fear from the frisk.

  “I need that,” Olivia said, as she felt her phone pulled out of her back pocket.

  “All clear,” a gruff voice said, and Olivia stood away from the wall and held out her hand for her phone. The remainders of God’s Reapers were a sad group indeed. There were about nine of them total, most of them older and paunchy and not terribly intimidating looking. They had that haunted look of men who had been running and scared for days on end. They crossed their arms and glared at Olivia, muttering to each other in low voices.

  “I’m Mike,” one of the men said. Olivia looked at the man who David had so admired. He was a giant, over six feet tall and with a substantial belly. However, there was intelligence in his eyes, and unlike the men that surrounded him, he had not quite given up.

  “I need to speak with you privately,” Olivia said. The eyes of the men around her shifted from Olivia to Mike and back again, and there were rumblings, mentions of Olivia being a cop and a pig and untrustworthy. “You want to hear what I have to say,” Olivia said. She stared into Mike’s eyes, trying to convince him with her gaze that she was someone to be trusted.

  “Come on,” Mike said, jerking his head to the left. She followed him up a set of metal stairs and entered his office. She closed the door behind her and sat down across from Mike. Without speaking, Olivia put her phone on the desk between them and hit play, and within the second, the robotic voice spilled the Reapers’ secrets out into the world.

  She watched Mike’s face closely. She watched as confusion turned into anger and then anger into incredulousness and then a shocked understanding. They listened to the recording in full, and by the end, Mike was shaking his head. His face was pale, and he looked drained, like listening to the tape had taken something out of him.

  “It’s Rick,” Olivia said. Mike jerked his head up and stared at her, his mouth open.

  “You...David?” he stammered.

  “We started working together after the raid, not before it. I swear it to you. We just wanted to figure out who it was and why they did it. He never betrayed you. You can’t imagine the respect that he has for you and how important you are to him. When we found out it was Rick, David made me promise not to arrest him until he had spoken with you.”

  “David was right,” Mike said, and it was as if he only believed the words as he spoke them. “Rick betrayed us.”

  “And he’s started his own business. He knocked you guys down so he could take your place and be the one in charge.”

  Mike nodded and said, “I know, David told me. I didn’t believe him. My God,” he said, running his hand over his forehead, “I didn’t believe him.”

  “I can’t find him. I haven't heard from David in two days. He was supposed to call me after he told you, but he never did. Do you have any idea where he could be?” Olivia was leaning across the desk, trying to force Mike to look her in the eye to see her sincerity and desperation.

  “I know where he is,” Mike whispered. His voice was so quiet and his face had gone gray, and Olivia was worried he was about to have a heart attack.

  “Where?” Olivia said, as her heart plunged in her chest. She could see the look on Mike’s face, his ashen demeanor. Please, she though
t, please let him be ok.

  “Rick has him,” Mike said, finally looking Olivia in the eye. “After David told me what he had found, I didn't believe him. I thought he was trying to push blame onto Rick. I told Rick what David said, but he just laughed and told me not to worry about it, that he would handle David.”

  “Handle him?” Olivia repeated numbly. “What does that mean?”

  “He’s not dead. I told Rick not to hurt him too badly.”

  “Where is he!?” Olivia said, and she was out of her chair before she knew it and advancing on Mike on the other side of the desk.

  “4567 Michigan Street,” Mike said quickly. “It’s far out into the desert, no other houses around, few cars go anywhere near there. It’s far out, and it’s very isolated.” He was leaning back in his chair, trying to create distance between himself and Olivia, even though he was three times as big as she was and she was unarmed.

  Olivia snatched her phone off the desk and turned to leave, but when she was at the door, she spun around and said, “You were wrong. David is a good man, and you should have trusted him. You don’t deserve his loyalty.”

  Mike nodded once, and Olivia stormed out of his office, slamming the door behind her. She jumped down the metal steps and was at the door when she heard a voice from the catwalk above.

  “Wait.” She looked up; it was Mike looking down on her, but he was no longer the shocked, ashen-faced man from a moment ago. Now, he was all thunder and leadership, and Olivia finally understood why David respected him. “We’re coming with you,” he said. “Boys, suit up. It’s time to ride.”

  “You want to go with me?” Olivia asked, her voice echoed around the warehouse. The corners and the back were still dark and empty, and it sounded like her own voice was shouting back at her from the darkness. The members of God’s Reapers who were still free looked up at their boss on the catwalk. There were eleven of them, all of them grizzled and old. They weren’t the first people Olivia would have chosen to ride with her onto battlefield, but it was better than going alone. “If we do this, we have to do this my way. I’m a cop and I want my job back. So, I’m going to arrest Rick and I bring him in,” Olivia said, clenching her fists as she stared up at Mike on the platform.

  The bigger man took a step towards Olivia, his foot hit the metal stair and a thud rang out around them. It was like he was a different person than the one she had met in the office. When he had listened to the tape, he could have been any man Olivia was delivering bad news to, like an uncle or a grandfather. But now, as he loomed above her, she saw the man that had taken control of one of the most powerful biker gangs in the state. He stood strong, his neck and back straight, his expression stern, and in his eyes was a look of vengeance.

  “Rick is mine. He betrayed this club; he betrayed me; and he will suffer greatly for it,” Mike intoned. His voice was deep, and Olivia had to work to keep herself from stuttering when he responded.

  “And if you had listened to David when he had first told you about Rick’s betrayal then this all could have been done differently. But I’ve been suspended, and the only way I can prove I’m right and get my badge back is by bringing Rick into custody. He bribed my partner into going to my captain; I deserve vengeance too,” Olivia said, her voice getting louder and louder as she spoke. “Besides, there’s close to a hundred Reapers sitting in jail, and Rick is the one who put them there. You will get your vengeance and your own brothers can give it to you.”

  The men all muttered, some in agreement, some not.

  “How will you ensure the charges will stick?” Mike asked.

  “David and I have seen the warehouse; we know where it is. The only reason we haven't set the cops on it is because we were worried it would tip Rick off, and then we would lose him. I want Rick; I’ve done all the work to capture him. He’s mine by right,” Olivia said. She wasn’t sure what she was saying. She had never talked like this, never talked of vengeance and rights. However, she had never had someone she loved taken like this either. She had never spent nights up and awake, imagining every terrible scenario she could think of. She wanted to get Rick; she wanted to see him arrested and charged and put behind bars. She needed to see it.

  “Either way, we get him,” a voice from below called. Olivia had almost forgot that there were other people there. She gaped at them, passing from face to face, as they crossed their arms and looked at her, not with admiration, but with respect at least.

  “Fine,” Mike agreed, “but we’re riding with you.”

  Olivia had never had an honor guard before. It was strange. Mike, on the back of one of the most impressive motorcycles Olivia had ever seen, led the way. Olivia followed in her Jeep, her short hair sweeping around her head, ruffled by the breeze of her open window. Behind her —and all around her—were the remaining members of God’s Reapers. They would sometimes be behind her, and other times, when the road opened, they would ride alongside her, and Olivia would find she couldn't hear anything over the roar of the motorcycles.

  She had never felt so visible in her life. The bikes were loud and heads turned as they roared down the street. Children came to their windows and waved at the phalanx of machines as they flew past.

  They left Marina’s Crest behind them and continued out into the barren desert. The houses faded away; the roads became dusty and hard to follow. There were only a few cactuses and the occasional scraggly tree to break up the view. Olivia wondered how Mike knew where he was going. There were no landmarks, but he made a hard right and Olivia followed. Her Jeep skidded off the road, but she pushed past it and bounced back up on the street, picking up her same position behind Mike.

  Finally, she saw something in the hazy, heat riddled distance. At first, she thought it was a mirage, and then, as she got closer, the smudge on the horizon took shape and she saw that it was a large, wooden house. There were solar panels on the ceiling and a pump out in front. Olivia wondered who had built this house out here, so far from everything.

  As Olivia followed behind Mike, the bikes around her began to spread out. In a beautiful, coordinated movement, God’s Reapers fanned out and began to circle the house, stopping at intervals and pulling out their shotguns. Olivia and Mike screeched to a halt in front of the house. Olivia jumped out of the driver’s seat and took cover behind her car, but she was surprised not to hear the shooting of guns, or someone calling out a threat.

  Olivia peaked out from behind her car, and she saw Mike patiently taking his helmet off and putting it on the seat. He didn’t seem worried, and he was, in fact, rather nonchalant about the whole thing. Olivia walked over to him, and together, the two of them headed into the building, with Mike opening the door and going in first.

  They found themselves in an old-fashioned living room. The wooden floor was weathered and the walls matched. There were red and orange blankets thrown on the floor and a pea green couch in the corner. Nothing in the house looked like it had been purchased after the seventies.

  “Mike,” a voice called, and Olivia turned and saw Rick as he entered the living room. Her body tensed, and her hand gripped the gun in the holster Olivia had at the waist. Olivia watched as Rick’s eyes settled on her. His face went from anger to confusion, as he looked between Mike and Olivia, and she thought it was possible she saw a spark of understanding there. “Why did you bring a cop to the safe house?”

  “Where’s David? Bring him up here. Now,” Mike said. He was still the Mike who was in charge of a motorcycle gang, tough and angry and not someone who gave orders twice.

  “David, join us in the living room,” Rick called over his shoulder, and Olivia watched as David, looking rather pale walked into the living room. Olivia had to stifle a sob when she saw him. Their eyes met, and she saw that he was alive and unharmed. There was a fresh cut under his eye and he looked a little rough, but he was alive and ok. She had found him, but she kept her face as masklike as she could manage, not wanting to give anything away to Rick.

  “So, I repeat, Mike;
why did you bring a cop here?” Rick said, his voice taking on a more dangerous tone as he spoke.

  “You betrayed us, Rick. It was you this whole time. I know it was you beyond a shadow of a doubt, and you blamed David! David, who was the most loyal of us all! You blamed him for what you did. You’ve been moving drugs through Marina’s Crest and selling them. You destroyed us, why?” Mike demanded.

  “Because I’m better than you are at this!” Rick yelled. “I’m better than you, and I’m better than all of those men put together. All of them! Why should we share equally between members when half the members can’t read above an eighth grade level? Look how easy it was to get rid of your club, Mike. It was even easier to replace it. This business should not be run by a club; it should be run by a CEO, one person in charge—me. And David agrees with me. We don’t need you, Mike; no one needs you.”

  “David, if that’s true, I can understand why,” Mike said, his voice softening. He looked at David and David alone as he spoke. “I should have trusted you and listened to you; I should have followed up on what you told me. I should have looked into it more, but the arrests and the raid by the cops had made me so tired. I thought I could trust my second-in-command, but I was wrong. I never would have thought he would have betrayed me. I am sorry I didn’t believe you when you came to me. I made a fatal error.”