by Parker, Kara
“Yes, you did,” Rick interrupted, “and we’re all very sad about what’s happened. But now it’s over. I’m in charge now, and David has one thing he has promised to do for me. I’ll take care of Mike. Kill her, David,” Rick said, turning to David. “We can clean up the mess later.”
CHAPTER SIX
David stared at the back of Rick’s head. The gun felt heavy and solid in his hands, and David could see himself pull the gun up, aim it, and fire; he would be pushed by the gun’s kick back, but when he looked up, all that would be left of Rick would be a blood stain on the wall. He could do it; he didn’t doubt that. But then what would he do?
David wasn’t interested in spending the rest of his life in prison for murder. He could try and claim self-defense, but Bill was right there as a witness. David let his grip loosen, and then finally, he tucked the gun into the waistband of his jeans. No, Rick wouldn’t die by David’s hand today.
“Do you have my phone?” David asked looking around the grim and dreary kitchen. The curtains were closed, but they were threadbare and faded, and the bright desert sun managed to shine through. The kitchen was so disgusting that it would have been better if there had been no light at all. There was a solid inch of dust on everything, and there was a sour smell to the place, like a giant container of milk had been left out to sit in the heat.
“It’s at your house. We stashed your bike, too, but you’ll be getting that back. Oh, and here’s your wallet,” Bill said, tossing the wallet to David who scooped it up and made sure that everything he needed was still in there. David kept his face a neutral mask; he had almost forgotten how they had captured David in his own home, snuck up on him like a couple of teenage thieves and knocked him out. The memory made him furious, but he remained outwardly calm.
There was no phone. David needed to call Olivia not only to tell her that he was alive, but also to warn her that Rick had it out for her specifically. She was in real and immediate danger, and she needed to get out of town until David could fix the mess they were in. He couldn’t exactly ask the men who had kidnapped him if he could use one of their phones for a private call. It seemed that no one had found out that David and Olivia were together, and David was desperate to keep it that way.
“So, what do you think of old Rick’s operation here?” Bill asked, as Rick made a drink. “Pretty impressive, right?” Out of the corner of his eye David could see Rick preening a little under the attention. Immediately, the power structure became clear to David. Bill was a yes man, a brown-noser, a suck up; he told Rick whatever Rick wanted to hear, and Rick rewarded him for it. David knew how dangerous that was. Leaders needed people who were willing to ask them tough questions, who weren’t afraid to speak up, even if what they had to say might not make the boss happy.
“Don’t know,” David said. “I don’t know what his organization looks like, or what it does.”
“We do everything, brother,” Bill said, and David had to resist the urge to remind Bill that they were not brothers and they never would be. “We got the big three together: drugs, guns, and girls.” David could barely hide his disgust. He wanted to remind Bill that girls were people; they were human beings and shouldn’t be traded and treated like they were nothing.
“Where do the girls go?” David asked, feeling sicker by the minute.
Bill and Rick shared a laugh with each other. “Right to the girls, huh?” Bill asked. “Man after my own heart. But you gotta pay, bosses rules.”
“I don’t pay for sex,” David said, his voice even. “But there’s not too many escorts in Marina’s Crest, so where do they go?”
“Up north, to the big cities,” Rick answered. “It’s best to get them far from the border so they don’t change their minds and try to go home. It’s next to impossible to get them out of Mexico, but damn easy for them to get back in.”
“We never did anything like that with the Reapers,” David said.
“I know. Mike was opposed to it, but just you wait, David. There is real and easy money to be made there. It’s dumb to walk away from it. It’s one of the reason’s I felt the need to go my own way,” Rick said. “Mike, he’s an odd man, and he has the strangest set of rules and principles that he lives by. But don’t worry, David. I know how much you care for that old geezer, so you take care of the cop, and I’ll take care of Mike.”
“Take care of him how?” David asked. He felt numb and sick, but mostly he felt frustrated. There were so many things he wanted to say to Bill and Rick. He wanted to tell them how they were wrong and what they were doing was wrong. Drugs were one thing, but sneaking women into the country and forcing them to do that. It was nothing a sane man could ever live with.
“Same way you’re taking care of Waters. I’m gonna grab him, kill him, and bury his body in the desert. People might look, but as long as I never tell, they’ll never find him.”
“So, you and me are gonna be partners, is that it?” David asked, and he could hear that his voice was louder than he intended, but his fury was building up inside of him. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists; he wanted to hit something or someone. He wanted to scream at these men, to make them understand what monsters they had become. But he couldn’t. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to get out of here. He couldn’t help himself; he understood that Rick was full of shit, and he couldn’t hide his contempt for much longer.
“What?” Bill demanded. “Partners.”
“Now, David,” Rick said in his most patronizing tone. “I told you, the problem with the club was too many voices. I will be in control of his new operation.”
“So I work for you now?” David asked.
“Yes, but just because you work for me doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, and it doesn’t mean that I don’t value your contributions and your opinions.”
“You sound like a fucking used car salesman,” David said. He could feel himself losing his temper, and he didn’t care. He wanted to lose it. His brain was begging his mouth to be quiet, and his mouth was ignoring his brain, and suddenly David didn’t care if he spent his life in prison if it meant getting rid of Rick. He was weighing his option, when the silence of the street was broken up with the rumbling of many engines blaring down the streets.
“What the hell is that?” Bill asked.
“Reapers,” Rick answered.
“I thought you took care of them?” Bill whined.
“Most of them. There’s less than ten left, get the guns.”
“Ten is a hell of a lot more than two!” Bill yelled.
“It’s three now, isn’t that right, David?” Rick asked, grabbing the shotgun and handing it to David. Silently, David took the gun and smiled when Rick turned away.
“Gang’s all here,” Bill said, as he shifted a faded flannel curtain to the side and peered into the bright desert. David and Rick moved to the window and looked out on the road where a hazy series of black dots were making their way down the road. David counted eleven bikes; he saw Mike in the front. Then, his heart stopped. There, surrounded by bikes, was Olivia’s Jeep with Olivia behind the wheel.
He glanced at Mike and gripped the shotgun in his hand tighter. As far as David could tell he, Bill, and Rick were the only people in the house. The Reapers may have been cut down, but there were still a few left and the few that were left were coming to rescue David. They were coming for vengeance for their club. Rick had thought that he had destroyed God’s Reapers with ‘a wave of his hand,’ but here was proof that they were not so easy to destroy.
“Well,” Rick said with a shrug, “I knew we would have to deal with Mike eventually, and this is probably for the best. We are at least far away from anyone who would notice all the noise.” There was something about the emotionless tone of his voice that made David nervous. It was like Mike wasn’t a real person; he was just a wall in Rick’s way and it meant nothing to Rick to destroy him. David shook his head where Rick couldn’t see. Had he always been like this, a psychopath who was good at hiding it
?
“What about the rest of the Reapers?” David asked.
“Them?” said Rick with a wave of his hand. “We’ll offer them work, selling and transportation. They’ll just have to understand that this is not a club, and they have no say. They work for me, or they leave town.”
“You think they’ll go for that?” David asked.
“Look at them, David. They’re the members who the cops didn’t even bother to hunt down. They have no other options.”
“But if they say no?” David pressed
“Then, we’ll kill them,” Rick said, shrugging again.
The house was surrounded, and David watched as Rick checked his ammo and the sight on his pistol, and then he walked out into the living room. David peered out the window again searching for Olivia, but her car was empty. She must be behind her car and taking cover, David thought, and then he heard Rick call his name.
David stepped out into the living room, and there was Olivia standing in jeans, a t-shirt, and windswept hair. She had her gun in one hand and was standing next to Mike. Suddenly, everything became very clear to David. Olivia was there, right across from Rick. Gripped in Rick’s fist was a sawed-off shotgun. Rick was a good shot; he could have Olivia in the gun’s sight before anyone could blink. Rick had been talking this entire time, but David had been going in and out. All of his senses were focused on Olivia in front of him and getting her out alive.
“But now it’s over. I’m in charge now. And David has one thing he has promised to do for me. I’ll take care of, Mike. Kill her, David. We can clean up the mess later. ”
“No,” David said, lifting his gun and pointing it at Rick’s head. “Drop your gun. This is over.”
Rick opened his mouth and began to move his hand and David jammed his pistol into the other man’s temple and said, “Drop it, slowly.” For a moment, no one moved. Olivia and Mike were both staring at David, both tense and ready for whatever might happen while Rick’s panicked eyes rushed from Olivia to David and the gun pressed against his temple.
“Come on now, David,” Rick said. “Remember what I said in the basement? I was right; I’m still right. We are going to work together. It’ll be just you and me; we answer to no one.”
“Except I would answer to you,” David said.
“Is this about the girl?” Rick asked, his voice rising in panic as he began to realize there was no way out for him. “You can have her; we don’t have to kill her. You can do whatever you want with her—”
“Put the gun down,” David bellowed. “I’m not repeating myself, Rick.” And then, finally, defeat flooded Rick’s face, his eyes dropped, and he slowly bent over and put his gun on the ground.
“There’s another in the back,” David said, his gun still pointed at Rick. They heard the sound of a door closing and man’s footsteps pounding over the hardened sand and then the roar of a motorcycle as a Reaper outside moved to stop him.
“Never mind,” Mike said. The older man walked over the Rick and shook his head once before rearing back and punching Rick square in the face, sending him toppling onto the floor. Breathing deeply, Mike took a step back and massaged his knuckles.
“That’s all you got?” David asked.
“Promised him to your girl,” Mike said, reaching for a curtain tie and handing it to David so he could tie Rick up. David looked at Olivia who shrugged and gave him a crooked smile. For a moment, David couldn’t believe that Olivia and Mike were in the same room together, that they had worked together. It seemed impossible, like watching a bulldog and a swan play together.
“So, you’ve met Olivia,” David said to Mike. “We weren’t working together before the raid; it was only after that, Mike.”
“But before the raid, nothing happened between the two of you?” Mike asked shrewdly.
“Well, something happened,” David stammered, and then he rushed to continue, “but it doesn’t matter because Olivia didn’t plant the raid—”
Mike waved his hand and interrupted David, “She’s proven her worth to me, David. She came to me and proved to me that what you had said was true. If it wasn’t for her, we never would have come here.”
David nodded and looked away, trying to ignore the sudden lump in his throat.
“I’ll go see about the boys outside and give you two a moment to sort out whatever this is before the rest of the gang starts to question it,” Mike said, giving them both a nod before heading out the back door.
As Mike walked out into the kitchen, David put his gun back in his holster and began to hog tie Rick while Olivia watched. Finally, he was done, and there was nothing else between the two of them, just open space. He stood, and Olivia moved towards him and wrapped her arms around him. David gripped her tightly and brought her head close to him so he could breathe in the smell of her hair.
“I was so worried about you; I thought you were dead,” Olivia said, her face crushed against his chest.
“I can’t believe you went to the Reapers,” David said, shaking his head. “They still blamed you for the raid; they could have killed you. You shouldn’t have done that.” David pulled away from her and took a step back. “That was so dangerous, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I didn't know where you were. I was thinking that you were dead or dying somewhere. I was suspended and desperate,” Olivia said.
“You’re suspended?” David asked.
Olivia nodded and said, “They found out about the investigation, and you asked me not to say anything until you talked to Mike, but now I have to bring Rick back with me and try and get re-instated.”
David shook his head. “I never should have involved you in any of this.”
“I think I was always going to be involved. If anything, it was better this way. At least I knew what was going on,” Olivia said.
“You shouldn’t have to do this stuff. You shouldn’t have to come out to the middle of nowhere and save me,” David said, shaking his head.
“I’m a cop; this is exactly what I should be doing,” Olivia said, walking towards him. She reached out to caress his cheek, but he jerked away. “What’s wrong?” Olivia asked, and when David heard the crack in her voice, his heart almost broke.
“The guy is supposed to save the girl,” David finally said, shaking his head.
“It’s a brand new world,” Olivia answered with a smile. “Cats are lying down with dogs, raining is falling up into the sky, and girls are rescuing boys.”
Finally, David felt like he could look her in the eye, and he took her chin in his hand and tilted it up, kissing her, remembering the taste and the feel of her.
“Now what?” Olivia asked.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“I just never wanted you to see all of this—Rick, a traitor, and Mike not believing in me,” David said, whispering into Olivia’s ear. He couldn’t bear to look at her at the moment. He couldn’t stand the fact that she had endured all of this. He wanted the Reapers to be better than this. He believed so much in them, but all Olivia had seen was the Reapers letting him down.
“It is a pretty ugly house,” Olivia said with a laugh. “Love that couch.”
David shook his head and looked around. “Maybe we could just move out here,” David said. “We could live off the grid, be a couple of weird hermits who live in the desert and make our own aspirin. People would tell stories about us, and teenagers would sneak onto the property at night and brag about it the next day.”
“That sounds awful,” Olivia said, looking up into his eyes. “Let’s just live in a city where we can have cable and buy our aspirin at the store.”
“I don’t know what to do,” David said, shaking his head. “The club is ruined, Rick’s a traitor, and when I think about what it’s going to take to repair it, I can’t even think of where to begin. We’re always going to be running and fighting and at war with someone. We’ll always have to watch our backs, and we don’t have enough members to protect each other.”
David pulled Ol
ivia closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. He could feel the warmth from her body. Faintly, he could feel her heartbeat, the steady rhythm of it was almost hypnotic. David had never worried about having to choose between God’s Reapers and a woman before. In his mind, that would be no choice at all—the club would always come first. The club was his family, only they weren’t fickle and they wouldn’t run out on you. But now the club was almost gone, and Olivia was in his arms, tempting him to another life.
He could be normal with Olivia; they could have a real life together. Not a life on the run and not a life of waiting for the other shoe to drop, but a normal life. It was the one thing David had always sworn he didn’t want, but now that it was within reach, it was so very tempting. But he had sworn an oath to the Reapers, and he had meant it. He couldn’t abandon this club when it needed him the most. The Reapers still existed. They were still there; they were weakened and small in numbers, but the men who made up the club were still alive and free. Yet, David still had no idea how he could keep the rest of them together.
