by Vera Quinn
“You know it is not going to do any good , the two of you going off on each other. If he has information to give us we need to listen. It may help.” Crockett may be our enforcer but he always keeps a level head and thinks before he acts.
“That’s why you and Bowie are going to be in there. I want you to pay attention to every word he says. Chief and I have a way of butting heads. I want you two to stand or sit where you can’t be seen and listen to everything. If we start to go at each other just throw something at me. I don’t know what it is about that asshole that sets me off.” Crockett and Bowie both laugh.
“You two are too much alike,” Oz says what the other two are thinking. Devil has said it more than once. I don’t see it. I’m not the asshole Chief is. “Bullshit! Let’s get this done.” I walk back down the hall to Oz’s office. I am wondering where Tito is at. I didn’t see him in the common area. Devil probably has him on the computer trying to find us a lead. Whoever did this will be paying in blood. I get to the door and open it and I am surprised that Tito is not busy at his desk. I stop when I get to Oz’s desk. Oz walks behind the desk and does something to his computer. Bowie and Crockett sit in chairs around Tito’s desk. Oz waves me around to his side of the desk. He stands back against his filing cabinet. It’s short enough that he sits on top of it. I walk around and I see Chief’s face on the computer. I’m not real tech savvy but I sit in the chair and wait for Chief to talk.
“ We have a mutual problem and it needs to be handled quickly. At least three people tried to grab Em and Maizy in front of the grocery store. Two men with ski masks on and neither of them saw the driver. White nondescript van. They grabbed Em because she was closer. Maizy jumped in to help. Em had time to pull her piece while Maizy was fighting with the two. Em shot one of them but the other one shot her. The two jumped back in the van and sped off. I texted Devil but he said that the Feral Steel had a situation of their own.” Chief doesn’t give me a chance to say much. He’s to the point.
“Sarah was taken. We didn’t even know she was gone. She was beaten and cut. She’s at the hospital now. Devil and Callie are there but we don’t have an update. She quit breathing before the ambulance arrived but we got her back so it is serious.” Chief doesn’t have a reaction on his face. The man never gives anything away. “Why do you think the two are connected?”
“Driller and Tazer both received an ano nymous text. It is a fucking riddle, ‘Two sets of four bonded together by a clover tattoo. Some will die but all are hunted. Innocents will die until I get the ones I want. The body count will build until the guilt will be too much. It’s time for the clubs to pay for their past transgressions. The first death is the beginning of the reckoning.’ The trouble with Em and Maizy is the first time we have had trouble in a while. Brain tried to trace it but came from a damn burner phone and it hasn’t been used since,” Chief tells me. I am trying to rack my brain but it goes back to the clover tattoo.
“There was a murder at the apartment complex we own and the woman worked for the Feral Steel at the gym. That was her only link to the club and then Sarah. You do know that Sarah, Hanna, Callie and Felix all have clover tattoos. They had them done over a year ago but that is the only ones I know of. Do you have anything else?” This puts us in the middle of a shit storm.
“There’s someone else there with a clover tattoo, Joy. Joy, Em, Micah and Maddie also have clover tattoos.” I feel like someone is clutching my heart and I don’t know how to feel about it. I barely know Joy but I have the strong urge to find her and lock her down so no one will get to her. I listen as Chief goes on. “Callie told them about the tattoos and they took it upon themselves to do the same. Has anyone contacted Sarah’s parents?” I look to Oz.
“Felix was going to take care of it ,” Oz tells us.
“I’ll give them a call,” Chief says.
“There was a message written on Becky’s wall when she was found. It said that the murderer was coming for the Feral Steel MC but it didn’t say anything about the BlackPath MC. Oz could make out two people in the stairwell on the security tape until it went black. They knew where the camera was and spray painted over it. The asshole was arrogant about it. He knew where the cameras were in the parking lot and waved at them. He walked off through the woods behind the apartment complex. Didn’t even run, he walked.” I am getting more pissed off the longer I think about the arrogant asshole. “We need eyes on Micah and Maddie.”
“Micah is on the road with the rodeo circuit and not answering calls or text s. I have talked to her aunt Deb and she is not sure where she is. She was in Wyoming and cell reception is not always good there. Her next event is in Nevada but not for another week so she could be anywhere and she is not good about checking in. I called Sarge so he can track her down. If anyone can get a reaction out of Micah it will be him.” I smile at that. Micah is Callie’s younger sister and she has a twin, Maddie. They may both be beautiful women but that is where the similarities end. Micah is too much of a ball buster and Maddie too meek. I haven’t been around them that much but anyone that meets the two know the differences. Micah is loud, the life of the party and in your face obnoxious and Maddie is reserved and doesn’t want to stand out. Callie is just a little bit older than the two but she rides the road in the middle when it comes to personality. All three are too much drama to me. I am ready to tell Chief to keep us updated when the door opens and Devil walks in. I can tell the news is not going to be good. “Maddie is home with Deb and I am going to make arrangements to send someone there or bring her here. Deb said she had it handled for now but I will feel better when we have eyes on them.”
“Devil is here so you can get an update from him on Sarah ,” I tell Chief. I get up and walk around the desk and lean up against the wall and wait for what Devil says. Devil sits down. He wipes his hand over his face and clears his throat.
“Sarah had a heart attack when they went in to do repairs. Her lung collapsed and they had to go in and put a tube in so she could breathe and they were trying to repair some internal injuries. She had a lacerated liver and they were going to take her spleen out but before they could get very far into the procedure she had the heart attack. The preliminary blood test they ran on her to find out if she had drugs in her system showed high quantities of ketamine in her bloodstream. They think she might have had an underlying heart condition and it, mixed with the amount of ketamine in her system, caused the heart attack. She coded and they couldn’t get her back. With the amount of blood she lost from all the cuts and stab wounds she was lucky to be alive when we found her. Some of those wounds they said were over twentyfour hours old. We’ll know more when the autopsy comes back.” Devil leans back in his chair and I can see the toll this has taken on him.
“How’s Baby Girl, Felix and Hanna?” Chief asks. “In shock. Going through hell knowing what their friend endured the last hours of her life. I didn’t tell them everything because Callie doesn’t need that picture in her head and neither do the other two. When we get our hands on this bastard he is going to know and feel the hell that woman had to feel before she died,” Devil yells. Oz reaches down and opens the filing cabinet that he is sitting on and takes a bottle of Jameson and hands it to Devil. Devil takes the lid off and downs a big drink and then puts the lid back on and hands it back to Oz. Devil collects himself. Chief hasn’t said anything but when he does we can hear the anguish in his voice.
“That girl was like a daughter to me. I watched her grow up beside the other three and all three of them are going to feel the loss. Sarah was difficult at times but she was a good girl. We need to get ahead of this. Whoever is doing this has targeted Callie, Felix, Hanna, Em, Joy, Micah, and Maddie. They know our loved ones are our weakness and they are going to exploit it. I’ll let Hacksaw fill you in. I need to reach out to get more eyes on our family. You do the same. You keep my girl and them babies’ safe. Call Bourbon and Rye, they are the closest. This asshole just called open season on all Feral Steel MC and BlackPath MC family
members.” I am watching Devil and waiting for him to explode. He doesn’t take orders.
“Old man, you take care of yours and I’ll take care of mine. Do you think after what I seen tonight I don’t know to keep everyone safe?” Devil is calm, too calm. “I figured since you are a father that you would understand where I was coming from,” Chief says and tries to go on but Devil cuts him off. “I get it, alright. I’m just not in the right state of mind to be understanding. Callie is in my room falling apart with Felix and Hanna. I will move heaven and earth to take care of everyone,” Devil says, still not raising his voice.
“Understood. We’ve both had a long day. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.” Chief must have disconnected because things stay quiet. Then Devil looks at me. “What happened in Texas?” Devil waits for my answer. “Some me n in a van tried to take Em when she was coming out of a grocery store. Maizy was with her and fought them off long enough for Em to get her gun. She shot one of the men and the other one shot her. The driver of the van picked the two of them up and they got away. Em is alright it was a graze but Driller and Tazer got anonymous messages from a burner. All the people with the clover tattoo are targeted but he will take out whoever he can get. Those are the ones he is hunting.” I stop and wait for his reaction but he is giving me none. “We have four of the people here.” That gets Devil’s attention. “Callie, Felix, Hanna, and Joy. Then there is Em, Maddie and Micah.”
“What the hell?” Devil shouts. Devil looks at the screen of the computer in front of him and then he speaks. “I already texted Bourbon and Rye. They will be here sometime tomorrow. Everyone is on hard lockdown. That means any of you go outside to smoke or take a piss then you have a shadow. No women or children leave for any reason. Tomorrow we get supplies here to do at least a couple of weeks. Tito and Sarah had been involved to some extent. He is not handling this very well.” Devil looks at all of us. “No better than any one of us would if it had been someone we cared about. Watch him from a distance but give him space. When he is ready he will come to his brothers. The Feral Steel will be taking care of the arrangements for Sarah. Her parents want nothing to do with it. I talked to her dad on the phone and once this situation is handled we will be handling him too. Perimeter walks every hour, two men on the gate and only family enter without prior authorization. Same order for the club girls, if they leave they don’t come back. It’s time to keep our family safe.” Devil stands up.
“What about running our businesses? We can’t close them down indefinitely,” I ask. “We will have church after arrangements are made for Sarah. The businesses that have managers will use them. That’s why we hired them. The apartment complex has a mail slot so payments that aren’t direct deposit can be dropped off and they have the emergency number to call for repairs. Do we have anything pressing at the shop?” Devil asks me.
“No, we are waiting on parts for a couple of projects. We still need to do deposits for the bar and strip club and someone needs to be there to walk the dancers and waitresses out at night. The gym is still closed too.” That’s all I can think of.
“Have the parts store call here when the parts are in. Rotate four men for the bar and strip club and the deposit can be dropped at the bank when that is done. I am not taking any chances with Tara at the apartment complex or the gym. An employee died, people will just need to understand. Offer them something free to keep the complaining down. I’ll contact Sal tomorrow and see if he would be willing to work some shifts for us when we can reopen.” Devil walks around the desk. Bowie and Crockett have been silent until now, and then Crockett speaks up. “We’ll do the first rotation at the bar and strip club. We’ll each take a prospect. That way we can make sure no one is lurking around,” Crockett says.
“We can do a drive by the rest of the businesses and look too ,” Bowie agrees. “Just be sure to keep your eyes open and keep us updated on your locations,” Devil tells them. “I need to get back to Callie. Keep the tattoo thing to yourselves until we talk about it in church.” No one says anything. We all stand to walk out but we all know that changes are coming. “Hacksaw, I need a word.” Crockett, Bowie, and Oz walk out. I wait and close the door when they are gone and then turn and wait for whatever Devil needs to say.
“Anything I can do, brother, you know that.” I know Devil is taking this hard. “When I took Callie as my ol’ lady I knew she came with not only her family bu t her friends. Those four have been close for so long and all three have proved they were not only friends but family. Sarah is gone but now not only is my woman in danger so are all her closest friends.” Devil looks at me. I see the pain in his eyes no matter how much he is trying to hide it. “I am going to need to keep a very close eye on Callie. She has a way of acting before she thinks when someone she loves is threatened. She loves that hard and deep. I am going to have a brother on each one of them. I have Callie but I need eyes on all of them, at all times. Whoever this is, does not feel threatened by the Feral Steel MC or the BlackPath MC. That tells me they are stupid and stupid is dangerous. Stupid is only worried about taking out as many people as they can and not caring who gets hurt in the process.”
“Whoever took Sarah wasn’t sloppy. They didn’t leave anything around the scene that we could see as dark as it was. Maybe I should head out there. It will be daylight soon,” I tell Devil.
“Those damn deputies would have trampled any evidence that was there. Well, what we didn’t because it was so damn dark when we got there. If you get caught out there, Taylor will throw your ass in a cell. Oz can get the crime scene photos like he did Becky’s. When Tito gets a hold of himself he can help. That’s someone else we are going to need to keep an eye on so he doesn’t go after someone before we have all the facts.” Devil is right. Taylor would love to arrest me.
“Alright, then what can I help with? Name it and it is yours,” I tell my president. “I want you to watch Joy.” I laugh. Never would I have thought Devil would ask this of me.
“I’ll watch her in my bed as I fuck her.” Devil smiles and relaxes a little. I watch as Devil picks his phone up and texts someone. I’m guessing Callie. “I don’t think Joy would be on board with that. She said she has sworn off bikers but if you get her to agree, hay, makes it easier on me.” I look at Devil. I know this is a serious situation but since when are we glorified babysitters? Joy has been in my head more than I care to think about the last few days but if I want her then she is mine and the thought of having to ask pisses me off. I don’t fucking ask shit. I know I should calm a bit but I don’t. This is just who I am. I look at Devil straight on.
“The body count is growing. How the hell am I supposed to protect a woman that won’t stay put? Send her back to Texas, at least then she’ll still be alive. It’s either that or get out of my way and let me handle it my way!” I yell at Devil. I know I surprised him as much as myself.
“Whoa! What the hell are you talking about? When has Joy taken off and since when do we make women do what they don’t want to?” Devil yells back. I step back. “Look, I didn’t me an to be an ass, all I’m saying is no one expected Joy to take off from Texas when she landed here.” I half laugh. “I wouldn’t be forcing her once she let down them damn walls she has built up. There’s no reason why her and I can’t enjoy our time together and we might even find out we like it.”
“Is that so? Just how are you going to convince Joy of this?” Devil has a sarcastic look on his face that I am not sure I like.
“How did you convince Callie? I do believe that when you two first met she didn’t like you too much,” I throw back to him.
“Uh huh, are you claiming Joy as yours?” Devil asks. “I don’t know, brother, I’ll have to get back to you on that.” Am I claiming Joy? The woman is taking up my head space but only one woman. I don’t know if I can do that but I can’t even lie to myself that there isn’t something about the woman I want.
“You be sure and do that. Hacksaw, it is an order for you to protect her the rest is up to you to handle. I
told Bowie to put her in your room.” I shake my head. “This could be a bumpy road.” I am thinking about Joy and her being in my bed. I know I have other things to concentrate on but somehow the image I have of Joy in my bed is doing a number on my head. “I’m going to need to tell her about the tattoo thing to get her to listen.”
“As long as we all make it out on the other side then I’ll take it. Nothing in life worth having comes easy. Tell her the bare facts. We’ll get everyone together after the arrangements are made for Sarah. Everyone will need to know. Let’s get this done.” Devil has never said anything that I agree with more. I know I am going to have a fight on my hands.
I lay here and look at the ceiling wondering how I got here again. When I left Texas, I was determined to have an ordinary life. No more big parties, no more bikers and, no more danger. I didn’t think I was running away from anything but running to my future. I thought I was making intelligent decisions. The first couple of months were fine but in the last few days not one death but two. I had just met Becky but Sarah, Sarah I had met right after I started going to the BlackPath MC clubhouse. She hasn’t even had a chance to live and now she is gone. That young woman had her future ahead of her and now because of some sick asshole she is gone before it even had a chance to start. I know the Feral Steel MC have no blame in this in my head but that doesn’t change the circumstances. I am going to try and get a few hours of sleep and then I am hitting the road again. No, I can’t do that. Callie may need me. Sarah and Callie are as close as sisters. Not are, was. I feel the tears running down my face again. I MISS Em and I need one of her big hugs right now. I turn over into the pillow and I smell him, Hacksaw. I don’t know why Bowie brought me here and he damn sure wasn’t sharing anything other than Devil’s orders. Why would I be put in Hacksaw’s room? I wonder if Hacksaw knows of this arrangement. He doesn’t like me very much, more like at all. He’s liable to lose his shit when he finds out I am in his room. Maybe he is going to be occupied with club business for the time being. I need to try and get a couple of hours of sleep so I can be up and help with Callie’s and Devil’s children. Since everyone is on lockdown there will be meals to prepare and clothes to wash and rooms to keep clean. I know the drill and if I am going to be here then I need to pull my weight until the all clear is given. The Feral Steel will deal with this psycho and then I can be on my way. My body is beginning to relax, maybe just a few hours’ sleep. I know I am drifting off but then I hear someone come in the door and light floods the room and I am squinting to see who the hell is in Hacksaw’s room. When my eyes adjust I see the man himself and he has an evil grin on his face. Okay, it’s been a while since I slept but it looks evil to me.
