Drum’s been speaking to Mouse, who comes over with some keys in his hand. “Ready to go clear my name?” Without waiting for me to reply, he holds out his hand. Once I’ve been helped gently onto my feet he leads me slowly over to the truck. He programs in an address, then turns to speak to Tyler, but laughs when he sees what’s in his hands.
“Where the f… hell did he get that?”
Grinning to show my appreciation that he stopped himself from swearing, I give him the answer. “Road.” I carefully twist to see the toy motorbike being lovingly examined in Tyler’s hands. He’s got a rapt expression on his face. I don’t know much about bikes, but even I can see it’s a Harley.
Mouse shakes his head, laughs again, and then we’re off.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him as we’re driving down the street. “I didn’t mean for any of you to get in trouble over me.”
“Ain’t yer fault. And no matter. Hopefully it will be simple to get this cleared up.” He looks behind him as he speaks, flicks the indicator, and switches lanes. It doesn’t take long before we arrive at a station house I’ve not been to before, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I’d been worried we’d go to the one Ron’s based out of. Mouse finds a space and parks.
Noticing my look of concern, he gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Shouldn’t take long, darlin’. Just a quick in and out.”
As we enter the building, I’m unable to shake the feeling I’m putting my head into the lion’s den. But I’ve promised I’ll do this. He keeps hold of my hand as we walk inside, with Tyler alongside still holding his new toy. As we approach the front desk, Mouse pulls me closer and plants a kiss on the top of my head.
“What can I do for you?” the desk sergeant says in a bored voice.
“My name’s Tse Williamson,” Mouse begins. “Heard you’re lookin’ for me.”
The policeman consults his computer, and his boredom rapidly seeps away. “Mr Williamson, please come with me.”
Mouse makes no move to follow him. “I’d like to know what all this is about. My girlfriend, her son, and I have been spendin’ a few days in San Diego. I have no idea why you want to speak to me.”
“If you’ll come this way, a detective will be with you shortly. And you ma’am, you can wait here.”
I don’t want to be separated. As I’m opening my mouth to speak, Mouse gets in first.
“Unless you’re arrestin’ me, we stay together,” he states.
The cop looks confused. “And you are?” he asks me directly, and closely examines Tyler.
“Alexandra Thompson.” I reply, as steadily as I can.
He consults his computer again, and his eyes open wide. “But you’re missing!”
Mouse looks down at me and smiles. “Don’t think you are, are you babe?”
Getting up from his desk, calling one of his colleagues to make sure we don’t leave, the cop disappears. Quickly he returns, followed by a detective.
“Mr Williamson and Mrs Thompson, would you come this way please? We’ve a couple of questions to ask you.”
“Is this going to take much time? We’ve got things planned.”
The detective seems flummoxed. “No, er. It depends. Please, follow me.”
We do as he asks and are shown into a plain interview room with seats on either side of the desk. Having seated ourselves, Mouse squeezes my hand again, and it’s only then I notice his look of concern and his brief glance down to the wounds on my chest. I press my fingers to his to show that for now I’m doing okay, the Tramodol’s doing its job. Tyler’s over in the corner, tracing the chrome on his bike. Then he gives me a cheeky look and runs across to Mouse.
“Mouse, look at this.” Mouse puts his arm around him and makes appreciative sounds as Tyler shows him the detail on the toy bike. I’m full of pride for my son.
The man with us coughs to get our attention. “I’m Detective Parker,” he says, introducing himself.
As Mouse pats Tyler’s arm and tells him to go play, I ask, remembering to use his proper name. “Why do you want to speak to Tse?”
“Well, Mrs Thompson, you’ve been listed as a missing person, and we’ve been following up leads. Mr Williamson’s fingerprints were found at your residence, and at a cabin that belongs to your parents.”
“Well, that’s no surprise,” I state, as if the answer is obvious.
The detective leans back in his chair. “Would you like to tell me what your relationship is?”
“Not that it’s any of your business,” Mouse speaks for me, “but Mrs Thompson, Alex, is my girlfriend. We got together in Tucson, where Alex moved to after she parted ways with her husband.”
“And you’re in San Diego, why?”
At Mouse’s nod, I pick up the agreed story. “I wanted to collect some more clothes from my house. But when we got there, it had been vandalised. My parents had said I could use the cabin anytime, so we decided to go there for a couple of days.”
“You know how it is,” Mouse breaks in, raising my hand to his lips and kissing it. “New lovers and that. We wanted some time to ourselves, and for me to get to know her son. Then Alex wanted to show me her home town, so we came back to town and have been stayin’ at the Holiday Inn for the past few days.”
“Room number?”
Mouse gives it while I wonder what magic he’s done.
Having written everything down, Parker leans forward. “Mrs Thompson. Your husband has listed you as a missing person.”
I try my best to look surprised. “I don’t know why he would have done that. We’ve been separated for months.”
“Hmm. We’re trying to contact your husband. I know he’ll want to see for himself that you’re okay.”
Mouse sits forward, but I push him back. “Detective. I have absolutely no wish to speak to my ex-husband. Anything he wants to say to me can go through our lawyers. Now that you’ve met Mr Williamson and understand our relationship, and that which I no longer have with Ron Thompson, I presume we can leave?” Mentally I’m crossing my fingers. There’s no way I want to be confronted by my ex.
“Can I offer you a coffee?”
And keep us waiting until Ron turns up?
“No.” Mouse takes over. “Unless you’ve somethin’ you want to charge me with, I presume we’re free to leave.”
“Going back to the Holiday Inn?”
Mouse shakes his head. “No, we’re heading back to Tucson later today.”
He doesn’t like that. “And your address there?”
I give Celine’s address. Ron already knows that.
Mouse nods at Parker. “Now, if you’ve got nothin’ else, come on darlin’, you wanted to show me Coronado before we get going.”
I force myself to put an eager smile on my face. “I did, didn’t I? Detective, Tse is never going to believe how close the planes fly to the buildings, and Tyler always loves watching them land. It’s a great view from there, isn’t it?”
Mouse stands up and offers me his hand. I lean on it a little too hard to help me to my feet, but all the time I keep smiling. The detective’s frowning, he doesn’t want us to leave. But his hands are tied. There’s no reason to stop us.
“One last thing, Detective. You’ll get that APB cancelled? We’ve explained my fingerprints, and you can see Alex is fine, and so’s her son. Wouldn’t want to be stopped and have the end of our vacation spoiled.”
“Er, yes. Of course.”
Mouse leads me out of the room, looking around to check Tyler’s following, then out of the station house and helps us into the truck. I don’t think either of us breathe easily until we’re on the move again.
And then we look at each other and burst out laughing. I don’t know about Mouse, but I’m envisioning Ron’s confusion. After having left me for dead, I’ve just spoken to one of his colleagues alive and appearing completely unharmed. My wounds might still be hurting, the panic and fear not forgotten, but the thought of the look on Ron’s face? That has me smiling.
Chapter
22
Dart
I’m driving an SUV Lost managed to find for me, Mouse is in the passenger seat, and Alex and Tyler are in the back. Glancing in the rearview mirror, it kills me to see pain etched on her face. I’ve already given Doc our ETA and asked him to be ready at the club to change her dressings and check none of the stitches have been pulled out. She’s had a terrible few days, being put through emotional and physical hell. Currently she’s twitching in a fitful sleep, but Tyler’s happily amusing himself, playing on a tablet which Mouse had stopped off to buy for him, his new motorbike close at hand by his side. I only hope my brother’s view of what’s a suitable game for a six-year-old is the same as Alex’s. He’s enjoying it though, and it’s keeping him quiet. Kid deserves a little spoiling after what he’s been through.
Drum sent Mouse and I back with Alex, and Slick’s staying on to help sort out the rogue chapter. I’d offered to stay and help, but he thought Alex would feel easier if I was with her back home. I’m yet to be convinced on whether he’s made the right call, unsure that there’ll ever be a way back from my stupid mistake. Staying behind dealing with traitors would probably be easier than making things right between us. Why is it you only realise you want something so badly when the chance has been taken away?
Even while I’m wondering there’s any chance I can rescue my relationship with Alex, particularly now Thompson’s giving her even less reason to trust a man, I can’t help but think about what’s going on at the warehouse we just left, suspecting there’s going to be one hell of a showdown. Both loyal and disloyal San Diego club members will be shortly be receiving a text summons, supposedly from Snake, to gather them all together. Drum’s not relying on Gator’s info about just who was involved in the coup and who’s not. His plan is to confront them all and watch who takes which side.
We might still have doubts about who, but we’d got to the bottom of why when we started questioning Snake. While Satan’s Devils still run a few guns, nowadays we get most money coming in legit. What we don’t deal in is drugs. Seen too many clubs go sideways when their members start sampling the product. Snake thought it was a sign of the mother chapter’s weakness to insist on staying out of that trade. When he’d realised his game was up, he tried to tempt us with talk of the money he thought he’d be bringing in.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Mouse glancing over his shoulder. When he sees Alex is sleeping and Tyler otherwise engaged, he starts to speak. “I’ll feel easier once we’ve crossed the border into Arizona. I’ve a twitchin’ feelin’ between my shoulder blades that Thompson’s gonna be comin’ after us.”
“Yeah, the sooner she and the boy are on the compound, the happier I’ll fuckin’ be.” Automatically I check in the rear mirror that there isn’t a cop car approaching with lights flashing. Then, bringing my eyes back front, I concentrate on the road for a moment, overtake a slow-moving truck, and then continue. “Spoke to Drum about takin’ Thompson out. However much I want to tear him to pieces with my bare hands, Prez is concerned about blowback on the club.” I hate it, but Drummer’s right. “Can’t just disappear the motherfucker, Mouse, not with you on the cop’s radar already.”
“I overheard. Looks like he’ll be havin’ a nasty accident soon.”
“Wish I could make him suffer for what he did.” I bang my fist on the steering wheel. “Fucker mutilated her, scarred her. A clean death’s too easy after what he made Alex go through.”
“Dead’s dead, Brother. Dead’s dead.”
“Yeah, I suppose.” I don’t like it, but can see Drummer’s point. The sooner that motherfucker stops breathing air, the better I’ll like it. “Fuck knows how we’ll do it. I’d have left it to the San Diego boys if we knew who we could fuckin’ trust.”
“You thinkin’ of goin’ back down there yourself, Dart?”
“Don’t know what the fuck is gonna happen, Brother. Just know all this shit goin’ on doesn’t rest easy with me. Snake! Who’d have fuckin’ thought it?”
Mouse sighs and tries to stretch out his long legs. “Think he thought the mother chapter was weak, as we’ve called on his help a few times.”
“Only because we were up against somethin’ bigger than us. Fuck, man, Tucson weak? Not with Drum at the helm. Never in a million fuckin’ years.” And fuck anyone who thinks it.
We drive on another couple of miles, and then Mouse voices his thoughts again. “You reckon Lost will take the prez’s patch?”
“Who else is there? Unless Drum’s thinking of winding up the whole fuckin’ chapter. It’s so rotten, that could be in the cards.”
“Didn’t like leavin’ our bikes there.”
I grimace. “With you there, Brother. Drum’s promised to get a prospect to drive them back.” Again I signal and move out when it’s clear.
The checkpoint comes up, and we go through without hassle. Once we’re through, Mouse and I bump fists. I swear the Arizonian air smells different. I can physically breathe easier, and when I catch my first glimpse of a saguaro, I feel like I’m home.
It’s full darkness by the time we arrive at the club. Jekyll’s on the gate and slides it open. As most of our members are in Cali right now, the clubhouse seems quiet. Alex has slept most of the way, and Tyler had abandoned his game at some point and also nodded off. Now I wake them up.
Alex blinks her bleary eyes and looks around.
“Come, Slick’s given me the key to his suite—he and Ella have rented a place in town while they look for somewhere to buy, and rarely use it now.” I grin for a moment. Slick wanted to put some distance between Jayden and Paladin, but there’s no need for Alex to know that. “The suite next to his is empty—it used to be Wraith’s but he’s living with Sophie. We’ll get you settled in Wraith’s and I’ll stay in Slick’s so I can be close by.” Unless I get pulled back to San D of course. As she looks at me in confusion, I realise she’s only been to the clubhouse before and hasn’t seen any of our accommodations except a brief view from the outside, so it must sound like I’m talking gibberish. It’s easier to just show her. “This way,” I encourage. Tyler’s awake, but only just. It feels natural to sweep him up into my arms. “Come on, little man. Let’s get you to bed.”
Alex follows me up the compound, her eyes open wide as she realises this is nothing like where she’d been staying at in California. No, nothing can match the standard of our housing. Blocs sitting side by side, two suites in each. We’re the envy of a lot of biker clubs having this old vacation resort as our home. There are crash, or fuck rooms in the main clubhouse, but each Tucson brother has a suite of his own, most with amazing views of the desert basin and up over to the Tucson mountains opposite.
We come to the bloc containing Slick and Wraith’s now redundant suites. The key to Wraith’s is in the door. Turning it, I let her inside, then take it out of the lock and hand it to her. She takes it absentmindedly without looking, far too interested in examining the large space, noting the bed, closet, desk, and comfortable chairs, and then spies the adjacent bathroom. Her eyes widen when she sees the balcony and the view.
She touches my arm. “This is more than I expected, Dart.”
I nod towards the bed. “The old ladies have made sure you’ve got clean linen. Tomorrow I’ll get a prospect to go to your sister’s house and pick up some clothes for you and Tyler.”
“Can I give him a list? Tyler will need some of his toys.”
“Looks like he’ll be taking a truck.” I grin, and then my smile fades. The way she’s holding herself looks like she’s in pain. “I’ll go chase up Doc. He’s probably here by now.”
“Thank you. And I’ll get him into bed.”
The ‘him’ she’s speaking about has his legs around my waist and his head on my shoulder. He’s already falling back to sleep. She pulls back the covers and slips Tyler inside, then I leave her as she starts to get him undressed.
As I thought, Doc’s already here. He’s not a fully qualified doctor like Snake had on call, but his Army
medic experience and my warning of what to expect means he’s come prepared with a bag of medical supplies. After I take him up to Wraith’s suite, I suggest he examines her in Slick’s. I don’t want Tyler waking and seeing what that bastard of a father of his had done to his mom. Then I leave them alone and go to my own room, collecting some of my clothes and essentials for the next day. By the time I return, Doc’s got Alex’s dressings changed.
“How’s she lookin’?” I ask.
“Stitches were pulled, but didn’t need to be redone. Healin’ looks like it’s goin’ well otherwise. I’ve left some antibiotics just to be sure.” Doc’s eyes meet mine. He looks furious, but minds his tongue in front of Alex. He packs up his bag and walks to the door, inclining his head to show he wants me to accompany him. At the doorway he says softly, “Tell me the fucker’s dead.”
“Not yet. But he soon will be.”
My answer seems to satisfy him. With a lift of his chin he walks off down the track.
Alex looks done in, despite her long sleep on the journey. She’s sitting on the bed that tonight will be mine and popping a pill that Doc must have left. Damn it. She looks so right, right there. All I want to do is to hold her tonight, keep her close, know that she’s safe. How stupid I was to keep finding reasons why I should keep my distance. And how beyond crazy I was to go with Eva to try to prove the non-sensical point that I didn’t want her. That didn’t work, and I lost the woman I do want in the process.
As I stare at her, I run my hands through my hair, pulling it loose from my bun, not missing the way her eyes sharpen with interest. Have I still got a chance? Fuck it, if I have, I’m not going to pass up on it.
Seeing my eyes fixed upon hers, she turns away a little awkwardly, and starts to get up.
“No, don’t go. Stay for a moment.” I’ve startled her. As she doesn’t seem to know what to say, I give her more. “Alex, look, I fucked things up, okay?”
I go to her and sit close, taking one of her hands. “Shush, look, please. Let me talk? This last day we’ve both been through hell, a hundred times worse for you after your bastard ex did to you, I know, but today, the thought of Fang or Gator touchin’ you made me realise I don’t want any fucker like that to get their hands on you. Hell, that’s wrong. I don’t even want any of my brothers near ya, and that’s been the truth since the first day you danced at the club. It’s just not somethin’ I’ve ever felt before, and doll, I swear I don’t know what to do with these feelin’s.” I glance up, checking she’s listening. She is. Intently. “I’d be wrong right here and now to promise you a forever, it’s too soon, for both of us I would think. But I do think there’s somethin’ between us, and I want a chance to explore where it might go.” I try to lay it all out on the line, hardly daring to hope my heartfelt words might have any success.
Targeting Dart Page 23
