“OK, we roll two days from now on Friday morning,” Six said. “Be here with your game face on at six o’clock. I’ll make sure the truck is loaded up with the weapons and ready to go. This is a simple job that should run like clockwork, so it should be a walk in the park for us.”
“I fucking hate new jobs,” Patch let out to echo his earlier complaint. “They always give me a shit feeling, and crossing the border makes things all the worse.”
“You worry too much,” Six told him with a smirk. “This will be a breeze.”
“If you say so,” Patch said without much conviction.
“And what’s your take on it, Crash?” Six asked.
“We get in with the weapons then out with the money as fast as we fucking can and get home in one piece,” Crash replied. “That’s all I’m interested in.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Six said.
His words brought the meeting to an end and he smacked his hand down on Patch’s shoulder as he got to his feet.
“Are we going to finish that game of pool now?” Six asked.
“Sure, I’m happy to take your money if the table is free,” Patch answered then turned his attention to the other man at the table. “Are you going to join us for a drink?”
Crash shook his head.
“I’ll leave you two to enjoy your game of pool,” he replied. “It’s been a long day and I need to get some rest.”
“Will you be here tomorrow?” Six asked.
“Only if I’m called in,” Crash replied. “Bobby’s motorcycle was the last repair work I needed to get done. I’ll just rest and get myself ready for the job unless someone gets in touch asking me to take a look at their ride.”
“Sure, I’ll see you early on Friday morning then,” Six said.
Crash followed his two friends out to the hallway, but he headed for the exit as they walked in the direction of the recreation room. He stepped out the door of the building to the chill of a dark evening and turned the collar of his leather jacket up then reached in his pocket for the pack of cigarillos. Lighting one of the narrow cigars, he stood for a few minutes puffing on it and looking around the vehicles in the parking lot. He’d worked on all of them at one time or another and took pride in the fact that he kept them in perfect working order.
“Fucking Bobby,” he cursed under his breath as he thought of the bike he worked on that day.
Gang members taking their rides to other mechanics was something he couldn’t abide, and he tried to quell the annoyance that welled up by concentrating on the taste of the cigarillo he was smoking. When it was burnt all the way down to his fingertips, he dropped the butt and crushed it under the heel of his boot. He then moved across to the crash truck and closed his eyes for a few seconds when he was sitting behind the steering wheel. The tiredness of a long day came over him and all that was in his mind now was to get to his apartment and relax with a beer to end the day. When he opened his eyes, he turned the key in the ignition and drove the truck to the parking lot exit.
“You finished for the day?” the man at the gates asked when Crash rolled down the window of the truck.
“Yup, that’s me heading home,” he replied.
He waited until the gates swung fully open then got the vehicle moving to join the late evening traffic. It was slow going at first on busy streets, but the volume of traffic died down as he got closer to his home and he was able to pick up some speed. Thirty-five minutes after leaving the Roadrunners’ building, he turned onto the street where his apartment building was located and drove along to a parking space opposite it.
“Fucking streetlights,” he cursed when he killed the headlights.
The lamps along the street had been out of service for weeks and he wondered if they were ever going to be repaired. He waited a few seconds to let his eyes adjust to the darkness before getting out of the truck and locking it. It wasn’t as if he was expecting any trouble, but his nerves kicked in when he turned to walk towards his apartment building and saw the shadowy figure sitting on the front steps.
He was immediately alert and slowed his pace as he tried to peer through the darkness towards the person. The petite figure appeared to be a girl and, as far as he could make out, she was just sitting calmly, as if she was waiting for someone. His nerves remained on edge as he approached the steps, but he relaxed when he climbed them and moved past the person towards the building entrance.
“Not even going to say hello to me, Mr. McCallister?” the girl said.
The sound of his name being spoken came as a surprise and it showed in his voice when he turned around.
“What the fuck?” he let out. “Who the hell are you?”
The girl got to her feet and took off the baseball cap she was wearing, and it allowed him to get a better look at her. The face was familiar, if somewhat older than he remembered, and the name came to him straight away.
“Carrie?” he let out and laughed. “Carrie Nelson.”
“That’s me,” Carrie replied and smiled. “It’s nice to see you, Carl.”
“That’s strange,” he said as he moved down a couple of steps.
“What is?” Carrie asked.
“Hearing someone calling me Carl,” he replied. “I mostly go by the nickname Crash now.”
“Crash,” Carrie let out as if she was testing the name. “I like that.”
“What are you doing in San Francisco?” he asked.
“Well, I thought that would be obvious,” Carrie replied.
“Huh?” he let out to show that it wasn’t clear to him at all why she was there.
Carrie let out a laugh as she moved closer to the man she couldn’t get out of her mind, and her anticipation rose because she was standing right next to him for the first time in a few years. It brought memories of her crush to mind, but she was quick to clear them away.
“I came to San Francisco to see you,” she said and smiled. “Are you going to make me stand outside in the cold, or do I get an invitation into your apartment?”
Chapter 3
Staff Sergeant Samuel Nelson paused to let his words sink in and watched the faces of the new recruits he was lecturing to. He’d been through the process on so many occasions over the last couple of years and knew that some of the young men he was looking at wouldn’t even make it through the rigors of basic training. That was to be expected because not everyone possessed the right attitude to make it in the army.
“You need to make a commitment to yourself that you will put your mind and body on the line to get to where you want,” he went on. “I’m not going to stand here and tell you that the next couple of months of training will be easy, but I can promise you it will be worthwhile if you make it all the way through. A career in the armed forces is something that will give you immense pride, and there is no greater feeling than serving your country.” He stopped talking to glance around the assembled men once more before going on. “That’s as much as I am going to say today, so… are there any questions?”
“How many years did you put in, Staff Sergeant?” a voice piped up.
“I joined when I was eighteen,” Samuel replied. “After completing the training you are about to embark on, I worked my way up the ranks over a career of almost thirty years. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of it, which is why I now help with the training to ensure that young men like you get the same opportunities I did.”
“You’re not based here then, sir?” another of the recruits asked.
“I’m semi-retired, son,” Samuel answered. “I get the luxury of going home to my wife every night now, but the boys in charge here utilize my experience and I help to knock the new recruits into shape. I’ll get to know every one of you over the next couple of months of your training, and you’ll probably end up cursing me in your sleep. I’m fair, but I’ll push you hard when I’m around to make sure you are fit and ready for service in my beloved army.”
A quiet murmur went around the room, but it ended when Sa
muel put his hand up. He glanced at his watch to see it was now seven in the evening and his hour long session was at an end.
“Are there any more questions?” he asked.
His query was met with silence, so he dismissed the recruits and watched as they filed out of the room in an orderly fashion. There would be plenty of opportunities for questions in the weeks and months ahead as he helped separate the wheat from the chaff then sent another group of young men on their way to hopefully a distinguished military career.
He collected his papers together from the table and placed them in a folder before eventually following the recruits out of the meeting room. There was one more thing he needed to do before heading for home, so he made his way to see the commanding officer of the base. He knocked when he got to the door and waited for the call to enter. When it came, he walked inside and stepped across the room to sit at the desk.
“So… what did you think?” Major Anderson asked straight away.
“Come on,” Samuel said with a shake of his head. “That was my first hour with a bunch of raw recruits.”
“That’s all you ever need to make a judgment,” Major Anderson replied with a smirk. “You can smell the mood of a group within five minutes of walking in the room.”
He reached in the top drawer of his desk to bring out a polished stainless steel hip flask and raised his eyebrows in invitation as he held it up.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Samuel answered.
Major Anderson got to his feet and walked to a nearby cabinet to get two shot glasses and poured the whisky from the small, curved flask when he returned to his seat. He pushed one of the glasses across the desk and Samuel picked it up to take a sip.
“So… give me your honest opinion,” Major Anderson said.
“They all paid attention and showed an interest in what I was saying,” Samuel answered. “My first impression is that the majority of them will make it through the training, but we’ll find out those that can handle the pressure in the next few weeks. I would suspect that fifteen to twenty percent of the group will fall by the wayside, but that’s par for the course.”
“My executive officer reckoned that it would be more like fifty percent,” Major Anderson went on.
“Maybe I have more faith in the young men seeking a career in the army than him,” Samuel said.
Major Anderson nodded and remained quiet as he picked up his glass to take a sip of his whisky. He seemed to take a few seconds just to enjoy the taste, and when he started talking again the change of subject came as a surprise to Samuel.
“I have a message for you,” he said. “Your wife got in touch around thirty minutes ago and asked if you could contact her.”
The frown creased Samuel’s brow at the news. Considering he would be home that evening, his wife would only call him at the base if it was something important. The worry lit up in his mind and he was unable to conceal his sudden edginess.
“I guess I better make the call then,” he said then tipped his glass up to empty it in one gulp. “Is there anything else you need from me at the moment?”
“No,” Major Anderson replied.
“Thanks for the whisky,” Samuel went on and put the shot glass down on the desk.
He got to his feet and made a quick salute before turning to walk to the door of the office. Once he was out in the hallway, he got his phone from his pocket and switched it on. He decided to wait until he was somewhere more private to make the call and walked in the direction of the base parking lot. It was only when he was sitting in his car that he brought his home number up on the screen and made the call.
“Hi Kath,” he said when his wife answered the call. “Is there a problem?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “But thought I better tell you straight away.”
“Tell me what?” Samuel asked.
“A letter came to the house for Carrie today, so I asked Bella to let her know when she spoke to her.”
Samuel couldn’t stop the sigh coming out at the mention of Carrie’s name.
“And?” he queried.
“Well, Bella called the college early this evening,” Kath went on. “She was told that Carrie wasn’t there.”
“WHAT!” Samuel exclaimed as his annoyance erupted. “What do you mean she isn’t there? If she’s not at college, where the hell is she?”
“Apparently with us,” Kath said. “Bella was put through to Carrie’s student counselor and he asked how you were.”
“Huh?” Samuel let out. “Why would he ask how I was?”
“Because Carrie told him that you weren’t well and that she was needed to help out with the family business for a couple of weeks.”
“What the hell,” Samuel let out. “What is she playing at?”
“I don’t know,” Kath replied. “But she’s obviously made up a story to get herself a couple of weeks away from college.”
“Why does she want a couple of weeks away from college?” Samuel asked.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Kath answered.
Samuel let out another sigh. His youngest daughter had been difficult since she became a teenager, but finally seemed to be settling down to some normality when she made the decision to attend the English course at college. He’d hoped it would be the end of the difficult years, but he guessed not.
“What do we do?” Kath asked.
Samuel considered the question for a few seconds before speaking.
“Did Bella find out anything else?”
“No,” Kath asked. “She didn’t want to say something that would land her sister in trouble, so she got out of the conversation with the counselor as quickly as she could. All she knows is that Carrie used the excuse of you being ill and out of action for a couple of weeks to get out of college.”
“What the hell is that girl doing?” Samuel let out and shook his head as his annoyance grew stronger. “Bella’s been to visit her at the college, so see if she has contact details for any of Carrie’s friends there.”
“Sure, I’ll do that,” Kath agreed.
“I’m just about to leave the base right now,” Samuel went on. “I’ll be home in around thirty minutes or so.”
“I’ll see you then,” Kath said.
The line went dead when his wife hung up the call and Samuel pulled the phone from his ear. He stared at it for a short while before tossing it down on the passenger seat. There was no containing his irritation at the actions of his youngest daughter, and his knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel tightly for a few seconds. He made the conscious effort to calm down without a great deal of success and shook his head in a grim fashion.
“That bloody girl is going to be the death of me,” he let out under his breath as he fired up the engine and put his car in gear to set off for home.
Chapter 4
“Can I take a shower?” Carrie asked immediately when she followed Crash inside his apartment.
His eyes narrowed when he turned around to stare at her and she put a sweet smile on her face. She waited for him to speak, but the silence stretched out and it was her that went on talking.
“Please,” she went on. “It’s been a long journey to get here and I feel a bit grimy after so many hours on a bus then sitting outside waiting for you to come home.”
“Why are you here?” Crash asked.
“Can I have my shower first?”
He was silent for a few seconds more as he continued to stare at her before eventually agreeing to the request.
“Follow me,” he said.
Carrie happily did as she was told and her gaze settled on the way Crash’s taut butt strained against the denim of his tight jeans as she was led along to a bedroom. It brought a smirk to her face and she kept her gaze glued to the impressive sight for as long as she could. She dumped her bag on the floor when she walked inside the room and watched as her host for the night, and hopefully much longer, moved to the wardrobe. He searched inside to find a fresh towel then
threw it to her.
“The bathroom is through there,” he said and pointed to a door.
“Thanks,” Carrie replied and her gaze dropped to his butt again as he walked out of the bedroom.
A smile spread across her face because she was alone with the man she’d dreamed about for so many years. It might get her nothing, but it put her in a position where fantasy might become reality and the flourish of anticipation sent a shiver trickling down her spine.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” she cautioned, but knew she wouldn’t be able to help it.
Club Property: Adults Only Motorcycle Club Romance: Roadrunners MC Page 3
