by K. J. Dahlen
The other man stared at him for a moment then said, “Mountain isn’t here anymore. He left over a year ago.”
Gage swore. “Damn, are you sure?”
The other man chuckled as he glanced over his shoulder at the others. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I think we would know if our old President was still here or not. He’s kind of hard to miss if you know what I mean.”
“Fuck a duck.” Gage swore. “Can I speak to your new President?”
“Before we let you in the gate, you have to give up your weapons,” The other man told him, motioning toward the gun under Gage’s vest.
Gage looked over his shoulder at the other two men with him and at their nod, he reached behind his back for his piece. Lifting it carefully, he held the piece with only two fingers and neither one on the trigger. He handed it over.
Lonnie and Sal did the same.
The other man motioned them forward and when they arrived at the clubhouse, there were several men standing there waiting for them. One motioned them forward and even held the door open until Gage, Lonnie and Sal went through it.
Inside, there were several members standing there making a corridor toward a table at the other end of the men. Sitting there was a lone man waiting for them. He looked to be about thirty years old. His hair was blond and long enough to be pulled back into a ponytail that hung down his back. His eyes were green and right now, they were curious. His chest was bare except for the leather vest he wore, the one that claimed he was President of the Sons of Satan. “What can we do to assist the Nomads?” he asked.
“We came here in search of a man called Mountain,” Gage replied. “We understood he was president of the club.”
“He was up until about a year ago. Now he isn’t, and he also isn’t here.”
Gage shifted his stance. “I gathered that. Do you know how I can get ahold of him?”
“My name is Hawk.” The President stood up and held out his hand to Gage. “Why is it so important to talk to Mountain?”
“I have a message from a friend of his. She only wants him to have it.” Gage shrugged.
Hawk shrugged as well. “If it was that important she would have his phone number herself.”
Gage shook his head. “I don’t think you understand. I’m not putting you or anyone else down but this girl was beaten badly and she managed to escape a dangerous situation to get this message out. It has something to do with the Grim Reapers from over near Cameron, Louisiana “
Hawk and several other men standing there shook their heads as they scoffed when he mentioned the Reapers.
“Yeah, we feel the same way,” Gage explained. “Those pigs are a plague on MC’s. They also claim they paid for this girl and were going to force her to be their sex toy. Now if a woman wants that sort of thing, that’s one thing but I don’t think this girl was one of those girls. Personally, I wouldn’t force a woman to sleep with me.”
“Yeah, neither would I or anyone that claims a Son’s vest.” Hawk sneered.
“But this girl overheard something she wants Mountain to know about. Instead of resting like she needs, she’s insisting on coming here in order to get what she knows out. I have no idea what it means but she will only tell Mountain.”
“Who is she?” Hawk asked.
“Her name is Georgia Lacey. She claims she met him at Shadow Lake. She said he made her a promise there.”
Hawk stiffened when he mentioned Shadow Lake. He glanced at a man standing next to him and then nodded at Gage. “Is this a small woman with long dark hair and light blue eyes?”
Gage frowned as he nodded. “That sounds like her. Do you know her?”
Hawk nodded as he reached for his phone. “I can put a call in. You have to talk to him here though in front of us.”
Gage shrugged. “I don’t have a problem doing that.”
Hawk took a step away from the table and dialed a number on his phone. It took a moment to get Mountain on and when he handed Gage the phone, he nodded at it. “You got Mountain. Talk to the man.”
Gage raised the phone to his ear. “Hello.”
“What the hell do you want?” a dep voice growled on the other end.
“I was asked to give you a message from a girl named Georgia Lacey,” Gage stated.
“Who?”
“A young woman you met at Shadow Lake,” Gage explained.
For a long moment Mountain said nothing. Then he asked, “What’s the message?”
“She said to remind you of a promise you made to her when you met on Shadow Lake. She promises to tell you everything but she’ll only tell you. I know some of it but not all of it.”
“Is it bad?” Mountain asked.
“Yeah, it’s bad. It could even be deadly to a lot of innocent people,” Gage went on. “The Reapers are supposed to cause a distraction for the next six days while another group sets something else up. I don’t know what that something is but from what I hear, it isn’t going to be good.”
“Why couldn’t she get me the message?” Mountain asked.
“The Reapers beat the hell out of her. She shouldn’t even be out of bed yet, but she insisted on getting this message to you. When they find her gone, she’s afraid they will shoot first and ask later.”
Mountain snorted his distain. “She would be right about that.”
“We found her passed out on the ground near our clubhouse late last night. She wouldn’t go to the hospital, so we took care of her the best we could. Early this morning, she woke up with a fever. It appears that she sliced her side open escaping through a broken window and lost a lot of blood. She needs rest but she won’t allow herself to do that until she talks to you.”
“Let me talk to Hawk,” Mountain demanded.
Gage handed the phone back to Hawk.
When the call ended, he stared at Gage. “He wants you guys to bring the girl here. We have a medic that can get her what she needs as far as medical attention. He’s on his way back down here but it’s gonna take a few hours.”
Gage nodded. “The rest of my group are on their way here. We’re supposed to meet them at a rest stop on the other side of the border. We aren’t a very big group to begin with as there are only eight of us.”
Hawk smiled. “No but we are. Mountain wants us to offer you and the girl protection until he gets here.”
Gage stood up straight and squared his shoulders. “We aren’t looking for trouble. We just want to find out what’s going on.”
Hawk nodded. “It’s all good. When Mountain left, we were good. He left to find his daughter, one he didn’t know he had for the first twenty years of her life. He found her and a whole lot more.” He chuckled.
Gage cocked his head to one side. “Can I ask what happened at Shadow Lake?”
“Why do you want to know?” Hawk asked.
“Just curious. I have a feeling it must have been something big. Usually, a group like this isn’t bothered by a little girl like Georgia.”
“Yeah, it was something alright. We got caught in a cross fire. Those fuckin Reapers led us into a trap. They claimed they wanted a truce and asked us to meet them to set the rules but instead, they caught us unprepared. That little girl and a few of her friends saved our bacon that day. It seems the Reapers weren’t as careful with their talk as they should have been. Georgia overheard them in town bragging about how it was going to be a turkey shoot. We were only coming with our officers, but they were going to be there in full force. They figured if our officers were gone, they would just take over our territory. So she and some of her friends thought they’d even the odds. They set themselves up high in the trees and when the shooting started, they gave us cover. That was when Lyle’s brother Greg was in charge. He always was a mean sonofabitch and double faced too. He’d tell you one thing then go back and screw you just for shits and giggles. The Reapers thought it would be easy to take us out and it would have been. But Georgia and her friends fought on our side that day. They didn’t actually shoot anyone, well e
xcept for Georgia, just caused enough chaos for us to find cover and do the killing. We turned the tables on them and won the day. When the dust settled, Greg and several of his men were dead. We were wounded but survived. We pledged to Georgia that if she ever needed us to remind us of Shadow Lake.”
“Can I ask how many died on your side?” Gage asked.
“We were wounded but not dead. We had three out of the ten of us that went there, that bled that day but Georgia and her friends saved our asses. When we asked her why she did it, she said they hated the Reapers. She said they’ve brought nothing but pain and misery to Jarrett. She said she wanted to live in a town not ruled by fear.”
“Who was it that she shot?” Gage asked.
Hawk snorted. “She took the shots that ended Greg Boyd’s miserable life. She told us later that she was happy to be the one to kill him.”
“You didn’t go back and finish them off?” Lonnie asked.
“No we didn’t,” Hawk answered. “We figured if Greg was dead the threat was over. I guess we were wrong.”
Gage nodded. “When Greg died, his brother Lyle took over. We’ve been watching Lyle for a couple of years now. He’s every bit as mean and nasty as his brother ever was or ever thought to be.”
Hawk nodded. “You bring the girl here. We got medical personal that will take care of her until Mountain gets here, then when she tells us what’s going on, we’ll make our move.”
Gage turned and walked out of the clubhouse. With Lonnie and Sal behind him, they made their way to the rest area outside of town. There they waited for Caine and the others to show up.
Chapter Four
When Caine and the others showed up a little while later, Gage could see he looked worried. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you have any problems on your way here?” Caine asked.
Gage and the others shook their heads. “We heard the bikes and heard some shooting but it didn’t come near us. Why, did you?”
Caine nodded. “Yeah, by the time we left, the Reapers were checking traffic in and out of the town. She had to get down on the floor in the backseat and the dogs covered her body.”
“How is she doing?” Gage asked.
“Not good right now,” Caine admitted. “She passed out a while back. I didn’t take the time to check her. I just wanted to get her this far.” He looked at the others. “Did you get through to Mountain? Is he willing to help her?”
“Yeah.” Gage chuckled. “Remind me to tell you a story about Shadow Lake sometime. Your girl has balls, I’ll give her that.”
“My girl?” Caine raised an eyebrow. “Since when did she become my girl?”
“If you don’t claim her, somebody else will.” Gage shrugged. “Might not be much protection but it’s something.”
“You could be right about that,” Caine agreed. He understood the way of the MC.
“Mountain is no longer here but he’s on his way back from wherever he went. Hawk is President now, but he says Mountain left on good terms. They are waiting for him to come back but they said to bring the girl to them and they’ll take care of her.”
Caine frowned but nodded. “Okay, let’s get her there soon. She needs medical attention now, rather than later.”
“Follow me,” Gage told him as he took off down the road.
A little while later, they pulled up to the gate and were waved in immediately. Caine pulled up next to the front door and carried Georgia inside. He was directed into one of the bedrooms off the main hall and when he got there, the President, Hawk and another man were waiting for them.
He laid Georgia on the bed and when Hawk saw her condition, he growled. He lifted his head to glare at Caine and asked, “The Reapers did this?”
Caine nodded. “We found her last night. Cleaned her up a bit and tried to get her to rest but she wouldn’t stay down. The cut on her side she said she got trying to get away.”
“When did her fever start?” the other man asked. He was still checking out her bruises.
“Early this morning,” Caine replied. “She’s been light headed and nauseous all day.”
“Has she vomited at all?”
“Yeah, more than once. We tried to give her aspirin but it made her sick to her stomach. She passed out again on the way here.”
Hawk watched the other man work for a moment. “Well Jasper, how is she?”
“She needs an IV right away loaded with antibiotics and saline. She’s dehydrated pretty badly. I doubt she’s had too much to drink in the last few days. And in heat like this, that’s dangerous. Not to mention her injuries probably didn’t help.”
“We tried, but she couldn’t keep anything down,” Caine defended.
“I don’t doubt that a bit,” Jasper agreed. “She’s a pretty sick girl right now.”
“Will she be able to talk to Mountain in a few hours?” Hawk asked. “He called back and said he had wings for the trip. He said he would be here in three hours.”
“Let’s get some fluid into her first,” Jasper said. “She might be able to talk in a couple of hours.”
“Get it done then,” Hawk ordered. “You know Mountain. When he wants something he ain’t gonna want to wait.” While Jasper began setting up the IV, Hawk turned to Caine. “Your man said there weren’t many of you. Did you all make it here safely?”
Caine nodded. “Yeah, we got out just in time. We only have eight men but each and every one of them are good men.”
“Military training?”
“Yeah. we’re all ex-military,” Caine admitted.
“Which branch?” Hawk asked.
“Army Rangers.”
Hawk nodded. “That’s cool. Most of us are ex-military too.” He looked over at the girl and asked, “So what do the Reapers want with her?”
“Who the hell knows with those assholes? She said they bought her but I don’t think it went down the way she heard it did. I can’t see Lyle Boyd giving out cash for anything.”
Hawk rolled his eyes. “You’d be right about that. He’s worse than his brother ever thought about being. And Greg was anything but a saint.”
“Greg Boyd was the biggest asshole in Jarrett,” Caine said with disgust. “You won’t find anybody that shed any tears over him when they found out he was dead. Hell, not even his own brother cried.”
Hawk nodded. Then he pointed a finger at Georgia and said, “She shot him down, did you know that?”
Caine frowned and stared at the other man, then he turned his head and stared at Georgia. “You sure about that? She doesn’t look the type to kill a man.”
“Yeah, don’t you believe it brother.” Hawk chuckled. “You don’t ever want to get this little girl mad at you. I can guarantee you won’t survive it if you do. I’d almost feel sorry for Lyle if she gets close to him again.”
“Why did she let him beat her this time then?”
“He must have caught her by surprise. He never would have gotten close to her otherwise.” Hawk shrugged. “We had never met her before Shadow Lake. We had no idea how much of a badass she was before then either. She can and does hold her own.”
“Shadow Lake? Isn’t that where Greg Boyd and some of his Reapers died about two or three years ago?”
“Yeah, they did.” He motioned toward Georgia. “She overheard Greg and his buddies bragging about a turkey shoot and they got there first. They didn’t know they were being overheard. Don’t really think they even thought anyone would stop them. We showed up with only a few riders. We didn’t know they were there until the shooting started. The Reapers showed up with three times our numbers. They surrounded us and would have had a field day but this one and some of her friends were ready and waiting for them. They more or less evened the odds for us and we took them down instead. We were wounded but they were dead that day.”
“Yeah, she isn’t fond of the Reapers,” Caine agreed.
“I don’t blame her,” Hawk replied sadly. “Mountain had us look into her after we got back. The Reapers were re
sponsible for her mother’s death and they have terrorized the town since the day they got there seven years ago.”
“What happened to her mother?” Caine wanted to know.
Hawk shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t know the all details but Greg and a few of his boys took her right off the streets. They grabbed her one morning when she was walking Georgia to school. Georgia wasn’t much more than a kid, I think she was fourteen at the time, when it happened. She heard her mother scream and when she turned around to see what the matter was she saw them grab her. When they brought her back the next day, they had brutalized her so badly, she never had a chance to survive. They just tossed her off one of their bikes in front of the hospital. They didn’t even slow down. She died that night in the hospital. Her father was mad and he tried to do something about it but Greg and a few of the others beat him so bad, he barely survived it. He began to drink after that. Word has it he became the town drunk. Georgia did what she had to, to survive. Nobody could blame her for that. She was only a kid at the time her mother died. She had to grow up fast under the circumstances.”
“I’m claiming her,” Caine told the other man suddenly.
Hawk nodded. “That’s a good thing. We would never hurt her and I don’t know what she has to tell Mountain or if we’ll get dragged into this situation or not but I’m glad she’s got someone in her corner, finally.” Then he got to his feet. “You and your men are welcome to stay here until after her chat with Mountain. I hope your boys will keep their noses clean while you’re in our house.”
“They will.” Caine nodded. “I think we’d all like to hear what she has to say.”
A few hours later, Mountain and several other men came into the clubhouse. There were eight men with him, four that looked just like him…Huge, muscled and badass. The other four were Sam and Deke Tory, Calico and Gator. Mountain came up to Hawk and held out his hand.
When Hawk shook it he commented, “Damn Mountain I didn’t know you cloned your ugly ass.”
Mountain laughed. “These are my brothers, Chance, Byron, Bowie and Dante.” He looked around and said, “These other guys are Sam and Deke Tory, Calico Marshak and Gator Willis. They came to help.”
