by Jessie Cooke
“The name is not important. Your mother, she is behind on a payment she owes us. Since I can’t get in touch with her, I thought you could pass on a message for me.”
Fuck. Shit. How did they get my number? “What’s the message?” she asked, although she really didn’t want to hear it.
“We expect the payment today.”
“That’s not possible. My mother...she’s not well.”
“Well then, you’ll have to take care of it, I suppose. When one of our clients is indisposed or dead, the debt passes to the family. Your mother understood that when she accepted the loan.”
Motherfucker. She so badly wanted to say that out loud. “I don’t have seventy-five hundred dollars.”
“Sorry to hear that, but she owes ten thousand.”
“What? Are you crazy? The payment is seventy-five.”
“Yes, when it’s made on time. It was due four days ago. We would have called you then, but it took some time to track someone down that had your number. You’ll be happy to know that your new employer had some strict guidelines about not handing our numbers.” Shit. She had to wonder what they did to get it.
“I have a thousand dollars in the bank. I can get that to you today.”
“And the other nine grand?”
“I don’t have it.”
“I’d get busy making some phone calls then. Maybe your new friends the Skulls could help you out.”
“How do you know who my friends are?” Suddenly a chill ran through her. Have they been watching me? Do they know where I am? Where my mother is?
“It’s our business to know things. Someone will contact you at four this afternoon to arrange for pickup.”
“You’re not listening to me, there is nothing for you to pick up. I don’t have ten grand.”
“We’ll talk soon. Have a lovely day.” Storm stood there for a few seconds just staring at the phone. What the hell am I going to do? Even if she tried, the bank was never going to lend her any money...much less ten grand. Fuck! She finally walked over and dumped way too much sugar and cream into her coffee and then found an empty seat and sat down. Her body felt numb. She really had no idea what to do. Her first impulse was to call Ryder, but she couldn’t do that. She’d never borrowed money from anyone in her life; she wasn’t going to start out a relationship by asking the man she loved to lend her ten grand. She opened up her contact list and stared at her aunt’s number. She realized just at that moment that she hadn’t even called her about her mother. She pressed in her aunt’s number and when she picked up Storm said:
“Hi, Aunt Claudia.”
“Stormy? Oh my goodness! It’s been months since I heard from you. Are you okay? You’re not angry with me, are you? You know I wanted to help your mom, but honey, she was stealing from me...”
“Aunt Claudia, it’s okay, really. I’m not angry with you, I understand.”
“Oh, thank goodness. I feel so bad for you, and honestly for Elise too. I don’t know what’s wrong with her...”
“Aunt Claudia, she’s sick...”
“I know, honey, I tried to get her to go to one of those twelve-step meetings, but she wouldn’t do it.”
“I know, Aunt Claudia, but by sick I mean physically. She’s in the hospital in New York.” Storm told her aunt what had been going on with her mother. When she finished talking, she heard her aunt sniff and she knew she was crying.
“What a terrible sister I’ve been. I cut her off and kicked her out and she was walking around with a tumor in her brain.”
“You couldn’t have known. I felt bad myself at first, Aunt Claudia, but none of us could have known. The important thing is that she’s going to be okay, and we’ll all have another chance.” If the loan sharks don’t kill me first.
“Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything? It has to be expensive staying in New York, I can wire you some money.” Storm was having a war in her brain. She had no idea if her aunt had ten thousand dollars or not...but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. It was too freaking much money and it would take her years to pay it back...and next week another seven and a half thousand was going to come due. She couldn’t do it.
“I’m really okay, Aunt Claudia. My friend paid for the hotel so all I really have to pay for is food and I have money for that.”
“I want to do something. I’m going to talk to Herb when he gets home. I should be there. My sister needs me, and you shouldn’t have to do this alone.”
“You really don’t have to come.”
“I want to,” she said. Claudia talked more about driving to New York versus taking the train before she finally assured Storm that she’d see her by late afternoon. When Storm ended the call, she felt even more anxious that before. Her aunt would be there by the time the loan shark called back. What if they knew where she was? Was she putting her aunt in danger too? She wondered if maybe she should call the police, and then she wondered if that might get her mother in trouble. Was it illegal to borrow money from a loan shark? She had no idea. She had no experience with any of this.
She looked at the time. It was almost noon already. There was no possible way that she could get ten grand by four p.m., so she decided that she just wasn’t going to worry about it. She couldn’t do anything about it, so the worry would be wasted...right? She took a sip of her coffee and almost gagged on it, it was so sweet. Standing up on shaky legs she walked over and dumped it in the trash. On her way back up to her mother’s room she searched the Internet for payday loan companies and realized that she’d have to take fifteen or twenty of them out to make ten grand. She sighed in frustration and tried her best to shake it off before she went back into her mother’s room...it was going to be a long-ass afternoon.
Storm’s mother slept most of the afternoon and she tried to take a nap herself, but it was no use. No matter how much she told herself that she wasn’t going to worry, she couldn’t stop. Her head ached, and her stomach hurt, and when her phone began buzzing in her pocket at exactly four o’clock, she wondered if it would only make things worse to not answer it. She pulled it out and looked at it and then at her mother. She looked like she was asleep, but she’d been in and out all day. She didn’t act like she’d remembered anything about the loan shark so far and Storm definitely didn’t want her worrying about it. She got up and went out into the hallway. The phone was on its fifth ring and about to go to voicemail when she found a little alcove and finally answered it.
“Hello?”
“Miss Waters. I trust you have our payment.”
“You trust wrong. I told you this morning that I wouldn’t have it. I have a grand that you can have, that’s it.”
“Nice hotel you’re staying at for a woman with no money.” A sharp pain stabbed her in the stomach like a knife and she felt the acid roll up into her throat. She didn’t even know what to say to that, but before she could say anything, the man on the other end said, “I apologize but I’m going to have to put you on hold for a second.” Suddenly there was dead air and she thought about just hanging up. But he’d just call back, and he knew where she was staying, which meant he probably also knew where her mother was. “Miss Waters?”
“Yes, I’m here. Like I was saying, I don’t have ten grand.”
“That’s okay, it was taken care of.”
“What? By who?”
“Your mother’s debt is paid in full. It was nice doing business with you both. Give her my regards and hopes for a speedy recovery, please.”
“In full? The entire hundred grand?”
“Yes, what was left of it, plus the interest. You have good friends, Miss Waters.”
“What friends?” She wondered for a second if it was Carolyn, but that wasn’t possible. The man that robbed the bar had only taken fifty thousand dollars. If you subtracted the money they paid the loan shark right away, they were only sitting at thirty-five thousand. There was no way it was Carolyn...that meant that it had to be Ryder.
“Have a good day,” the man
on the other end of the line said before ending the call. Storm was shaking again. She knew she should be happy that her mother no longer owed a nasty loan shark money, but now she wondered who she did owe money to. With her hands still shaking she pressed in Ryder’s number. He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, gorgeous. How is everything? You okay?”
“Um...yeah, I guess.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Ryder, did you give the loan shark money?”
He didn’t answer right away, and that gave her an answer even before he said, “They’re dangerous people, baby. You’re my old lady now, right? It’s what a man is supposed to do...”
“No, Ryder. I didn’t want to start out a new relationship owing you.”
He chuckled. “You don’t owe me anything. It was...extra money, I won’t even miss it.”
“Extra money? You have a hundred grand just lying around extra, do you?”
“Honestly, it won’t even faze me, but I’ll sleep better over here in Boston while you and your mother are there in New York, knowing that some creep is not going to come around bothering you.”
“Ryder! We’re rolling!” Storm heard the bikes firing up in the background as the man yelled at Ryder.
“Baby, I have to go. Please don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad...”
“Good. I love you.” She was going to say that she wasn’t mad, but she wanted him to undo whatever he had done. He wasn’t rich enough to just give away a hundred grand...was he? It didn’t matter. She didn’t want to owe him. “Baby?”
“I love you too,” she said. “Be safe.”
“I will.”
“Ryder...”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll talk to you soon.” He ended the call and she stood looking at the phone wondering how she was supposed to feel. She didn’t have long to think about it, however, before the steel doors beside her slid open and her aunt stepped into the hallway. Her Aunt Claudia was a talker and all the way down the hall, back to her mother’s room, she chattered nonstop. It was at least a distraction.
24
Ryder was almost positive that the conversation between him and Storm about the money wasn’t over yet. She had let him go, but he could tell by her tone that she was worried about accepting his “gift.” He stepped onto his bike and slid on his bandanna; as he flipped his sunglasses down over his eyes he told himself to think about it later. What they were about to do now was going to require his full attention. It was the only reason he had left Storm and come back to the ranch. He’d finally gotten the scoop on what was going on, and it wasn’t good.
Dax took off first with his brother Gunner, who was now his road captain, beside him. Handsome, the VP, came next and then two of his sergeants at arms, Cody and Jimmie, fell in. The rest of them fell in behind, about twenty of them in all. The black van that they called the “Swag wagon” drove behind them all with the prospects inside. They were all heavily armed and ready for the fight that they knew was coming...or as ready as they could possibly be.
Dax had done his best to get the club out of the gun trade for the past few years, but they still had obligations to their friends in the IRA that they had to fulfill. They got a shipment about six times a year now and all they had to do was deliver it, collect the cash, and filter the money to Ireland. They got paid well for their efforts and time and up until recently, it had all gone smoothly. But almost a week before, while Ryder was on his way to New York with Storm, it had all gone sideways. Four of the Skulls and two prospects had gone to pick up the shipment that was going to be delivered to a club in northern Maine and when they got to the docks, a truck was leaving. They found the warehouse that they were paying a security company a fortune to load and watch, with a hole cut in the side...and empty. The security company was closed up and the six men who worked it, long gone.
Dax was livid, and that was putting it mildly. But it only took Hunter and his cousin a few days to track them down. They were in a small town called Taunton, in the next county, but only about an hour away. They thought they’d pulled off this fantastic heist...but they were fucking idiots. If Ryder had ever been stupid enough to steal from the Skulls, Dax in particular, he’d be in a different country by now.
Most clubs would have gone in guns blazing when they found them and taken back what was theirs, but the Skulls weren’t most clubs. Once Dax had known where they were, he’d immediately begun to lay his plans. One of the reasons Dax had become so successful and taken the Skulls to heights that no MC on the East Coast had ever gone before was his ability to make and nurture contacts in almost every county. In this case, his contact was an old friend of his father’s that used to ride with a club in the northern part of Bristol County. He went by the moniker of “Pappy,” and although Pappy was retired, he still had an ear on the pulse of his old territory, and a strong connection to his former club, the 69ers.
With little effort, the 69ers were able to find out that a street gang in Rhode Island called the Posse were calling in money they were owed in order to cash in on an opportunity that had fallen into their laps. That opportunity was to buy a large shipment of guns that they could never get on the streets in New England, for a very discounted price. Dax knew of the Posse. They were said to be one of the deadliest gangs in New England and in a fight, they turned kamikaze. In other words, they didn’t care if they died, as long as it was protecting their turf. Dax wasn’t looking to get into a war with them and he was smart enough not to approach them with any kind of offer or deal. Instead, the Skulls were going to intercept the thieves on their way from Taunton to Providence.
The only smart decision it seemed these thieves had made was moving the guns after dark. The road they planned the rendezvous on was call Kings Highway back in the day and was laid out between 1650 and 1735. Some of the thirteen-hundred-mile road passed through Bristol County, and the heavily wooded area along a river and outside Taunton would be the rendezvous point.
Dax was in constant contact with the 69ers who were watching the thieves. The ride from the ranch to the rendezvous was just about an hour and forty-five minutes, and the sun was just setting when they got there. They all stopped along the highway and the prospects began to scout the area. When they found space for them to all get their bikes through without damaging them, and the van, they moved them one at a time and left them under the cover of the thick trees and brush. Cody and Jimmie were sent to create a road block for the thieves, two of the prospects were sent up the road further to detour any other cars that might come along, and the rest of them had just finished arming themselves when Dax got the call that the thieves would be passing their way in about ten minutes. Besides their weapons, they were all armed with industrial-sized flashlights too. It was go time.
The men got into position along both sides of the road right at the road block...and waited. Dax had already briefed them before they left the ranch. He didn’t want a gunfight. He didn’t want his men to draw first blood. He wanted a show of force and he wanted the thieves to see their weapons, but they weren’t to pull a trigger without his say-so. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation and anxiety. They didn’t go around having gunfights like a street gang, so some of them hadn’t fired their weapon at anything other than a tin can in months. Not that Ryder doubted anyone in the group had what it took to protect themselves and have their brother’s backs. When Dax put together a group of guys for something like this, he picked his company wisely.
Ryder was a few feet from Dax when he heard his prez’s phone beep. Dax looked at it and raised his hand. That meant the thieves were close. Seconds later they all heard the rumble of a heavy truck and another loud motor chasing it. Thanks to the 69ers they knew these guys were hauling the guns in a rented U-Haul truck. There were two guys in the front and two in back. Right behind the U-Haul would be a Jeep Wagoner with the other two men inside. Ryder could hear his heart beating in
his ears as the lights of the truck got closer. They were almost on the thick, heavy felled trees that Cody and Jimmie had dragged out into the center of the highway when they laid on their brakes. The U-Haul truck skidded sideways and the tires on the Jeep began to smoke as the driver hit the brakes. The Jeep stopped inches short of slamming into the truck and before any of them could open their doors, they were surrounded. The guys held their weapons in one hand and their flashlights in the other. The men in the truck and the Jeep had to be blinded by all the light, and Ryder wished he had a video of the looks on the faces of the two in the U-Haul. The dumb fucks actually thought they were going to get away with stealing from the Skulls.
Dax leveled the AR-15 he was holding at the windshield and in a loud voice he said, “Roll down your windows and throw out your weapons.” The passenger looked at the driver. The driver looked like he just might be stupid enough to refuse...but only for a fraction of a second. At least ten big guns were trained on them both as they slowly rolled down the windows of the truck. A handgun dropped out of the passenger side and a second later, another from the driver’s side. Dax waited a beat and said, “Don’t be a bigger fucking idiot than you already have been.” Half a second later two automatic rifles appeared and were dropped in the same spots as the handguns. “Good, now slowly get out of the vehicle with your hands up over your heads.” The men looked at each other again. The one in the passenger seat looked like he might cry as he opened his door and slowly emerged. One foot hit the ground and the second one was about to when Cody dropped his flashlight and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. He slammed him face-first into the pavement with one hand. Ryder couldn’t see what was happening on the other side at that point, but he assumed that Jimmie was probably doing the same with the driver.
With a flip of his head Dax told Ryder, Gunner, and Zack to follow him. Everyone else stayed put. They walked around the back of the truck and Ryder saw that one of the prospects had placed a padlock on the roll-up door of the truck. Dax’s attention was focused on the Jeep, which was lit up by the flashlights the other half of his men were holding. The guys inside had their hands on the dash and looked scared shitless. Dax issued the same orders to them as he had their friends and they complied even more readily. As Ryder was “helping” the passenger out of the Jeep and to the ground, not gently, the poor driver was ripped out of his seat by Garrett. Ryder almost laughed out loud just at the look on the guy’s face when he’d seen Garrett coming. He’d be willing to bet the guy had peed his pants before he hit the ground.
