Moloch tried the windows and found one that was unlocked in the kitchen. They climbed inside directly above the room’s double sinks, and took seats at an old oak kitchen table set.
Moloch scowled at the debris that was piled in one corner. It consisted of beer cans, cigarette butts and condom wrappers.
“Look at that mess. I bet the damn high school kids use this place as a hangout.”
As Gorgon took out his phone to call Andrea, Moloch continued looking around the kitchen of his childhood home. Memories flooded back, some good, but most of them were horrible. Including the memory of the night his brother shot their mother to death.
He rose from the table.
“I’m gonna check things out,” he told Gorgon, but in reality, he didn’t want the man to see him cry.
CHAPTER 14
Bo Raines was headed back to his motel room when he took out his phone to check for messages. His mode of transportation was the Harley that had belonged to the first Demon he killed, Beelzebub. Bo considered it a spoil of war.
His father had sent him a text from one of the throwaway phones they had made plans to use, and Bo knew that it was likely bad news.
Once the message was relayed, his father would destroy the cheap phone it had been sent on, while Bo would likewise discard the phone he received it on.
Each of them would then switch to the next cheap phone they had designated for use. After contact was made again, they would be down to the third and final set of phones. All three sets had been purchased at different locations and would be extremely difficult to trace.
Bo knew from the fact that there was a message that the news was important, or else his father would not have made contact. The first part of the message worried him, but the second part gave him hope.
NOT MUCH TIME. DEMONS CAME TO FARM, MOM AND I ARE FINE, 5 MORE DEMONS DEAD, 2 IN JAIL.
COP NAMED PIERCE SAVED YOUR MOM. I TRUST HIM. I INTERROGATED A DEMON AND HAVE AN ADDRESS FOR YOU. MAYBE JENNA IS THERE? THE DEMON DIDN’T KNOW WHAT BECAME OF HER.
What followed was an address in Atlantic City. It was the same warehouse that FBI agents Rodgers and Abrams came across. Below that was Pierce’s full name and phone number, and finally, four words.
I LOVE YOU, SON!
Bo Raines was three blocks away from his motel room when he made a left at the next light and headed for the nearest highway that ran south. He was going to Atlantic City.
***
Back at the motel, Jake and Stacey were growing bored while waiting for Raines to return, not knowing that he had changed his plans.
When Jake called in to report, they learned of Pierce’s gun battle at the Raines’ farm in Flemington.
“Is Rick all right, Lieutenant?”
“He’s good, Collins, and it sounds like Bo Raines is a chip off the old block. His father killed four more Bay Street Demons and his mother capped a fifth one. Rick says that there’s another Demon that will need surgery and one he’s going to interrogate.”
“Damn, and here I am just sitting on my ass.”
“Your relief is on the way there, so I want you to join Rick in Flemington. Now put Hightower on the line.”
Jake handed Stacey his phone, and Coke Dyer gave her a choice.
“Since you’re helping out on this, I’ll let it be your call. You can stay there and wait for Bo Raines to show, head to Flemington with Collins, or come back here and hold down the fort with me, which will it be?”
“I’ll stay here. It’s still early and Raines might show.”
“Fine, but stop in my office before you call it a day, and Stacey, expect it to be a late one.”
“Right Lieutenant, my mom is watching my daughter and so I’m good to work as long as you need me. Also, thanks for the opportunity. I really want to help find Al’s killer.”
“We all do, Stacey, now stay safe.”
When Stacey handed Jake back his phone, she saw that he had a look of disappointment on his face.
“What’s that look for? You wanted to stay here, didn’t you?”
“Of course, it looks like the action is over in Flemington, and thank God Rick is okay. I feel bad about not being with him.”
“Yeah, but we’re stretched pretty thin right now. It’s one reason I’m staying here. If Bo Raines does show up, it may take everyone we can find to take him down.”
“You be careful if he shows, and call me and Rick. We’d never get back here in time, but we would still want to know.”
Collins waited until the surveillance team showed before leaving. Stacey would be on duty until nine p.m., when the next team showed, and then she would catch a ride back to the station with the first team. The teams consisted of patrol personnel who were called in on overtime.
They were dressed in street clothes and using unmarked cars. The instant anyone spotted Bo Raines, SWAT would receive an urgent call.
Collins felt somewhat sad as he drove away from Stacey. He had enjoyed spending the morning with her.
When he looked in the rear view mirror he saw that she was sending him a wave goodbye.
Collins waved back, tooted the horn, and smiled to himself.
Stacey may have a rule against dating fellow cops, but rules were made to be broken.
CHAPTER 15
The young punk that Pierce knocked unconscious at the Raines’ farm was named Chuck Ralston. He was a good looking kid, who was tall and had an athletic build.
Ralston wasn’t an actual Demon, but a wannabe, and so Pierce assumed that meant that there were still eight Bay Street Demons left, plus the one he’d wounded, who was recovering from surgery.
Chuck Ralston came from money, and daddy’s lawyer showed up in Flemington even before Pierce’s partner, Jake Collins did.
Pierce determined that the lawyer was inexperienced in criminal law, and was a business attorney who handled contracts. Ralston’s father must have figured that a lawyer was a lawyer, but Pierce saw an opportunity, and he was going to exploit it.
He needed Chuck Ralston to talk. He had to find out what happened on the night that Al Finder was killed.
Jake Collins had joined up with Pierce at the Raines’ farm, which was now a crime scene, and Jake was surprised at the level of chaos that had occurred at the bucolic residence.
Chuck Ralston might be a rich Daddy’s boy, but his wealth wasn’t in brain power. Despite his lawyer’s numerous pleas to stop, Ralston spoke freely to Pierce and Collins during his interrogation. He assumed he held the upper hand and wanted to flaunt it.
It turned out that Chuck was still five days away from his eighteenth birthday. He believed that being a minor gave him protection from serious charges. It did not.
***
Pierce sipped from a cup of coffee while he spoke to Chuck.
Jake was taking down notes, even though the interview was being recorded by the Flemington P.D. Taking notes was one of Pierce’s rules. Technology was a grand thing, but as reliable as a junkie.
Pierce had once lost an entire three hour interview with a bank robber who had killed a teller. That interview had also been recorded, but some flaw in the download software stored the tape under an unknown heading, along with over a dozen other current and past interviews.
It was in the police department’s cloud storage somewhere, but no one could find it. Luckily for Pierce, his partner at the time, Bob Jerold, had been taking notes from behind the mirrored glass of the interrogation room.
Jerold was retired, but Pierce still saw him from time to time when he was out and about, and they occasionally caught a ballgame together.
However, from the time of that incident, Pierce had taken notes, and had passed the chore on to Collins.
“You’re in trouble, Chuck,” Pierce said. “My guess is that you’ll be charged with the attempted abduction of Karen Raines, as well as the attempted murder of her husband.”
Chuck Ralston laughed.
“Nah-uh, I was out, dude. You cold-cocked me from behin
d, remember? I don’t know shit. I was just out taking a walk on that farm when I came across that motorcycle with the sidecar.”
Jake chuckled and then turned his head to speak to Pierce.
“Is this kid really as dumb as he’s making out to be? Forget the farm, he’ll also be going down for Detective Finder’s murder. I heard on the way in that Ralston’s prints were found at the scene.”
Pierce stared back at Jake, as he silently admired the lie he’d just told. Maybe the kid’s prints were at the scene, at the massage parlor where Al was killed. However, no such report had come in about a match, and even if it had, that wouldn’t be proof that Chuck Ralston was there the night Al was killed. Jake was guessing that a seventeen-year-old would have hung out in the massage parlor if given a chance.
Chuck suddenly looked worried, as did his lawyer, a Mr. Tracconi. Tracconi was a short man with a nice pinstriped suit. Pierce thought that the lawyer looked as if he felt out of place inside the interrogation room. He’d seen suspects who seemed more at home.
“Chuck, I advise you once again to remain silent. Once we hear the charges against you, then we’ll respond.”
“Charges? I’m seventeen, I’m a kid. I should just get community service, right?”
“You helped to kill a cop, Ralston,” Pierce said. “You don’t do a few months in juvie for killing a cop.”
“I didn’t kill that cop!” Chuck shouted. “I was in the back with one of the girls when it happened.”
Jake shrugged.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re a Bay Street Demon and the Demons killed a cop. Do the math, kid. You’re an accomplice to murder.”
Chuck leaned forward in his seat.
“It was Andrea, Gorgon’s girlfriend. She’s the one that killed that cop. I didn’t see it, but damn was she bloody.”
The lawyer, Tracconi moaned, then mumbled something about sticking to contract law.
“What’s Andrea’s last name?” Pierce said.
“I don’t know, but I can tell you where she is, or was. They move around a lot.”
Pierce pushed a notepad and pen across to Chuck.
“Write down everything you know about the Demons and about the murder and the attack on the farm. If you do that, I’ll talk to the DA about a deal for you.”
“What sort of deal?”
“Your lawyer and the DA will hash it out. It would go well for you if you told us where to find Jenna Raines.”
Chuck looked down at the table.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“If you do, talk, helping us to find her would almost guarantee you a walk.”
“I don’t want to do any time, not hard time. Look at me, those old queers inside the prison would be all over me.”
Pierce did look at Ralston, and a thought occurred to him.
“How exactly did the Demons grab Jenna Raines? I would think a fifteen-year-old girl like Jenna would run the other way once she got a look at the Demons.”
Chuck gazed down at the table again, then picked up the pen and played with it.
“Chuck, look at me, Chuck.”
Chuck peeked up at Pierce.
“You’re a good looking kid. I bet fifteen-year-old girls just go ga-ga over you. Am I right?”
Jake saw where Pierce was going and jumped in.
“You’re the bait, aren’t you? You hook up with the girls and let the Demons have them.”
“What do you get in return, Chuck?” Pierce said. “Money? Drugs?”
“No, Rick,” Jake said. “This son of a bitch feeds those innocent girls to the Demons for free access to the women in the massage parlor. That’s it, isn’t it Chuck?”
Chuck shook his head, but the truth was in his eyes. Not wanting to lose him completely, Pierce told the boy to write down what he knew about Al Finder’s murder. But if Pierce could have his way, he’d love to hand Chuck over to Jenna’s father, Bart Raines.
***
In Pennsylvania, Gorgon and Moloch were going over the many ways they were screwed.
They were wanted as accomplices in a cop’s murder and for the attack on the farm. They were also wanted in connection with the disappearance of Jenna Raines.
On top of that, half of their club members were either dead or in jail, and some psycho Soldier-boy was hunting them down.
They were upstairs in what had been Moloch’s room when he was a boy. Someone, likely Moloch’s sister, had cleared the furniture out of the room years ago. They sat on the floor and talked, while appropriately leaning with their backs against the wall.
“Shit man,” Gorgon said. “I don’t even have enough gas in my ride to get back to our new crib.”
“Me either,” Moloch said. “I was planning to gas up on the way back. Anyway, you know that the cops are looking at anyone on a motorcycle now.”
“Yeah, man, that’s why I told Andrea to have the crew stay inside until we can get back.”
“What about the meeting we had with the Salvadorans?”
“That’s not until tomorrow. We’ll leave here after midnight and head back, then I’ll think of something.”
“The Salvadorans are expecting at least two girls, and now we don’t have Chuck anymore.”
“Screw pretty-boy Chuck, we still got some coke. I’ll send Darla out tomorrow to hook-up with some girls and bring them back for a party. Once they walk through the door, they’re ours.”
“But they can’t be too old, make sure she knows that. They don’t want anyone over fifteen.”
“She knows. She was the one getting us girls before Chuck, remember?”
“Oh yeah, but Gorgon, man we need to get away. Can the Salvadorans help with that?”
“Yeah, they got connections. We’ll be in Mexico in a few days. Once we get some new paper, we can come back to the states, maybe L.A. Then we’ll be good, as long as we don’t get our prints run.”
“And what about the Soldier-boy?”
“He’s taken care of, I told Andrea to give him what he wants, his sister.”
Moloch stared at Gorgon as if the other man had gone insane.
“What the hell are you talking about? How is Andrea gonna do that?”
Gorgon shrugged.
“It’s done. She said she’ll do it, her and Darla.”
“If that works and Darla can find some girls for us to grab, then all we have to do is head back tonight, get down to AC, and then get the Salvadorans to help us. Will they want cash too?”
“They’ll help; and the girls will be payment enough. We’ll need our cash to start over and buy new ID’s.”
“If Darla gets the girls then we’ll be set, but that’s a big if; you know she’s flaky.”
“Yeah, but she gives great head,” Gorgon said.
“Fuck yeah,” Moloch agreed.
They grew quiet, as outside the sun set. Gorgon drifted off to sleep first, then Moloch.
Neither of them would wake until after midnight.
It would be a rude awakening.
CHAPTER 16
In Atlantic City, FBI Agent Daniel Rodgers was putting his phone away, while shaking his head at his partner, Abrams.
The two of them were in the shadows of a burnt out building that was a block away from the warehouse they suspected might be the lair of white slavers.
There were lights on inside the building and they had seen one man come out and drive off. The man had a swarthy complexion, and through his binoculars, Abrams had detected a shoulder rig under the man’s denim jacket.
Rodgers had been waiting for the Atlantic City P.D. to get back to him, but instead, he received a call from his supervising agent.
“We are to stand down, partner. It seems that Homeland Security has a mole in there.”
“Are there any girls being held captive?”
“Yeah, three of them, but the word is that Jenna Raines isn’t one of them. Two of the girls are Asian, while the third is a white girl with dark hair.”
Abr
ams sent his partner a look, along with a shrug that said, “What the fuck!”
“Yeah, I know. I would love to go in there and get them out too, but apparently there’s a raid set for tomorrow night. Some big shot with ties to terrorists is due here, and get this, the mole says that the Bay Street Demons are coming too.”
“Still,” Abrams said. “The girls.”
“I know partner; it sucks that they have to stay captive for another day. But twenty-four more hours might make a difference and result in less girls being grabbed off the streets.”
Abrams shook his head in disgust. He knew that it made sense to wait for more fish to enter the barrel before they began shooting. He also knew that the three girls being held captive were going through hell, as were their parents.
“Pierce?” Abrams said.
“I’ll call his lieutenant and give them a heads up. The boss said to keep quiet, but screw it. Pierce has a right to be here.”
“Twenty-four hours,” Abrams said. “After that, I’m going in.”
Rodgers reached over and gave his partner’s shoulder a squeeze.
“I’ll be right at your side. But for now we’ll call it a night.”
Rodgers and Abrams left the shadows of the building and began the walk back to their car.
Once he was certain that they had departed, Bo Raines stepped out from even deeper shadows within the building.
He had been there watching the warehouse when Rodgers and Abrams arrived, and had heard everything they said. Like Abrams, Bo would give it another twenty-four hours.
After all, the Bay Street Demons were due to pay the building a visit.
Bo Raines planned to be there to greet them.
***
Andrea and Darla rode slowly past the police station where Pierce worked. Their speed reduced further as they turned into the parking lot of the supermarket and fast food restaurant across the street.
The fast food restaurant was dark, having just closed for the night, but there were lights on in the market, as a night crew stocked the shelves. That was all right, the workers were busy and would stay inside, and there was no sign of anyone else in the parking lot.
Andrea was driving. She made a complete circle around the market before heading back towards the dumpsters by the fast food chicken joint. She and Darla had hoods up, which were pulled tight. Not satisfied with that, before entering the area, they had both tied a scarf over their nose and mouth to obscure their faces from any nearby cameras. Darla was also wearing sunglasses.
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