by Ryder Dane
He acted the part of the broken-hearted husband whose wife had taken his only child and ran away for some unknown reason. He agreed to the price, then had left the brotherhood alone for over the space of time it took the club to locate the runaways.
Once Demon and Knight had found the woman and teenager, and found out the reason for their leaving, the deal was off. They had spent weeks looking for the women and by the time the truth was brought out, Big Dog was not feeling charitable toward the sheriff, or the prosecuting attorney for that matter.
Marlene Houser and her daughter, Stephanie, were located in a travel trailer park outside of Corpus Christi in the gulf coast of Texas. The woman was working at cleaning and taking care of the elderly, and the daughter was waiting the counter at the local fast food restaurant. They had dyed their blond hair to dark brunette, and had some of the worst fake identification cards that either of the hunters had ever seen. It was obvious to the men that the two had been on the run for quite some time. The trailer they lived in was as simple as it got, and the few items of comfort that they could see were nothing compared to most females.
Demon insisted on making the interview a video call with Big Dog and Charlie was in the office at the time too, so he knew exactly what the deal was.
Marlene was embarrassed as she related the reasons for her leaving, “My husband, Sheriff Houser, is not an easy man to live with, he has appetites that no one sees but his family, and I put up with his abuse for years.” She looked at Knight’s kind eyes and continued her story after taking a drink of water, and reaching for her daughter’s hand.
“Vince started bringing Howard Buel to our house, and into our bed.” She saw Demon looking from her to her daughter and laughed bitterly. “I was a prisoner in my own home for the last six months we were there. My daughter didn’t go to school. He told the school that we were teaching her at home. She patched me up when they were finished with me, often they left me bleeding and still tied up.
“The week before we left, the bastards had videoed themselves both having me at the same time, they left their faces out of the video, but told me if I left, they would plaster it over the internet with my face filled with a man’s, well, you know.” She had her daughter’s hand cradled in both of her own when she looked back. “The morning after I saw Buel watching Stephanie taking a shower. I knew we had to leave before he hurt her, it was just a matter of time and what he could offer Vince in return.
“I stole the neighbor’s license plate and switched it out for mine, and waited until they left. I grabbed Stephanie and the video, and hit Vince’s cash drawer. He has a drawer in the bedroom that has all kinds of valuables in it, well he did have one, he’s probably moved it since we left. I took five thousand dollars and we headed east first, just in case he found someone that saw us leave town, and I drove a circle around to go west. The car is in Indiana at a rest stop, and we got a ride with a trucker to Texas. He could see that we were on the run. I guess the black eye and the fact than I was having a hard time moving told him everything he needed to know. He’s the man that gave us the trailer, and I bought the truck for two thousand from a guy who was selling it on the way outside of Houston.”
She let her tone change from embarrassed hesitancy to something close to fierceness. “We won’t go back to him, I will kill him if I am forced to go back, I will kill both of them. No one touches my child. No one.”
Big Dog had paid a visit to the sheriff and the man had of course denied the allegations at the time. The biker didn’t turn a hair when he set the new rules for the sheriff, he would stop searching for his wife and daughter, and he would pay them a thousand a month to help with expenses, or the story would go to the press and both of the men could kiss their careers and asses good-bye. One of the Bastards would pick up the money each month and the club would make certain the women received the payments.
It had been almost a year since Vince Houser had paid his monthly stipend, and Pressley had been sent to deliver a message from Big Dog. Charlie wanted to be the one to deal with Houser, but Big Dog had shaken his head and reminded him that he was no longer an active member of the club, and gave him the choice of getting a signed affidavit from Mrs. Houser as to the nature of their disappearance and the timeline of their leaving. Or he could go home and wait for the brothers to deal with the problem. Show was assigned to keep him on course and out of trouble. It was a good thing they got along or trouble would have happened as soon as Charlie had heard what happened to Pressley.
The Indian ate up the miles to Washington State and he kept thinking about his lady and the rest of his life. He came to the same crossroads in his way of thinking, he was going to have to stop straddling the lives he was tippy-toeing between for the past month and a half. Either the club, or Selma, and the life they were building together. Choices fuckin’ sucked.
Big Dog was asked to go to Selma’s office, saying she had paperwork regarding Pressley, so when he arrived the next morning, he found her office and knocked on the door.
She gestured him into the room, asking him to have a seat. “Look, you are probably the tallest man I have ever seen in person, not including my college days. It hurts my neck to bend so far back to look at your face, and if I don’t look at your face I am just about even with your waist.” She smiled and watched as he sat hastily in the padded chair, but couldn’t resist adding, “And we don’t want me to have to stare at your zipper, now do we?”
Big Dog was still cautious around Selma Pearson. When they’d first met, she had been his nephew, Steven’s, guardian ad litem. It was a fancy title for a child’s attorney. She had fought against him being granted permission to keep custody and adopt Steven, all due to the fact he was the leader of the local MC club. The kid meant the world to him, since his mother who was Big Dog’s sister, and her latest fuck buddy had died, Steven was his only living relative. Ms. Pearson had no idea how close she’d came to changing her mind.
If Charlie hadn’t intervened, the woman would be lucky to still practice law in prison. The amount of drugs to put her away would have been expensive, but he would have planted them on her, and she would be spending ten to twenty locked up for something she was innocent of doing. Instead, with the sacrifices Charlie had made, she now sat on a bench doling out sentences to the ‘criminal element’ of the county. He still wasn’t convinced that the woman was worth the price.
Seeing how miserable the greybeard had become since he rescued her from the shine maker, it didn’t sit right. Knowing that he would have sacrificed just about anything for Future, his wife. He understood Charlie’s thinking, but what kind of love was it going to be between the two older people. When only one is willing to give up everything in his life that made life worth living, while the other one kept her own lifestyle. A love like that would kill a man like his old mentor, and Big Dog considered her to be a selfish bitch.
He sent Charlie on a wild goose chase and he would swear he hadn’t done any such thing before admitting he wanted to keep the old man out of trouble when the shit hit the fan. No one fucked with a brother, and the sheriff and his fuck buddy, Buel, were as good as dead. The wheels were in motion, and Pressley’s father-figure would be nowhere around to draw suspicion. So now he would deal with the judge and go about his business.
“So what can I do for you, your Honor? We were enjoying a take-out pizza and a movie when you called. I’m sure you want to know that Steven is doing great in school and his teacher is happy with his progress.”
“I recused myself from Pressley’s case yesterday. In fact I decided to make sure the boy gets a fair shake. They have nothing other than the sheriff’s statement. They wanted me to rule so they could accuse me of a conflict of interest and I am not as stupid as they believe me to be.” Big Dog watched as she folded her hands on the desk in front of her and watched his face as she gave him the news.
“I sent the file to Dean Plyer, he is the Attorney General for the state, and I spoke to him last evening on the phone.
We agreed that the sheriff is shady here, in fact Dean told me some rather interesting facts pertaining to the man. Long story short, I have an order from the attorney general releasing Pressley into your custody. You have sole responsibility to make decisions for him medically and in his personal dealings, and financial affairs. In short, you are now the temporary guardian of one Elvis Collier.”
In no part of his imagination did he even consider that she would have gone to such lengths to help one of the Bastards. He studied the papers in front of him and saw the signature. Being a member of an MC group was always a gamble when it came to the law. He didn’t trust any public servant that carried a badge and a gun. Logic told him that the majority of cops were decent people just doing their jobs. The faction of abusive fucks tarnished all of them in the eyes of most biker communities. Houser was one of the bad ones and should have been double tapped a few years ago.
He nodded his head and began to stand, but her next question tested his code about staying out of the brother’s personal business. She’d done them a solid and he was not going to lie to her in return.
“I want to know if Charlie is still a member of the Burning Bastards, or did you kick him out when he came to stay with me, it’s a simple question, and I want an answer if you please. He smiles at home, and I know he still rides his bike, but I know he isn’t happy. He acts like his best friend died even when he tries to smile for my benefit. I’m not ashamed to say I love him, don’t you understand? I want him to be happy.”
He stood and went to the door, turned back and asked her, “Well, the way I see it. He has given up everything he is to be with you. I’m not talking about the hair and beard here, he hides his tats, he doesn’t wear his colors, and the few times he does ride, he rides away from here most of the time, so people that know you don’t get offended. Let me ask you a question. How much more of his life will you demand he give up for you? You already have his balls in your purse, what’s next, you want him to open a vein so you can sit in a courtroom and lord it over anyone unlucky enough to be dragged in front of you? He’ll do it, because that’s the kind of man he is.
“Now is where I say thank you for helping with Pressley, I’m going to the hospital and kick the first motherfucker who refuses to let me see him in the goddamned head.”
Selma knew the man didn’t like her, in fact she understood his dislike very plainly, but this had nothing to do with her call, that’s why she had laid it all out for the man rather than a snippet here and there.
But when Big Dog finished with his take on Charlie, Selma shut her opened mouth. She knew the big man wasn’t happy about Charlie’s decision to change his lifestyle and looks. It was way beyond anything she’d previously considered. It appeared that she had some serious decisions to make too. From the way Charlie had spoken and acted about the change, she knew he was doing his best to adjust, and she thought he was beginning to enjoy talking to people who weren’t affiliated with the club. He even watched a few chick flicks with her and let her cry on his shoulder during the sad parts.
Hearing Big Dog’s take on the situation put the relationship in an entire different light. What kind of woman who loved her man was she? She’d taken all that he had given her and what had she given him in return besides her time and love. “Face it, woman, you didn’t want to see what you’ve done,” she said as she sat waiting for the answers to come to her until the clerk came to inform her that the first cases were entering the courtroom.
She nearly groaned aloud when she read the first case file. Billy Moon, also known as Mooney, was accused of trespassing for the second time at the local pancake house, he refused to leave when they asked him for the third time to stop going into the ladies bathroom. He had small mirrors glued to the tops of his shoes, and would hide in the stalls until an unsuspecting woman would need to relieve herself. His foot would slide under the stall partitions and hoped to gain a peek-a-boo shot at the lady. The last woman had taken umbrage at his perving and waited until he came out. She had beaten him with her purse and stomped on his toes, breaking the mirrors.
“It’s going to be a long day,” she said out loud to herself as she walked into the courtroom.
Chapter Nine
Sheriff Houser got home and busted a new hole in the first wall inside his door. Howard Buel shouldered his way past the seething man and went straight for the cabinet he knew contained the alcoholic beverages, grabbed a tumbler from the cupboard next to it, and walked to the fridge to get some ice for his drink.
Vince was cussing a blue streak and he waited until his friend ran out of words before handing the glass over to the irate man. The empty glass was shoved back at him, and he looked at the barely melted ice cubes before turning back to replenish his drink.
“That interfering bitch, why couldn’t she play along, what the hell? We had her cold on this one, if she’d just dismissed the charges, we would have had her and whether she wanted to co-operate later wouldn’t matter. You said she was in love with one of those fuckin’ Bastards. He would strangle her if she let one of the brothers get railroaded. What’s wrong with the stupid whore?”
Howard was just as pissed as Vince was, but he’d learned long ago to redirect that rage into planning. He mind was imagining ways and means to get them out of the heavy scrutiny of the state people that had been kind enough to notify them that the investigators would be in town before ten in the morning. Judge Selma Pearson would pay. She’d beaten him in the election by over two hundred votes, and that still stuck in his throat. Vince was right, she was a fucking whore.
“Look, we can weather this, all we need is a better story about the kid and the disappearance of Marlene and Stephanie. The police in Elkhart still have no leads or witnesses around where she stashed the car. The place is rural and no one would notice the car for days if not weeks. So if we can’t find them, they can’t find them either, there should be no problem sticking with the plan right? They are gone and you suspected the biker gang kidnapped them right? So the kid came by to collect the ransom money and you refused, he jumped on you and you put his head into the wall. You have been distraught and needed to amend the complaint.”
He put his hand on the sheriff’s shoulder, drank a few swallows of the drink, and handed it over to the trembling mad man. “Here you go, buddy, if we stick to the same story, we’ll be fine.” He grinned and said, “Just think, we get to plan a nice thank you for the judge. When everything is said and done, and the state boys go home, we can give Selma Pearson and her biker fuck boyfriend something to think about before we kill them.”
The sound of clapping startled the men and they turned to see Big Dog leaning against the doorjamb clapping his hands and smiling. Vince reached for his side arm and heard the sound of a shotgun being jacked back and forth in a rapid sound. He held his arms away from his body, and felt the Glock taken from the holster at his side. “What do you want?”
The laughter rumbling from the huge motherfucker grated on his nerves. He glanced over his shoulder and changed his mind about attempting a run for it. The Bastard the club called Blue had a twelve gauge sawed off locked and loaded on him, and the fucker was grinning.
Howard opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it until he finished the last swallow of his drink, and hurtled the glass at the doorway where Big Dog had just moved away from. “Fucker.” The fist to his face was a surprise, and it made him see stars for a second before he swung his balled up hand toward the big fucker. His fist connected with the biker’s wrist, and without understanding how it happened, his wrist was grabbed and his arms were pulled behind his back while Vince’s handcuffs went around his wrists. “Look, we can make a deal, your club will be off limits in this county, as long as you don’t fuck around and get sloppy so there are no witnesses, you all can run the place, right, Vince?” He looked at the Sheriff, who was now holding his pistol with the help of another hand encased in a black leather glove holding his finger on the trigger.
“What
the hell? Vince, don’t let him make you do it, we’re friends for God’s sake, no one will believe you killed your best friend in cold blood.” The sound of the .40 caliber round being shot was the last sound he heard with any clarity. He looked down to his chest and saw the bright red pattern of his life’s blood rushing to the bullet hole and escaping onto the former white shirt.
The gun was removed from the sheriff’s fingers and he knew he would be next. Nothing he could say would change the biker’s mind.
“You know, I tried to deal with you in an honorable fashion, and look at the way you treat me and my brothers. You are the arrogant fuck here, asshole, first trying to get us to bring you an abused slave and a teenager who was being groomed to be that fucker’s toy. Then you fucked with a kid, one of us. You already know you’re going to die tonight, but I plan to make you beg for it before I let you kill yourself. I’ll even give you some hope that you can walk into the sunshine in the morning. All you have to do is win the fight, all you have to do is knock me out before I make you wish you’re mother had spit you out when your goatfuckin’ daddy screwed her. See? I fight like a man. So take your best shot, motherfucker.”
Within mere seconds after he made contact with his fist to Big Dog’s chest, he was tossed around like a basketball hitting the wall. He kept getting up, it was his only chance to live, but when he landed face first in Howard’s chest, with his mouth lying in Howard’s blood, it was too much. “Just get it over with, shoot me and let’s end this now.”
Big Dog hauled him upright and shook his head at the big talking corrupt son-of-a-bitch. “I told you, you need to beg, I don’t do well with demands, and you seem to think I’ll pull the trigger. What about the words ‘you are going to shoot yourself’ didn’t you understand?”
He was held upright while the huge hands slapped his face a dozen times, the last time it happened it felt like his neck snapped. “Alright, alright, give me the fucking gun.” He looked toward Big Dog, “Please.” His words were slurred and hard to understand from the split lips and the inside of his mouth being shredded by his own teeth.
