Nikki did a U-turn and parked a couple of blocks up from the where the truck would be turning in. She continued to watch the street and though nothing stood out an uneasy feeling sat in her guts. She shot off a text to Trace telling him they were in position. She also checked in with Brodie who informed her he had nothing down his end of the street. That still didn’t dislodge the feeling of doubt working its way through her.
Nikki watched as a car pulled into the street up ahead of her. It was the first car she’d seen moving along here. It was a late model black sedan, nothing unique about it except it didn’t look like it belonged in this neighbourhood. Then again addicts came in all shapes and sizes. The car pulled over and stopped on the next block up from her. She glanced in the rear-view mirror, no van yet. The car doors opened and out stepped a familiar looking bulky figure. Jesus Christ, it was one of Jason Black’s goons. She knew this was not going to go well.
Nikki quickly palmed her phone and dialled Trace.
“We may have a problem,” she announced down the phone.
“What?” Trace’s voice was wary.
“There’s sedan up ahead of me and one of Black’s goons just got out of it,” she explained.
A string of profanities left Trace’s mouth.
“Get Brodie to move up. I’ll send Jay in front of us and get Rat to pull up the rear.”
The bulky figure walked towards her tuning in to a driveway a few houses up from her. He stepped up onto the porch of the house as Nikki dialled Brodie’s number.
“Hey Brode’s need you to come up this way. I just spotted one of Black’s goons,” the sound of Brodie’s beater starting up interrupted her words, “Might need back up.”
The dude at the door glanced back at his sedan and another goon got out of the car. This was really not looking good. The other goon rounded the sedan and his eyes locked on the vehicles. He reached for the handle of the car and Nikki knew what was coming next.
“I’m on my way now Ace,” Brodie replied, “Where is he?”
Jason Black stepped out of the vehicle. Shit.
The last time they saw Black they were all pretending to be Crows. If Black had been helping Lenny then she was sure he would have to know who they were now. If he made any of them things were gonna get ugly and fast.
“Shit. There’s two of them now, Black is with them. They’re just up ahead of me,” She explained.
“Ok be there in a sec,” he stated and then he hung up.
Nikki watched as Black walked down the footpath towards her bringing his special brand of creepy all the closer.
The sound of the truck gearing down drew her attention to her rear-view mirror. Jay was just pulling round the corner and as she looked forward again Brodie was coming towards them a little faster than necessary. She wasn’t the only one whose attention had been drawn by the sound of the truck. Black was now looking down the road in their direction. Nikki could tell from the tension in his body that the sudden influx of traffic had put the man on alert. She checked her mirror again. The van was now making the turn followed closely by the truck.
Black said something to one of his goons and suddenly they were both beside him. Nikki had to do something and quick. She turned the Mustang’s key and it roared to life bringing Black’s attention to her. He peered at her probably trying to get a read on who was occupying the vehicle. Before Nikki could make a move Jay pulled past her and Brodie made a U-turn at the same time. She watched in open mouthed shock as their cars collided in a screeching of tires and a scraping of metal simultaneously clipping Black’s sedan.
Black and his men quickly turned in the other direction having forgotten all about the other vehicles. Both Jay and Brodie’s cars skidded to a stop further down the road. Jay was fully on the verge and Brodie was half on the road half up the curb. She wanted to get out and check if they were ok but that was not an option. Brodie and Jay had just given them a window of opportunity to escape unrecognised. The van, the truck and Rat rolled by her and down past the crash. Black and his men were too busy inspecting the damage on their sedan to give the convoy even a glance. Jay and Brodie were climbing from their vehicles as she considered her exit. The movement got Black’s attention and his goon’s started toward the prospects.
The prospects took one look at each other and ran. The goon’s began a pursuit and Nikki prepared to chase them down in her vehicle but there was no need. Jason Black yelled out to his enforcers gesturing toward the house they had approached. Obviously whatever the original reason for their being there was, it was more important than retribution for a dinged up car. Part of Nikki wanted to stay and investigate but after the close call they just had that would be playing with fire.
The engine of her Mustang growled as she accelerated into the road and Black’s gaze came back towards her. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds and recognition flared in his eyes. Her heart stopped and her blood ran cold. She swung her car into a U-turn and headed back in the direction the truck had come from. She shook her head. She was imagining things. There is no way he could’ve recognised her. Her phone beeped.
*No need to thank us. We’ll wait by the shopping centre on Ray.*
It was from Brodie. Looks like she had some soon to be patched prospects to pick up on the way too.
Chapter 10
“Are you ok?” Alex’s voice was full of concern.
“Sort of. Not really. It’s not me, it’s Rat,” Nikki fumbled over her words.
“What about him?”
“He’s dead. He was dumped on the club’s doorstep and I’m calling it in,” she heard rustling noises in the background.
“Ok I’m on my way. You know the drill, call emergency and don’t touch anything,” he instructed her.
Nikki hung up and dialled emergency services. She reported the body being dumped at the front of the clubhouse and she heard the report go out on the scanner. As she listened she heard Rachael pick up the call. Things would be so much harder without those two.
Nikki went back to the group.
“It’s done. Alex is on his way.”
“Right, we heard the beeping when we came out the car was gone right?” He paused waiting for everyone to acknowledge his words, “Make sure the women know.”
Nikki moved back inside the gate. The women had divided themselves into two clear groups. This is what happened in these situations. Those that were family were brought into the fold and those that were just hangers on were pushed out.
It was time for the skanks and the hangers on to go.
“Right ladies time to go,” she told them, “You need to go out through the side gate and disperse and we need to make it quick yeah?”
She herded them out the gate in a matter of minutes. Where they went after that was their problem? She checked the forecourt and spotted a particular skank milling around the edges of the other group of women.
“You too Melanie,” she stated loudly as she crossed the forecourt, “time to go.”
Melanie sneered at her, “I’m not going anywhere. You might have Tex and Trace covered but some of these men are gonna need comforting and I intend on being there for them if they need me.”
Nikki had no patience for this shit.
“If they need you bitch they can come find you in whatever hole you crawled out of. I’m sure it won’t be too much of a taxing search for them. They should be able to smell your dirty snatch from a mile away,” she quipped back.
Melanie narrowed her eyes and tensed up, preparing to throwdown no doubt. Then Reaper stepped up behind her.
“There a problem here?” he asked.
She watched Melanie smile sickly sweet at Reaper and rub up against him like a cat.
“Nikki said I have to go but you won’t make me will you Reap,” her pouty face and flirty tone made Nikki want to smack the bitch and hard.
“If a patched member of this club gives you an order bitch you follow that order. Now do as Ace said and piss off.”
The smile disappeared from Melanie’s face quicker than you could say, what a skank? She turned back towards Nikki and shot daggers at her then stomped past her to the gate. She was getting way too big for her boots and if one of the brothers didn’t put her in her place soon Nikki certainly would.
Rose had already ushered the rest of the women inside leaving her alone with Reaper. She knew this was one of the only opportunities she was going to get to speak to him.
“What are you going to do?” she asked him.
“About what?” he replied.
“Don’t play dumb with me Reaper. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re not going to be able to hide it forever you know,” she glared at him as she spoke.
“Maybe, maybe not,” he answered vaguely, “don’t worry about it kid. I’ve got an end game.”
Not worry about it? One of her Brothers was lying in the dirt metres away from them. If he thought she wasn’t going to worry about the lives of her other brothers he was sorely mistaken.
“How far away from this end game are you? Because from what I saw last the other night you don’t have much longer before that unsteady hand of yours starts to cost the club and the lives of your brothers.”
Silence followed.
“What happens when you can’t pull that trigger? When you can’t hit that target anymore? You’re putting your life at risk and the last thing this club needs is another dead body. And what about your brothers? You willing to put your pride ahead of their lives? Cause I don’t know about you but that shit will not fly with me.”
“What are you saying kid? I should tell them about my condition. Let them know the one man they rely on to take care of the real problems is no longer able to have their back anymore. What do you think happens to me then kid? I’ll tell you what happens to me then. I become a liability, a burden. Someone who feeds off the system but never contributes anything. I become a damn leech.”
Her anger was rising and she felt a distant hum coming from the prison locked up inside her.
“Better a leech than a murderer,” she spat the words at him.
“I'm not there yet kid and besides who would replace me? Rock? Case? One of your boyfriends? On a bad day I've got more skill than them."
They would manage without him. A man with less skill who you could count on was better than a man with skill whose reliability was unpredictable.
"Look kid I just need a bit more time. That end game is not that far away. All I'm asking for is a little time to get myself sorted then I can bow out with dignity and disappear somewhere sunny and warm where I won’t be a liability to anyone but my damn self. Jesus kid after everything I’ve done for this club don’t you think I deserve that? Don’t you think I deserve to leave on my own terms?"
She couldn’t argue with him on that one. He had done everything for the club. He’d maimed, tortured and killed for the club. He’d sacrificed his relationship with his daughter for the club. Hell one look in his eyes and you could see that man had sold his soul to the devil for his club. Not one of them would deny him his request if they could make it happen. There was only one way she could make this happen for him and he wasn’t gonna like it.
"What about me?" she asked him.
"What about you?" he frowned at her.
"Face it old man, you need help. I am not gonna let you put my brother's or my club at risk and I sure as hell am not gonna stand by and knowingly let you get yourself killed. You say the others don't have what it takes to keep up with you on your bad days well I'm saying I got what it takes to keep up with you on your good days."
"Really?" He raised his eyebrows in question, "Don't make me laugh kid."
"What you don't think I've got the skill?"
"Ain't no doubt you got talent kid. You got my keen eye and quick reflexes but I don't think you could handle doing what I do."
She knew what he was saying. He doubted her ability to kill in cold blood. What she doubted was her ability to tell the difference between hot blood and cold blood, especially if the monster escaped from its cage.
"And I think you underestimate my motivation to keep my brothers safe and this club alive."
He was quiet a moment as he seemed to ponder what she was saying.
"So what, you're gonna ride along on every job I have? And do what exactly? Watch my back in case something goes wrong? Help me execute our enemies? Help me torture men, women who have information we need?"
He was trying to put her off.
"That's exactly what I plan on doing, either that or I divulge your condition to the rest of the club and you get sidelined anyway."
"You're not really giving me a choice here kid," he responded.
"No I’m not," she agreed.
"You sure you can handle it?" He questioned.
"We'll soon see won’t we?" She replied.
She’d have to handle it. It was the only way to keep Reaper in the club, keep him alive and keep her brother’s safe.
"I guess we will," he called out to her back as she walked towards the main gates.
Nikki heard the bikes rolling up and the gates opened. Rock and Case rolled in with some of the other brothers in tow. Nikki approached them but Rock shook his head at her. They hadn't caught up with the car. She made her way out to the front as flashing red and blue lights approached. Two marked cars appeared and the uniforms got out herding the bikers away from the body and setting up a marked off area around Rat. Thirty seconds later Alex's unmarked vehicle pulled up to the scene and Rachael quickly took over giving the uniforms instructions.
Alex looked over Rat briefly before he approached Nikki. She couldn’t help but notice that both Tex and Trace simultaneously gravitated toward her.
“Hey,” he greeted her awkwardly.
She really couldn’t expect much else. She’d destroyed a part of his life and instead of being able to walk away and forget about it, she just kept dragging him right back into the mess.
“Hey Alex,” she replied just as quietly.
“What happened?”
“We were all inside having a party. A couple of the prospects made patch. This car horn started beeping incessantly and some of the brothers headed to the front. When they got out here Rat was there, like that.”
“Did anyone see the car?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” she looked down the road away from him.
The lies she told to him were endless and she knew he saw threw all of them.
“Where were you when it happened?” he questioned her.
“I was inside the clubhouse, in my room.”
He nodded his head at her and turned his gaze to Tex and Trace both hovering within earshot of their awkward conversation.
“And where were you two?” Alex’s tone was stiff and very unfriendly.
“We were both in the clubhouse,” Trace replied.
“In her room, with her,” Tex added.
Alex’s eyes went wide before he closed off completely. Nikki shot Tex a dark look. He could be such an asshole sometimes.
“Right, well don’t go anywhere we may need to question you later,” Alex stepped into cop mode.
What else did she expect? She lied to the man, cheated on him, left him and only called on him when there was a dead body or some info she needed. Alex Winter was the biggest regret of her life but only because she wronged a good man in so many ways and he just didn’t deserve that.
Alex and Rachael along with a few uniforms interviewed the crowd. They weren’t going to get anything out of them and they knew it. It was the usual drill and she knew Alex only put up with it for her. She often wondered why he just didn’t leave her hanging. Then he would turn and look at her and she would see exactly why he came whenever she called. He still carried that look in his eyes, the one that said he cared about her far more than he wished he did.
One of the brothers led them into the clubhouse to speak with the women but Nikki stayed outside the gate. She stood in a dark corner an
d watched the Medical Examiner go over the scene with a clinical attachment she wished she could muster. The more she stared at Rat’s lifeless mutilated body the worse the hurt and anger got.
Bridges was trying to destroy them and this was only the beginning of what he had in store for them she was sure. They could no longer waste time with defensive measures. The club needed to act and it needed to act quickly. If King wasn’t going to sanction action then they might just have to go behind his back and take action themselves. The idea of spurning both her Pres. and the one solid father figure she’d had in her life didn’t sit well with her. The more Nikki went over it the more she saw there was no other way than to go to war.
They needed to start with what they knew. What they knew was Lenny, the Niners, Jason Black and Bridges were all connected. The drugs were connected to him as well although this wasn’t something she could share without divulging her father’s little secret. That bastard had just made shit so much more difficult for her. She hated lying to the boys and hiding shit from the club went against the grain of everything she’d been taught.
She could feel the rumble of disquiet deep inside her and knew the warning signs. She needed to detach or she was going to let the dark from the box and that would not be good for anyone. She stayed while they carted Rat away and closed up the scene. The uniforms left and all that remained was some crime tape and some bloodied marks on the ground were Rat’s body had lain. She had been staring at that spot so hard and for so long she lost a grip on everything around her.
Among the Chaos: Book 2 of the Soldiers of Chaos MC Series Page 11
