Tee stood by with his gun raised to keep Matthias from doing anything stupid. He knew this was Luca’s show and was all too happy to let the big man lead, especially now that he knew what Matthias had done. With the grimness of an executioner, Luca slipped the cord around the man’s neck. Without waiting to give the man, a chance to speak a final time Luca kicked the chair out from under him.
Matthias turned pale as he danced on air, and pissed himself.
Luca stared into the man’s face as the life fled from his body.
Eventually when the thrashing stopped, Luca noticed a mark on the man’s forearm. Matthias shirt had been torn in the scuffle and when Luca raised the torn fabric, he cursed.
“What is it? What’s a matter?” Tee asked, uncrossing his arms and walking over to get a better look.
Luca raised Matthias arm to reveal the full design. It was a Los Lobos tattoo.
“Ah fuck.” Tee agreed, rubbing a hand over his face.
Luca wasn’t pissed he’d killed a scumbag member of nearly dead rival MC, he was pissed that he killed him before he could ask him a few questions. The most important question being why a Lobos member was such close friends with the man who was running for Governor…
What was Adam Peterson hiding?
Chapter Twelve
Luca looked over at Tee. “So tell me something, who are you exactly?”
“Remy calls me a strategist,” Tee said.
“Is that what you are?”
“I’ve grown into the role. Trial by fire. You know how it is.” Tee shrugged casually.
Luca glanced back at the man still swaying next to them. He curled his lip at the site of a baby and woman beater. “We need some dirt on Adam Peterson. We know he’s running for Governor and we need to stop him dead in his tracks. We need to show the entire state just what kind of man he really is.” Jerking his thumb to the other man, he said, “This piece of shit should have been in jail, out of harm’s way long before he almost beat his baby girl to death today. The fact that he isn’t tells me he’s got some big friends he’s been hiding behind. That fuckin tat tells me there more going on here than we knew before.”
He took a deep breath and continued, “We need to move and move fast.” He closed his eyes and swore. “Fucking hell. This just got so fuckin screwed up.”
“Hold up.” Tee commented. “You did what you had to do here. This jackwad deserved what he got. No woman or child should live with that kind of fear for even a day. Only problem was he didn’t suffer enough, in my opinion.”
“True enough.” Luca agreed but that fuckin tatt leads to more questions. What the fuck does he have in common with Peterson and why would Peterson protect this lowlife?” Running his fingers over his short hair he said, “We need something on Peterson and we need it now.”
“He’s running against someone right?” Tee smiled. “If anyone is going to have dirt on him it’s going to be his political rival. That’s a good place to start looking at least.”
“Tell you want,” Luca grinned. “You go find out what they have to say, just don’t break any bones ok? We don’t need you going to jail for this piece of shit.”
Tee frowned. “What are you gonna do?”
Luca sneered. “Me I’m going to pick up my daughter and go back to the club house and get the guys digging deeper for more dirt on Peterson. When they find this” he jerked his thumb toward Benjamin’s body, “Somebody is going to have their underwear in a bunch, and we need to protect the innocents. I’ll let Bowie know what went down here.”
Tee nodded and left the house. Luca took his time and dusted all the surfaces they had touched then mopped the floor on his way out. When he reached the garage, he carefully looked over the neighborhood before getting on his bike to take off. He didn’t see anyone but that didn’t mean they weren’t watching him.
Taking off slowly he took the back roads to catch the highway back to the city. He stopped along the way and called Grace. They agreed to meet to exchange Bella. Luca had to switch vehicles before that so he took off for his apartment
When he pulled up, he saw Grace and Bella waiting outside for him. He smiled and exited the vehicle. Bella ran over to him and jumped in his arms.
Luca took in her face. She had chocolate ice cream all over it. He smiled and asked, “So did you enjoy the ice cream?”
Bella giggled and nodded enthusiastically.
Grace chuckled and joined them. “She did indeed enjoy her ice cream.”
“Well I’m glad, chocolate ice cream with sprinkles is the best thing in the whole world.” Luca laughed when Bella began nodding her head in agreement.
Luca glanced over at Grace and nodded. “I need to get going. Just so you know, I’m swinging by the clubhouse for a bit. There is also cops and brothers at the hospital guarding Aiden. I don’t want Bella near all that but I do need to know what’s going down.” His eyes frosted over and he pulled Bella close to him. “She’s my number one priority right now but I will not let my brother down either. Family means something to me and Aiden needs my support.”
Grace stared at him for a moment. She could see there would be no changing his mind about this so she nodded slowly. “I hope your brother will be ok.”
Luca nodded at her. “He will be. My brothers are watching over him.”
Grace hesitated then asked, “What are you going to do about Adam?” She quickly glanced at Bella but saw no fear in her eyes over the name.
“I don’t know,” Luca admitted as he too checked Bella’s face for distress.
Grace took out an envelope from her purse and slipped it in Luca’s back pocket. Meeting his eyes, she saw his question her move but he didn’t ask out loud, so she didn’t answer it out loud. Instead, she rose up on her tiptoes and brushed his ear with her lips. “Have your brothers’ look into that. Might not lead to anything but then again, it just might open some doors you didn’t know about before.”
She leaned close to Bella and nuzzled her belly. “You be good for your daddy now, you hear sweet girl?”
Bella smiled and nodded.
Grace stepped back and walked to her car. As she drove away, Luca’s eyes followed her all the way out of the parking lot. Then he turned to his daughter. “Should we go find Sunshine?”
At Bella’s nod, he carried her over to the car and got her buckled up. Getting behind the wheel, he drove to the clubhouse. Once they got there, he found Sunshine waiting for him on the steps of the clubhouse. She had a worried look on her face and then a relieved one when she saw him pull up.
Luca got Bella out of the vehicle and walked up to Sunshine. “What’s up Sun?”
Just then, Doc came out of the club and nodded at his mother. “Nothing, I was just waiting for Bella.” She smiled at the little girl and took her from her dad. “Come on sweetheart, let’s go find you something to drink.”
“She just had ice cream so nothing too sweet,” Luca called out.
He watched as they went inside then he turned to Doc. “What’s up?”
“Dad just wanted you to know that the cops are watching Aiden’s room like hawks. One of them threatened to pull the plug on him this morning after he woke up.” Doc looked at him with narrowed eyes. “He wants you to stay away until the heat dies down. He’s afraid your temper might spark a confrontation that nobody wants.”
Luca ground his teeth as his rage grew. “How is he doing?”
Doc nodded. “He’s doing. It’s rough right now but this is something he has to go through. His addiction is making itself known, that plus the beating he took, man he’s all kinds of messed up at the moment.” Doc paused then said, “But he is where he needs to be too. They can help him, we can’t.”
“As long as someone doesn’t slip him a mickey while he’s there, he’ll be fine.”
Doc frowned. “Why would anyone slip him a mickey?”
Luca scoffed. “Those fucking cops would do anything to anyone in their way. They want us out of town, if Aiden dies and the clu
b seeks revenge that might be the one thing they can use to wipe us out, once and for all.”
Doc nodded. “I’ll let him know your concerns.”
Before Doc turned away Luca asked, “Hey is Big Mike around?” Mike was their tech guys. Smart as a whip he could find anything online. The club often used him to run background checks and find shit they needed to know.
“Yeah, he’s in his room, why?”
“Just wondering. I need him to look into something for me.” He turned to leave in search of Mike then remembered about Tee. “Oh hey, we have a brother from the National Chapter called Tee in town. When he gets here, show him some hospitality yeah?”
Doc nodded. “You got it.”
Luca grabbed the envelope from his back pocket and tore it open. He scanned the note inside and his lips tightened at the information it contained. He stomped down the hall in search of his brother.
At Mike’s door, he paused and heard muttering from inside. He hated to break in at an inopportune time but he really needed Mike’s special talents. Knocking firmly on the door, Mike yelled to come in.
Luca opened it and found himself looking at Mike at his keyboard. Luca watched as Mike muttered as he flew into one tab and out just as fast. His search was fast and Luca didn’t exactly know what he was looking for or why.
Finally, Mike paused and shut down for a moment. Clearing the laptop, he turned to view Luca with a frown. “Can I help you?”
Luca stepped up and handed him the note he’d gotten from Grace. “God, I hope so. I need you to check on these for me please.”
Mike looked up for a moment then asked, “Is this about Adam Peterson?”
Luca nodded.
“Grrr…” he growled. “I can’t find anything worth spit about the man. I can’t even find his fucking birth certificate. It’s almost as if Adam Aaron Peterson never existed.”
Luca frowned. “What the hell?”
Mike nodded. “I know but there’s nothing out there in cyber space about the man.”
“But he’s Sheriff and running for Governor? There has to be some record somewhere.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “Well, you would think so wouldn’t you? But when I followed up on the paperwork he submitted it all turned out to be fake.”
‘How did that get through the committee?” Luca asked shaking his head.
“I have no clue.” Mike admitted. “Unless they didn’t even bother checking anything out. If they didn’t even check out his background then they weren’t doing their job. This should have raised a red fucking flag.”
“Is that why this is taking so long?” Luca questioned. “I mean the guy is married and has had at least one kid and there’s nothing out there on him?”
“Yeah but like I said before, I can’t find diddly squat about the man before he came here. I have no idea where the man was born, who his parents were or even if they’re still alive. It’s like he came to life fully grown. Whoever Adam Peterson was the day he was born is anyone’s guess.”
“Well, this is interesting,” Luca murmured. “It makes me think he’s hiding something important.”
“Such as?” Mike frowned.
Luca’s frown deepened. “I’m not sure but see what you find with this new information.”
Mike nodded. Looking over the paper again. he began thinking of where this might end up going. Then he noticed something he missed the first time. He got an idea and turned back to his computer. His fingers flew over the keys and a few minutes later he fist pumped. “Finally.” He growled. Looking over at Luca, he grinned. “I may have found a lead to follow.”
“What did you find?” Luca came closer and looked over the other’s man’s shoulder. His eyes widened as he saw what Mike found. “Son of a bitch.”
Mike had called up an old picture and Adam Peterson was front and center. He had his arm around a man Luca knew as a Los Lobo from the tat on his chest. He looked a lot younger than he was now so the picture had some age to it. His hair was still dark with no signs of grey in it at all. His body was that of a much younger man then he was now. Luca could almost see just how fit the man had been back when this photo was taken. He studied the photo of the younger man intently. He was standing next to the man and his arms were bare. He studied the photo intently and found what he was looking for. On his upper arm, there was a tat and he knew that tat very well indeed. Adam Peterson had the tat of the Los Lobos on his upper arm. “Was Peterson a member of the Lobos? Fuck.” He pointed toward the photo.
Mike grunted. “This isn’t enough proof that will hold up in court to tie Peterson to the Lobos but it’s a good start. Either way we need to find out who this guy really is. If this is true, then we need to bring this out. If the man is secretly Los Lobos, the people need to know.”
“Oh, yeah.’ Luca nodded. “The people have every right to know. The man’s a fucking liar. He isn’t even using his own name. Everything the man stands for is nothing more than a lie. As with every club, once a Lobos always a Lobos, just like us, once a Steel Veins always a Steel Veins. It’s just the way an MC is.”
“Are you going to tell Bowie?” Mike asked.
Luca grinned. “Oh, hell yeah. Forward the pic to me. I’m gonna need you to find out everything you can about the man with Peterson. I need his real name and family history whatever you can dig up.”
Mike grinned. “You got it boss.”
Luca joined his daughter and Sunshine in the kitchen. His little girl smiled showing off her milk mustache and he chuckled as he wiped it away with his thumbs. Then he kissed her forehead.
He heard someone coming into the clubhouse and when he turned around, he noted it was Tee returning. Luca joined him and asked, “Well, did you find anything?”
Tee shook his head. “Nope, they don’t have a clue, but they’re more interested in where Peterson is getting the money to run his campaign. I have a few other ideas, but they’re going to take some time. Peterson covered his tracks extremely well. His political rivals are fucking sharks and they’re hitting the same brick walls we are.”
“We were.” Luca grinned. “I found something interesting.”
“Oh and what would that be?” Tee raised an eyebrow.
“Check this out.” Luca forwarded the pic of Adam he’d gotten from Mike to Tee. “I’m pretty sure Peterson is a Lobos, probably has been for years. Also Peterson isn’t the name he was born with.”
“Interesting…” Tee agreed, looking over the image on his phone.
“Why is that so interesting?” Luca asked.
“Because that means he went underground years ago. This whole thing has been planned for a very long time. The real question is what are they—whoever they are, what are they really after?” Tee stated the obvious, hoping that hearing it out loud might bring him new connections.
“But with the Lobos all but wiped out who is there left to answer too?” Luca asked the question.
Tee shook his head. “Who says the Lobos are wiped out? We might’ve cut the head off the snake, wiping out their parent chapter, but the rest of those fuckers are still out there. They’re just laying low for now but believe me they’ll come out of wherever they’re hiding when the time is right. Snakes usually do. My worry is that instead of making a big show of putting the Los Lobos band back together the remnants of those clubs all went underground. What if like Peterson they’re just bidding their time for something much bigger in the future?”
Luca whistled in awe. “That’s a pretty big what if.”
“Yeah it is.” Tee nodded. “I’m thinking that if Peterson gets elected he’s going to use the law to finish what the Lobos started. He’s going to try to wipe us out completely”
“Fucking hell,” Luca whispered. “The election is right around the damn corner too.”
“I think I need to call Remy and see if he knows the other dude in the pic,” Tee stated.
“And I need to tell Bowie,” Luca admitted. “If this is true, we got a shitload coming down the pi
ke and it’s gonna land right on top of us.”
Chapter Thirteen
Luca had the best night of sleep in years when he and Tee executed that child-beating murder. For the first time in a long time, he’d tasted the righteousness of vengeance and it was sweeter than ice cream. The following few weeks were not as satisfying.
The absence of any real progress was frustrating. Every day had the unnerving stillness of a calm, beautiful afternoon with a massive storm barreling in. Everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Luca, Grace, Tee and Bowie had so many irons in the fire that something was bound catch fire soon. Until that happened, all everyone could do was wait, the mundanity of life grinded on.
Luca checked in on his brother as often as possible, but could only control himself around the police that were stationed by Aiden’s room for so long before he forced himself to leave.
From adjusting his medication to even pulling the fire alarm, seriously jeopardizing the other patients, the police tried everything they could to kill Aiden. Everyone knew that when Aiden was clear-headed enough to make his statement he was going to press charges against several of Peterson’s men, which would of course look terrible for his electoral campaign. Fortunately, the MC always had senior members posted at his hospital room around the clock keeping Aiden safe and filming everything they could.
It was an extremely confrontational, non-violent war of wills between the Steel Veins and the local police. It was only time was going to tell how it was all going to shake out.
Matthias’s death was reluctantly declared a probable suicide-with an investigation still pending, by the police. They knew it was the Steel Veins, but without any evidence, they didn’t have a prayer of ever getting any charges to stick.
Remy had confirmed Tee’s hunch that the man in the picture with a young Adam Peterson was the Lobos founder, “Roughneck. He was an old sadistic marine who’d eventually been forced out as president because of age and propensity of flying off the handle. It was Remy’s wife, Star that was forced to kill him when the Lobos raided the Steel Veins Leslie chapter clubhouse. While that revelation solidified Peterson’s connection to the Lobos in the Steel Veins eyes, Remy had been quick to point out that it wouldn’t hold any water in either court or public opinion. It just showed that the two men met, and Adam could easily sell it that he was undercover trying to take the club down.
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