“She’s part of this as much as I am,” Luca answered. “She’s important to me and Bella. She gave us information we needed to find Peterson’s secrets and she found Frannie today. Without her, we’d still be scratching our asses, looking for answers.”
Bowie stared him down for a moment then shrugged. “She’s your responsibility then.”
“Of course.” Luca nodded.
Bowie turned to Mike. “Call everyone in then. Women, kids and members. We lock the front gate in two hours. Alert the watchers to let us know if anyone new comes into town. Also have them keep an eye on what Peterson is up too.”
Looking over to Luca he said, “We’ll send a group over to escort Aiden here. We got enough supplies to safely set him up in one of the bedrooms for now.”
Luca nodded and gripping Grace’s arm he pulled her out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen.
When Bella saw them, she smiled hugely and ran to her father.
Luca picked her up and hugged her tightly. “Hey there, Bella Banana, how is your day going?”
Bella smiled and nodded, then looked from him to Grace and then back to Luca.
“Grace came to see you. She wanted to see how you were doing,” he told his daughter.
Bella smiled at Grace showing off her tiny teeth.
Grace chuckled. “I can see you’re doing alright, baby girl. Is your daddy taking good care of you?”
Bella nodded and wrapping her tiny arms around Luca’s neck, she gave him a hug.
Luca, Sunshine and Grace all chuckled at her antics.
Grace wrapped her own arms around the two of them and gave them both a hug. “I’m so happy for you Bella.” She broke away from Luca and glanced over at Sunshine. Then everyone heard Bowie yelling for him. Luca handed Bella over to Grace and before he left, he kissed his daughter on the top of her head. “I’ll be back, Banana. You stay here with Grace and Sunshine ok?”
Bella nodded and went back to the counter where Sunshine had been doing some baking.
Sunshine nodded toward Grace and jerked to where they were standing in an invitation for her to join them at the counter.
Grace moved over to them and looked down at the cupcakes they had made earlier that day. Some were frosted and some were waiting to be frosted.
Bella grabbed a messy butter knife and dipped it in the bowl of sugary frosting. Then she smeared the colorful frosting on the unadorned cake.
Grace laughed out loud at the child’s attempt.
Sunshine handed her a butter knife and she dipped in to frost the dozen cupcakes that were left.
Leaving the kitchen, Luca joined Bowie back in Mike’s room. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been monitoring Peterson’s personal phone calls for the last few days. I was able to clone his phone and he’s been in contract with his brother Gavin. I didn’t put it together until you said his name but Gavin Mitchim is sending a batch of his soldiers here to help in Peterson’s stand against us. Officially, they’ll be in Santa Fe as his private security.”
“Dammit,” Luca whispered.
Mike nodded. “He’s sending one or two at a time and they’ll start arriving any day now. We’re going to have to be very careful from now on. We can’t be careless out there or we’ll be dead.”
“I don’t trust them not to ambush us. The dirty little fuckers are known to do that.” Bowie paced from one side of the room to the other.
Luca snapped his head around to face his President. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Gavin’s band of killers.” Bowie nodded toward Mike’s computer. “When his father, John, first got to Carlsbad there was another MC already in place.” He shrugged. “You have to understand all this happened well over thirty five years ago. John Mitchim decided to settle in and he ordered his newly formed club to pave the way. They were seen around town and generally pushed their way into the other MC’s businesses. John harassed them into attacking them and then the Lobos proceeded to wipe the other MC out. One by one, they found them alone and just murdered them. They were long gone by the time the cops got there. After they wiped out over half the club, the rest of them voted to leave the area.” Bowie shook his head. “John, that spiteful lunatic, sent out death hits on the rest of the fleeing club’s members. He didn’t call his guys back until every member was put in the ground.”
Both of the men there with him were quiet for a few minutes then Luca suggested, “You need to call Remy and fill him in on this threat. He might go after them once they wipe us out.”
Bowie nodded. “Yeah that’s not a phone call I want to make but you’re right. He needs to know about this. This is going to affect the whole club not just this chapter. And if Peterson by some chance gets to be Governor this could affect the entire state and nearby states as well.”
“But we need ironclad proof, something the courts will accept, not just what we suspect,” Mike stated.
Bowie nodded. “See what you can dig up. Find us a trail leading all the way up the chain of command.”
Mike swung his chair around and began typing on his keyboard. Bowie jerked his head toward the door and Luca followed him out of the room.
“Do we have the firepower we need for a war like this?” Luca asked his president. He’d seen a few guns here and there, but nothing to stop an invasion like the Lobos were planning.
“I don’t know.” Bowie exhaled deeply. “I’d better call Remy then well have church and discuss what we need to discuss. We’ll have to prepare for the worst and pray for the best.”
Bowie walked down the hall to his office and shut the door behind him to make several uncomfortable calls. Luca walked toward the main room and as he got there, the front door opened and several brothers came in. They were carrying in a stretcher with Aiden lying on it. A nurse followed and Luca followed them to one of the larger member bedrooms that weren’t being used.
He stood back and watched as his brother was transferred to a bed and settled in for the duration. One of the brothers joined him. Luca looked up and asked, “How did it go?”
“Aiden signed himself out all right, but it was a shit show actually getting out of there.” Recon snorted. “There were fucking cops all over the place and some of them looked like they meant business. Fuckers followed us all the way back here before fucking off. They wanted us to know they were watching”
“Was Peterson there?” Luca raised a brow.
Recon shook his head. “No but the cops stationed to watch Aiden were real bruisers. They were very interested in how Aiden was doing.” He paused then added, “One of the guys had tattoos poking out of his uniform cuffs. Fucker’s hands were all busted up like he’d been in a fight or something recently.”
“Tattoos, huh?” Odd, Luca thought. Cops usually didn’t rock as much ink as MCs did… Luca sighed, realizing he had bigger problems than police tats. “It was probably one of the three or four cops that almost beat Aiden to death.”
“This is gonna be a bad one ain’t it?” Recon finally asked.
Luca nodded. “Yeah, I think this is gonna be a bad one. Let’s just hope we can survive it.”
Chapter Sixteen
The whole MC was on lockdown for several days while they looked into the situation with Peterson, but Peterson was laying low. He was using the law to hide his real intention, his real agenda.
The one thing the MC did notice was the number of new cops on the police force. Santa Fe had become a police state until the elections were over. The men in blue were seen all over town. Not single cops either, where you saw one you saw two or three. The people of the city knew something was up but they didn’t know what that something was. Tension was growing within the city and there was nothing the MC could do to stop it.
Grace had been in contact with her office and after the first week, she’d gotten the message from her boss that Bella had been reported for missing school. She tried to explain to her superior what was going on but her boss told her to get Bella back in
class or the state would take over custody again and put the little girl into the system.
Now it was three weeks later and everyone was still waiting on pins and needles for Peterson to make his move…
The glow of the TV alone lit his small loft apartment above the ‘Hell Hath No Fury’ bike shop. He’d put Bella to bed hours ago in her small room that adjoined his. It was originally one large bedroom, but when Luca had to leave his house, the MC quickly put up a dividing wall to make it two.
“It looks like the Governor’s race results are coming in please stand by,” the news anchor said through Luca’s wall-mounted flat screen. Luca anxiously watched a late night news broadcast with the volume low so as not to wake anyone else. Grace had fallen asleep with her head on his lap some time earlier while Luca brushed her hair. He loved the weight of her on his legs, the warmth of her body and just listening to her soft breathing. After so long spent in prison, Luca wasn’t accustomed to waking up to the smell of eggs and bacon in the morning, but now that Grace had been spending more time over Luca’s apartment, he couldn’t imagine his life without it—without her.
How did he ever get along without Grace?
All the shit with Frannie at the hotel room put many things in perspective for Luca. Walking out of that building and seeing the type of woman he used to hook up with made Luca realize he wanted Grace more than anything.
Over the past few weeks Luca, Bella, and more recently Grace, had settled in nicely to the new apartment. It was significantly smaller than his actual house, but they didn’t need much space. He’d put his house up for sale shortly after moving into the apartment, despite dropping the asking price several times he wasn’t getting any bites. The news of his brother nearly being killed in the front yard poisoned his listing.
That frustrated Luca more than he let on.
The hospital bills for Aiden had started to come in and he was hoping to use the sale of the house to cover them. The MC had been footing a lot of the bill but Bowie had taken Luca aside and told him that his chapter wouldn’t be able to afford the drain much longer. The legit ventures like the bike shop and a new club owned restaurant downtown were picking up, but the going was slow. There were no two ways about it. The Steel Veins made a lot less money now than when they were into all the illegal shit.
He was also hoping to use the money for a down payment on another place. The loft was fine for now, but the idea of building a future with Grace swelled in his mind until it was all he could think about sometimes. He needed a bigger place for all of them and he couldn’t do that on just a mechanics salary, at least not until they got more work in.
“All the ballots have been cast and we have our winner,” the TV anchor said, reading off a paper that was just handed to him. “In one of the state’s closest races in history, it looks like Adam Peterson is our new Governor.”
The news hit Luca like a sandbag to the chest. He quickly clicked the TV off before they showed Peterson’s victory speech. Luca sat in dark, trying to steady his breathing and quell some of the fire rising in his throat.
The bastard actually won. Luca was equal parts dumbfounded and furious. How much longer did his MC have before we were added to a list of domestic terrorists?
He didn’t know how long he’d been fuming in the dark when he got the text.
“Yo. Meet me in the shop in ten min I’ve got some news.” The text was from Tee.
Luca had to read it a few times. He’d forgotten all about the SV national chapter vice president. Bowie gave Luca occasional updates from Tee, but neither man was ever sure where the hell he was or if he was even coming back. Tee had been gone for weeks now chasing down leads, talking with people and generally investigating things.
Luca quickly replied that he’d be right down, then slid out from under Grace, and headed toward the stairs. He unlocked the bike shop from within and let the biker inside.
“Well fuck,” Tee said, shaking his head after shaking Luca’s hand. He didn’t need to say it. He knew Luca had been watching the election.
“Yeah,” Luca agreed. “I take it you heard the news too. Happy fucking days ahead. Beer?”
“I’mma need two.” Tee leaned back against a tool cabinet and took off the bullet proof vest he always wore. He ran his hands over his thick braids that were pulled back into a ponytail and sighed. “You’re will need two beers too when you hear what I found out.”
Luca cleared some exhaust piping off a work table then set the beers down. “What you got on Peterson, bro?” he asked popping the top off one of the beers and handing it to Tee.
“Peterson? Fuck all, unfortunately.” Tee downed have the bottle and burped out of the side of his mouth. Then in true Tee style, a smile crept through one side of his face. “Vin Chou on the other hand…”
Luca’s eyes lit up and drew a sharp focus at hearing the name of the man who almost bought his daughter.
“That motherfucker has been busy.” Tee drained the rest of his beer, then popped the cap off his second by using the corner of the table. “Turns out, Chou is Peterson’s chief investor. All the properties our new Governor owns was bought and sold through Chou’s shell companies.”
“What are they using all the real estate for? And what the fuck did that piece of shit want with my daughter?”
“Kiddie porn? Weird sex shit? Fuck, man… who the fuck knows.” Tee shrugged. “They’re covering their tracks pretty goddamned well. There’s one other thing too.”
“Shit, man. You have been busy.”
“Lobos are back.”
“Yeah, we know Peterson is the son of the Lobos founder. He’s been planning something. We know the Lobos are underground and are probably waiting to strike when we’re least—”
“No,” Tee interrupted sharply. Even through his long sip of the second beer, Luca could see the man’s expression darkened. “They’re back back. As in, they’re already here. All around us, and out in the open. NO fucks given.”
“What are you…” An image of tattooed knuckles suddenly bloomed in Luca’s mind from the conversation he had with Recon. Luca growled at the revelation. “The Santa Fe cops. That fuck has been bringing his MC through the new police training program. His plan wasn’t to revive the Lobos, but to rebrand them!”
“Bingo.” Tee pointed at him. “He’s going to use his new ‘cops’ to legally wage a war on all the MCs. And if we fight back—”
“We’ll be cop killers.” This time, it was Luca who did the interrupting as he shot up from his stool. “They’ll call the fucking National Guard on us and wipe us out! Jesus Christ this is terrible. Where the fuck is Remy in all this?”
“Remy…has got his own shit going on.” Tee put up a hand and patted the air, as if telling Luca to trust him. “Trouble these days aint hard to find. We’re on our own for now.”
Luca’s mind began racing. Now that Peterson was Governor, there was no way the Steel Veins could get to him without the federal government getting involved. The Lobos were the law, the biggest scumbag around was now untouchable, and it was only a matter of time until his whole MC was locked up, run out of the state, or outright killed.
What the hell were they going to do now?
“Chou.” Luca’s eyes snapped to Tee. “We need to find Chou and make him talk on record about his business relationship with Peterson. That’s our only play.”
“Easier said than done.” Tee crossed his arms and shook his head. “Peterson has that motherfucker underground somewhere. I have no idea where he is.”
“I might.” The groggy voice was that of a recently woken Grace. She stood in the dark stairwell that led to Luca’s apartment above and rubbed her eyes.
“Hey, shit. Did we wake you?” Luca started walking over to her.
“Yeah, I don’t sleep through yelling all that well.” Grace smiled knowingly, then hugged Luca. “But it’s a good thing you did. I think I know where that Chou guy is.”
“No shit?” Tee asked. “Where?”
“I think they arrested him.” Grace’s face puckered up. “Last time I was at the police station, I overheard two of the officers talking about a man that reminded me of Chou in Spanish. How they needed new paperwork drawn up for him. I didn’t think much of it because they usually create paperwork for John Does that come in. But thinking back about it, a few things were a little sketchy.”
“That’s one way to tie up loose ends.” Tee chuckled darkly.
“You know Spanish?” Luca asked, genuinely surprised.
“Of course I do.” Grace smiled and shook her head teasingly. “Over a quarter of the population here speaks Spanish as their primary language. There’s days that’s all I speak.”
“So hold up.” Tee stood up. “Are you saying we’re going to have to break this motherfucker out of jail?”
Luca turned to face Tee and without a hint of emotion said, “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
The following morning after Bella was dropped off at school, Luca, Tee, Bowie, Grace and a few of the other members spent several hours and several pots of coffee planning what was without a doubt the stupidest, most dangerous thing his chapter ever did. Any other time breaking someone out of jail and drawing that much heat would’ve been strictly forbidden in the Steel Veins but with Peterson being elected their world had changed.
So they changed with it.
“We gotta do this tonight,” Tee reluctantly declared after nearly an hour of uncharacteristic silence.
Immediately, the other members started complaining that it wasn’t enough time to plan and get everything in motion.
Bowie knocked his mug on the table to quiet the room. “Let the man speak!” Bowie roared. “He hasn’t let us down yet.”
Tee nodded to Bowie and began, “I don’t want to rush this anymore than you guys. Half the Santa Fe chapter is injured, arrested, or could stand to be really fucked up if this goes poorly. We also got no backup from other chapters. It’s just us on this one.
“Yeah, no shit!” One of the other members started.
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