by Paula Cox
For me, being covered up like that is a liability, and my guys seemed to notice the flaw in our plan right away. Rico strokes his long, graying beard as he points towards the black sheet that hung low over the arch. “We were going to have a guy or two standing on the balcony. That’s not going to work anymore.”
“Do you think we could just remove it? What are they going to do? Mack paid for this spot, and I can do that tattoo in my sleep.” I’m not lying. The last few nights, I have dreamt of nothing but the circle with three lines running through it. I reimagined it in hundreds of ways, twisting the pattern and adding color. I am more than prepared for today’s plan to tattoo each member of Mack’s club with the black mark that haunts me.
“Tear it down,” Rico instructs one of the young guys connecting the station’s parts. He begins unbuckling the fabric so that it falls down upon the chair. The whole place lightens up, leaving me less exposed. The rest of the artists watching eye me suspiciously while studying their own private booth’s setup with suspicion. Maybe I’ll be a trendsetter.
I watch the rest of the boys set up quickly, testing their work as we go. The last step is to put up the sign that’s been hidden by a small piece of tarp at the back of my booth. No one wanted to touch it before the public arrived, but with five minutes to go before the convention officially opens, my stomach threatens to implode if I don’t just get it over with.
I carefully unfold the small tripod stand provided to each artist, positioning it in the right spot where the most eyes could see it. And then, the sign with the tattoo of the day. I eye its straightness, trying not to focus in on that circle and the nearly full sign-up sheet underneath with names of men who had suddenly become like brothers to me.
The only one missing from the core group of the Red Dragon Riders is Mack himself. I have no idea where he’s gone to. They’d told me he was watching, so I assume it’s on the camera in the side viewing room. The boys had quietly and quickly set the hidden camera up by the portable sink so that it’s in the line of sight of both the entrance and the chair. My hand actually lifts to wave at it, but I set it down quickly. It’s show time. Time to man up and catch Riley in action. If I’m bait, I need to start acting like it.
The doors open minutes later. I spot my guards almost instantly. They stand near the entrance to my booth, clutching pamphlets in their hands. But through their dark glasses, they eye each and every person studying my booth and the sign with the Knight’s mark. If anyone who recognized that sign was suspicious, they had their work cut out for them. Within minutes, I receive my first hostile look. A man dressed in all black with tattoos covering his long, thin neck and jaw looks me up and down with a sneer that says it all. This mark wasn’t mine to claim.
Luckily, I can ignore the few faces attempting to intimidate me. They are the ones who don’t pass through the archway to watch me put the tattoo on the first few men. They are quick jobs. I don’t embellish much or play around with the design. My rattling teeth keep me from being too adventurous. The guys thank me as I wipe off the excess ink and hand them the mirrors, but they look as nervous I am, opting for the white gauze bandages to cover up the newly healing tattoos.
A few hours pass, and there’s no movement. I get in a comfortable groove, even joking around with some of my repeat customers from the Dragons. “You’re looking busy!” I hear a familiar voice exclaim. “Who knew Figure 9’s was doing so good…”
“Mom!” I shout, dropping the tattoo gun on the table. I collapse in her arms, hugging her tightly to my chest. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen her in person. She looks lighter now, if that’s even possible. Her brownish blonde hair bounces in that old fashioned perm as she pulls away.
“I didn’t want to bother you, but I heard about the convention from Roxy, so I thought I’d stop by during my lunch break. I cannot believe how busy you are! That sign-up sheet is longer than anyone else’s here! And that design…” I tune her out, wanting to imagine her totally naive to that image of death. How can I possibly explain this plan to her without giving it away that I’m in mortal danger, even as we stand here hugging tightly?
Unfortunately, I don’t have to. Danger has its own ways of creeping up on you.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with that tattoo, Anna?” I spin around to see the one man even my mom knew as trouble—Riley.
CHAPTER 13
“Mom…” Anna’s voice shakes as she backs into the empty chair. “Can you give us a minute?”
I place my headset down as I look over towards Rico. “That’s him. That’s Riley. Get Ronnie and Bear on the phone. Tell them to grab him. I’m going down there.” I give one more glimpse at the computer screen. Anna’s mom has grabbed her by the shoulders, pushing herself in front of him. My guys are nowhere in sight, but Riley’s are. They’re completely blocking the entrance to her booth.
“Are you crazy!” Rico shouts as he stands with me. “You’re going to start a fucking war with all those guys if you go down there. Riley came prepared, but he’s not going to touch her with her being in plain sight like this.”
Rico is partially right. I have a feeling that Riley isn’t as stupid as I thought him to be. He won’t touch her, or at least pick her off, at a place like this. But he might try to take her or force her out. He may even rough her up. And I can’t let that happen. I promised to protect her, and every second I spend here waiting for my team to assemble is just wasting precious moments.
My heart leaps through my throat as I tear through the door of the private room, pushing past the curious onlookers gawking at the giant man in the leather jacket. My feet are not catching up with my brain. I am racked over with thoughts about how much danger I just put the one thing I seem to care about in. How could I be so fucking proud to not just stop her when she had this fucking idea to begin with?
I make it down to the first floor, finding the room clearly divided between the area where Anna’s booth is and all the others. Most on the other side of the room can sense something is up. There’s a palpitation of fear spreading like wildfire with the whispering and pointing. As I push my way through, I can hear a man clearly asking, “Are those the Knights? I thought they were done with. What the fuck are they going to do to that girl?”
I’m not going to sit back and see. I look up towards the balcony. My guys are gone. They’re most likely already on the ground, circling in on Riley and Anna just like I am. I finally make it to the back of her booth. A thin cloth drape and a fake white, knee-high fence is the only thing blocking the back entrance. I don’t even bother checking the rest of the security or calling for backup. I jump in, waving my arm through the material barricade while holding tight to the gun in my waistband.
“Riley, you don’t have to do this. Just let my mom go and we can figure this out… you and me.” Anna’s voice quakes. I can’t see her crouched behind the sink, but I can see the outline of her mom clutching to her shoulders. Both women look so small, so insignificant as they continue to be backed further into the booth.
I pop up, brandishing my gun directly at his long, unshaven face. His furrowed brow and streaks of dirt and dust on his face make it look as if he’s much older than he actually is. It’s the face of a man who hasn’t slept in months. And the scratch marks along his cheeks give it away that he hasn’t exactly been clean lately either.
My voice booms as loudly as I can. It cuts through the noise of the echoing convention center. “Drop it, Riley. Let her go, and I may let you live.” He turns slowly towards me, his hands in the air. I look the man up and down. He’s skinnier than I imagined him as well. Through his oversized shirt, you can easily spot the gun strapped to his hip.
“I’ve got no beef with you, Mack. But I’ve got twenty guys out there ready to start hell if you don’t drop that gun and step out of this booth. This is between me and my girl.”
“I’m not your girl, Riley,” Anna mutters stupidly. Normally, I admire this kind of bravery, but she’s just asking for it
now.
“You will do what I say or I will make sure every man you gave that tattoo gets the same fate Ian got… or worse. You hear me?” He shouts at her like a dog on a leash. Anna seems to only get bolder because of this. Her shoulders arc back and her head raises. Her mom removes her hands from her arms, as if to let her go off of her muzzle.
“I’m going to count to five, and if you’re not out of here, I don’t care how many men are waiting for you, I will shoot you dead.” I give my warning, watching as his hand naturally falls to his own weapon, but with it tucked underneath his shirt, he knows he’s not going to be fast enough for me. When he doesn’t move, I begin to count, “ONE! TWO!”
“I’ll be back for you, Anna. You think this is over, but it’s just beginning. That tattoo is my mark now. And no one, not even you, gets out of it.”
“THREE!” I yell even louder. The noise from outside picks up as I hear Zeke shouting at the men blocking the door. Someone screams something about a gun. A long, horrible yell shoots up from the crowd. There’s a pounding of footsteps as everyone runs towards the exits just to the side of Anna’s booth. It’s a stampede with pushing and cursing.
Riley backs out of the booth, but not before turning towards me and adding, “This isn’t over for you either. You’re giving me exactly what I want—an excuse to take the Dragons down. I swear that you’ll end up on the gravel just like your daddy did the last time you decided to mess with the Knights.”
Without another word, he and his men slip into the crowd, dispersing themselves in the sea of black and white shirts and jackets. My men flood the booth, but I can’t even register them. I drop my gun as I grab hold of Anna, pulling her tight to my chest. Her body feels colder, less present, almost like water in a stream. She slips through my arms before turning back to her mother.
“You’ve got to go, mom. I’m so sorry, but I’ll call you as soon as I can, and there will be someone watching out for you.” She turns back towards me. “You’ll be safe. I promise you.”
“Anna…” Her mom looks up suspiciously at me as if I am the root of all her problems. I don’t blame her. I just jumped into this booth with a gun in my hands while Riley was seemingly unarmed and nonviolent. “Anna, just come with me. We’ll go away. We’ll figure this out.”
“She can’t do that, ma’am.” Zeke suddenly appears out of nowhere. He’s clutching a walkie in one hand that’s going crazy with voices barking back and forth to one another. In his other is a police scanner. I should have known this would trigger something from the five-oh. Unfortunately, this isn’t my territory. There’s no friendly detective to come get us out of this jam. We have to move.
“Who the hell are these guys, Anna? What have you gotten yourself into?” Her mom’s face is as white as a sheet. Her bottom lip trembles at the sight of us.
“This is Mack and Zeke. They’ve been taking care of me since… well, since Riley decided to put a hit on me. I didn’t want to tell you, mom. I didn’t want to worry you, but this is what’s been going on.” She looks over at me, tears filling her eyes. She knows what she has to do. “I am so sorry that you’re here for this and that you had to find out like this, but right now, I need you to go. One of the guys will walk you to the car and make sure you are home safe. And I’ll call you as soon as I can. I have to go with them, Mom. I have to…”
“We need to go,” I say impatiently. “I’m sorry.” I whistle towards the two spotters from the balcony. They come running towards me, realizing the urgency. While Anna and her mom cling to one another in a tight hug, I explain where they need to go with Anna’s mom. They grab her by the arm and escort her out. I watch in horror as she screams Anna’s name one more time. She too disappears into the crowd with the rest of the remaining people.
Anna holds her arms across her chest. I grab the sweatshirt she left on the sink, placing it in her hands before marching her out in front of me. Zeke and I talk logistics behind her. “We can’t go back to the safe house. They may have followed us from there or retraced our route. We need some place remote, some place safe.”
Zeke surprises me with how quickly he comes up with a response. “I have an idea. Icky, the dealer from 5th Street, has a cabin at the Mile Above Campground. He uses it to distribute to hikers and hippies at music festivals. It’s past the season, so I am pretty sure it’ll be empty. No one will even think to look for you there.”
“You call him, and I’ll get us on the highway. When you get the confirmation, text me the address and the way to get in. If you don’t hear from us by 5 PM, we’re not safe. Send the riders out.” The riders were code for our enforcers. The toughest, baddest guys in the group, they were the ones you trusted to do what was necessary to get answers out of your enemies. They were also hunters trained to stalk their prey. I have no doubt that if something were to happen to us, they would be able to pull off the right kind of vengeance in my honor.
“That sounds like a plan, Mack. But there’s a bigger problem now.” Zeke places his ear towards the police scanner, struggling to hear. “They’ve got your description along with hers. They think you’re the attacker.”
“How far away are they?” I ask, my eyes floating back and forth to Anna who looks as if she’s about seconds away from fainting. I place my hand upon her back to keep her steady.
“Three… four blocks. The van is parked outside and ready to go. Your bike is the back so you can always ditch it on the highway if you have to. But that’s not the only problem…”
“Jesus! What?” I just want to get the fuck out of here.
“It’s Riley. The Knights are surrounding the perimeters of the place, laying low. Our boys caught a few of them and chased them out, but they are going to be looking for you and her. We can buy you some time, but it may not be enough if the police are on our tail too.”
“Whatever you can do. Just give us a head start, and I’ll do the rest.” Without waiting around to hear what other complication Zeke could think of, I grab Anna’s hand and run her straight towards the door. The few remaining people are slowly moving out both confused and terrified. They murmur together about shooters and killers. Some are still talking about the Knights, but I hear the Dragons mentioned at least once too. It’s only seconds until I hear someone call my name and put two and two together.
Rico is there with the cargo van we use to transport our antique bike collection to shows. When he spots me, he runs around to open the passenger door for Anna. But I stop him. “She’s in the back.”
Anna reels around with a look of horror. “What? I’m not going to sit in the back of your van, Mack! You’re not kidnapping me.”
I walk quickly over to her, grabbing her arm with such force that I worry I could break it. “I’m not kidnapping you. I’m keeping you safe. You heard Zeke. There are cops and Knights everywhere. If they spot both of us together, the more likely they are going to come at us with full force. If they think we’re leaving separately, more will stay behind to keep a look out.”
“No. No. I’m not going to do it,” she says shaking her head. “I either ride with you or I don’t at all.”
I spit on the ground before growling, “You don’t have a fucking say in this.” My hands sweep around her legs, picking her up off the ground. She doesn’t have time to do anything but kick and hurl fists at my back before I can toss her into the back. “Sit down and shut up. Those seats fold down so you have somewhere to go.” I have seconds to close the door before she comes charging at me. Her fists pound into the back of the van.
“You want me to follow behind, boss? I can give them hell if you need me to.” Rico looks down at the ground, his hands behind his back. He doesn’t really want this. As much as I appreciate his loyalty, he knows that backing me up would be a death sentence.
“No, kid. You go the opposite way as me. If they come after you, you call the club and get some runners to find you. And then you don’t stop until you get back to the clubhouse.” I pat him on the back, thanking him for all tha
t he’s done today. With that, I’m off. The wheels of the van spin with a screech. They only barely mask the sound of police sirens wailing in the nearby distance.
I have to remind myself to slow down, to not cause any civilian to call the police on some erratic driver. This isn’t like the movies where I’m going to break through some chain link fence to avoid getting caught. If I was going to get us to that cabin, I needed to play it safe and cool—the exact opposite of what I am used to.
Anna didn’t get the memo about the cool factor either. She’s still screaming my name. I turn the wheel so we take a sharp curve out of the parking lot. As I suspected, I hear the light pounding of a body against the opposite wall and floor of the van. “Sit down and shut up, and I won’t do that again.” She doesn’t make a sound for another mile.
It’s not until we’re in the country, way past the lights of the city, that I see the first motorcycle of the late afternoon. At first, I don’t think anything of it. He’s not doing what a trained rider would do if they were out hunting. His lights were on, he kept to a lane. He didn’t go level with my window only to fall back later on. And as a single rider, he had no backup.
