by Trent Jordan
Empathy was never one of my greatest strengths, anyways. Strength was my strength.
“He framed me to be the sexual harasser, the deviant who coerced him into doing all these things with him,” she said. “And it’s true. I do have a high sex drive. But that doesn’t mean that I wanted to compromise my career for him, far from it. It was more like… I don’t know. But I do know that when HR got a hold of it, they eventually let me go. But worse than that, because of this guy’s family connections, I was effectively blackballed in town. I couldn’t get a job without, well, doing what I did with Shane.”
I don’t know this Shane guy. But if I ever see him, I’ll kill him for putting you in this spot.
“Eventually, this spiraled into a sort of depression, especially as I saw my friends continuing to be happy without me. They didn’t deliberately shun me, but frankly, most of my time was spent without them since they had each other. And then, one night, I became introduced to your club through… well, I might as well say it.”
“Axle.”
Thea nodded. It was no surprise to me. We all knew which officers preferred which girls. I hadn’t known Thea before like I knew her now, but I was well aware that Axle had spent many nights with her.
“I went out to a bar alone when I was feeling particularly miserable,” Thea said, some initial hesitation in her voice. “It wasn’t here in Springsville, actually, but it was closer to here than to Los Angeles. I had just decided that I was going to get as far away as I could from the city and just have some drinks and see what happened. I was probably looking for something fun to happen if I was being honest, but in my head, I just said I was getting away from the madness.
“Anyways, at the bar, Axle walked in, and he came over and started talking to me. I’ll spare you the details, but it was one of those things that just led to one thing after another. And I really liked Axle. He treated me well. He didn’t know me or my past. It felt safe to be around him.”
She paused.
“I don’t want you to feel—”
“No, it’s fine,” I said.
I wasn’t lying. Maybe if I had stronger feelings, I would care, but while I was feeling a certain way about Thea, in general, I did not get jealous very easily. Probably part of why I don’t think I’m a good person.
Or maybe you do get jealous, and you just won’t admit it. You hide it. You hide it from yourself.
Remember the cookout?
“Well, in any case, Axle and I had, I wouldn’t call it a relationship, but something more serious than just a friends-with-benefits type of deal. At least, that’s what I thought it was for a while. Then he invited me to a club party and immediately just left me on my own. I got hit on by so many club members—not you. I would have remembered you—and ignored them all. I said no to everyone. The next day, Axle came to me and explained how it worked. I said I didn’t want to be a part of that scene, but he said if I stuck around, he could help me find work while I got back on my feet.
“I don’t want to make Axle sound like the bad guy here, because I don’t think he is. I’m happy he’s with that girl now. But he was deliberately vague, and it’s clear now that we had different expectations for what followed. So… I haven’t gotten back on my feet to where I was before. Not sure I ever will. But I have my camera. I have… well, I won’t say I have you, but I have your company.”
Again, as much as I wanted to say that that didn’t affect me or stir some deep-rooted feelings in me, it did. I didn’t know what to call those feelings, probably because I hadn’t felt them in a while or had ignored them for so long, but there was definitely something strong there.
“Got it,” I said. “Thanks for sharing.”
I didn’t really know what else to say. Hell, I didn’t know what to say next, period. I only knew that I was feeling something, but I was no wizard of words. I was only a wizard of brawn, and brawn didn’t win girls quite like brains did.
“You want to see what’s on my camera?” Thea said, perhaps recognizing the need to change the subject. “I can show you some of the things that I’ve filmed.”
I shrugged. It was something to fill the air on this date, and it wasn’t like I had anything better to suggest.
“Sure.”
Thea stood up and sat on my side of the table, saddled up closer to me, and rested her body against mine as she opened her camera up. I watched with some interest as she rewound to the beginning.
“OK, so, it begins here…”
For the next twenty minutes, she showed me some clips of her walking around downtown Springsville. I recognized all of the sights, though I had to admit it took a certain level of guts to do this in the evening. She fastforwarded through a few of the more boring spots, but when I saw a couple of dudes approaching the camera in one shot, I asked her to stop.
“That looks like the Saints,” I growled. “When was that taken?”
“Oh, that?” she said, sounding unconcerned. “That was actually right before you came up to my car.”
When I saw her staring at something.
“Must have captured your attention, watching that,” I said.
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, right.”
That wasn’t what had her attention. But what, then?
But I didn’t say anything else as her time stamp moved ahead to what looked like yesterday. As best as I could tell, she was just shooting a still shot of the street right by Bottle Revolution.
“What’s in here?” I said. “Just looks like a boring shot.”
“Oh, this,” she said, sounding slightly embarrassed. “I just overheard some people talking in an alleyway. I don’t think it’s anything special, and I don’t have the program to pull audio from video right now. Maybe in the future.”
People talking in the alleyway…
“Let me listen,” I said, my curiosity and a small amount of paranoia dictating that I listen to whatever it was that had been said.
“I mean, sure, but I don’t think you’ll hear anything beyond some arguing.”
I took the camera after she had rewound it to the top.
“… fucking double-crossed us?”
My ears perked up.
“I told you, I think they’re on to me! I couldn’t say anything. And no one important got hurt.”
Red Raven.
Holy shit. This is the incriminating evidence we need. This is everything.
“Except our fucking bikes!”
“Look, I know, it’s not a great look. But play the long game. The long game involves some potholes—”
“Save your smartass speech.”
The sound of Red Raven getting punched followed. I was hanging on to every word and every action that followed.
“We didn’t pay you so that you could cover your own ass. We paid you so that you could set up the rest of the assholes to die faster.”
“I know! But—”
“No buts, old man.”
I had everything I needed to incriminate Red Raven. I only needed to get this in front of Lane, Axle, or Patriot. I didn’t need the whole club to know. I just needed someone else to know.
Actually, I didn’t even need that. I could have killed him myself and then presented the evidence later. I just wanted to have backup to do it before the club splintered over the death of its oldest member.
“We gave you a pass after the brother came in. But we don’t care if the fucking Marines come in to help them next time. If the target isn’t dead by Sunday night, then you will be.”
The target.
It’s Lane. Has to be.
The camera then switched over to the ground, as if Thea had let it swing by her side as she went into Bottle Revolution, but I’d heard more than enough. I’d heard all I needed to know to finally put the rat to rest forever. I had to act quickly.
But I couldn’t act rashly.
It was Saturday evening now. I had twenty-four hours before Red Raven had to end Lane’s life before the Fallen Saints did. I couldn’t go and k
ill him myself.
But I sure could move quickly and purposefully.
“Not much there, is there?” Thea said as she casually reached for the camera.
“How badly are you attached to this?” I said, holding the camera away from her.
Thea’s face immediately felt blank with fear. I might as well have asked her how badly she wanted to live.
“It’s everything to me, Brian,” she said. “Why?”
I told myself I needed to ask as nicely as I could… but ultimately, I was taking this with me, whether Thea liked it or not.
“You captured something of extraordinary importance to the Black Reapers,” I said. “If I don’t get this to the right people, then people will die.”
She gulped.
“Right after that filmed,” she said. “I walked into Bottle Revolution, pretending to be looking around. And I saw two Fallen Saints walking out of the alley where that was filmed. I don’t know who the third was—”
“I do,” I said. “And I need this camera.”
Thea gulped. She looked like she understood my need, but she didn’t want to give it up. I really didn’t want to play hardball, most especially because I liked her. But if I had to, then I would.
“Are you going to take care of it?”
“I need it intact and playing properly to make my point,” I said. “Yes. I will.”
But Thea still didn’t believe me. Her hand had landed on the camera, even though mine was gripping it much more strongly.
“Thea, I like you, so I will say this as nicely as I can,” I said, growing impatient. “I need you to let me take this. You will have it back as soon as I can, I promise. But if you don’t let me take it, then I will take it myself. Lives depend on this. If it’s that damn important to you and it breaks, I will buy you a new one.”
I didn’t expect Thea to look so hurt when she heard me speak. I figured she might fight back and get a little annoyed, but I didn’t expect sadness.
“If what you say is true, then I don’t have a choice in the matter,” she said with a long sigh. “I want to believe you, and I want to let you have it because I believe you. But Brian, this camera isn’t just a camera for me. It’s the one thing I have that feels like my old self. If you get rid of it, or you damage it…”
It’s like I’m destroying the part of her that is good. The one part. Destroy this, and you destroy her.
You want to be responsible for that all over again?
I didn’t say a word as I took the camera. I walked out to my bike, leaving a twenty dollar bill for the food and another forty dollars for Thea to take a cab back to her place. She walked out to meet me, tears welling in her eyes. I looked back at her and tried to find the words to assure her it would be fine.
But I had nothing.
I was never a speaker to begin with, and now suddenly, I was expected to summon the right words for one of the most emotionally fragile moments of Thea’s life? There was no way.
“Sorry.”
It was as much as I could get out, but even then, it was more of a muffled muttering, a half-hearted apology in anticipation of anything going wrong. I wished I had stronger words. I wished I could say something more meaningful.
Really, I wished I was a better person so that I would feel worse.
But I was too good at my job. I was too broken a man. I was too much of a monster to feel anything beyond some forced sorrow.
I put the camera in the space where my helmet usually was, knowing full well it was going to rattle around and get damaged, backed up, and drove off without looking at Thea.
And perhaps, for the first time in ages, I felt genuine sorrow at what I had done.
But it had to be done.
I never got nervous when I was set to execute a hit.
But I was damn well thinking through as many variables as I could as I headed back to the clubhouse.
Was I going to kill Red Raven on the spot when I saw him? That seemed rash so long as he wasn’t armed or wasn’t in the act of shooting. Red Raven was a dead man, there was no doubt about that, but there was a rash way to kill him that left our club divided and a careful way that left everyone at least understanding, if not supportive.
Was I going to kill Pink Raven if he tried to interfere? Well, honestly, if he pushed hard enough? Absolutely. I was agnostic about who I killed; the only person who had something resembling immunity was Lane, and even he could take one of my bullets if I thought that he was sabotaging or betraying the club.
Cruel? For a man like me, no. I had to be coldly realistic and honest about everything. Today’s friend could be tomorrow’s enemy—Red Raven had proved that.
Was I going to present the information to anyone else beforehand? That just depended on the circumstances.
I’d have to trust my gut and my training as the situation unfolded. I really had no idea what was going to happen. Hell, there was no guarantee that Red Raven was even at the clubhouse. I could have been too late, or I could have shown up for nothing.
But I was not going to be any later than I had to be.
When I arrived, I saw Axle and Patriot drinking some whiskey at the front of the clubhouse.
“Anyone inside?” I asked.
They shook their heads. They looked nonplussed. I had a little bit of time.
“You two need to hear something.”
I played for them the recording that I had just heard. Axle’s face never changed. Patriot looked like he had just seen a ghost.
“I had a feeling, man, but…”
“You’re sure of it,” Axle said, less of a question and more of a statement.
“Where is Lane?”
“He’s with Angela right now, I think,” Patriot said.
“Then we need to go protect them right now,” I said. “If I know Red Raven, he’s going to strike when the night is darkest. We need to move. Now.”
The only reason we didn’t leave on the spot was so we could load up on ammo and body armor. As soon as we were all equipped, we headed over straight to Lane’s place. The lights to the kitchen were on, but the lights to the bedroom were off. I didn’t care if Lane was in the middle of an orgasm. He needed to know what was going on. I banged on the door multiple times until he answered the door, shirtless.
“The fuck is going on?” he said, visibly annoyed and keeping his lower torso hidden from view. “I’m busy right now, in case you couldn’t tell.”
“Red Raven is going to try and kill you tonight, man,” Patriot said. “We need to form a perimeter around you.”
“The fuck?” Lane said, but even though his reply was one of initial shock, he slowly seemed to accept the reality of the situation. “We need hard proof of this. Last couple times…”
I held up the camera and played the exact same clip that had changed my mind, and that had changed Axle’s and Patriot’s mind.
“Fuck me,” Lane said. “The oldest one…”
“Doesn’t matter what he is to the club,” I said. “We’ll lay a trap and kill him.”
“You’re sure he’s coming over here tonight?” Lane asked.
“You heard the damn recording, man,” Patriot said. “He’s going to try and kill you by the end of tomorrow night, or the Saints will take care of him. There’s no way that he’s going to leave the job for the morning when there’s daylight.”
Lane bit his lip, went into thought, and shook his head.
“Fuck me. Let me get some pants on and Angela somewhere safe. Hold on.”
He shut the door.
“He can’t leave here,” I said. “Not even on a bike. Not even to take Angela somewhere safe.”
“You think there’s a trap?” Patriot said.
“No.”
That was the wrong question. Red Raven didn’t need a trap. Red Raven only needed to show up to Lane’s house unannounced, sneak in, and place one well-aimed bullet to finish the job. He didn’t need an elaborate ruse to get Lane alone in the middle of the California desert.
Sure, it might make Lane’s death revealed much faster to us, but I didn’t think Red Raven had any plans for sticking around once he finished his task anyway.
And then, in the distance, I heard it.
A motorcycle…
No. Two.
And they were coming this way.
Fuck. Who else was with him?
Don’t tell me…
“Hide!” Axle growled. “We stay outside, and they’ll go right by.”
We quickly ducked behind some nearby bushes, but through eye communication and having worked together before, we knew how this would go. Just as Red Raven and whoever his accomplice was approached, we’d stand up out of the bushes and kill him. It was brutally efficient, clean, and avoided a lot of trouble.
Of course, the presence of a second person made things a lot more complicated, especially if it was who I suspected.
Nevertheless, when the motorcycles finally did show up, it was easy to see that the first person was Red Raven. His paunchy body, his slow walk, and his beard gave him away even in the darkness. The other figure was clean-cut, more difficult to see. My worst suspicions could not be confirmed.
But what I did not expect was for the lone figure to remain back on his bike, even as Red Raven walked closer and closer to the entrance.
The result was that even though I still couldn’t exactly say that I was “nervous,” my heart rate was going up, and my concern that something very bad was about to happen was skyrocketing.
Red Raven came closer to the door.
Closer to his death.
Closer to complete and utter chaos in the club.
Things are about to get very ugly.
Red Raven put his hand on the doorknob.
I stood.
Axle stood.
“Good evening, Red Raven.”
Axle?
Red Raven jumped in surprise. He looked over at Axle, then back at me. I had my hand on my gun, ready to pull it up at a moment’s notice, but Red Raven didn’t even have his in his hands.
“Gentlemen,” he said. “I have come to warn our president about an imminent threat that I have just learned about from the Fallen Saints.”
