The Darkest Of Light

by Sandy Alvarez

  "Saw what?" I ask. But not sure I want to hear the answer. Leaning over with his elbows resting on his knees, he places his head in his hands. Swallowing past the knot in my throat. I repeat myself. "What did you see, Sam?"

  Looking back at me he answers, "She was beaten, Alba. Both of her eyes were black. One was nearly swollen shut. Her lip was busted. She couldn’t even walk without being hunched over. Even though she wouldn’t let me see, I know the rest of her body matched her face. At first, she refused to tell me anything. But no way was I going to give up. When she realized I wouldn’t back down, she broke. Leah told me everything, Alba, and it’s not pretty." Looking at me with hurt and anger in his eyes, Sam tells me what I already suspected. "Her father did that to her. You want to know why? Because he’s been having someone from his church spy on her. Because of the dress she wore when we went out to the club together. Her father said she was presenting herself like a whore. He also found out she was living with me. A man. She had kept that a secret from her family. Leah had no idea her father had been spying on her."

  Standing up from the couch, I begin to pace the living room.

  "Sam, please tell me you didn’t let her leave. Please tell me she didn’t go back home."

  "Fuck no, I didn’t let her go back. She was going to. Her father demanded she pack all her stuff and return. But after what she told me, and after seeing what that motherfucker was capable of, no way was I about to let her leave. What we did was finish packing up her shit, then we packed up mine and we moved. I found us another apartment on the other side of town. Leah had to quit school. Luckily, I still had some money in my savings to get us by for a while. I was able to find a job in construction. The pay is decent enough. The problem is I can’t hide her in Bozeman forever. Her father is going to find her and she’s terrified of what will happen when he does. She can’t live the way she has been for the past couple of months. She’s scared to even leave our apartment."

  Holding up my hand I stop him. "She can come here. Leah can stay with me and Gabriel." I watch as Sam’s shoulder slump in relief. "Why didn’t she come with you? Is she okay being home alone while you’re gone?"

  "She said she would be. I tried to get her to come with me, but she didn’t want you to find out about what happened. She said if you started asking questions she knew she wouldn’t be able to lie to you. Leah made me promise not to say anything. This was one promise I had to break though. I don’t think her staying in Bozeman is safe anymore. Leah still hasn’t told me everything about her family. Only that they are super religious and strict. All I know is what her father did to her was not anything God would have wanted."

  When Sam finishes replaying the horrible event of him and Leah, I stop my pacing and return to my spot on the couch next to him.

  "How attached to Bozeman are you?" I ask.

  Giving me a thoughtful look, he replies, "I don’t know, I like it well enough. It’s better than living at home. Why?"

  "How would you feel about both you and Leah moving here to Polson?"

  Sam seems to be pondering my question as I nervously bite my lip. What I wouldn’t give to have two people who have come to mean so much to me move here. When I see a wide smile stretch across his face I know what his answer is and I throw myself at him.

  Over the next several hours we make a plan and iron out all the details of his and Leah’s move. The plan is for them to make the move within the next month. That gives him time to find a place for the two of them and hopefully line up some work. I told Sam I’d ask Gabriel if maybe Reid needed some help. His and Nikolai’s business is doing so well, so I’m hoping they can hook Sam up. When we hear Gabriel’s truck pull up outside, Sam stands.

  "Well, that’s my cue."

  "Are you sure you have to go now? You can stay for dinner."

  "Naw, I need to get back home. I don’t want Leah to stay another night alone."

  I shake off my disappointment at the mention of our friend.

  "Okay. Call or text me when you get home. And tell Leah I’m going to call her tomorrow."

  "I will, little momma," he says kissing the top of my head.

  Walking over to the front door, Sam is sliding on his coat when Gabriel walks in.

  "Cariño Sweetheart," he acknowledges me first with a kiss and pulling me into his side before offering his hand to Sam.

  "Gabriel," Sam greets in return. Once he’s in his truck and begins to drive away, I give one last wave before closing the door.

  "Everything okay, babe?"

  With a heavy and hopeful heart, I answer him. "It will be."

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Gabriel

  Before leaving the house, I shoot a text off to Prez because I’m supposed to be at the clubhouse right now with the rest of the men but I’m running late. I wasn’t leaving Alba until I knew someone was with her. I don’t want her left alone in the house until I find and eliminate the threat to her and my baby. Sam isn’t my ideal as to who she should be left with, I would prefer one of the brothers, but my woman was too excited to find out he was coming out for a visit for me to protest. Putting aside the fact that I still don’t like him, I waited for him to get here before I left. I’m banking on Reid being able to dig up some answers to who this Calvin Green is.

  Church is well over by the time I get out to the clubhouse. Being a weekday, most of the guys need to get to their day jobs. Time doesn’t stop for no one and several of my brothers have families to take care of. Hell, even my client list is starting to back up at the shop, but they aren’t my top priority right now. My family is.

  As I’m pulling up to the clubhouse gate, Prez is in his SUV about to come out from the other side. When the gate opens we roll up next to one another, stop then put down our windows.

  "You get your woman squared away this morning?" Prez leans out his window and asks me.

  "Sam is with her. Sorry I missed church, Prez. I couldn’t leave her by herself," I tell him.

  "Don’t worry about it. Until this shit is resolved she shouldn’t be alone. Reid and Quinn are the only ones left back there. I’ll let them fill you in on everything. I gotta run down to that new construction site on the south end of town and meet Nikolai. You need me you call, and Logan is at the shop if you can’t reach me," he informs me.

  "Got it," I answer before he rolls up his window and proceeds down the dirt road. I roll past the gate and up to the clubhouse parking my truck. I don’t have to go looking for anyone because both Quinn and Reid are sitting at the table drinking coffee in the main bar area. Both their heads lift in my direction as I approach the table, "What we got this morning?" I ask.

  "To start, I can’t find shit on this Calvin Green. I got into the school’s database. Here is his headshot they had on file," he hands me the 4×6 photo, "They have him listed as a former employee who quit two weeks ago. All his credentials on the surface seem legit, but a background check pulls up nothing. I think you will have to make a run to Bozeman tomorrow," Reid says.

  Fuck.

  Quinn takes a swallow of his coffee then looks up at me, "Prez wants you and I to go out to Charley’s and ask around. See if any newbies have been seen passing through. Austin just called before you walked in and gave Reid a list of locations he drove Alba to the other day. There’s a possibility we can get into some security feeds or Department of Transportation cameras to pinpoint any activity in those areas on that day."

  We’re going in circles and running off of theories at this point.

  "Did Prez have you dig into Santino’s family for me? Can we rule them out?"

  Reid leans back in his chair and closes his laptop, "I looked into it last night. I’m pretty sure we can rule them out. He didn’t leave too many people behind. No wife, no kids. This Calvin Green, I have a feeling this is who our main focus is going to be on. Grace’s Bakery was on the list of places the truck was parked the other day. Since we know her, why don’t you stop by there sometime today and see about taking a look at her secu
rity feed."

  Finally, a direction and a person of interest. Right now, I’m thankful for Sam showing up when he did, or we would still be chasing empty leads because we had absolutely none. Knowing what this guy looks like definitely helps in the attempt to catch something or someone on a camera somewhere. That is, if Reid can find anything. If anyone can do it, he can. His hacking skills have spoken for themselves over the years in helping this club in more situations than I can count.

  Now my only issue is getting through the day stuck with Quinn. The fucker talks too damn much. The man can’t seem to appreciate silence like I do, even when the conversations are usually one sided he still tries. It’s nothing personal, it’s just not who I am, and he knows that. Doesn’t stop him from trying though.

  "Call me if you find anything, brother," I tell Reid.

  He lifts his chin, "Will do. I’m heading to my place to do what I got to do. Catch up with you later."

  I turn towards Quinn, "Taking my truck, your car is too fuckin’ small, let’s go."

  "Aww come on, man, don’t talk about my baby like that. She’s a classic. And she’s not small, your ass is too damn big, squatchman," he says standing from his chair and walking past me to the front door.

  We both climb into my truck and get on the road. Quinn reaches over and turns on the radio, and I reach over turning it off.

  "Come on, it’s too damn quiet in here," he complains.

  "Leave it alone," I order. He digs a pair of earbuds out of his pocket, placing them in his ears and takes his phone out. The rest of the thirty-five-minute ride he doesn’t talk. I pull into Charley’s parking lot. It’s a local bar that a bunch of us visit several times a month. Charley was a friend of Reid’s old man, they both served in the Marines together. He even rides with us from time to time when we do charity runs. We might do some shady shit and live by our own rules, but our club supports its community and the people in it. We give back where it counts, and our country’s veterans are one of them. Those men deserve more than what they receive. I respect Charley.

  Being that it’s noon, the place is dead except for the few usual bar flies and the couple of lot lizards we see walking around in the back parking lot designated for the truckers to park at when they need a place to stop and rest. Charley gets a lot of them coming through with their loads and it has helped bring in more business and it being at the edge of town near the interstate makes it a convenient location.

  Steppin’ into the bar, we hear the low music from the old jukebox in the far corner of the low-lit room and three old men sitting at the bar watching ESPN on the TV above the bar with no sound coming from it. Charley is behind the bar chatting with them. He looks up as soon as we get close. "Well hell, Quinn, Gabriel. I haven’t seen you guys in here for awhile. How have you been?" he speaks with a huge smile on his face as he greets us with a firm handshake.

  "Aww Charley, you miss me?" Quinn teases

  "I make good money when you fellas come around. You draw in all those pretty ladies too. What can I do for you guys? I take it this time of day it’s business,” he states.

  I nod my head and he leads us to the other end of the bar.

  Pulling out the picture of Calvin Green, I sit in on the bar for him to look at, "Need to know if you’ve seen this guy come in here recently, specifically this past week?"

  He studies it for a few seconds. "Hmm, we get a lot of truckers passing through, it’s hard to say. You should ask Kinsley, she was waitressing those nights. She’s in the back getting ready for her shift. You guys can go on back and ask her. Sorry I couldn’t help. You can also check my security feeds in the back. You know where everything is. I’ll let you do your thing. Come say your goodbyes when you’re done, alright?”

  "You bet, Charley, thanks," Quinn says.

  Picking the picture up, I lead the way toward the back and walk into the break room where we see a young woman sitting at the table scribbling in a notebook.

  "You Kinsley?" I ask her, my voice booming and bouncing off the walls of the room, causing her to jump in her seat. Quinn takes it upon himself to take over.

  "Shit man, don’t scare her. Hey, darlin’, we’re a couple of Charley’s buddies. You waitressed this past week, correct?"

  She squares her shoulders, trying to look less intimidated by us.

  "Yeah, I started my first night this past Tuesday. Why?" She’s a pretty little thing, but she’s nothing compared to Alba, "You by chance see this guy in the bar those nights?" I show her the picture and she takes it from my hand to get a closer look.

  "Yeah, I remember him. He kept to himself. Didn’t drink either. Just asked for water and when he asked for a menu I told him we only serve burgers and fries made to order. He acted like I offered him shit on a platter. He sat in the back-corner booth glued to his phone."

  My blood starts pumping. We’ve got proof the fucker was in town. One step closer to pinning this asshole to all the shit going on with Alba.

  "You remember when he left that night?" Quinn asks her.

  She looks to him, then hands me back the photograph, "No, I’m sorry I don’t have an exact time. It was busy that night, but it was late. He stayed until last call and that was around 2:00 am the next morning," she informs us as she starts to put her things away in a bag, then slides out of her chair.

  "I’ve got to start my shift soon. Anything else I can help you fellas with?"

  "Well, now that you mention it, you could..." I don’t let Quinn finish the sentence because I know where he was going with it.

  "No, we’ll leave you to it," I cut in as I spin Quinn around and give him a small shove towards the door.

  As we make our way to Charley’s office, he speaks up. "Man, just because you have yourself a fine lookin’ woman at home doesn’t mean you got to mess with my game, brother. That woman was built for sex. Did you see that ass?"

  "Quit thinking with your dick right now. We got shit to take care of," I tell him while pulling up the security feed and going back to last Tuesday night.

  "Killjoy," he mumbles.

  I dig around in Charley’s desk lookin’ for a USB I can download a copy of the file to and finally find a few in the bottom drawer that haven’t been labeled with anything and plug it into the computer. I watch the feed for a few minutes with Quinn watching over my shoulder.

  "Wait, back it up. Right there. That guy there looks pretty close to this Green guy," he points out.

  I examine him and compare the image to the picture in my hand. The image isn’t clear and it’s a side profile showing him leaving in a small black car. The old lady in Bozeman said the car she noticed was silver, but he could easily have swapped vehicles. I’ll take this to Reid and have him zoom in on the guy’s face and his car, clean the picture up a bit. "Alright, let’s take this and get going. Still need to stop by Grace’s," I tell Quinn. We walk back out to the front of the bar.

  "You boys find what you were lookin’ for?" Charley asks.

  "Yeah, we got what we needed, thanks Charley" I tell him.

  "Alright, stay safe," he tells us as we walk past the bar and out the door.

  As soon as I get inside the truck I send a text to Alba, checking on her.

  Me: You good?

  Cariño: I’m good. Love you

  Me: Te amo más Love you more

  Satisfied, I start the truck and head back towards town.

  By the time we make it to the bakery, it has started to rain. Luckily, it looks like Grace doesn’t have any customers. The parking spaces out front are all empty, which means we can be in and out. I step out of the truck and fuck if it isn’t colder than it was when I headed out this morning. Some bikers, including a few of my brothers are hardcore. It doesn’t matter what type of weather there is, they are on their bikes. I love my ride. Ain’t nothing better than feeling the breeze on your face and the open road, but I’m not about to freeze my balls off during winter time in Montana.

  My stomach rumbles from the smell of sugar cookie
s filling the air as we walk inside. Alba brought some of those things home the other day. The crack of sweets is what they are. I damn near ate the whole damn box by myself. I walk into the back of Quinn when he abruptly stops, almost knocking him over in the process. Over in the corner of the store back behind the register is the broad back of our Prez who has a tiny Grace caged in with his hands on the wall—on either side of her—her back pressed against the wall.

  "What do we have here? Another sweet tooth, Prez?" Quinn goads as he saunters up to the counter and leans forward on it. Seriously, the man has no filter.

  "Fuck off, Quinn," Prez growls.

  A blush creeps up Grace’s cheeks as she ducks under Jake’s arm. Composing herself, she walks to the counter wearing a smile.

  "Hey guys. What can I get for you? Gabriel, how’s Alba doing today?" She asks.

  Clearing my throat, I regard both her and Jake who has stepped back around the counter to join us.

  "She’s doing good. Grace, Alba was here the day before her accident, can we get a look at your security feed?"

  "Sure, but the only camera I have is located inside the store. Will that help you with what you’re looking for?"

  Shit. Probably not, but it’s worth a look anyway. "Quinn, go take a look at that feed, would ya? I need to talk with Prez a minute."

  Grace looks to Jake and he gives her a brief smile, then she turns and leads Quinn towards the back.

  "We went out to Charley’s and got the feed from Tuesday night with a possible image of the guy. I’m taking it to Reid for him to clean it up, so we can have a better look at it. Showed the picture to the new waitress that was working that night and she remembers him coming in."