CARSON_Satan’s Ravens MC

by Kathryn Thomas

  “Alright, Argo, I’ll think about what you said. I love you too,” she said as she handed the phone to Carson who was in the next room. The two men talked in hushed voices, or she should say that Carson did. She couldn’t hear Argo, but she’d bet he was doing the same thing.

  When she heard Carson disconnect, she wanted go in there and try to find out what was going on. She would learn what she needed to know when she needed to know it. Damn it if she didn’t sound like part of her family right now. She tried to go back to watching the animal life program, but now she was too distracted. After trying for a few more minutes she determined that this was something she was going to have to face, and she wanted some answers from Carson.

  Turning off the television, she went to find Carson. He didn’t look like he was fairing any better than she was in terms of worrying.

  “What’s up, John?” She remembered her cousin saying that to her when he wanted her to laugh because upchuck was in the sentence and of course throwing up was funny as hell to some people. Not really her, but she was trying to butter him up so he would talk to her… really talk to her. Like a confidante and not like someone he was trying to keep safe.

  He looked her way and then brought her down to sit on his lap. It was almost like he needed comfort, and she was the one who would give it to him for as long as she could. That touched her heart more than she would ever say. He wasn’t a needy guy and was more focused on giving than receiving so this meant a lot.

  “I’m sure your cousin told you he wants to meet to pick up some bracelet that is going to show the world that you are still alive.” How this man could sound like a gruff grandfather and a sullen 4 year old was beyond her, but he had it down packed.

  She looked at his face trying to determine the exact expressions that were crossing over it faster than she could catalog them. There was some tension, concern, worry, fret, sadness, and anxiety. That was to be expected, she guessed.

  “That’s what he told me, too. Do you think it’s some kind of set up?” She wanted to know what he thought, and she wondered if he’d give her a straight answer.

  “I hope not. It sounds like your cousin is looking out for you, and I think he thinks looking out for you means keeping me safe as well. At least for the time being.” He squeezed her just a bit tighter in his arms, and she loved the solid feel of him.

  “When are you supposed to go with him?” She turned in his arms to because she wanted to see his face.

  “He had it planned to be late tomorrow night, but I wish it were sooner. Waiting makes me crazy. I want to do what has to be done now, and there is another reason I’d like to do this as soon as possible. The Satan’s Ravens are going to be sending in someone else to do my job, and I wanted to get the scoop on when the person would be coming in. I just don’t want this guy to get to Argo before we can work all this out.”

  “I just want everything to be okay.” She snuggled back into him wishing this moment didn’t have to end.

  “That’s the same thing that I want, but I don’t know how it’s going to happen.” They were both quiet as they contemplated all of the possible scenarios that could come into play.

  “Let’s just wait and see what happens, but know that I’ve had more fun with you in these last few weeks than I’ve ever had with anyone.” She didn’t want this to sound like the farewell portion of the afterschool specials she’d seen when she was younger, but it couldn’t be helped, and it had to be said.

  “That sounds like I’m dead already. Let’s not talk like that,” he said with a chuckle.

  She lifted her head and playfully smacked him in the chest before leaning in for a kiss. They had done so many different kisses, but she loved when she offered him one and he accepted so sweetly.

  When she was done, she sat up and took off the bracelet that never left her arm. It was beautiful, but that wasn’t why she loved it so much. It was given to her at a time when she was just sprouting her wings, and every time she looked at the sparkling jewels it reminded her that she had to take the chance to sparkle no matter what the cost. Would she get the bracelet back? She hoped so, but if she never did she’d remember how it felt to hold such beauty in her hand and that she should make sure she continued to sparkle without the beautiful reminder.

  Chapter Twelve

  Carson had agreed to the set up time to meet up with Argo to give him the bracelet that looked like it cost millions of dollars. He almost didn’t want to give it to the man because he’d seen how much the bracelet meant to Kelli. It wasn’t like it was about the money either. That piece of jewelry had some special meaning for her. She fondled it and held it up to the light before she’d handed it over like it was her prized pup.

  Why Argo wanted to meet in a dark storage facility was beyond him, but he was going to trust that this thing was going to work out the way it was supposed to and he’d be able to tell Argo about the other man that was on the way and hopefully hammer out a plan.

  “Mr. Hale?” The voice came from a bit of a distance and Carson got a feeling in the pit of his stomach that signaled bad happenings. Shit. He hated when that happened. At least he knew that Kelli was in a safe place and she had enough money to either get home or try to make a new start somewhere.

  “Who’s asking?” In Carson’s line of business, you didn’t answer questions like that if the person knew who you were they didn’t need to ask questions.

  “The man you were supposed to kill.” Argo said as he stepped out of the shadows. He looked just like the picture, but he didn’t look as jovial in the picture as he did now. That was the weird part. What the hell was he in such good spirits about?

  “Good to see you in such good spirits,” Carson stood back because he didn’t know where the bad vibes were coming from.

  “How many times do you actually get to see the person you were supposed to put down like a dog in the street?” Argo’s eyes were focused on him, and it felt like a stare off was going to ensue. He didn’t know the man, so whether this was the type of behavior he normally had or if this was some strange anomaly was unknown to him, but he was just going to continue to play it by ear. If this was to be his last day, he was happy for all the things that he’d accomplished and all the people he’d met. The only thing he regretted was not being about to share with Kelli how he really felt about her.

  The man had a pleasant demeanor and a happy face, but the words seemed hostile. He walked closer, and the bad feelings increased. Carson didn’t stay alive this long not listening to his intuition, so there was something off but he didn’t feel like it was coming from Argo.

  “Do you have Kelli’s bracelet?” Argo held out his hand, and Carson withdrew the jeweled piece from his pocket. The sparkling pink gems seemed to gleam ridiculously in the dark room, almost like it could find any little piece of light to make it shine. That reminded him of Kelli.

  Carson was stretching his arm out to place it in Argo’s hand, but right before he dropped it into the man’s palm, Argo drew back his hand and cradled it. There were a few seconds that Carson didn’t know what was happening, but when he looked closer, he could see Argo’s hand bleeding profusely. What the fuckity fuck was going on? Carson looked in the direction that the shot must have come from and was unable to see anything, but he knew for a fact that there was a man standing there. He didn’t bring a gun with him because the door he entered was supposedly set up with an alarm, and Argo said that he was going to be unarmed as well.

  “Who’s there?” Carson said walking closer to the man. It looked like this may be his last day here on earth so he may as well know who was responsible for that. There was a sinister chuckle that came from the area he was headed to, and the noise sounded familiar but he couldn’t place it.

  “You do know your bike has a locator on it… don’t you?” Crowbar stepped into the light with his gun drawn. The smirk on the man’s face was daunting. It was like Crowbar had done something he thought was very cleaver. Carson wasn’t sure he wanted to know w
hat it was, but since he still didn’t know the slightly psychotic man’s plan, he figured he’d get the full manifesto before he was taken out. He was backing away from Crowbar back towards Argo when it hit him.

  “So what… you followed me here?” Carson didn’t know when he’d ever been so shocked. How was that for trust? His team had put a tracker on his vehicle long before he’d ever gotten to this point. Here he thought he and Kelli were off the map, and his company was following his every move.

  “You set me up?” Argo was still cradling his arm, but he was standing upright. Carson looked over to see how he was doing, and the expression on Argo’s face matched the way he felt inside. Shocked, dismayed and betrayed.

  “Believe me I know what this looks like, but I had no idea he was going to be here. I was trying to find a way out of this and help get Kelli back home safely. I didn’t have anything to do with Crowbar being here. You heard the man… they have my bike set up with some homing device. Plus you told me there was a metal detector on the door and would go off if I had a gun.” He watched Argo slightly smile at that one.

  “No honor among thieves… that’s what my uncle always said.” The look he gave Carson told him he didn’t believe that Crowbar had come without his knowledge, and to be honest, he didn’t know if he’d have believed that either, but now he didn’t know how honest Argo was being either. He saw in his peripheral vision that Crowbar had his gun raised, and when he turned back to look at Argo he saw that he too had his gun raised. Oh… so now Argo had a gun when he said there wouldn’t be any. This was bullshit.

  “What is happening here?” Carson wasn’t dense, but he felt like he was in a bad dream where all the things were happening, and you couldn’t do anything about it. His thoughts felt slow and hazy like he’d had too much to drink.

  “You can’t be this stupid, Carson. Did you think the crew didn’t find out that you were screwing your hot piece of ass, and she had somehow got you to talk to the other side about working a deal? You know that’s not how it works. We aren’t arbitrators or go-betweens when someone wants something done, and they don’t want their hands dirty… we do it. Dumbass.” Crowbar wasn’t the friendliest and his words were always harshest of the bunch, but there was truth to his words.

  “I know that, Crowbar, but damn. This jump out of nowhere shit is crazy. What the hell… do you have a silencer on your gun?” Carson’s brain was beginning to catch up, but what he was seeing wasn’t making him feel like it was going to end well.

  “I like shit like this, so I don’t know what to tell you, and of course I have a silencer. I wouldn’t want to alert anyone who’s waiting for that guy to walk back out the way he came that he wasn’t coming. I’m sure the guy has some kind of system where his men check up on him.” Crowbar smiled, and when he did, Carson knew he was just a bit crazier than even he realized. He wasn’t doing this for the notoriety or the money. He was doing it because he loved it, and that meant this wasn’t going to end well for any of them. Carson hadn’t brought a gun inside with him because he thought he’d be patted down, and they’d agreed that there wasn’t going to be any gunfire at this meeting.

  There was a standoff when the two men, Crowbar and Argo, stood there with both of their fingers on the trigger. No way in hell was Carson going to get in between them, and it seemed like forever before he’d come to terms with the how truly horrible this was all going to play out.

  “This isn’t going to go well for any of us. Why don’t you just put the guns down, Crowbar can leave us to talk, and I’ll catch up with him later.” Carson didn’t think either of them were in the right state of mind for the conversation he was suggesting, but he had to try.

  “Why should I put the gun down? Both of you want me dead. Why shouldn’t I take my chances and try to kill you both?” Argo looked like he knew this was the end and wanted to cause as much chaos as possible and why not? Carson would probably have done the same thing. Shoot the man with the gun first and the one without next.

  “I can see where revenge would be in your mind, but this is not the way I thought it would go down.” Carson tried to compel to the man’s intellect, but he could see he was running in his feelings, and he wasn’t willing to compromise any more than he already had.

  He looked over at Crowbar, but before he could open his mouth to squeeze out even one more word, two shots were fired, and he stood there looking at two bodies on the floor. Argo was moving a bit, so he went over to him all the while wondering how he’d lived to tell this story while two men lay on the floor.

  “Hey, I’m going to call for some help,” Carson said with his voice shaking a bit. It was one thing when he came in, shot a guy, and left, but he was thinking about how much he knew about this guy. How he liked baseball and the numerous occasions he’d helped his girl with this or that. He didn’t usually get this involved in the case, but with the man being this ranked, he was harder than most to catch.

  “My men were instructed to come in as soon as they heard gun shots fired. They can save me, but you are going to have a hard time explaining what happened to an angry mob. Pun intended.” Argo was losing blood quickly, but he still had a great sense of humor. That said a lot about what kind of man he was.

  “I don’t want to leave you here.” Carson tried again, but the man on the ground got agitated.

  “I’m not playing with you kid. When my guys get here they are going shoot first and fuck questions. I’m dying, and if you don’t leave, there are going to be three bodies they are going to have to find a place for. Go to Kelli, and tell her that you did your best.” The weak man on the floor pushed him probably as hard as he could, but it wasn’t very hard at all.

  Carson could hear the footsteps of what sounded like many men, and he took off the way he came in toward his bike. There wasn’t much time because as he rounded the corner, he heard the gun shots ring out behind him. He could see his bike in the distance and didn’t think they’d be able to reach him from as far away as they were but people did amazing things when they were pissed, and this mob looked ten times more than pissed.

  He hopped on his bike and took off as if he was on his last ride because honestly, with the way things were going that morbid thought could be his reality. He didn’t know what was worse: dying on this motorcycle or watching the feelings Kelli had for him turn to hate when she realized that her precious cousin is dead.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kelli had cleaned and baked cookies trying to ease her mind. The cleaning she wasn’t really used to, and the cookies didn’t taste as delicious as when her mother made them, but she knew that Carson would appreciate them and they were keeping her from going crazy. She knew she should have spent more time in the kitchen with her mother and less time running around with Argo and her dad. What did it really matter? She could buy fabulous cookies anywhere. The real reason for the spirt of activity was that she was nervous about Carson and what he was going through. She didn’t want to call him. This wasn’t like he was on a conference call. There were dangerous men out there that he was dealing with. She knew because she was related to most of them.

  Should it take this long to return the bracelet and talk? Maybe they went out for a drink… that seemed unlikely. Argo was a good natured guy, but she didn’t think he’d want to imbibe himself with drinks when he was with a man he didn’t trust very well. She also didn’t want to think about how it was going. No one had called her, so everything must be alright. That’s what she would tell herself as long as she could.

  She paced around the two story cabin and tried to enjoy the décor and the solitude. That was one of the reasons she’d picked this place. Her mother had brought her here when she was younger, and she remembered how quiet and peaceful it was. Looking back on it, her mother had probably been thinking about leaving her father and had taken a few days to sort out her issues and look at the grand scheme of her life… or maybe she just wanted her father to think that is what she was doing because years later she was still
fussing about her father, but she was still with him.

  Kelli heard the key in the front door, and she ran down to meet Carson. It was hard to believe that it had only been a few hours, but it felt like she could breathe again. She’d wanted to do so many more things with him when he left. She wanted to say things and spend more time with him learning about him and his childhood. What she’d learned growing up with her father was that people you loved could be here today and dead tomorrow. Distancing herself away from her family, even in such small increments, had made her forget the lessons she’d learned as a child. They only came back when she saw Carson pull away on his motorcycle and thoughts flashed through her mind that she may never see him again.