“You staying or going back down?”
“Just need a quick word with the brothers downstairs, then I’ll be back, okay?”
“Okay,” she replies sleepily.
I place my lips to her forehead. “Night, darlin’.”
She’s asleep when I return and as far as I can tell, rests soundly all night. She stirs only when I’m getting dressed in the morning.
“Feeling better?”
She shrugs. “I still feel exhausted. I was going to try to get you to take a cage and persuade you to take me with you, but I think rest would be better for me and the baby.”
“Won’t get any argument from me, darlin’.”
“If you find him, you will bring him back here?”
“I will,” I promise. “But there aren’t any guarantees we’re going to find him soon. I don’t have high expectations it will be today. May take a while. Try to be patient, okay?” I study her face. Despite the sleep last night, she still looks tired, dark circles around her eyes. Perhaps she shouldn’t have come to Vegas, but back in Pueblo she’d only have been worrying all the time. May as well do her stressing out here where I can keep my eye on her. What worries me most is how she’ll cope if we don’t find him. Too many questions will remain unanswered, and there will always be a worry about his spectre raising its head to cause problems for her and the kid.
But maybe I shouldn’t be so concerned how worn out she looks. She’s close to five months pregnant and growing that baby, of course she doesn’t have the energy she once did.
Her lips press together. I recognise that look of stubbornness, so am unsurprised when she next speaks.
“You may not find him today, may not find him at all. But if the days go on and there’s no sign, I want to be involved in the search, Ro. In case I see something you’re missing. I need to look for him myself.”
She wouldn’t have any more, or any less chance than us. She’s not likely to enter some of the places we’ll be visiting. But I can understand her need not to be kept on the sidelines all the time. It’s the kind of woman she is, not content to sit back and rely on other people. She needs this.
“Mel, I’ll agree to that.” After some rest and when she seems stronger. “But for now, trust me, Sparky, Judge and Wills. We’ve all got our own reasons to find him.” She might not understand it, but to us our motives have just as much validity as hers.
Her lips remain pursed, and she looks like she’s biting her tongue. I don’t say more, knowing exactly how she’s feeling. If I was her, I’d want to be the one searching.
There’s a knock at the door, opening it I see Sparky. I raise my chin to let him know I’m coming now. Leaving the door ajar, I go back and give her a PG kiss remembering until we find Skull, she’s still a claimed woman and I’ve got to behave if I want to keep my patch.
Downstairs everyone’s ready and waiting, and we waste no time heading out.
I’m with Cobra and Sarge. I follow them along unfamiliar streets, and eventually into the part of town that runs behind the strip. Cobra points out a couple of hotels that Sparky had indicated on the map last night, one of which is the budget place where Beth had stayed.
The plan is that we’ll go to the grocery store, then start driving the roads around there. Luckily, it’s not as hot as it would be in the middle of summer, but the air is still warm and dry, and it’s not long before my head’s sweating under the helmet the law requires me to wear in Nevada.
We take a break around lunchtime, entering a bar for a drink and a snack. I order a burger but don’t really taste it. I call Mel briefly to check in with her, then it’s back to our bikes. Late afternoon and Sarge calls a stop so he can have a quick smoke.
It’s while the bikes are parked up that I get a glimpse and turn away fast.
“There, behind us. Dude wearing a black tee, there’s a woman with a kid in a stroller with him.” I’m not really hopeful as there have been a couple of false sightings before, and I didn’t take Skull to be a family man, not wanting a kid with Mel is likely the reason he ran.
“He’s looking at the bikes very carefully,” Sarge says conversationally in between puffs.
“Certainly looks like him,” Cobra confirms, taking a quick glance down at his phone. “He’ll know from our cuts that we’re Satan’s Devils.”
Cobra turns back and leans over as if to inspect something on his bike, then crouches down beside it, peering around the engine.
“They’ve gone into the snack bar over there.”
They turn to me for guidance. As he’s my man, I’ll take the lead. I fire off a quick text to Judge, Wills and Sparky, giving them the name of the eating place.
“Might not be there long, they mainly do carryout.”
“We go over,” I tell them fast. “You two wait outside, I’ll go in.”
“Back exit?”
“I’ll get Rope to approach from the rear.” It’s Sarge texting now. Rope and Cuff are with Wills and are apparently the closest.
“Let’s do this then.” Pocketing the key from my borrowed bike, I start walking across the road.
“I texted Red to send the prospects with the crash truck.”
All three of us wear an air of excitement. Our quarry’s so close, I can almost taste it. In my mind I’ve played out this moment a hundred times, each with Skull having a different reaction. Fear, I expect to be the foremost, and anger we’ve managed to track him down. Sadness that the rest of his life can probably be measured in hours. He’ll beg, plead for forgiveness, come up with some bullshit-filled story about why he left. Or, he’ll completely blank me if indeed he has lost his memory.
I glance in the window, there’s no man resembling Skull at the counter and no woman or child. In fact, there are only a couple of men who certainly aren’t him, looking more like construction workers taking a break. Nonetheless, I eye them carefully in the unlikely event he’s donned a yellow jacket as a disguise.
“Man and woman with a kid in a stroller,” I snap at the man behind the counter.
He looks left and right shiftily, then shakes his head. “Hasn’t been a family in here for a while. What do they look like?”
I don’t bother to get out the picture. Leaning over the counter, I grab him by his throat, a scuffle behind me shows Sarge and Cobra are keeping the construction workers occupied.
“Just tell them, Albert. Don’t want no trouble with the Devils. It’s not like it’s our business.”
Albert nods, as best he can with my hand making him choke. When I release him, he rushes out, “They said there were men following them, and wanted to get the child safe. I let them out the back…”
Before he can finish speaking, I’m already moving past him, pressing down hard on the emergency exit bar sending an alarm sounding into the air. Albert must have disarmed it for Skull.
We’re too late, he’s gone.
Just at that moment Rope pulls up. “Got a license plate for you.” He has? “Got here just in time to see your man Skull getting into a car. In such a hurry they left the stroller…” He points outside the door to the yard. Indeed Skull has, there it sits forlorn and abandoned, he’d not bothered to stop to fold it up, leaving it behind so he could make a fast getaway.
But we’re still no closer to Skull. Rope had seen him and let him get away? “The license plate all you fuckin’ got?” I roar.
“Nah.” He sends me a sneering look and pre-empts my next question. “Cuff and Wills are following him.”
Thank fuck. I raise my chin, half in apology, half grateful. Should have known these Devils would have my back just as well as the ones back home.
“What now?” Sarge asks, coming out shaking his fist. Obviously keeping the other two men at bay had involved a physical conversation.
There’s nothing we can do here. Skull is unlikely to come back, not for an easy-to-replace stroller. “Let’s get back to the compound and wait for news.” I’m beyond angry, I’d had Skull almost within arm’s reach an
d I let him go.
Back at the clubhouse I’m even more furious when I answer my phone which rings as I’m entering the door and after hearing what Wills has to say.
“Fucker’s gone!” I scream at the top of my voice, making Red look up from some paperwork he’s checking behind the bar.
“What do you mean, he’s gone?” Red snarls. “Wills and Cuff lost him? One of them come off their bike?”
I stare at the device I’m still holding, shaking my head in disbelief. “Nah. Skull had help. Two cars intercepted and prevented them following. It was stop or be run off the road.”
“They get ID on the cars?” Red moves out from behind the bar and comes over.
I hadn’t thought to ask.
“Trails not dead,” Keys shouts from the other side of the room. “I’ve tracked that licence plate Rope called in.”
“Then let’s get moving. Text me the address.” Red takes his key out of his cut. “Coming, Twister?”
“Try and stop me.”
I nod at both the prez and his enforcer, who don’t bother with asking. It’s obvious I’ll be going along. I even grin as we walk to the bikes. Skull thinks he’s escaped and got clean away. Well, he’s underestimated the Devils.
In the end it’s a large group that pile out of the compound, brothers returning from the search fall into line with the crash truck. I’m anticipating the moment we kick his fucking front door in.
Red soon starts waving his arm, and we slow down then pull over. I’m scanning left and right, but I see no sign of Skull around. Not that I really expected to. He must have gotten the scare of his life and has gone to ground.
Red whistles softly, and we gather around him. “Skull ran earlier, he’ll run again if he sees or hears us. That’s why I brought the crash truck along. Place we’re headed to is a couple of roads over,” he says, probably for my benefit. “Any sound of bikes and he’ll be off.”
“He won’t get away from me next time,” Cuff growls a promise.
Coming to this address Keys had found was the first thing on my mind. Now I wonder who helped him get away earlier. Something doesn’t add up. Was it a coincidence that vehicles appeared to stop Wills and Cuff, or had Skull been able to summon help fast? If so, from who?
When Red continues issuing instructions, I shelve those questions for now. Once we get our hands on the man, he’ll give us the answers.
“Pyro, Twister and I will take the crash truck and check the address out. Everyone else, be ready to roll if we need you.”
“Red?” I suddenly ask, doubt flooding through me. “What are the chances of him coming back? What if he’s left town?”
When the Vegas prez’s eyes meet mine, I know he’s fearing the same thing. “If he were a single man, it’s likely. I’m banking that he might not have thought we could run a trace, or not in such a short time. He’s got a woman and kid with him, might have been able to leave his shit behind, but if they’re his, they’ll need stuff for the child. And we all know what women are like.”
I hope he’s right.
“Let’s do this.” Red wastes no more time and takes the keys of the crash truck from the prospect’s hand.
It’s a short drive, and when the address comes into sight, I whistle air out through my teeth. Is this place Skull’s? It seems unlikely.
“Has to belong to the broad,” I tell Red. “There’s no way Skull could afford to shack up in a place like this. He’s a mechanic for fuck’s sake.”
“We’ll soon know.”
But Red’s wrong. There’s no car in the driveway. The garage has been left unlocked, when we open it up, there are only a few of the kid’s outside toys lying around. Whoever owns the house and car hasn’t come home.
“I want to take a look inside,” I suggest, approaching the front doorway. Maybe once I’m the other side of the door, I can find a clue.
“Twister?”
“Right here.” He’s taking something out of his cut. “Let’s see what we’ve got.” As he steps toward the front door and starts to examine it, Red and I stand to shield him from anyone who might be watching the house. It’s unlikely. It’s a long front yard and well sheltered from prying eyes. But it’s a respectable neighbourhood, and they might have someone watching out for their neighbours.
There’s a click, then the sound of a door being opened. Twister looks up at a device on the wall and holds his breath.
“Thank fuck. They didn’t arm it.” He’s looking at a state-of-the-art alarm. “Serious shit that.”
I nod, recognising the system as one top of the line which Cad likes to use when he can, and once again think Skull’s broad must have money.
A friend? Sister? What is he to her, or she to him?
“Pyro,” Red’s stepped past me and is pointing to a photo display along one wall. Pictures of the kid from a newborn baby in the hospital to how she appeared today, about three years old. Three of the pictures show Skull holding the baby.
I notice two things immediately. One is the unmistakable paternal love and pride shining out of his eyes, and the other? That Skull looks nothing like a biker. Clean cut, wearing a button-down shirt in some, and in another, he’s wearing a suit.
“What the fuck’s going on?” I slam my fist into a wall.
“Something that fuckin’ smells,” Red replies, rifling through a desk. “What name did you know him by?”
“Kris Cox.”
“There are bills here all addressed to a Donavan Jordan. Presumably that’s who owns this house if he’s paying for the electric. Oh, and there’s a letter here addressed to Clare Jordan.”
“That sure looks like a father in those pictures,” Twister observes. “Christ, could Skull be this Jordan fella, or is that another fake name?”
Fuck only knows. I don’t.
I climb the stairs to the second floor. There’s a kid’s room, toys everywhere. Another room appears to be the master bed. As I open the wardrobe I see clothes I don’t recognise or would never have seen Skull wearing. There’s nothing here. Wrong house? Nah, those photos, they don’t lie. Something connects the people who own this house with Skull. But, what?
“I want to talk to this man Jordan, whether he’s Skull or not,” Red rasps as he comes into the bedroom. “Something stinks, Pyro.”
He doesn’t need to tell me.
He continues, “I’ll leave a prospect watching the house. Soon as anyone comes home, I want to know.”
His enforcer reappears behind him. “Whoever it is, they expected to return today. There’re the makings to prepare dinner and food obviously for the little one in the fridge.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Pyro
My lips press together as I think. After a second, I turn to the Vegas prez and his enforcer. “They could be taking a long route home making sure they haven’t got a tail. That could be why we’ve beaten them here. You’ve seen this place, Red. Everything they own is nice shit, expensive too. Not likely to leave that behind. I think they’ll be back, and soon. I’m gonna wait here. Give Skull the fuckin’ surprise of his life when he turns up.” Maybe it will be his last one.
Red considers for little more than a second. “I agree with you. But a few things for you to consider. One, Skull might have nothing to do with this Donavan Jordan—”
I interrupt. “Those pictures, Red, they tell a fuckin’ story. Why have family photos if you’re not a part of that family?”
“Could be his sister and nephew. He could have been driving her car.”
I shake my head. “Nah.” I wave my hand around. “No other fuckin’ pictures on display. Only ones have got Skull in them.”
Red’s own lips thin now. “Okay, say it is Skull. Chances are they might not intend to leave permanently, but that doesn’t mean he might not have taken off for a few days. You might have a long wait. I’ll get Keys looking into this Donavan and Clare Jordan’s details, see if there’re any parents or other relatives around and where they might hole up. The other
thought you need to have, is that he might not be returning alone. I’m unhappy about the two cars that intercepted Cuff and Wills. He might simply be waiting to gather the troops, whoever they are, and return prepared to find us waiting. Best you don’t stay alone.” He regards me for a moment. “Don’t know if your woman would survive if she lost you as well.”
Christ. What a thing to think about. Could Mel cope with another loss? I don’t want to know the answer, but I’m not going to risk it.
“I’ll take Judge,” I tell him quickly, having come to respect the man who’s been patched in for less than a year. “Sparky too.” Not Wills, not because he’s not up to the job, he is, but Mel will need at least one face from home around. It’s possible Skull won’t return for hours, if he’s coming back at all. I’m prepared to stay all night, maybe reconsider tomorrow if there’s still no sign. Maybe, by then, Keys will have come up with some other leads.
“I’ll stay,” Twister offers, cracking his hands together. “I don’t mind getting my hands on this traitor.”
“Agreed,” Red concurs again.
“Tell Mel I’m following a lead,” I ask him, knowing she’ll be expecting me back.
Red grimaces slightly, but she’s an old lady, she won’t argue with him. We both know all he’ll need to say is club business even though, in this case, it’s also very much hers. “I’ll try to keep her from worrying too much,” he responds at last.
We organise getting the bikes of those of us staying onto the crash truck to be taken back to the compound, then we return to the house. Now there are no bikes or truck in the vicinity to give Skull advanced warning, even if he spends time driving around.
A short while after Red leaves, Judge comes in.
“What’s the plan, Ro?”
Noticing Twister’s also looking at me, I decide fast. “I want to take them by surprise. Sparky and I will hide down here, you and Twister upstairs. I want them inside, door closed, and with their escape routes cut off.”
Satan’s Devils MC -Colorado Box Set: Books 4-6 Page 22
