Satan’s Devils MC -Colorado Box Set: Books 4-6

by Mellett, Manda

  Mace

  “Bail denied.”

  We’re all waiting in the clubhouse. Prez had wanted to refrain from a mass presence at Ink’s hearing as he didn’t want the judge to feel threatened, so only he’d been in attendance. But keeping our distance apparently hadn’t worked. I hated staying away, wanted to be there to show Ink he’s loved, missed and supported. Will he think we’ve abandoned him? Fuck, I hope not. We’d never do that.

  “Church,” Prez announces, as he quickly spies everyone waiting around. Our businesses are today being left to the civilians to run having all hoped, rather than expected, Ink to be coming home even if only on a temporary basis. Everyone had wanted to be here to greet him.

  Prez waits for us to sit down. “Where are we at?” he starts.

  There’s nothing more to say about Ink. He’s in jail. Now we’ve got to concentrate on what little we can do to get him out, or, if that fails, to seek vengeance.

  “Connor will live,” the VP pronounces. “I’m going to be able to question him today. Up to now he’s been circling in and out of it.”

  “I’ve stopped the strong shit as per Ironside’s instructions,” Rusty announces. “He’s just on normal pain relievers now. Should give him a clearer head.”

  Connor had been unconscious since we brought him back Sunday night, partly it sounds, due to medication. It’s good news he has improved and maybe we can start getting some answers. I’d hoped that would be the case. When I’d looked in on him earlier, his eyes were less swollen, and Rusty had assured me he was sleeping, rather than in a coma. Seems once all the blood had been washed off, his injuries, while painful, aren’t fatal now the deepest cuts had been stitched and his blood levels topped off.

  Demon’s looking down at his hands which are clasped on the table in front of him. When he looks back up, he states, “I didn’t expect Ink to be granted bail. Not for the charge they think they’ve got him on. But I tell you, Brothers, I’m not certain how he’s going to get out of this. Judge didn’t even attempt to put a monetary value on his freedom.”

  “What’s Ink’s state of mind?”

  Demon stares at his VP for a moment before answering. It’s not that he doubts the veracity of the question coming from the man who perhaps knows him least, it’s because he’s deciding how to answer.

  “Hard to tell from his brief appearance. But Sykes says he’s holding up okay. He’s worried sick about Beth being interviewed by the cops. What’s most important to him is that we do what we can to watch out for her. If she goes down…” Demon pauses to shake his head. “Well, everything Ink’s sacrificed will be wasted.”

  “Did you tell Sykes about Connor? Does Ink know?”

  “I called Sykes yesterday morning, but all I said was Beth’s in the clear, just to give Ink some comfort. The less either he or Sykes know, the better at the moment. Any temptation to embellish his story, or drop Connor’s name into it, might do more harm than good.”

  “The only reason he’s inside is to keep her out of it,” Thunder, serious for once, states. “If he knew the truth of it, he’d go crazy. Does he know about the incident at her house? Or that Connor stored drugs there?”

  “Fuck no,” Demon says, adamantly. “You think I want to heap that on him too? How would any of us feel if we had an old lady and couldn’t lift a finger to protect her?”

  I wouldn’t know and am unlikely ever too. But from Beef and Pyro’s reaction, even Hellfire, Buzz and Bomber’s reaction, it wasn’t something they’d want to even contemplate.

  But I add mine to the murmurs of agreement around the table. It’s best not to add to Ink’s worries. If anything happened to Beth, either as a result of the law entrapping her or physically because of those fucking drugs, if he knew she’d been moments away from eating a bullet, Ink would go out of his fucking mind.

  Since Sunday night I’ve been revising my opinion of how Ink had come to be arrested, and the part Beth had played. Beth’s close brush with death had focused my mind, had made me realise how high the stakes were and to what lengths people would go to continue their drug trade. I’d started to understand the pressure that must have been brought on her to make her act out of character and deliver those drugs. I decide to give my brothers the benefit of my new thinking.

  Raising my chin, I sum up, “I know none of us like the fuckup that happened on Saturday night, or like Ink’s woman for her part in it. Simply put, if Beth hadn’t been there, Ink wouldn’t be inside.” I pause for the inevitable nods, and some growls of agreement. Then, carry on, “There’s now no doubt in my mind having seen the state her brother is in, that he must have come across as convincing. As it turns out, it’s only by luck that he didn’t bleed out. Doc said that if he’d been left unattended in that state for much longer, that may well have been the result. Beth did what any of us would have done for a brother, she did what she could to help him. Beth was right to be concerned.”

  “She should have come to us,” Pyro objects.

  I find myself doing what I never expected, advocating on her behalf. “She had no time to think what to do. Whether she’d called us or gone to the cops, she was told Connor would be dead if she didn’t act there and then. Remember, she didn’t know what she was being asked to deliver until she found the drugs.”

  “She’s a bitch.” Liz opens a pack of smokes. “Can’t expect any sense from them.”

  Some laugh, some grumble. I leave it at that. I’ve said my bit.

  Prez glances my way, then gives a slow nod. “I’ve spoken to Beth a few times and have had to be pretty forceful to stop her turning herself into the cops thinking it would get Ink out.”

  “See? No sense as I said.”

  “Liz,” Prez growls. Then starts again, “She’s doing no more than Ink. She’s prepared to sacrifice herself to help another. Just as she was prepared to do to help her brother.”

  “Ever get the impression she’s had no one to rely on? That she’s used to doing shit on her own?” Eyes go to Hellfire.

  Bomber scoffs. “Girl lives with her mom.”

  Hell shrugs. “Sure. But look at Beth. Does she look like someone to lean, or be leaned on?”

  I’ve got a suspicion I think I know where he’s going with this. “Whatever Beth is like, she comes across as big and strong, not a woman who needs someone to stand up for her. So it makes sense she didn’t call for help, she’s used to doing shit on her own.” I think about it a bit more and find myself uttering words I wouldn’t have thought would come out of my mouth a day or so ago. “You have to admire the bitch, she’s probably got no one in her corner.”

  “Even her brother went straight to her for help,” inputs Judge. “He didn’t give a thought to her safety, just offered her up.”

  Hell picks up when other voices trail off, “Look at what she didn’t know rather than what she did. She didn’t know the cops were there that night, didn’t know Ink was anywhere close. Even if she did, his actions took her by surprise. Pure accident the part she played in putting Ink behind bars.”

  Lizard is frowning, looking at his now properly stitched and bandaged hand. “I suppose you, Prez, or you, Ro, can better understand why Ink is so intent on protecting Beth. Can’t myself, never found a broad who would make me give up the life that I know. In some ways, I wonder whether it’s how Ink’s justifying what happened, rather than what he feels for her. He’s looking at being charged with something he didn’t do. He can’t get out of it, but if he’s doing it for a reason, it becomes worthwhile. Fact is, as we all know, if he hadn’t stepped in, it would be Beth looking at thirty years.”

  “I’d do the same for Steph,” Beef offers.

  “For Sindy too,” echoes Buzz.

  Hell and Bomber look at each other. Then laugh. Hell puts it into words. “May have to think on it for a moment. Things look a bit different after you’ve been married darn near forty years.”

  Demon’s eyes go large as they look down the opposite end of the table at his father. His mouth
opens, shuts, then opens again. Then Hell snarls, “Fuckin’ with you. Damn it, I’d do the same as Ink, even though Mo can be a pain in my ass. What this club is about, isn’t it, Brothers? Protecting those we love. Especially the weaker sex.”

  Liz snorts. “From what Dirt said, Beth’s not weak. She disarmed that fucker who went to her house.” His observation is acknowledged with comments of begrudging respect.

  “Her mom was no slouch either,” Rusty reminds us all.

  I think to what Dirt had said. If Beth hadn’t reacted so fast, she’d probably be dead. I can’t blame Dirt though, he couldn’t shoot through her and had been unable to see the fucker’s head.

  “Seems like it’s time to bring this up. They were threatened at gun point. I really don’t like leaving her and her mom in that house,” Beef puts in. “Those motherfuckers could be back. They want answers and they want the heroin. The next time, they’ll know they’re not dealing with two powerless women.”

  “Agree with you, VP. But I can’t see another option.” Demon wipes a hand over his brow, drawing attention to the crease lines on it. “It’s likely the cops will question her again because her fingerprints were on that bag, and not unlikely, cops will pay us another visit. Any other time, I’d pull them in, but a link between us and them would only do more harm. The fact we’re not visibly watching out for her cements the view she was a casual fuck to Ink, and not his old lady.”

  Beef slams the table with his palm. “Then we protect them another way. Find out who the fuck we’re facing, and deal with them. If we can’t keep them out of danger, we stop it touching them. We need answers from Connor, and I’m in the fuckin’ mood to get them. Mace?”

  “I’m in.” Won’t even take much to make Connor hurt. All we were doing was waiting until he was fit enough to feel it.

  “Okay. We’ve covered everything we can for now. I agree with the VP, we get these fuckers and stop them. Connor’s got answers, VP and Mace will get them. Church over. But stay fucking close. Soon as we know anything, we’ll reconvene.”

  Like Beef, having gotten Demon’s blessing, I waste no time getting to my feet.

  As I walk past him, Hellfire stays me with a hand to my arm. “Wring that fucker dry,” he instructs unnecessarily. I raise my chin back. That’s exactly what I intend to do. We might have filled him back up with blood, but I’ll soon let it out again if I have to.

  When I open the door, I’m pleased to see Connor sitting up and spooning broth into his mouth, well more accurately, raising his spoon to his lips, then sucking in the contents, his jaw still being swollen. But hey, the man can eat, the man can talk. And I’m in the mood to make him.

  He pauses with his spoon halfway to his mouth, looks to me, then the man behind me, and replaces it without partaking of the contents, putting the bowl down on the bedside table.

  “This is it, then?” he says, the words understandable if not well-formed. He glances from one to the other of us again.

  “You’re a dead man, Connor,” Beef tells him, pulling up a chair and turning it around, folding his arms over the back.

  Connor’s eyes close briefly. When he opens them, he asks, “You get far with that approach? Letting me know whether I speak to you or not, you’re going to kill me.”

  If he thinks we don’t know what we’re doing, he’s very mistaken. Though I must admit I was taken a bit aback by Beef’s opening words. My face, however, remains impassive as I wonder where the VP is going with this.

  “No,” Beef contradicts. “But whoever did this to you,” his hand indicates Connor’s bandaged body, “thinks that you expired because I told them you had. So yeah, it doesn’t matter what we do with you now. But it does, however, leave you with a choice, should you choose the right one.”

  Connor looks confused, but I understand Beef’s opening gambit now. If it works, I may not be called on to ply my trade.

  “A choice suggests you might let me live.” Connor’s eyes are swollen yet manage to convey a glimmer of hope.

  Beef shrugs. “Maybe.” He waves toward the broken body on the bed. “I’d bet good money if whoever did this to you finds out you’re alive, you wouldn’t be that way for much longer. You tell us everything, we find it to our satisfaction, then you have the option to start over. A clean slate because Connor Foster is dead.”

  He frowns and stares at the VP as if trying to process the words he’s heard and clearly wondering about the implications. “I’m dead?” The lines etched on his forehead deepen. “I could start afresh?”

  “Being dead gives you certain freedoms. But you’ll be dead for real if you don’t talk. This is my promise to you, Connor. We won’t make fiction fact unless your answers aren’t anything but the truth.” I step up closer to him, flexing my hands.

  His swollen eyes close as he thinks. “If I were alive, they’d kill me for speaking to you. But if they think I’m dead, they won’t know I’m telling you anything.” Some of the tension in his face seeps away. “You said, I could start again somewhere new. Why would you do that for me?” He seems disbelieving, and his face tightens again. “From here it seems like you’ve done me a favour. Wouldn’t it be easier for you to kill me once I’ve told you everything I know?”

  I chuckle. “Probably, yes. I can oblige if you prefer. Could still be the outcome if you don’t give us everything we need.”

  He presses back into the pillows as though trying to get further away from me. “What I don’t understand, is why you’re involved?” he says after a moment. “Why were you at the warehouse? Why did you bring me out? Why did you let them think I was dead?” His brow furrows. “How you knew who I was when you found me? If you were after the drugs, there weren’t any there. But why would you be? You’re wearing Satan’s Devils’ cuts, but everyone knows Satan’s Devils aren’t in the drug business.” He sounds puzzled.

  “Which was why you were dealing around our premises,” I put in. “Because we don’t touch heroin or anything else.”

  “No, man. Not me. I wasn’t dealing. Never have, never will.”

  My eyes narrow as I look at Beef. It dawns on me, Connor probably has no idea what went down Saturday night. Oh, he knows he asked Beth to deliver the drugs, but he doesn’t seem to know the outcome.

  “What’s your relationship to Fender Childs?” Beef asks. I’m content to leave the questioning to the VP. I’m just here to enforce any answers which aren’t forthcoming.

  “I haven’t one.”

  I start to mentally prepare myself, certain he’s already lying.

  “But you know him?” Beef probes.

  Connor shrugs. “Met him. Why?”

  Suddenly Beef is off the chair and diving forward so his impressive hands land on the bed either side of Connor. “Because that’s who you fuckin’ told your sister to deliver drugs to.”

  “Beth? What’s she…” His eyes narrow. “That fuckin’ boyfriend of hers. He’s a Devil. He’s behind this, isn’t he? She went to you when I told her not to.” His eyes close then open. “No wonder they went so hard on me. I thought they’d ease off once I’d done what they asked, but no…” He grimaces. “Look, I was in trouble. I had to ask her. They… well, you can see what they were doing to me. Told me they’d kill me if I didn’t get the drugs delivered. I just knew a place and time, I didn’t know who’d be there waiting.”

  “You haven’t even asked if your sister is alright,” Beef snarls.

  Connor tries to sit up, not easy when he’s caged in by Beef. “The fact they darn near killed me suggests she’s alright. That she went to you and didn’t go to the meet.” His face falls like that of a little boy. “She didn’t care what happened to me.”

  “She fuckin’ cared,” Beef roars back. “Though why she’d care about a piece of shit that got her involved in this business, I’ve no fuckin’ idea.” He pauses, glances at me for an instant and I see him shudder as he tries to get a grip on himself before turning back. “What if I told you the person delivering the drugs and Fende
r Childs have both been arrested?”

  Even if there was a million dollars at stake, I wouldn’t have been able to predict Connor’s reaction. As far as he knows, Beef has just told him his sister had been arrested. Instead of horror, instead of regret, Connor… smiles.

  Beef’s face glows, his shoulders straighten. He leans even closer. “What type of fuckin’ man are you? Getting a woman to do your dirty work for you? You might not think much of us, but we’d never, ever, put an innocent woman in the position of being hurt. Or arrested.”

  “She’s been arrested?” Connor still doesn’t look upset. “She’ll be okay.”

  “Okay?” Beef roars. “Fuckin’ okay? The person found with drugs on them is looking at thirty-plus years for possession with intent to supply.”

  Connor frowns. He scurries up the bed as far as he can to get away from Beef. His groan of pain as he moves doesn’t affect me at all. “Look, it’s bad timing. That’s all. She must have gotten bail, first offence and all that?”

  “First offence counts for fuck all in these cases. No bail.”

  Beef’s not admitting it’s not his sister who’s locked up. Not yet. I’ll leave it to him to decide when or whether to enlighten him. Would it make Connor clam up if he knew just exactly what our vested interest in this was?

  “What day is it?” he suddenly asks. I realise he’s been out of it for a while.

  “Tuesday,” Beef replies. “You’ve been here since Sunday night.”

  “I can sort it in a few days.” Connor looks hopeful. “She’s just got to hang on until the weekend. It will be fine,” he adds, sounding like he’s trying to convince himself.

  “Ever been inside, Connor?” I ask, unable to hold back anymore.

  He shakes his head.

  Beef stands up straight. His hands clench, and for a moment I wonder if he’s going to step into my role. “Thing is, Con, whether who you’ve gotten locked up will be fine, or whether it’s okay for them to hang on a few days, isn’t for you to decide. You see, we knew there was a SWAT team standing by that night. It was our fuckin’ premises that you and your friends were targeting. We wanted to make fuckin’ sure the cops caught whoever was there, and if they didn’t, we wanted to get our hands on them ourselves. My brother, Ink, saw Beth. Saw she was walking straight into a trap. He swapped places with her, and it’s him who’s fuckin’ inside.”