Satan's Devils MC Colorado Boxset 1 Books 1 - 3

by Manda Mellett

  There’s silence on the other end of the line, then, “What’s the bitch like, Beef?”

  “Good woman, Prez. Deals well with her disability. Not someone who deserves to be caught up in something like this.”

  “Okay, let’s talk this through. The Warped Jokers have earned a reputation that the Devils try to steer away from. Last I heard they were running drugs, guns and women. Got a brothel or two set up in LA where the girls aren’t all willing. We may not walk the right side of the line, but we don’t go so far in that direction.”

  Demon shudders. “That shit only brings down trouble.”

  “I couldn’t call them, brothers, Drum.”

  “I hear you Beef. Our problem is, where do the Wretched Soulz stand? I can see their point, let the feds take an MC on a RICO ticket, might get them casting their net wider. On the other hand, throw the feds a bone, let them take a dirty club down, and maybe they’ll have satisfied their quota. At least for now.”

  “Be bad publicity for any MC.”

  I can imagine Drummer’s lips quirking. “Or good in some circles. Not good to be seen as weak.”

  “Get recognised for a fuckin’ bank job where people were killed?” I say incredulously.

  “Your woman, Beef. She can hold her own in the courtroom? She being coerced by the feds?”

  “Nah, she’s doing this because she thinks it’s the right thing.” I ignore his reference to her being my woman. “She willingly got into the witness program to keep herself and her family safe, and so she can stay alive to give that testimony.”

  “Demon. You say you’re getting pressure from the local Wretched Soulz chapter?”

  “They’re acting on what’s coming out of LA from what I can see.”

  “Okay. Their chapters are basically autonomous, and I don’t know many folks from the LA branch. Let me get Chaz’s thoughts on it.”

  Chaz is the president of the Arizona Wretched Soulz. It would at least be useful for Drummer to talk to him.

  We thank him, then end the call.

  Demon gazes at me thoughtfully. “Don’t know what will happen if we have to go head-to-head with the Wretched Soulz. That’s why I needed to give Drummer the head’s up.”

  Fuck. This is serious. Satan’s Devils would not survive a war with the Wretched Soulz, that’s something I don’t even want to think about. Lennox could take Stevie, set her up somewhere new, but can we trust him? I’m not convinced. The wheels in my head turn fast. Visions of Stevie so competent at the cabin, thoughts of her under me in bed. The realisation I’m not ready to lose her.

  I reach the only solution I can. “I’m not leaving Stevie to go somewhere alone.” I bow my head for a second, then look up decisively. “If it comes to it, I’ll turn in my patch and go off the grid.”

  His hand crashes down on the desktop. “She’s not even your bitch, Beef. How could you think of doing something so fuckin’ drastic? How would you survive? No club, no brothers behind you?”

  Another rise and dip of my shoulders. I could have lost her today. Third time she’s come far too close to being killed. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to her, not if I could have been there to prevent it. She means more to me alive, than my being a biker. “Doesn’t matter, Demon. I’ve made up my mind. Nah, she’s not mine, but how could she survive on her own?”

  “She was doing okay in a strange city until they caught up with her. Cad could sort her out with a new ID, we do it ourselves. Find somewhere new to send her.”

  “That was before she was looking over her shoulder all the time,” I reply, firmly. “She’s scared out of her wits now. You wouldn’t think it to look at her, but she’s had her confidence shaken. Wit Sec should have been fuckin’ fool proof, that’s what she was told. She agreed to lose contact with family and friends, everything familiar so no pressure could be brought on her to not testify. Now it’s all fucked up, she’s never going to trust she’s safe ever again. She’ll always be waiting for someone to catch up with her. Someone she literally wouldn’t see coming.”

  Demon’s finger and thumb find the top of his nose. A minute or so passes before he next speaks. “We need to be able to reassure her it won’t happen again. Trouble is, I don’t know how much time we have. Word gets out she’s here on the compound, we might have the Wretched Soulz knocking at our door before we’re ready.” He breathes in deep, then lets it out as a sigh. “What if you persuade her not to testify?”

  “Don’t think I’d be able to do that. Look at everything she’s lost getting this far. She’d have given up everything for nothing.”

  “Or, she might be safe if she agrees to keep her mouth shut and be able to return to her family.”

  She might be able to at that, but my gut tells me Stevie would find it hard to live with herself if she didn’t bring the bad guys to task. She still has nightmares of shots firing and people screaming. She’d be adding guilt on top of her uselessness at the time to do anything to help, she won’t be getting justice for those who lost their lives. Knowing the woman as I’ve come to, I don’t think she’d rest easy doing that.

  My face shows I’m dubious that such a suggestion would work.

  Slowly, Demon nods. “Keep that thought to yourself for now then, but it’s an option. Now,” his voice lightens, “shall we see what our marshal has to say?”

  “Yeah. How do you want to play it?”

  He inhales sharply, then the corners of his mouth turn up. “Shall we subject him to church?”

  As long as Demon is confident everyone can mind what comes out of their mouths, why the fuck not?

  While Demon gets a prospect to round everyone up, I go out to grab a beer from the bar. Lennox steps forward sharply as soon as he sees me, and steps in my way. Takes a brave fucking man to impede my progress to the bar. A warning growl sounds in my throat.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  “What’s going on is I’m going to get myself a fuckin’ drink.” I go to push past, then take pity on him. “Prez is calling the brothers together now. You’re going to be invited into church.”

  He rears back a little. “I take it that’s what you call your meetings?”

  I grin evilly. “Or it could be where we torture the truth out of somebody.”

  To give him his due, he doesn’t flinch. “I’ve got nothing to hide. You, on the other hand…”

  “Run a clean club,” I finish for him. “You won’t be finding any skeletons in our closet.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  While Beaver is gathering the troops, I check on Stevie. She’s still in the kitchen but now sitting at the table with a can of soda open in front of her. Max is lying at her feet. As I walk in she’s laughing, and I pause to listen to the sound. It’s genuine laughter, signalling she feels safe and relaxed. After the trauma of the day, shit the past couple of weeks, it’s good to hear her happy.

  I vow there and then to work to put a smile back permanently on her face. She doesn’t deserve to live with stress and fear or have a death sentence hanging over her. Briefly my fists clench at the thought of her lying cold and dead on a slab. I’ll do everything I can to prevent it. If that means giving up my patch, I’ll just have to make it work.

  Her mirth ending, she half-turns in my direction. “Is that you, Beef?”

  “Yeah, darlin’.” I smile at the confusion on the other women’s faces, knowing she must have recognised my steps, the way that I breathe, or just sensed my presence, just like I would her if she walked into a room. “You doing okay? Just going to have a meeting.”

  She waves her hand in a dismissive gesture. “I’m fine here. Making friends.” She smiles broadly. “And I’ve been advised not to move until those muffins come out of the oven. Apparently, they don’t last long if you’re not first in line.”

  Content she’s alright, I leave her with her new acquaintances, noting Jayden’s absence. Then, after having a quick word with Karl to keep a careful eye on her, I follow the brothers who a
re coming in and heading straight for church. Not for the first time I wish I had my Tucson brothers around me. Men, who I could predict how they would react.

  I realise I’m not being fair. One hint of trouble today and these men put their lives on the line for me. Acknowledging that thought, as I walk in, I raise my chin in turn to Thunder, Pyro, Ink, Rusty and Skull. Translating my gesture, I get various reactions in return, a number of ways of saying, no problem. They’d have done the same for any brother.

  Paladin’s the last to enter. From the flush on his face I suspect I know where Jayden had disappeared to. I grin at him. Seems they’ve progressed a long way from just holding hands.

  Lennox is already seated at the end of the table; I take the empty chair beside him. Wills and Dan, so recently patched in they haven’t been given road names yet, can’t hide the excitement on their faces as they attend their first proper church. I can still recall what it was like to progress from prospect to member. A feeling of pride, and an underlying concern they’ll do something to fuck up. I don’t expect them to do much talking.

  Demon bangs the gavel, but it doesn’t take much to get our attention. With a marshal seated at the table everyone wants to know what’s going on. I wonder how Demon is going to handle this. I do notice his father, Hellfire, watching him with a mix of interest and concern.

  “Right. No point starting anywhere other than introducing Marshal Lennox.” The marshal gives a small nod on hearing his name but doesn’t say a word. “There are several questions we want answered.”

  Lennox’s lips narrow. “Not saying I’m going to be able to satisfy your curiosity.”

  I raise my hand. Demon nods. Twisting my body slightly, I’m now facing the marshal. “I don’t think you’re in any position to do otherwise.” As I pause, the men around me growl as I’d hoped, reminding him exactly where he is, in the lion’s den. “I’ll start. I’ll tell you what we know, then you’ll better know where to fill in the gaps. To begin with, let’s get this straight. Stevie did everything she was told to do to protect her identity. She lived the role she was supposed to and did nothing to knowingly expose herself.”

  He raises his head and creases his eyes. “You sure about that?”

  “Certain.” I wait for him to take that in, then continue, “Stevie witnessed a crime.” I change the direction of my focus, making sure everyone at the table understands. “A shooting so callous, she still has nightmares about it. She still hears the sounds of shots and screaming echoing in her head.”

  Lizard passes a hand over his face, while Bomber uses words. “Poor little girl.”

  I lift my chin in confirmation. “She wants to do right, have the bad guys put away so they can’t do that again. Trouble is, it’s an MC she’s up against, so the feds decided to pursue a RICO indictment. That’s something no club wants brought to their door as it takes down all the members, whether or not they were the ones actually doing the crime.”

  The marshal gives nothing away, no movement, no expression.

  “She’s blind, and she’s got a service dog. A service dog with a GPS tag so he can be located if he goes missing.”

  “What the fuck?” Lennox pushes his chair back and stands. “What the ever-loving fuck?” He paces the room as he realises the implications. “But who would know about that?”

  “Just as important,” Cad pipes up, “how can whoever knew get into the right database and search for that information?”

  “Let’s leave that for now. Sit down, Marshal.” I wait until he does so before continuing. “You want to know why this club is protecting Stevie? It’s all down to me. I witnessed a hit and run, the fuckin’ dog pushed her out of the path of the car, got clipped himself.” I wait a second for that to sink in. “Woman was torn up about Max who not only is a companion, but her lifeline. So I helped her out. Went to talk to her about her situation. Fuckin’ lucky I did. I was there when a fuckin’ firebomb was thrown into the house. The backdoor was blocked. If I hadn’t had been there, she might not have gotten out.”

  “I didn’t know about the dog but knew about the fire.” Lennox’s voice and face are grim. “Had to wait for the firefighters to confirm there wasn’t a body in there. That’s when I lost track of her.”

  “Which brings us to how the fuck did you know where to find her today? I want to know why you were so conveniently there.” If my tone is menacing, it’s because I mean it. “Could be you’re the one tracing the tag and found her.”

  Lennox looks stunned and quickly shakes his head. His lips press together, then he seems to come to a decision. “Look, I’ve been chasing my tail trying to find her. Thought the Warped Jokers had gotten her, thought she might already be dead.” He grimaces, then continues, “I’d almost given up hope when I got a call from the cops they’d seen Jokers in town. I came back to Pueblo to find them. Put two and two together. If they already had her, they wouldn’t be hanging around.”

  “Didn’t you think to pick them up and question them? You knew her cover had to have been blown.”

  “Sure, I was going to work with the local cops, but I didn’t have a chance. Almost as soon as I spotted them they were getting ready to ride out, I followed them. I’d put my own tracker on one of their bikes. A bike that’s now in your auto-shop.”

  I let that pass, not wanting to draw attention to the sudden flare in Pyro’s eyes, confident the tracker will be found and destroyed. “So, you followed them today?”

  Another raise and dip of his head. “Sure did. They headed up to your cabin. I parked up, followed on foot. Didn’t know at the time that that’s where Stevie was hiding, they could have just been holing up there themselves. I got close enough to hear them talking. They’d expected to find Stevie there, and were making plans how to approach to catch her unawares. I was faster and skirted around them. Picked up your track immediately. You, cleverly, headed off into the forest.” He gives me a brief grin. “You passed me walking down. I assumed you’d hidden Stevie, and I found her. Well, you know the rest. Now she’s under my protection again.”

  His story sounds plausible. But there’s one thing I don’t like. “Lennox, she was almost killed three times on your watch. There’s a leak somewhere.”

  He shakes his head. “Never lost a witness from Wit Sec yet. The US Marshals are tight.”

  “I suggest you stop regurgitating that shit as you almost lost this one.” Demon’s voice thunders from the top of the table, making the point better than I could. “I’ve not decided whether I trust you or not, but one thing we stand for is not hurting women or failing to protect them.” He pauses, then his hand bangs the table twice in quick succession. “If you didn’t open your mouth, who did? The dog’s tracker is almost definitely how they found her. So who’s got access to the GPS database where his details will be lodged. And who the fuck knew what to look for?”

  Demon’s final words ring around the room in the sudden silence as all eyes stare at the man who’s got no real rights to be here. Lennox shifts uncomfortably, then pushes back his chair and starts to stand.

  “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

  The strength and loudness of the prez’s voice makes Lennox straighten his back. “I’m taking this back to my colleagues. We’ll start…”

  “You’re not starting anything,” I growl. “The leak may have come from within your organisation.”

  Lennox’s cheeks glow red. “We’re watertight. We’ve never…”

  “Well you fuckin’ nearly have now.” My fist comes down so hard on the wooden table top I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear it crack. “You don’t know who you can fuckin’ trust. You don’t know if someone’s got a brother, or sister, or cousin first removed with a tie to the Warped Jokers.”

  With his cheeks puffed out, Lennox spits out, “All my teams are background checked and have security clearance.”

  “So that’s okay then?” My tone is sarcastic. Then my voice sharpens. “Then who else knows?”

  Lenno
x grimaces. “Local law enforcement is informed as a courtesy when we relocate a witness into their town.”

  “What the fuck?” Thunder roars. “The cops know?”

  “Ninety-five percent of the time, witnesses are people who have been involved with a crime, but who have agreed to testify. They get a new identity, help finding a job. But in the end, we’re relocating a problem into a town. Local lawmen have the right to be given a heads up in case they go back to their old ways.”

  “Stevie’s committed no crime,” I say tensely. “There’s no reason for the cops to know.”

  Marshal shrugs. “We just followed procedure.”

  “A cop could access the database with the dog’s details,” Cad suggests.

  Lennox looks a mixture of relieved, confused and annoyed. “We haven’t had problems before.” He stares down at the table, then raises his eyes to meet Demon’s. “Any local cop you don’t trust?”

  “Them all?” Pyro throws in, then sits back with a huff.

  Prez answers more seriously, “Apart from you? No.”

  He looks down the table toward his father. Hellfire shrugs. “We try to avoid them when we can. Got a new police chief in recently, but as far as we can tell, he’s straight.”

  “When did he take the job?” Lennox asks tersely.

  When he’s told, he shakes his head. “Date’s don’t match up. He couldn’t have known at the time that we were going to place Stevie here.”

  The marshal slumps in his seat. Then suddenly he sits back up. “Of course, if they hadn’t so conveniently disappeared, we could ask the Warped Jokers outright.” His voice sharpens. “What have you done with them?”

  Demon stares back at him steadily. “They got the message they weren’t welcome in Pueblo. Must have headed back to whatever hole they came from.”

  I work hard at suppressing my grin. Yeah, for two of them, that’s a nice deep hole in the ground. Our next step will indeed be to question the two still breathing, but that’s something the likes of Lennox will know nothing about. Don’t want anyone connected to the law poking into the way we manage that particular business.