by KJ Dahlen
Gypsy smiled. He was about to say something when they both heard her stomach growling. Instead, he chuckled and asked, “How long since you ate anything?”
Inez frowned. “It's been a good long time ago, I guess.”
“How long is a good long time?”
Inez just shrugged. She wasn’t about to tell him it had been over twenty four hours since she ate anything. She didn’t think he would exactly understand her situation.
“Well, come on. We’ll get some coffee and something decent to eat.” He got off the bed. “You can also meet everyone else.”
Inez nodded. “Ok and you promise to call John for me?”
Gypsy glared at her insistence for this man. He didn’t understand what the hell was with her. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll get in touch with John for you.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry but this is all I can do for my dad.” Shaking her head she admitted, “It's all I got left. I have to see this through. Don’t you understand? I have to.”
With his expression softening, Gypsy gathered her into his arms and tried to soothe her. “Ok baby girl, we’ll get you together with Grizzly. No more worries.”
Chapter Three
Gypsy led her down the hall and into the main room. A few of the others were awake but as it was still early, there weren’t too many brothers in there just yet.
The scents of breakfast being prepared made Inez’s belly growl loudly and she flushed at the sounds coming from her stomach.
Gypsy just chuckled and steered her toward the table. Some of the food had already been brought out and he quickly made her a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. He took her to one of the many tables and sat her down then set the plate in front of her.
He went back to the serving table and poured two cups of Winona’s special coffee and brought them back to the table, then went back and got himself a plate of eggs, bacon and toast. They sat quietly eating and he couldn’t help but notice how quickly her eggs disappeared. Or how quickly she turned green and was looking for a bathroom. He pointed out the way and she bolted for the bathroom to puke up the eggs she’d just inhaled.
Gypsy gripped his fork and growled in frustration.
Patriot came over to him and gave him a look.
Gypsy motioned his head toward the john.
Patriot nodded. “I guess that answers that question.”
Gypsy turned his head and glared at the man. “What question?”
The other man nodded at the bathroom door. “How long has she been running?”
Gypsy frowned. “She said she left Vermont four months ago, why?”
“Because last night I thought it was just the lights but that girl hasn’t been eating well in the last four months,” Patriot told him. “In fact, I’ll bet she hasn’t been eating much at all.” He looked down at her plate and could see she still had some food left. Looking back at Gypsy he asked, “How much did she eat before she had to puke?”
“Not quite half of what I put on her plate.”
“How long since she’s eaten?” Patriot wanted to know.
Gypsy looked over at the door and shrugged. “She said it's been a long time ago but no time frame.”
Patriot laid his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Then have her take it slow. Small meals about six times a day or as often as she needs to eat. She needs to build herself up again. Make her eat something even if she tells you she isn’t hungry. Her body needs nutrition make sure she drinks some OJ too.”
“I’ll make sure.” Gypsy stated. He got up and took away her plate. When he came back with just toast, Inez was coming out of the bathroom.
She walked slowly back to the table and sat down. “I’m sorry. I guess I ate too much,” she told him.
“No problem, sweetheart. I got you some toast to nibble on and some orange juice too. You need something in your belly.”
Inez nodded and reached out a shaky hand to take a slice of toast. The food she had eaten before had tasted so good but because it had been so long, her stomach couldn’t handle it. She began nibbling on the toast and looking around the clubhouse.
The tables were filling up quickly and everyone seemed to be enjoying their meal. Inez had been enjoying the eggs too until she got sick to her stomach that is. Then she locked eyes with three men sitting at a table nearby.
They didn’t seem hostile but they were curious. They all three got up when they noticed her staring at them and moved over to the table she was sharing with Gypsy. When they sat down, Inez carefully laid her toast down. She folded her hands on her lap and looked down.
Gypsy scooted his chair closer to hers and laid his arm across the back of her chair. “Inez, meet our President Gunner, our VP Boone and a friend of the club, Cobra,” he introduced the newcomers.
Inez lifted her head and nodded at the men. “Hello.”
Gunner leaned forward and took a good hard look at her. “What’s your name sweet girl?”
Gypsy growled at the endearment but didn’t say anything.
“Inez,” she whispered. “My name is Inez.”
“Ok Inez, I’m Gunner. We need to ask some questions, are you okay with that?”
Gypsy interjected, “Let me tell you something before you start in. She’s here in Texas to meet up with a US Marshal, precisely one John Crowly.”
Gunner frowned. “Grizzly? What does he have to do with any of this?”
Gypsy shook his head. “It has to do with why she’s here in the first place.”
Inez turned her head to glare at him and her eyes flared in anger. “I am sitting right here you know and I do have a voice. Believe it or not, I can speak for myself too.”
Gypsy held up his hands in surrender. “Ok darlin, ok. Just wanted to get that out there.”
“Well then Inez, what does John have to do with this?” Gunner asked her outright.
“I need to get something to him. That’s really all I can tell you.” She shrugged.
“We’re gonna need more than that Inez.” Cobra glared at her. He ignored Gypsy’s growl but continued to stare at her.
“I can’t tell you any more than that until after I speak to this John Crowly person,” Inez insisted stubbornly. Then she felt the phone in her bra vibrate. Since she couldn’t answer it here, she got to her feet and walked toward the bathroom again.
Gypsy began to follow.
Inez turned and held up a hand to stop him. “I’ll be okay. I just need a few minutes alone.”
Then she turned and hurried into the bathroom. Locking the door behind her, she reached for the small burner phone she’d tucked in her bra. She looked at the caller ID and noted it was Shay. She fumbled with the phone and finally answered the call, “Shay? Oh thank god, you called.”
“Are you all right, Mallory?” Shay asked.
“I’m alive, that’s all that matters,” She replied. “I’m with some bikers at the moment. They claim to know John Crowly. Only they know him as Grizzly.”
“Grizzly?” Shay asked quietly. “Are you with the Savaged Souls MC?”
“I think that’s who they are. Why? Are they okay to be with? Do I need to run again?”
“No honey, you stay right where you are. These guys can and will protect you.”
Inez sagged against the sink. “Thank goodness, cuz I don’t think I can run anymore. Dino almost got me last night. I made it as far as Jasper before he found me.”
“Damn it,” Shay swore. “Let me call in some people. You stay with the Souls and I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“Shay, I have to ask,” she whispered. “Did dad get a decent funeral at least? I couldn’t be there for him when he needed me the most.”
“Yeah, about that...” Shay began. “I didn’t want the world to know what happened to him. I did take care of his body but no one knows he’s dead yet. I wanted to give you time to get away.”
Inez gasped as tears ran down her face. “Oh Shay, dad deserved so much better than this.” She broke down and sobbed for
a moment. “I feel I let him down as a daughter.”
“Honey, you did nothing of the kind,” Shay insisted. “He understood what he was asking of you that night. I need to call in some friends and if you don’t get through to John before they get there, give the drive to Pappy Masterson. He’ll know what to do with the information.”
“But Shay,” she interrupted. “The formula on the drive isn’t complete. Dad didn’t finish it because he didn’t want it used.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can get there, but Pappy and John are closer. Wait until I get there before you do anything.”
“Alright, but please hurry,” she pleaded. “These guys are asking questions and I may not be able to hold them off for much longer.” She hung up the phone and wiped the tears away from her face. She tucked the phone back in her bra, opened the door and stopped in shock.
Gypsy stood there looking madder than anyone she’d ever seen before. He grabbed her arm and dragged her back to the table. Pushing her down in her chair, he turned to the others. “I think we’re being played.”
Inez knew that all the blood had drained from her face. She snapped her head up to look at him.
He wouldn’t look at her instead, he was looking at Gunner and Cobra. “I just overheard part of an interesting phone call.”
“Indeed.” Gunner stared at her as he asked, “What did you hear?”
“She’s looking to meet John only to turn over a drive to him, but the drive isn’t complete. Her dad never put the whole formula on it because he didn’t want it to be used. Her contact was a man she called Shay.”
Gunner looked over at Inez. “Ok lady, what the fuck is going on here?”
“I need to speak to John Crowly before I can say much of anything,” she insisted. “Or a man named Pappy Masterson. He’s being called in as we speak.”
Cobra slowly leaned in toward her. “You called in Pappy? What the fuck you got going on here girl?”
“I can’t tell you.” She brushed her cheeks, wiping away the moisture leaking from her eyes.
Gunner nodded. “We know Pappy, we also know John. You need to give us more information than you are. Such as who is this Shay person? And you better tell us the truth.”
Inez stayed quiet for a long time.
Finally, Gypsy laid his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it a bit. “You have to tell them something.”
Inez looked up at him. “I can’t. I don’t want to put their lives in danger and I may already have, just by being here.”
“So who was the bastard that took a shot at you last night?” Boone asked.
She turned to look at him and her eyes suddenly turned hard with disgust. “He’s the same man who shot my father four months ago. My dad lived long enough to tell me to run. I hated leaving him there but I had no choice. The bastard was pilfering my dad’s lab and when he didn’t find what he was looking for, he set fire to the place.” She paused and new tears ran down her face. “I had to leave him there. I-I ran away and when I looked back—the house was on fire.”
“What was your dad working on when he was murdered?” Gunner wanted to know.
Inez couldn’t tell them, so she stayed silent.
“Ok fine, we can wait until everyone’s here before you talk but you will tell us what we want to know,” Gunner assured her. He looked over at Gypsy and ordered, “Take her to the cells. She’ll be safe there and we’ll know she can’t go anywhere.”
Gypsy’s fingers curled into fists. “You can’t be serious? The cells? Is she under arrest then?”
Gunner shook his head. “No, she isn’t under arrest. We just need to know she isn’t planning to sneak off before we can get some answers. We don’t know who’s after her or why and she won’t tell us, so we don’t really have a choice in the matter.”
Gypsy looked down at her and something caught his eye. There was a brief flash of red on her chest and he pulled her down under the table just seconds before the window shattered and a bullet embedded in the floor, just behind where she had been sitting moments ago.
Someone screamed but Inez didn’t even seem to notice it. Gypsy had completely covered her with his own body and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get up.
She tried to turn around and Gypsy growled. “Stay still. The shooter could still be out there.”
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
“Right now, I don’t know whether I’m more pissed at Gunner or you but yeah, I’m fine.”
Inez whispered, “Thank god.”
When no other shots were fired, Gunner and Boone crawled toward the window and looked outside.
When Rigger joined them, he called out, “He’s gone. The bastard took one shot then took off.”
Gunner and Cobra snapped their heads around to glare at her.
Gunner snarled. “Because you won’t tell us anything about what’s going on here, you just put our lives in danger and we can’t have that. I can’t have some lousy bastard taking pot shots at you under our roof and not try to stop it. I suggest you tell us everything we need to know.”
Gypsy got up off the top of her and held out a hand to assist her to her feet.
Inez looked at all the big men standing there. “Ok, I’ll tell you. I can’t and won’t put your lives in any more danger. Enough blood has been spilled. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”
Chapter Four
Tucking a strand of curly black hair behind her ear, Inez gazed at the men on the other side of the table. “The Shay you asked about is Shay Montross. He and my father were very good friends all through my childhood. He would stop by for a visit anytime he was back in the states.”
“He travel a lot did he?” Cobra wanted to know.
“He was in the military, secret intelligence.” Inez frowned. “Although I probably shouldn’t have told you that. Not very many people know that.”
“Don’t worry, we can keep his secret.” Gunner smiled at her. “Go on.”
“Not much more I can tell you.” She shrugged.
“Do you know who just took a shot at you?” Gunner growled. “And why?”
She looked at them and nodded. “His name is Dino but that’s really all I know about him.” She paused then added, “Well, that and the fact he wants me dead. He also shot my dad four months ago after he agreed to fight him like a man. He was losing that fight, so he pulled out a gun and shot my dad in the fucking back.”
Gunner and the others were quiet for the next few minutes, then Cobra asked, “Was your dad running away?”
Inez shook her head. “No, he wasn’t running away. I interrupted the fight. My dad turned toward me to tell me to get the hell out of the house when Dino shot him. If I hadn’t come into the room, my dad might still be alive.”
“No sweetheart, he’d still be dead,” Gunner told her. “This man Dino was going to kill him either way. He was too much of a coward to let him live. Or you either it seems.”
“That’s what Shay said too.” She hung her head. “I didn’t even get to bury him,” stated quietly and began sobbing.
Gypsy wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “You may not have gotten to bury him but you did even better. You are here and almost to the end game, he needed you to play. You survived long enough to complete his final mission.”
“But it isn’t complete until I get the flash drive to John or Shay.” She pointed out. “And I don’t know this Pappy person either. Who is he and why would Shay call him in?”
Boone looked up at her. “Pappy Masterson is our own home-grown defense against another 9/11 ever happening again on American soil. We’ve worked with him and his group before. They run an MC down in Sabine Pass but they also set up a nationwide watch group to make sure we never have to go through what we did when they drove their fucking planes into the twin towers. He’s one of the good guys.”
“How did you get here from Vermont?” Gunner asked her.
Inez shrugged. “Mostly on foot. I didn’t have time the night of the s
hooting to grab my car. I wasn’t sure it was safe anyway. I moved from place to place mostly at night, so I wouldn’t be seen.”
“How often has Dino almost found you along the way?” Cobra frowned.
“About a dozen times.” She frowned. “Which is weird now that I think of it.”
Gunner shook his head. “Honey, he’s tracking you.”
“How can that be?” She cried out.
“Do you still have your phone?” Cobra asked.
She shook her head. “I had to replace it in New York. The battery died on me and I couldn’t find a replacement cord. I picked up a new phone but I haven’t used it much since then. I’m not exactly in a position to call any of my friends.”
“Did you have the data transferred to the new phone?” Rigger asked.
Inez nodded.
Rigger looked over at Gunner. “He’s been tracking her.”
“Damn it. I never thought about that.” She sighed. “I may have led him straight here.”
Gypsy growled as he looked over at his men. “Which means he has no time left. He has to finish the job before she can transfer the drive to Grizzly or Pappy.”
“Thus taking the shot while she’s inside the clubhouse,” Gunner stated the obvious.
Cobra held out his hand and snapped his fingers. “Hand over the phone.”
Inez reached inside her shirt and pulled the phone from her bra then handed it to him.
Cobra flipped it over and took out the battery. Then he reached behind him pulled his weapon out of his back holster and smashed the battery with the butt of his gun. Putting the weapon back into his waistband, he shrugged. “Problem solved.”
“Except for the fact Dino is well aware of the fact that she’s sitting right here.” Gunner shook his head. “Your actions are a little too late my friend.”
“Well then, we better pray Grizzly or Pappy get here before that bastard returns huh?” Cobra growled.
“Oh, I think we can do better than that.” Gunner smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Turning to Rigger he said, “I’ll give Grizzly a call and get him here but I need you to get info on this bastard. We’ll turn the tables on him and hunt his dumb ass down. We know he’s here in town, all we have to do is find the bastard and make him sorry he was ever born.” He growled. “No one disrespects us in our own house. That bastard has a lot to learn about the Savaged Souls.”