He nodded to Diablo who was standing near his seat chatting with Viking. Diablo grunted a greeting. Viking nodded at him and included him in the conversation. He chatted with Diablo and Viking about a run they were going out on next week.
Irritated by the sound of rhythmic tapping, he glanced over to see where the annoying sound was coming from. He noted that Phoenix was tapping the table while looking at the door every five seconds like he couldn’t wait to get out of this meeting. Sin, his old lady, had just come back from her annual week-long visit with her father and brothers. He was likely still recovering from the separation. Every year for the last three they’d dealt with him acting like a damned bear for seven days while she was gone.
Sin had forbidden him to go with her after her first visit home. He’d growled at anyone who touched her and had gotten into four fights before their weekend stay was up. Sin had decided that instead of causing a war between the two clubs she would go alone to her visits. Phoenix didn’t like it, but he let her do whatever she wanted because he loved her. Well that and the fact that Sin would do whatever the hell she wanted anyway.
Peanut had been a little shocked at how hard the big lug had fallen for Sin. After the shit that had gone down about nine years ago with some bitch that killed his kid in the womb, nobody had expected Phoenix to fall in love with any woman, much less one like Sin who took him to task every chance she got. Hell, that letter he’d written to her that she’d left in the clubhouse was still infamous.
Diablo headed over to the head table and sat down next to Rage. Peanut rubbed his hand along the back of his neck, leaning back to rest his head against the wall behind him waiting on Rage to call church to order. There was a slight commotion at the door making him look up to see Chains had walked in followed by two men he didn’t recognize. He sat up, surprised to see anyone who wasn’t a part of the club here. Typically, that wasn’t allowed because only club members attended church.
“Good, everyone’s here. Take your seats gentleman, we have a lot of shit to go over,” Rage said calling the meeting to order. Diablo looked around the room, his eyes observant. Chains sat down near them after showing the two men to the front of the room. Curiosity had Peanut leaning forward in his seat watching the younger of the two men stare out at them with apprehension. His dark brown hair fell into his eyes and he nervously shoved it back and shifted from foot to foot.
Everyone was seated and looking at the two men who were obviously not part of the club. Peanut again wondered what they were doing here. It was very odd with everything going on that Rage had two strangers at this meeting. His eyes moved over to the older man who had salt and pepper hair and a stocky build. He didn’t look nervous; in fact he looked a little arrogant considering the men he was in the room with. He immediately didn’t like the man.
“Let’s get started. First, I’m sure you’ve noticed that Chains has brought in two men with him today. I know we don’t normally have outsiders in church but today we are making an exception,” Rage began, his voice carrying around the room in the silence his call to order had invoked.
“I don’t know why we need these assholes,” Tatar grumbled.
“Stop being an asshole, Tatar. If you shut the fuck up the Prez will explain,” Hambone said, his hand slamming down on the table.
“Everyone shut the fuck up. We aren’t going to sit here and act like a bunch of disorganized dickheads in front of two fucking strangers. Sit down and stop fucking talking,” Diablo snapped. The silence in the room was suddenly deafening.
“As I was saying these two men are here to discuss some information we’ve recently received. Let’s hear them out,” Rage said.
Peanut watched the younger man’s eyes dart around the room looking guilty. Peanut narrowed his eyes watching them. He was about to speak but Viking grabbed his arm subtly, nodding to Chains. Peanut glanced over at Chains. He shook his head slightly in warning.
Huh, this was going to be interesting. Seemed like this was some kind of show.
“Thank you, Mr. Rage,” the older man said looking smug. “I’m here to tell you what I saw the night your man was killed. I live down the lane from that house your man was asking about. I would have come to talk to you sooner, but I only remembered a few days after your guy Jitter came around asking if our family saw something. At first, I said no but then after some thought I remembered. It was about eleven or so months ago. I remember the day because those men looked bloody. I didn’t say anything because it was the woods, ya know? I thought maybe they were hunting till your guy started asking questions. Then I thought about how fast they were racing out of them woods. That’s when my memory was jogged and I was like I should tell those bikers about it. I brought the boy here because he remembers too, don’t you boy?”
Peanut knew instantly that the man was lying. What he didn’t know was why Chains was warning him, as well as several others who would typically call bullshit, not to speak.
“Ye-yeah, I saw them racing away,” the boy stuttered, still not meeting anyone’s eyes and looking even more nervous than he had when he’d walked in.
Peanut would bet that the older one was forcing this kid to confirm his story. It really pissed Peanut off because telling this club false information could go badly. It could cost them both their lives and the older man had to know that. He hated when someone forced someone to do things they didn’t want to do. It brought up bad memories which he shoved down, focusing on the current issue. Again, he saw Chains meet his look with a firm shake of his head, encompassing Viking and several others in the subtle look.
What the fuck was going on here?
He didn’t know but he trusted Chains explicitly. The man was sharper than a tack despite being seventy. If he didn’t want him to voice his doubt there was a reason. Phoenix narrowed his eyes and frowned hard while eyeing Rage. Rage was stone-faced, but he was nodding as if this bullshit was important.
“What the fuck? Why didn’t you tell us this shit sooner? Seems a bit odd, don’t it?” Brawny asked, looking confused.
He’d never really been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was loyal and he knew his way around a gun. Peanut was sure that his mistrust was more due to the fact that this information was falling in their laps after months of searching. That as well as the nervousness of the younger man let most of the men in the room know that it was bullshit. Only for some reason Rage wanted whoever had sent these two to think that the club was buying this bullshit hook, line, and sinker. Since he knew that Rage and Diablo were both way too smart for this ridiculous story to stick he wondered why they were playing along. Most of the other men in the room were likely wondering the same damned thing he was.
“Shut it, Brawny. Rage had them brought here for a reason. Likely because this is good intel,” Viking said.
“Fuck you! We can’t just take these dudes’ word for it. They aren’t even part of the club, so why the hell are they even here?” Brawny grunted.
Knowing that this was about to get out of hand Peanut jumped into the conversation too, trying to save Brawny from ruining any chance they had of convincing these two men that they were buying this shit.
“Look, these two men are taking a risk being here telling us this. Prez says it’s good intel, then it’s good.” He stared hard at the other man trying to get him to see that they were trying to convince the two men that they believed them. Brawny just looked more confused as he looked from the men to Viking and him, then back.
“Right, this information is some we need to act on. It’s important that we listen. It will be up for discussion once I get back from seeing these two men out,” Rage said firmly, his face still emotionless. The older man looked pleased but the younger one wasn’t sure at all. He’d gone even paler and was shifting from foot to foot like he was readying himself to run away. Not that Peanut blamed him. Dicking around with the Devils Arms MC was a good way to die.
Peanut watched Rage stand and guide the men out the door.
“
What the fuck?” Hemp said, watching the door that Rage had just exited.
“I don’t know what the hell just happened, but Rage has lost his damned mind. I can’t believe he brought those two men in here like church isn’t for club only and then let them tell us that bullshit like it mattered. He needs to figur—” Brawny began only to be cut off by Diablo.
“Sit your ass down and shut the fuck up until Rage gets back or I will make you,” Diablo growled, slamming his hand down on the table in front of him. For a long tense moment the two men were locked in a staring contest that seemed doomed to end in bloodshed. Good thing neither man had his gun or shit might have gotten real. Brawny finally looked away and with a snarled explicative sat back down, crossing his arms and glaring at the door.
The silence in the room was only broken when Rage came back into the room. He glanced around at the tense bodies and the sour looks, pausing in the doorway for a long moment before taking his seat at the head of the table. Rage picked up the gavel that was typically used to call the room to order and slammed it on the table a few times.
“Church is now in session,” Rage grunted out, his eyes narrowed as he took in the unhappy faces glaring back at him. Nobody voiced their dissent as they waited for an explanation. It was a silent staring contest for about ten minutes. He waited for someone to speak but no one did. Peanut was surprised to hear a phone ring out in the silence. He watched as Rage pulled it from inside his vest and answered.
“Yeah, okay,” he said.
He was watching Teeter. Teeter had risen from his seat and was moving towards the exit. Phoenix moved to block him, and Diablo grabbed his arm before slamming him into the wall.
“Where are you heading, mother fucker?” Diablo asked.
“N-Nowhere boss,” Teeter stammered, looking nervous.
“Yeah, that’s right Teeter. You aren’t going anywhere and you can turn over that phone you have in your pocket too,” Rage said, his eyes cold and his hand held out as he too moved to stand near the younger man. Teeter was a fairly new member of the main club. He’d only been added to the church roster two months ago when he’d finally gotten his bottom rockers. Peanut had a bad feeling he knew where this was going. Rage took the phone and pulled the battery out before he spoke.
“I didn’t want to believe it was someone who we trusted. I really hoped it wasn’t but here we are. You know the rules,” Rage stated.
“What the fuck is going on?” Hemp demanded.
“Seems our newest member decided to start feeding information to our enemies. He’s been playing us for months. I wasn’t sure until today. I had the room monitored when those two were here because we knew someone with the Raiders would want to know if we got information on them. We did and I had my tech guy sweep the room for electronics while I was out of the room. He pinpointed the phone Teeter’s been using to spy on us,” Rage growled, his hand squeezing his phone.
“Fuck,” several of the men in the room yelled, looking grim. Peanut knew something still wasn’t adding up. Rage was still playing a game here. His eyes narrowed as Diablo took Teeter out of the room with Phoenix and two others. Everyone was talking—some voicing their disbelief and others just wondering what the fuck was going on. When Phoenix and Diablo returned a few minutes later without Teeter they nodded to Rage who yelled for everyone to shut up.
“Chains,” Diablo said. “What have you learned?”
“Firstly, those two men brought us false information as most of us are already aware—” he began as he stood and moved to the front of the room beside Rage.
“We already knew that shit, why the fuck were we humoring them?” Brawny asked.
“Because, dickwad, we need whoever is really behind this to believe we are still blaming the Raiders for this shit,” Diablo barked.
Everyone’s attention was on Diablo as they all waited for him to tell them more. Peanut wasn’t at all surprised that they were dealing with another club. Despite the crazy shit that had happened in the past between themselves and the Raiders, the shit going down lately was too organized to be the other club.
“We need them to believe we have no clue we are being played until we can discover who the fuck they are. I don’t know who Teeter is working for or if there are more moles in this very room for that matter. I hope there aren’t, but I just don’t fucking know. It’s going to get ugly before this shit gets better. We need to figure out who the fuck is after us and get this shit settled,” Rage said, his hand banging on the table a few times.
“Fuck, I knew this shit wasn’t simple as soon as they put sugar in our fucking gas tanks two years ago. That shit is too smooth for the Raiders,” Cutter growled looking pissed.
Peanut didn’t blame him, he was pissed too. He and Viking shared a look. About two years ago they’d fucked up on a delivery run by not leaving someone to watch the bikes and shit had hit the fan. Neither of them had fucked up in such a big way since but it still didn’t sit well with either of them that they’d fucked up such a simple job by being dumbasses.
“I knew something had to be going down. No way were any of us buying that shit they were selling,” Hemp grumbled, his arms crossed over his chest with a grim look.
“Nobody in this room talks to anyone about this. Once we leave today this is only discussed in church or my office where the walls are sound proofed. Anyone caught talking will be going the way of Teeter. We need to find out if there is another mole. If there is, I warn you we will not be taking it lightly and we all know the consequences for betraying the club,” Rage said, his eyes roving around the room taking in everyone. Men shifted in their seats and more than one looked uncomfortable.
Peanut listened as they continued talking about the information they were gathering and how they were going to trace the money that went into the accounts of the two men they’d brought to church today to see if they could find the source that way. Peanut didn’t like where this day had gone. Teeter had been with the club for over three years which meant whoever this was knew what they were doing, and they were playing the long game. Or maybe they’d just found a way to turn Teeter after he’d already been patched by the club. Either way it was going to put everyone on edge until they figured out who was behind this. He cast his eyes around the room, but no one seemed to be extra fidgety or looked suspicious, but knowing they’d had one mole made Peanut suspect that there was more than one. Nobody smart ever put all their eggs in one basket.
Chapter Six
Phoebe felt frustration move through her as she checked the time on the cheap phone she’d bought at the last stop. Damn, she still had seven hours before the bus heading further west showed up. She’d been sitting in the bus station for an hour already and she was bored out of her mind. If she wasn’t trying to save as much of her money as she could she would have rented a room and gotten a few hours of sleep at a local motel. Phoebe rubbed her hand over her face trying to keep herself awake. Falling asleep here was a bad idea. The bus station was relatively safe, but she wasn’t about to take a chance by sleeping here. Only a few more hours and then she could safely sleep on the bus. Her stomach growled suddenly, making her stare out the window to the small local diner across the street.
Maybe she should eat something. It might keep her from falling asleep while she waited on the bus. Getting up, she stretched, letting out a big yawn as she grabbed her bag. Eating would at the very least offer something else to look at for a little while. Besides, the book she’d bought two days ago about pregnancy had advised eating when hungry. Since that hadn’t been often in the past few days due to her nausea, she should likely listen to her body. She needed to take her vitamins anyway. The book had advised over the counter prenatal vitamins and vitamin C until seeing the doctor. Since she was waiting until she settled to find one to follow her pregnancy, she’d decided to buy them yesterday after reading about how important they were.
She headed towards the door with her bag over her shoulder and her eyes watchful for anyone following her
or acting strange. One good thing about Johnny being such a fucking asshole was he’d taught her to be more observant, which would hopefully help her spot any thieves following her. She walked to the crosswalk pressing the button to get the walk icon on the street sign. Phoebe shifted from foot to foot before glancing around again to see if anyone was looking suspicious. She was grateful to see that no one looked like they were paying any attention to her.
Phoebe turned back to check if the walk sign had changed and noticed that a woman in a car at the light was frowning at her. She turned away slightly, gripping the bag slung over her shoulder hard as she tried to act like the woman’s staring wasn’t bothering her. Thankfully the light changed and the woman pulled away, leaving her waiting on the signal with her head down and her pride aching. It took another minute for the walk sign to flash white allowing her to cross the busy intersection.
She walked down the sidewalk towards the diner. Entering it, she looked around. She saw a sign that read “please seat yourself” hanging near the entrance. She glanced around, seeing a booth near the window that looked out on the street. Phoebe had gotten into the habit of sitting near exits and windows since she’d left Johnny. One couldn’t be too cautious when they were running from an insane person. Her lips curled in a slight smile at her little joke.
She slipped into the booth. Waiting for someone to come and take her order, she checked out the interior of the diner, seeing that it was made to look like a sixties style diner. She liked the chrome and red checkered interior. She looked along the wall at the art they’d hung, and her eyes caught on a handsome man sitting with a little girl. He looked up and their eyes met for a second before she glanced away.
She shifted slightly in her seat, her feet hitting the bag she’d set on the floor at her feet. Reaching out, she grabbed a menu that was sitting near the salt shaker. She let her eyes roam over the text, discovering that it was one of those places that served breakfast all day. Her mouth watered as she read all the different meals that they had to offer. Phoebe realize just how hungry she was when her stomach growled in an embarrassingly loud rumble. Her mind went back and forth over what to get; a burger sounded good but so did the two egg breakfast platter.
Saved by the Devil (Devils Arms Book 3) Page 4