Being Lost: Satan's Devils MC San Diego #1

by Manda Mellett

  Not everyone is a good fit for us, or us for them, but those we have taken on have made it work.

  “Hey, there’s the man himself.” Dart turns and waves at Niran who’s just entered the clubroom.

  When he beckons him across, Niran points to the bar, then at us, silently telling us he’ll be grabbing a drink for himself first. Curtis is ready with one in his hand, so it’s only seconds before he comes over.

  “We’re just discussing the new employees,” I explain. “Dart says they’re doing okay.”

  “Sure are,” Niran agrees. “I wondered how Ross would cope at first, but that bionic hand he’s got is amazing. Doesn’t hold him back at all.”

  “And Gibbs?” Dart asks. “Any problems?”

  “Nah. Sometimes he stares off into space for a while, but he comes back down. He’ll do better in time. Which reminds me, I need to get a new prosthesis. I’ll need to take some time off to get that sorted.”

  “Anything wrong?”

  Niran shakes his head. “No, but the shape of the stump changes over time, so I need to have a new one fitted.”

  It goes without saying, he can take all the time he needs. I turn away as my phone vibrates in my pocket. Taking it out, I don’t recognise the number that’s calling.

  “You got Lost.”

  “Lost, it’s Patsy. I, er, you told me to call if something didn’t seem right.”

  “What’s up?” I say sharply. “You okay?” Noticing my tone, Dart immediately ceases his conversation with Niran and looks my way.

  “I’m at the mall. I think someone’s been following me. Dan’s at work and I can’t risk him losing this job, so I couldn’t call him for help. I’m… I’m scared about going to my car. I thought if it really was someone to be worried about, they might follow me home and find out where we live.”

  Smart thinking. “You sure someone’s stalking you?”

  “That’s the thing, no I’m not. Could just be someone going to the same places as me, but after what you said last week…”

  “I told you to be careful, Patsy, so you’re doing just what I suggested. If it turns out to be nothing? Great. If not? We’ll sort it out. Now, tell me exactly where you are.”

  She does. I know where she’s at and mentally I run through the businesses I remember. There’s a coffee shop close by, so I tell her to get there and wait.

  Dart’s standing with an eyebrow raised.

  “Patsy Forster. She thinks she’s got someone following her.” It’s all I need to say.

  “Niran, you coming?” Dart asks. “We may have a problem.”

  Seems he is as Niran stands and joins my VP. As we walk across the room, a few more of the nosy fuckers tag along. I grin. Dart hadn’t been particularly quiet and several, it seems, have invited themselves. It’s warming that I don’t have to issue orders at all. Any of these men will have my back whenever I need it.

  “Where we going?” Dart asks, as we go to our bikes.

  I name the popular mall she’s at. As I swing my leg over the seat, I’m hoping we’re setting off on a wild goose chase, and that her senses are on high alert because it was only last week my visit and information had scared her. But if it’s made her and Dan more cautious about their surroundings, it wasn’t for nothing. Hoping it’s a false alarm, I’m rehearsing the reasons why Patsy would be justified to give me a call anytime, and not to feel like she’s crying wolf, even if it turns out to be nothing. Boys wanted a chance at a ride out. It’s good practice for them to act like a team. I wanted to see you again, anyway. Nah, I shake my head under my helmet. I can’t say the last to a woman I don’t know at all. She’d run a mile if she knew how often I’d used the vision of her to get my dick going. Yeah, my efforts to not think about her hadn’t been as successful as I’d hoped.

  In truth though, it won’t be much hardship to remind myself of those plump lips and generous mouth. Wouldn’t hurt anyone if tonight ends the same way as the previous ones had with me rubbing one out in the shower.

  When we arrive at the mall and park, five men accompany me as I walk inside, Wrangler being left to watch the bikes. While we’re well-known in this part of the city and a man would be stupid to touch our rides, leaving them unattended is not something we want to take a chance on.

  Leaving Dart and the others waiting out of sight pretending, or not, interest in the underwear displays in another store front, I enter the coffee shop and spy Patsy at a table near the rear, noticing she’s seated with her back against the wall. There’s an empty table next to it. Going to the counter, I order a coffee I don’t want or need and pay for it. This time in the afternoon, the mall is quieter with the lunch crowd gone. The coffee shop is too. I get served immediately.

  I then go to the table next to Patsy.

  “He still here?” I ask, without greeting or explanation while looking straight ahead and hiding that my lips are moving by raising my cup to my mouth.

  Quick on the uptake, she lowers her head and murmurs toward the table, “I’ve seen him three times since I came in here, walking past, glancing in. I’m not sure if he could see me.”

  I couldn’t see her until I stepped inside. If he really is following her, he might be lurking so he can pick her up when she steps out.

  “You recognise him?”

  “I’ve never seen him before.”

  “What’s he look like?” I ask, taking out my phone.

  “About five foot ten? Medium build, white with brown curly hair. He’s wearing jeans and a navy t-shirt. I didn’t get close enough to see any design.”

  As she speaks, I tap out the info and text Dart and issue him some instructions as well. “Patsy, you’re going to finish your coffee and calmly walk out of here as if you’ve no worries in the world. Head through the mall and out to the parking lot. I’ve got men waiting outside. They’ll check whether you’re being followed or not.”

  “If I am?” She picks up her empty cup, lifts it to her mouth and puts it back down, then gathers her shopping bags together. As she stands, she catches my eye.

  “We’ll take care of it,” I promise her softly, speaking out of the side of my mouth.

  She stands, leaves, and I sit, drinking the coffee that I never touch this time of day, only really enjoying it in the mornings.

  Two minutes later my phone vibrates.

  VP: She’s got a tail

  I think for a moment. We could run intervention and enable her to escape, or, we could get some questions answered. The risk in doing that is we’d tip our hand. Weighing it up, I’d prefer to get information. I always hate working blind.

  Lost: Pick him up

  Linking my hands together, I stretch until my knuckles crack. There I was thinking this was going to be a normal afternoon but instead things have just gotten interesting.

  The Satan’s Devils MC are a one-percenter club, but we rarely get our hands dirty. The decision I just made could mean there’s one less person breathing when the clock chimes midnight tonight, unless we can handle this carefully.

  VP: Got him in the parking lot

  Lost: On my way

  I use the time it takes me to walk from the coffee shop and out into the parking lot to consider what to do. If we can just get away with a bit of bloodletting, then that’s what I’d prefer to do. Dead bodies are harder to dispose of. Not that it would be my first, and I’m not afraid of getting my hands dirty—not when it becomes a matter of protecting one of ours. And ours, Patsy is, as she’s the mother to one of the club’s old ladies. Doesn’t matter one bit that she’s connected to a different chapter. Cut one of us and we all bleed Satan’s Devils blood.

  I go to my bike, nod to Wrangler, then bend down and open the concealed compartment disguised as a tool kit. As I straighten, sliding the object I’ve taken into my cut, a whistle draws my attention as I saunter out into the evening air. It’s dusk, and the shadows deepen as I make my way toward the sound which comes from behind a dumpster. As I round the corner, I immediately see the m
an.

  He exactly matches the description Patsy gave me, and I admire how observant she was.

  “What do you want with me?” he demands.

  The sound of desperation in his voice suggests this isn’t the first time he’s questioned Dart. That my VP’s not yet spoken to him is just as I expected. He’ll be waiting for me to take the lead.

  I stare at the man who’s been stalking Patsy. One thing she hadn’t noticed was his age, or that his body is almost imperceptibly but definitely twitching. A user starting to get angsty for his next fix. I can work with that.

  Dart, Pennywise, Salem, and Niran have him penned against a wall out of the way, the dumpster hiding him from casual sight. As long as no one comes up to throw garbage away, we should have a few uninterrupted minutes to talk.

  “I got Curtis on standby to bring a truck if we want to take him back.” Dart shows me he’s prepared for any eventuality, demonstrating the quick thinking I expect from my right-hand man.

  Our captive’s eyes home in on me. Whether he can read the patch on my cut or not, he realises I’m the man in charge. “What you doing man? I’ve got no beef with the Satan’s Devils.” In vain, he tries to pull away, but Pennywise and Salem have him held tight.

  “What’s your name?” I ask, casually, unsurprised when he doesn’t reply. “Not going to talk?” I jerk my head toward him. “The sooner you cooperate, the sooner you’ll be able to go get your fix. So I ask again, what’s your name?”

  He looks down. His hands are shaking, but whether it’s from fear, his need for a top off or something else, it’s hard to tell. When he raises his head again, he mumbles the information he thinks I’ll settle for. “Jim.”

  It’s a start, and at least it puts him on a more familiar footing. “Well, Jim, how d’ya get your money to supply your habit?” There’s a low wall running along beside me. I rest my foot on it and lean over my thigh eyeing him carefully. He doesn’t look to me like someone who holds down a steady job. I’m very interested to know how he gets his funds.

  A shifty look comes my way, then as quickly as he met my gaze, his eyes move away. “This an’ that.” Once again, the reply is mumbled.

  “Does ‘this’ include targeting women?” I shift so Jim can see the glint of the gun tucked into my belt.

  His eyes widen.

  We don’t normally carry in our territory unless there’s a need. Cops love nothing more than to stop us when riding wearing our colours, and the possession of a gun without a licence is reason enough for us to end up in the tank. Licences are only awarded to people of good moral character in San Diego, and the patch I’m wearing is reason enough to believe I’m not an angel—probably fair enough. But tonight, I’ve come prepared for anything.

  “I don’t target women,” Jim says a little more strongly, as if willing me to believe his words.

  I straighten and casually fold my arms. “Got reports that you were indeed following someone. See, the thing is, Jim, we don’t like women being hurt. A woman disappeared from this very parking lot the other week.” It’s pure fabrication, but he’s not to know that. “Not having any more women fall out of sight on our watch. There’s a market for women being trafficked, Jim. A market we don’t like.” I’m trying to paint a picture of Devils’ doing their civic duty and having no particular interest in the woman he was following. If he believes me, it might just save his life and spare me from burying his body. While Jim can’t see him, I catch the grin crossing Salem’s face, and Niran coughs to cover what I’m certain is a snort.

  “I’m not involved in anything like that,” he spits out. “I’d never hurt a woman.” To his credit, the idea appears to fill him with disgust.

  “The thing is,” Dart’s voice sounds beside me, picking up on what I’d said, “you were watched for a while and you were visiting the same shops as she did, and waiting for her to come out of the coffee shop. If that’s not homing in on someone, I don’t know what is.”

  “She’s old as fuck.” His eyes have widened. “No one would traffic someone like her unless they were desperate.” As I stiffen, he ignores me and continues, “Look, you’ve got this all ass backward. I’ve done nothing wrong. Now, let me go, please.” He whines as he begs. “I want no trouble with your club.”

  “What you want and what you’re going to get are two different things,” I warn him. “As far as I can see, you were following a defenceless woman half of the day inside, and then out into a deserted parking lot as it was growing dark. If you weren’t going to snatch her, what were you following her for? Fancy a bit of older pussy, or did you think she might have money to feed the demon in your head?”

  His eyes flick wildly between us, and he doesn’t miss the way Niran flexes his muscular arms, nor that he’s clenched his fists.

  Suddenly, his facial expression changes. I recognise the look, it’s sly and calculating. “You’re right, I need cash. She looked like she might have a few dollars. I was going to ask her, that’s all.”

  Pennywise tightens the grip on his arms. Jim jerks backwards, realising we’re not going to fall for his lie.

  “Want me to soften him up?” Salem drawls.

  “No, no. Please. If I tell you the truth, will you let me go?” His gaze again lands on my face, and there’s a hint of desperation in it.

  I shrug. “Depends whether I like what I’m hearing. But I tell you this, Jim, man-to-man like, if I don’t like what I hear, you’ll never again have to worry about where your next fix is coming from.”

  I’m getting fed up. We’re wasting time when I want to check that Patsy got home safely. The sincerity of my promise clearly shows on my face as the shoulders of the man in front of me slump. “My dealer suggested I could earn some easy money.”

  “Doing what?” I prompt.

  “Finding a woman. If you let me go, I can give you proof.”

  “What are you going to do if I release you?” I ask instead.

  “Get out my phone.”

  I jerk my head toward Niran, who goes for the pocket where a rectangular shape shows. Gingerly, he pulls out a wallet and the device Jim was after. Another tilt of my chin and Salem and Pennywise release him, and Niran hands him his phone. Dart takes the wallet and starts looking through it.

  Jim looks defeated as he eyes Dart, suspecting he’s about to be robbed, but the glare in my eyes has him tapping on the screen. He calls up WhatsApp and turns it to face me. On the screen is a picture of Patsy.

  “If I find her and discover where she’s living, I’ll get a thousand bucks. That’s decent dough man. I could do a lot with that.”

  He’d buy a fuckload of drugs if I’m not mistaken. “Why were you asked?”

  “It’s not just me. The same offer is being made to anyone who buys from my man. I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw her today, knew I just had to follow her home. That’s it, man, I swear to you. I wasn’t going to hurt her, just find out where her place was. I couldn’t miss out on the bread. But,” he looks around the parking lot as if hoping to see Patsy waiting there and shakes his head, “she’s long gone now.”

  “So you, what?” Dart asks, eerily calmly. “You hang around malls hoping to spot a woman to earn yourself a thousand bucks? Didn’t that request strike you as fuckin’ suspicious? What did you think was going to happen to her?”

  Another rise and fall of his shoulders. “Thought it might be she’s run out on her man, and he wants to make sure she’s okay.”

  He’d probably just thought of that as an excuse right now. Junkie like him wouldn’t care who he was sacrificing if he got his money. He’d probably sell his mother for the chance to score.

  “You could be right.” I send Dart a quick look full of warning. If Jim is going to live out the night, he can’t know our specific interest in the woman he was following. “Or, you could be wrong. Either way, it’s not right.”

  “Prez?”

  As Dart jerks his head, I follow him a short distance away. “He’s called Jim Herd. I’ve ta
ken a picture of his driver’s licence. Not sure how bright he is, or whether you’ve got him off the scent. We let him go…”

  He doesn’t finish his sentence; he doesn’t have to. Last thing I want is anything that links us with Patsy. On the other hand, I’m not happy about killing a man who only wanted money for his next fix.

  I take the few steps needed to bring me back to face Patsy’s stalker. “Okay, Jim. As we said, we don’t like people terrifying women or putting them in danger. We know where you live and will soon know everything about you. We’re going to hang onto your phone for now—”

  “You can’t steal that from me. It’s got my contact list in it.”

  And his dealer on speed dial I would suspect.

  “I’ll get it back to you tomorrow. This time, same as now. A prospect will come drop it off for you.”

  His eyes flick between us. His fear of an immediate demise is gone, but we’re stealing his lifeline as far as he’s concerned. On my part, I don’t have to give it back, possession is nine tenths of the law, and a person like him won’t run to the cops about the remaining ten percent. But I’m aware I may need to speak to Jimboy again.

  So when he asks, “I can trust you?” I nod my head.

  Yes, he can trust me on this. I deepen my voice so he takes me seriously. “We’ll return your phone when we’ve checked out your story, and we’re letting you off today as you’ve cooperated. But one word out of your mouth, one fuckin’ word that Satan’s Devils are protecting the malls and you’ll find yourself in a world of pain you wouldn’t believe. You’ll be pissing blood for weeks and sucking food down a tube. That’s if you’re lucky enough to be left alive. You hearing me, Jim? You picking up what I’m laying down?”

  His eyes widen in horror. “I don’t want trouble with your MC. I won’t say a word.”

  “Make sure you don’t. We’ve got eyes and ears in places you’d never believe. Like how we found out about your stalking activities today. We hear one word about us talking to you tonight, and hey, you’ll no longer need to feed your habit as you’ll be begging for a bullet instead.”