Looking back over his shoulder he grinned at Crash. “Can we swim here?”
“Ja, if he says it’s okay.” Crash tipped his head towards Jagger.
Crash teased but it was the truth. He listened as his little brother explained to their new brother.
“It’s what is called an eco-pool. Jagger built it. There never used to be any of this here. Some of the trees yes, the smaller trees, the shrubs and other plants, no. The water is filtered by the plants on the edges and then pumped up to the top of the waterfall to fall back into the pool. You can drink that water it’s so clean.” Crash explained then gave a soft laugh. “The only problem is getting my ass of a brother to give you permission to use it. He’s stingy with his toys.”
Banger didn’t laugh he looked at Jagger and nodded. “I get it. I would guard a place like this as well. We are very careful with the dam at home. We swim in it but no horsing around is allowed. You may swim but that’s it. I think we should build a pool for the guests when we start developing the lodge so the dam stays untouched. Maybe even something similar to this. I remember someone saying we should have a look at your pool.”
Jagger gave a short nod. He agreed with Banger that they had to protect the dam on their property.
“We actually have two pools.” He explained. “This one and the pool behind the lapa. The club uses that one most of the time and this one is only used on special occasions. I like coming here to relax and get away from the shit usually swirling around us. It was one of the reasons I built it actually. We needed a place where everyday life could be forgotten and nature could soothe what ails you. It works for me, I don’t know about my brothers though. I think most of them find that by hanging out with each other.”
Crash clapped his hands and it shook Jagger out of the dark hole he was fast falling into.
“Why the hell are we getting all serious and philosophical? This place is magical, that goes without saying, but we need to get back to the clubhouse. Prez is looking for you, Jag.”
Smiling at his brother Jagger clapped a hand over his shoulder. “Let’s go then, little brother. I’ve had my fix for the day.”
They chatted about the upcoming development of the Flying Herons’ property as they walked back to the clubhouse. Jagger split off from them when they walked into the common room. He headed down to Hawk’s office and knocked on the closed door.
“Come in!”
Opening the door he walked into what appeared to be a meeting of all the officers. He was the last one to arrive.
“There you are. I knew Crash would find you. Why aren’t you answering your phone brother?” Ziggy asked.
With a frown Jagger pulled his phone out and then shook his head in exasperation with himself.
“Fuck. I forgot to charge the damn thing.”
Ziggy held a hand out to him indicating he should pass it over. He lobbed it over to him and within seconds Ziggy had it plugged into a power bank he just happened to have on him.
“Take a seat, brother. We have some shit to discuss that involves you.”
Taking a seat Jagger waited to hear what his prez wanted from him.
“DC had a long talk with our guest and we now know who she is. She’s in fact Doctor Sunny Wolmarans, a well-respected and admired wild life vet. She heads up a team at the Wild Fig Sanctuary, a sanctuary for big cats. They rehabilitate animals to be released back into the wild. But there are animals that can’t be released for various reasons and those animals are given a permanent home at their sanctuary. Those are the animals the poachers targeted. They killed a lion and came back to kill a black leopard when Sunny intervened. The leopard attacked Celeste to protect the vet. Sunny ordered the cat to hide and when the bastards couldn’t find her they snatched the doc.”
There was a heavy silence in the room that no one interrupted when Hawk paused.
“She has no idea why she was brought here to inoculate the dogs. All she could tell DC was the names of the people involved. One of the men who took her helped her to escape. He told her he had a job to do and couldn’t go with her. Sunny thinks he might be undercover. Ziggy gave her a pre-paid phone to call her people. The pigs told them they found no sign of Sunny at the location we gave them.”
“Did you record the call, brother?” Rider interrupted to ask Ziggy.
“Ja, but it doesn’t give us much to go on. Prez gave you the gist of the conversation besides her enquiries about her cat. She’s more worried about that animal than anything else.”
“If a cat attacks a person isn’t it put down by Nature Conservation?” Sin threw Jagger a quick look when he asked the question.
“I think usually they do.” Beast said. “But if no one reports an attack then there’s nothing they can do. I don’t think the people at the Sanctuary informed the pigs that the cat had clawed and bitten someone. They most probably covered it up. If they hadn’t the pigs would have reported it to Nature Conservation and that poor animal would have been put down.”
Jagger was thankful that Beast had answered before he could because he didn’t know if he could have stayed calm while explaining.
Ziggy picked up almost immediately after Beast to continue briefing them on what he had found.
“I’ve looked into the names she gave DC. Lukas Marais is the head of security at the sanctuary and clean. Bartholomew “Bart” Pistorius on the other hand, is well known in criminal circles. He apparently has no conscience and wouldn’t hesitate to kill. According to my contacts he has been working with a poaching/trafficking ring and has a reputation for delivering. You want the animal, he’ll get it for you, you want animal parts, and he’ll get those for you too. That is, until he returned to the sanctuary where they killed and mutilated a lion. He ran into Sunny Wolmarans, a woman who is used to facing off against predators. I don’t think he liked that she wasn’t backing down, that makes him a very dangerous opponent.”
He waited for that to sink in before he continued.
“The rest wasn’t as easy to uncover. Mitchell “Mitch” Mason doesn’t exist. He popped into existence about a year ago with a perfect cover, but not perfect enough to keep me out. I’m still trying to find his true identity and who he’s connected to. The dead man was Moses Mathabula, a long-time employee at the sanctuary. They got to him with money and it got him dead when he became a liability.”
Ziggy suddenly looked furious and everyone was thrown by the sudden change in his demeanour.
“And now for the cherry on the damned cake. Celeste Brent is in fact Celestine Brentwood. She studied veterinary science in the UK but failed her exams. It means she’s not a qualified vet. Someone forged her documents and her references. And here’s where it gets really interesting. Her family, the Brentwoods, have ties to the Harrisons, business ties. The Brentwoods own and operate BRH Logistics, a long distance trucking and shipping company. Their trucks go all over Europe and their freighters all over the world. They have warehouses at several ports spread across the top of Africa from Mauritania to Egypt. They cover their less than legal activities by bringing in food and medicines and I’d bet they have weapons hidden underneath their legal cargo. I can only speculate on their return cargo. It could be anything.”
“What Ziggy is saying is that Celeste Brent is part of the Harrison Syndicate.” Hawk’s voice was as cold as a wind off the Antarctic. “We now know why she wanted to get inside the clubhouse so badly. She was most probably ordered to plant bugs or even a camera, we can only speculate because we didn’t let her get close. And we’re not going to find out either. Not making the same damned mistake we did with our brother Ice. We have enough men to keep an eye on the clinic and Jag has a man inside who is keeping him informed of the day to day business.”
He fell silent and looked around the office, meeting each and everyone’s eyes.
“What we need to do now is find out who the hell pulls the strings of the Mitchell fucker. Is it the pigs or is it someone else? While Ziggy, Bollywood and Kobus get on that one the rest of us ar
e going to continue business as usual. We act like nothing is wrong, like we don’t have a woman under our protection.”
Rider raised a hand and Hawk pointed at him with a nod.
“We need to move Sunny out of the clubhouse, Boss. They expect her to be here, they won’t expect us to move her into one of the houses. I think she should move into our house. Penny, Tori and the girls are there to keep her company and we have guards around the clock. She has to feel isolated and alone here with no one to talk to.”
“Look at our brother bringing all the feels to the table.” Kahn teased with a grin.
“Hey! I’m just saying, she must be feeling very isolated and alone here.” Rider shrugged and smiled.
“I have to agree with Rider, even though I would have preferred not to bring her trouble to our house. The woman needs other women around her. It has to be lonely as fuck lying in that room with no one to talk to. And don’t any of you bastards say the club girls can keep her company, because that shit’s not happening. And just a reminder, we have a big party coming up on Friday to celebrate us patching the Flying Herons in. There’s going to be a lot of people here that we don’t know. Breker warned me that several of their party girls and hangarounds would be here to help the boys celebrate. There are going to be strangers in our clubhouse. We can’t have some asshole walking into her room and catching her unaware. And we can’t lock her in either. Best thing to do is move her into Scar’s old room in our house. She’ll be safe with us.”
Beast was right. She couldn’t stay at the clubhouse.
“I agree with Beast and Rider, she can’t stay here. If she was in an upstairs room it would be a different story but she’s down the passage from the club girl rooms. During the party the men will be up and down that passage constantly and she won’t be safe. I won’t allow that to happen. She needs to be moved as soon as possible.” Jagger added his voice to those of Rider and Beast.
Hawk turned to Ice and did a head tilt towards Jagger, a small tip of his lips indicating he was teasing.
“You hear that, brother? He won’t allow it to happen. Makes me think back on a few other instances when a brother said those words, myself included.”
Ice nodded sagely but tried to hide his grin. “I remember. It ended up in a claiming.”
They both looked over at Jagger and he felt the eyes of the rest of his brothers on him as well.
“No, it’s not like that. I’m just worried about her and wanting to be sure she’s safe until her man comes for her.”
Ziggy burst out laughing.
“Not her man, brother, Lukas “Loek” Marais is her best friends’ man. Our delectable little doc is single, has been for years as far as I was able to find out. Seems like she’s all work and no play. Sorry bro, it looks like you’re going to have a hard battle to get into those panties.”
Laughter rang through the room and Jagger just shook his head from side to side only speaking up when the laughter subsided.
“Who said anything about getting into her fucking panties? I was just saying she’d be safer away from the clubhouse, that’s all.”
No one believed him, he could see it written across their faces as clear as day.
“Whatever you say, brother.” Sin smirked at him. Bloody ass.
“Yes, whatever I say, and I say it’s not happening, so the lot of you just can just swallow the hyena laughter and focus on the job at hand.” He tried to force them back to business but by the grins and winks he got he knew it was a wasted effort.
Bastards.
“Right, let’s stop tormenting our brother and get back to business.” Hawk ended the hilarity and they once again focused on getting Sunny safely moved into Beast and Rider’s home.
They were in agreement it had to happen as soon as possible. Hawk left it up to Beast and Rider to speak to their women and arrange the best time to move Sunny.
When the meeting ended they moved out of the office and down to the bar. Jagger accepted a bottle of water from the prospect and leant back against the wood as he scanned the common room. Today they had more men hanging out because of the patch over and not everyone had settled in yet. The new men had taken leave from their day jobs in order to get their things moved over to their new clubhouse. Hawk had allocated them a part of one of the walls where they could hang their most important club memorabilia. He didn’t want their roots to be forgotten as they integrated with his club. Jagger thought that was a very clever idea, it would help the men with their forced transition.
The Flying Herons hadn’t been a big club but they were a very tight knit group of men. And every single one of them was loyal to Breker, the son of their late president. Hawk did well allocating him as a shadow lieutenant to Sin, their SAA. It meant he still worked in the same position as his old one at his club, just not as the man in charge, but it showed his men that he was valued by their new club.
He finished his water, put the lid back on the bottle and dropped it in the recycling bin at the back of the bar. He had to get back to work but before he did he had an apology to deliver.
Drawing in a deep breath he squared his shoulders and set off to do what was right.
Apologise for being an asshole.
Not waiting for her to call out after his soft knock he opened the door and walked in.
Someone had opened the curtains and the room was filled with light. She lay in that damned big bed and looked so small and vulnerable his gut tightened.
Her eyes met his and narrowed slightly as he walked in and closed the door behind him. He locked it just to ensure they weren’t disturbed.
Not saying a word he dragged the chair back to the bed sat down then looked into her clear blue eyes.
And then she surprised him.
“I’m so sorry I lost my temper and shouted at you. I just hate that bitch so much that even the idea of you and her made me so angry. She’s a bad person and I couldn’t believe someone who is so protective of his dogs would be involved with someone that was so evil.”
Her eyes slid away from his and he took her chin in his thumb and forefinger and turned her face back towards him.
“You have no idea how much I wish I had never gone anywhere near her. It meant absolutely nothing, and I know it sounds bad but she was convenient. I could go to her, get what I wanted and walk away. However much she tried to imply we were in a relationship, that’s not what it was. We never hung out or spent time together outside of the sex. She means nothing to me, absolutely nothing.”
He knew how bad it sounded but he had to get it out, to explain as best he could.
“I get it.” She held his eyes as she spoke. “As far as you were concerned it was a mutually satisfying arrangement. Am I right?”
“Yes, until I realised who she really was and ended it. She, strangely enough, didn’t want it to end and fought me on it. That’s the scene you saw when you came to inoculate my dogs.”
“Okay, I understand. And once again, I’m sorry I accused you of working with them.”
Jagger reached out and took her hand in both of his and he jerked as a little frisson of pleasure streaked through him. He ignored it because it was wildly inappropriate.
“I’ve just come from a meeting with the officers of the club. We have a big party coming up on Friday and we are going to move you out of the clubhouse before then. It wouldn’t be safe to leave you here when you are vulnerable and our attentions are divided. Two of my brothers have offered you a place in their home. They both have old ladies and children and we feel you will be better taken care of there than here. There aren’t many women at the clubhouse, only Aunt Beryl and DC. Aunt B comes in to cook but leaves once everyone has eaten and DC only spends time here when Hawk is working late or we have something going on.”
Her eyebrows drew together and her eyes narrowed.
“Then who were the women I heard laughing and doing other stuff during the day?”
Fuck. How to explain that one. No other way but to jump right in
.
“I think you must have heard the club girls. They are here to entertain the men and keep the place clean.”
A twitch of her lips brought his eyes back to her and he saw she was trying hard not to laugh.
“I’ve watched Sons of Anarchy you know. I’m not stupid enough to think a lot of hot men would be living here without having sex on tap.”
He couldn’t stop the laugh if he tried.
“Sex on tap? Jesus, sweetheart, never heard anyone call it that before, but it works. Yes, it definitely does.”
“So are they part of the reason you are moving me?”
“No, not our girls, they are good girls and wouldn’t treat you badly at all. But we’ve just patched over another club and their people will be coming in for the first time on Friday. We’ve done background checks but you never know. I would prefer to have you safely away from here before they arrive.”
Her eyes were unflinchingly direct as she stared at him.
“So Friday is going to be wild and that’s why you need me out of here. Am I right?”
Jagger slowly closed his eyes then opened them and gave her the truth.
“Yes, the party is going to be wild. Yes, I need you out of here but it’s because I won’t feel comfortable locking you in your room. And yes, I would have to do that to ensure your safety. There are going to be men walking around here that we don’t know and I won’t take a chance on your safety. And that’s the honest truth.”
She tilted her head on her pillow to give him a look he didn’t get, not at first.
“So, are you going to make use of the women on Friday now that you and Celeste no longer have an arrangement?”
And then he got that look. There was interest there and just a hint of jealousy.
Thank fuck. What? Why the hell would he be thankful? But he was, he couldn’t deny it.
“No, I don’t touch the club girls, never have and I never will. You have my word on that, meisiekind (baby girl).”
Her eyes widened as he grinned and winked at her, watching as red crept up from her chest over her neck and tinted her cheeks a bright rosy red.
A Touch Of Grey Page 14