Sketch: The Devil's Highwaymen Nomads #2

by Claire C. Riley

  Agent Lear looked even more furious. Hatred pouring from him in a single glare, he shook his head and looked at the other agents. “Tear this place apart!” he yelled.

  Two hours later and Agent Lear and his men were driving away with nothing but their sorry tails between their legs. They’d found guns, which were all registered and clean since the dirty weapons had been taken off site and hidden. And they’d found some pot, but nothing more than a couple of joints’ worth. Agent Lear promised to come back again—every week, no less—unless Vin changed his mind and gave him some names. And now there we all were, waving goodbye to the fucking ATF.

  I was still in just a pair of jeans, and I scratched a hand across my bare stomach.

  “I’m hungry,” I said, turning to go back inside.

  I shook my head, looking at the mess they’d left behind. Couches were torn up, gashes sliced through every cushion; walls had huge holes in them, sledgehammers having made light work of them. Floorboards had been ripped up, leaving the cavity underneath exposed. Everything and anything had been trashed, right down to the old black-and-white photographs on the wall of past club members.

  Vin was pissed.

  Skate was still missing.

  And Crank’s stitches had split open and he was bleeding again.

  We were pretty much fucked.

  “At least the drugs are safe,” Semi said as we surveyed the mess. “Not a total loss.”

  “Not exactly a win though either, brother,” Vin replied. He looked over to Jase and Mason. “Call the women, tell them to get their asses over here to help us sort this shit out.”

  Jase pulled out his cell and started to make some calls.

  “Club meeting, now,” Vin yelled, and started toward the church.

  Since JP and Buddy were down in Georgia and Skate was AWOL, there were only a handful of brothers around for the meeting. It took less than a minute to get all four of us seated. It was a sorry fucking state indeed. And I realized how much of a mess this club was really in and how easy it would be for Agent Lear to destroy it.

  Vin slammed the gavel down and then looked over us all slowly. He pulled out his cigarettes and lit one, blowing out the smoke through his nose. I looked across at Crank, who was holding a towel to his shoulder. The bleeding had slowed again and we were waiting for the doctor to get back and fix his stitches that had torn.

  “Something ain’t sitting right with me about today,” Vin said slowly. “There’s no way that anyone could have known about that drop since I changed it last minute, which leads me to only one conclusion.”

  He blew out some smoke again, leaning back in his chair. It was obvious what he was getting at and I hoped he wasn’t about to put that shit on Crank and me or I was about to lose my fucking temper.

  We hadn’t even wanted to stay, but had done so on their request.

  If someone in the club was turned, it was one of his men.

  And since Skate was still missing, the odds fell to him.

  Hated the thought of that, and I wasn’t sure I even believed it, but no one had seen him at the drop point, and he’d insisted on riding on ahead of us.

  It didn’t look good for him, but I still found it hard to believe that he’d trade in his club.

  Semi looked just as angry as I did at the thought, his fury at the implication making his jaw click as he ground his back teeth.

  “Don’t look at me like that, Semi, or I’ll rip you a new asshole. I don’t like this any more than you do.” Vin slammed his hand on the table.

  Crank shook his head and leaned forward. “I don’t see it, Prez.” He looked across at me and I nodded in agreement. “You said ATF had been hanging around, ain’t like they don’t know what we do, they just can’t prove that shit. A tipoff? Nah, no way.” He shook his head and pulled out his cigarettes. “Don’t believe it was just luck either, but no brother of this club would do what you’re suggesting.”

  Vin stood up, his hands flat on the table as he leaned down, his face tight with irritation and frustration. He looked up, his eyebrows pulled in tight. “So that means something else.”

  “Bugs,” I said, and he nodded.

  “Ain’t seen nothing,” Semi said with a shrug.

  I shook my head at him. “That’s the fucking point, asshole!” I looked back over at Crank again. “You’re good with electronics and shit, right?”

  “Yeah, whatever they have going will be running on a frequency. If I can find the frequency, I can find what they have and shut that shit down.” Crank cracked his knuckles.

  Vin nodded and walked to the window. He gave a sigh as he surveyed the mess of the clubhouse. It was just stuff—walls, floors, sofas, all of it replaceable—but this ran deeper than just furniture and cosmetics. There was pride involved.

  “You know that Agent Lear personally, Prez?” I asked, and Vin turned back around.

  “Would you believe we used to chase the same girl?”

  When I looked surprised, he grinned.

  “He’s always been bitter that the better man got the girl. Shit’s coming down on the club now though, he’s making it more than just personal.” He sighed again and dragged a hand through his blond hair.

  “Don’t let Lex hear you sighing like that over some bitch,” Semi laughed, and I shook my head at him. Semi looked over at me and Crank chuckled. “What?”

  “It was Lex,” I replied.

  “No way. Lex got dipped by an ATF shmuck.” He laughed. “Thought she had better taste than that!” He laughed again and Vin glared at him, looking like he was about to rip his head off.

  “Shut the fuck up, Semi,” I growled out.

  Semi, thankfully, shut the fuck up. “Sorry, Prez.”

  Vin shook his head in annoyance. “Crank, get looking for the bug—right after you get seen by the doc again. Semi, take Jase and get out looking for Skate. Sketch, help me get this shit sorted out. I need to get JP and Buddy back here ASAP, but something is definitely going down in Georgia so it ain’t gonna be easy.”

  He slammed the gavel down and Crank and Semi left the room. Vin sat back down in his chair and looked at me, his look serious. He lit another cigarette and I did the same.

  “This club is in pieces. I hate to do this to you because I know you got plans and shit, but I need you and Crank to stick around for a little longer.”

  “Already intended to, Prez,” I replied, and he looked relieved. “We’ll stick around until this shit is cleared up.”

  “That’s good to hear, Sketch.”

  I didn’t bother to tell him that I’d already had the idea of sticking around before this shit had gone down. Didn’t really seem relevant. The main thing was that Crank and I were staying for the foreseeable future.

  Certainly until we found the bug and shut that shit down. We still had to find where the fuck Skate had gone to.

  I sighed heavily. We’d help get this club back on its feet again before we went anywhere.

  Besides, I wasn’t going anywhere until I’d had a taste of Nancy.

  ~ 7 ~

  “You got anything yet?” I asked Crank as I walked to desk he was sitting at.

  Man, he was one untidy bastard. Pages of scribbled notes were scattered across the old desk in the basement of the clubhouse—though I use the word basement very loosely. Basement would imply that we stored shit down there, like crates of beer, old jackets, and maybe some bike parts, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

  No, this basement was where we brought our guests for interrogation.

  It was the only place we trusted to be completely clean of any unwanted ears, since most people didn’t know it existed.

  The lights were dim, though Crank had found an old metal desk lamp from somewhere and plugged it in, casting a bright spot over where he was working. He had two laptops running side by side and his fingers flew over the keyboards of one of them.

  He grunted a no at me, his brow furrowing further.

  “You gotta have found some
thing,” I snapped, leaning back against the wall.

  I didn’t like it down there. Place gave me the damn creeps.

  The walls were bare brick and stone, old cement crumbling away if you rubbed it too hard. The floors were of a similar state, with a single drain in the middle of the room that led down to the sewers. The drain in that place was probably the only thing that was any good. Probably because the drain in that place was pretty fucking important.

  Couldn’t wash away blood without drains.

  “I’m not googling some bitch I went to high school with, Sketch!” Crank snapped. “This is some serious shit right here.” He pointed to the laptop in question, as if I hadn’t noticed it before then.

  “Just hurry the fuck up with it before Vin pops something in his head.”

  “Hurry up?” Crank shook his head, his jaw hanging open. “Hurry the fuck up! Did you not just hear—” The laptop beeped in front of him and he turned back to the screen. “Got you, motherfuckers.”

  He pulled up something on the dark screen, but I had no idea what it was. It was just numbers and text that made no sense to me. Technology wasn’t my thing by any standards. Crank’s hands started tapping away on the keyboard again and he flipped from one laptop to the other. Not gonna lie, it was fascinating, since I had no real clue what he was doing. Eventually he leaned back in his chair and cracked his knuckles. He looked over at me with a grin.

  “Done,” he said with a smirk.

  “What did you do?” I got closer to the screen, as if that would help me understand what I was seeing, but it still meant nothing to me.

  “Plugged their connection into the local Walmart. Cleanup on aisle fourteen, motherfuckers.” He laughed and I joined him.

  “They’re gonna work that out real quick, right?”

  Crank shut down one laptop and chucked his empty can of Coke to the ground with the other three. He yawned and stretched. “Probably. I sure hope so. I want them to know that I found their little peepshow. And it wasn’t that hard either.” He cracked another can open and took a long drink of it, his face grimacing. “Needs some ice.”

  I slapped him on the back and turned to leave. “All right, well if you’ve sorted that shit out, you can come back up into the clubhouse now. No one can see or hear what we’re doing now, thankfully.” I turned to leave, but my footsteps came to a halt. “Wait, I thought you said that this was harder than it looked.”

  Crank barked out a laugh. “Not for me, you dumb bastard.” He turned back to the screen and went on tapping away as I scowled at him. “I’m going to tie the ends of this so they can’t get back in. Still not sure where they planted the bugs, and I won’t rest easy until we find them.”

  “All right, well I’m heading out with Semi to see if we can locate Skate.”

  Crank turned back to me. “You got news of him?”

  “A small lead that he’s been seen at INKslingers. Probably a bust though.”

  Crank cracked a grin. “Whatchya going for then?”

  “Fuck off,” I barked with a laugh.

  He knew exactly why I was going to check this lead out for myself. A certain hot-assed woman worked there, and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of her. If not a taste.

  “Keep your eyes open, brother.” I turned and headed back up the stairs, feeling better as I climbed the steep steps and pushed open the door to the outside world.

  I took in great lungfuls of air, feeling better with every breath I took. Hated that basement; it stank of blood and death. Not that blood and death bothered me at all, but that shit seeped into your skin if you wasn’t careful and I was already swimming in enough of it to last a lifetime. Crank, though—brother would shower in that shit if he could. Over the years he’d gotten better, but he’d never be right. The shit with Hope and Maria way back had tainted his soul, and I doubted he’d ever get over it.

  I headed through the back entrance to the clubhouse and knocked on Vin’s door before sticking my head around. He was sitting in his chair, his head back and his eyes closed.

  “What?” he barked.

  “Heading out with Semi. He’s got a lead on Skate.”

  He cracked an eye open, one hand moving to his lap to the head that was currently bobbing up and down like it was diving for fish. “Call me if you hear anything. JP and Buddy should be back anytime. Drove through the night to get back.”

  I nodded and waved as I stalked away, heading outside and climbing on my bike. Semi was in the middle of another heated argument with Sara, and she slapped him across the face and screamed something incoherent at him.

  He looked over to me with a sigh as she stormed away, tears trailing down her blotchy red cheeks. “I deserved that,” he grunted, rubbing a hand along his jaw.

  I snickered. “Yeah you did.”

  I slid on my helmet, not happy about putting my head inside the oven. Sooner we were out of Miles City the better. Goddamn place was a fucking deathtrap. The door to the clubhouse reopened and I looked over as Lex screamed something. Pretty much only heard the words no and Sara before the shotgun blast sounded out.

  Sara was standing there, gun in hand, her arms struggling to hold up the heavy weapon as she tried to aim it at Semi. Lex had her hands on her waist and was trying to pull her back, but she was going to end up getting me shot herself if she kept on like that.

  Semi dove off of his bike and ran to one of the large rolling bins we had outside, and Sara let off another round into it.

  “You fucking bitch!” he roared from behind it. “I will fucking kill you, bitch!”

  “So get on with it! You’ve already killed me anyway,” she sobbed. She elbowed Lex in the side, sending her flying backwards as she reached into her tiny denim shorts pockets and pulled out two more cartridges. She’d gotten the first one loaded when Mason grabbed the gun from her shaking hands. Jason was on her in a second, tackling her to the ground as she lashed out, arms and legs flying all over the place.

  “Get off of me!” she screamed.

  The whole scene was insane, women and men fighting, bullets flying, screaming and arguing. Worse than growing up in the shitty orphanage I once called a home.

  Vin charged out the door. “Enough!” he roared, and Sara had the damn good sense to quit fighting Jason and collapse into a heap on the ground. Her shoulders shook as she wailed, the sound more like an animal caught in a trap than a woman crying.

  Lex dove over to her and dragged her into her lap, hushing her and wiping her hair away from her face. It was fucking poetic. Insanely poetic. Vin looked over at me as Semi came out from behind the dumpster looking sheepish.

  “Check out the tattoo shop yourself. I need serious words with Semi, right the fuck now.” Vin looked down at Lex and Sara and Lex caught his gaze. “Get her cleaned up, now.”

  “Vin, she didn’t mean it. He’s an asshole, the way he’s been—”

  “I don’t fucking care what he’s been doing, she tried to kill him. Ain’t no mistaking that, Lex. Now get her calmed the fuck down and cleaned the fuck up and let me deal with it.” Vin was not fucking around, and I dreaded what was going to happen to Sara.

  Lex nodded and helped get Sara up off the ground, taking her back inside the clubhouse.

  Vin looked over to me. “What the fuck are you waiting for?” He glared at Semi as he reached him. “You really fucked up, brother, and now that shit’s coming down on us all. Can’t be having that.”

  “I know, Prez, I know.” Semi dragged a hand over his head. “Don’t know why I keep doing it to her, fucking love her more than life itself.”

  “Sure as shit not showing it,” Vin growled.

  I missed the rest of the conversation as I started my bike and pulled out of the clubhouse, heading toward INKslingers and hopefully Nancy. Though after seeing what bitches were like when they flipped their shit like that, I was a little hesitant. Though I didn’t intend on keeping Nancy—just fucking her out of my system. If she’d let me.

  I chuckled to myself.
/>
  Yeah, she’d let me.

  I was motherfucking charming and shit.

  ~ 8 ~

  I managed to park my bike right outside INKslingers, which was good because I wanted everyone to know exactly where I was if they wanted to bring trouble to my door. Plus, I got to see right inside to where Nancy was perched on the edge of a stool looking hot as hell.

  I pulled the keys, dragged my helmet off, and hung it from the bars. Miles City was busy today, people walking their dogs and shopping like they were in some big metropolitan city. I looked up and down the street, noticing an unmarked black car with two people sitting inside. They sure as shit wasn’t shopping, so I was guessing that they were tailing me.

  I strutted toward them, a huge shit-eating grin on my face, and gave them a friendly wave. The two agents inside looked like they were sweltering in this heat, sweat trickling down the sides of their faces, and somewhere behind their dark-tinted shades I bet they were scowling at me too.

  “Hey there,” I drolled. “Nice day for a drive, right?”

  The agent behind the wheel turned to look at me, my own reflection in his glasses staring back. “Back away from the vehicle, sir.”

  “Sir?” I belted out a loud laugh. “Sir? Fuck me, I ain’t never been called ‘sir’ in all my life. But I like it.” I laughed again. “Thinking of taking a long ride out today, maybe head right into the hills, wind in my face—it’s cooling and shit when it’s so hot out, don’t you think?”

  He grimaced, his jaw twitching as he clenched his back teeth.

  “All right then, well, I’ll be seeing you.” I winked and turned back the way I’d come, heading back to the tattoo shop. I’d only meant to let them know I was onto them, but by the looks on their faces their A/C wasn’t working. Couldn’t help but taint the dumb fucks.

  Should have got back on my bike and ridden back to the clubhouse to warn Vin that I was being tailed, but I couldn’t. Now that I was so close to Nancy, I had to go and see her, speak to her, fucking breathe every inch of her in. She was like an addiction, and I needed a hit because her proximity was killing me.