Gonzo (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club Book 7)

by Candace Blevins

  “What’s Grape Nuts?” asked Chloe.

  “It’s a breakfast cereal, but some people use it to make ice cream, and it’s Angelica’s favorite ice cream. She got it all the time where she used to live, but no one sells it here, so her boyfriend bought an ice cream maker, and he makes it for her, only he’s her husband now.”

  “Are you a princess, Jellica?” Chloe asked, her eyes big.

  “No, Chloe,” Angelica said with a chuckle, “My husband just loves me very much.”

  “What’s a husband?”

  Angelica looked at me in alarm and I told the twins, “When a man and woman love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together, they get married and become husband and wife. The woman is the wife, and the man is the husband.”

  “Are you going to marry Aunt Constance?” asked Declan.

  “Your aunt and I are very good friends, but not the kind who marry each other.”

  Both of their little faces were so disappointed it broke my heart. “I like spending the night in your guest room though, and we have lots of fun. I’m sorry we aren’t staying at my house like we planned tonight, but parties here are too fun to miss.”

  We’d finished eating and Angelica and I were holding a broom for a limbo contest for all of the little kids when Bash stuck his head in the door and said, “Princess! I’m heading out for a bit. Give me a kiss before I go.”

  “I knew you were a princess!” Chloe screamed.

  I grasped the center of the broom handle so Angelica could let go, and she stepped outside with him several minutes.

  Another mom took her place with the broomstick, and when Angelica returned she looked worried as she sat on the little bench and watched the kids play.

  When they finally tired of limbo, I told the twins I needed to go do something again and I’d be right back, and I went to the control room.

  Chapter 25

  Gonzo

  Brain and Viper were on the controls, and a quick look at the monitors told me we had a bunch of people in a truck headed into danger. I should’ve been with them, and I felt guilty I wasn’t.

  “I put a camera in front of Sullivan’s mom’s house when we were investigating him before we booted him,” Brain told me without looking away from the monitors. “It’s still up, and I’ve looked back through the footage. It looks like the three who just got out of jail were staying with them, and the Disciples ran them out. They’re back today, so we figure we’ll protect the mom and daughter, and take care of our enemies all in one fell swoop.”

  So I’d been right about Sullivan’s deal with the Disciples being for protection. Fuck, we should’ve made it clear he could come to us for protection if he needed it when his dad got out.

  “Who’s going in?”

  “Ghost, Bash, and Duke. They’ll get Ghost inside and he’ll use a blowgun with tranqs to knock them out. No colors and they’ll wear masks, but they’ll make sure the women are safe before they leave, and assure them they won’t be bothered by these three again.”

  They’d exited the truck while Brain explained, and now he turned his mic back on and focused on their path. Ghost moved like magic and I’d learned a lot by following him, but I still couldn’t move through a populated area totally unseen unless he was showing me the way.

  He was in the backdoor in no time, and all three men were in the living room. Ghost’s personal cam showed the women giving two of them blow jobs while the third slowly jacked himself while he waited for his.

  Ghost worked fast and hit all three of them with tranq darts in a handful of seconds, and then stepped out of sight while he waited for the drug to take effect.

  We heard the women talking to each other, wondering what had happened, and Ghost said, “I don’t want to scare you. I’m about to come around the corner and we’re going to remove these men from your home.”

  I looked at movement on another screen and realized I was looking at the front of the house. There was a carport to the side, and a panel van I didn’t recognize backed into the driveway and pulled right up to the edge of the carport.

  Ghost was the only one who spoke, and he very gently herded the women into a bedroom and asked them to keep the door closed until they heard the truck pull out. I quickly realized having Ghost be the only man they saw would likely lead them to believe the Disciples had been behind this and not the MC. Ghost is black, though he’s grown up all over the place and has one of those accents you can’t place. We didn’t know if the women would go to the police or not, but having them think the men who got rid of the rapists were all black would help keep LEO from looking our way.

  They folded the men into quadruple-bagged large garbage bags, and carried them out as if they didn’t weigh anything at all. If anyone happened to see them they’d say there was no way there were men in the bags.

  When the truck was on the way I left. I didn’t know how they planned to dispose of the bodies, but I knew they were going to let the men suffocate while they were tranquilized. We’d done the right thing the first time and let the justice system handle them after we’d beat them up pretty good, but now they’d taken shots at us and we couldn’t give them a chance to come after us again.

  I also knew Brain would let Bud know the threat to Julie had been neutralized.

  The police were called this morning when the bike shop was hit because there were multiple reports of shots fired during the drive-by. If LEO figures out who was responsible this morning, and realizes those men are now missing, we’ll be the first people they come to. Our guys would’ve gotten out via an underground tunnel so no one would’ve been seen them leaving the compound, and I’ve never seen that particular panel van so it’s likely it can’t be traced back to us, either. As far as law enforcement is concerned, we were all here so we all have alibis.

  When I returned to the playroom, Chloe and Declan were in a heated debate about whether princesses really exist. Chloe was certain they do, and in her eyes Angelica was all the proof she needed. Declan thought she was being a silly girl, which had Chloe so mad I worried she’d hit her brother. I grinned inwardly as I realized Aaron and Sophia’s triplets are a prince and two princesses, but knew I couldn’t tell them. Chloe would likely be mad at me one day for not telling her, but it’d be far, far in the future.

  “Is this what happens when you eat too much sugar?” I asked. “Maybe I need to hold back on the ice cream next time? Your aunt warned me you both get a little out of control if you have a lot.”

  They both straightened right up and looked so angelic, Angelica burst into laughter.

  “No, Daddy. We’re fine. Ice cream is good for us!” My little Chloe was going to be a handful as she got older — no doubt about it.

  “Let’s go downstairs with Princess Angelica and have a little talk, shall we?”

  I unlocked the door to my room and let them all in, and Chloe ran to my bed and jumped on it as she yelled, “Someone made your bed!”

  Knife had done well, and I even smelled cleaning products in the bathroom. I walked in and saw he’d scrubbed it down as well. I’d spent enough time with him since he prospected in that I felt comfortable giving him my room key, and after this I made a mental note to see how he did on some other tasks.

  While the kids jumped on the bed I told Angelica. “They’re away from the house with the packages safely. We can’t empty the clubhouse or LEO will get suspicious, but the threat from that direction should be neutralized.”

  “If I could meet with Marlin I’d be able to tell if he’s bullshi… lying to us.”

  “Bash is never going to let that happen. I was face to face with Marlin the other night and if he’s lying I couldn’t tell, but there are questions we didn’t know to ask at the time.”

  “I’d know if he’s being deceitful just by talking to him.”

  “I believe you, but we can’t let you do that.”

  “Because I’m a girl.”

  “Because you’re Bud’s daughter and Bash’s w
ife, and we aren’t going to put you in danger.”

  “Because she’s a princess!!” little Chloe shouted.

  “Yeah, that too,” I said with a chuckle.

  “I like the new you.”

  I started to tell her I was the same me, but I realized I wasn’t. “I think I do, too.”

  I pulled a deck of cards from a drawer and taught the kids how to play Go Fish with regular playing cards. We sat on my bed and played for longer than I’d figured their little attention spans would hold out, and I finally had to tell them it was time to start getting ready for bed.

  I have a small shower unit in my bathroom, and the kids thought it was cool to take a shower instead of a bath. Angelica helped me wrangle the two of them, and then I turned my tablet on and went to my ereader app. I’d bought several ebooks to read to them while on my phone as I’d watched them play with the other kids. I’d bought actual books to put in their rooms, but we weren’t home so this would have to do. I breathed a sigh of relief when they were, indeed, on the tablet as well, and I started reading with Chloe and Declan on either side of me in bed, and Angelica sitting on my chair listening.

  Declan fell asleep while I was reading the third book, and Chloe fell asleep on the fourth. They’d had a big day and no nap.

  “I’ll sit in here with them while you go back up,” Angelica told me softly.

  “Why?”

  “You’re important. They need you. If I can’t help by talking to Marlin then I’ll do this so I can free you up to help.”

  I carefully got out of bed and tucked them both in, and then kissed Angelica on the forehead before I left. I’d been such an ass when she’d starting dating Bash. I’d been wrong, though, and she’d forgiven me. Bash and I’d had to fight it out before he forgave me, but thankfully everything was good, now.

  I’d been an ass to all of the women I’m close to. Well, except for Connie, but I guess I’d been a jerk to her, too, until I found out about the twins.

  It was a wonder Harmony hadn’t killed me in my sleep, but now I’m closer to her than just about anyone.

  At this alert level everyone can sleep in their rooms or in the large common room downstairs. At a higher alert, everyone’s in the common room, and I was thankful we hadn’t gone that high.

  Brain buzzed me into the control room faster this time, which I took to be a good sign.

  “The women haven’t called the police, and our guys are in the final cleanup stages and should be headed back soon.”

  “We’ll have to be careful about lowering the threat level,” I told him. “If the police figure out who did the drive-by, and that they’re missing, they’ll come looking at us first. If we lower the threat level right away it’ll look like we knew the danger had passed.”

  “Agreed. Duke’s going to set a meet with Marlin when our guys get back, and we’re hoping they can come to an agreement that’ll give us a reason to turn everyone loose. If not, we’ll escort girlfriends and wives to work tomorrow. It’s a Sunday so we shouldn’t have too many, hopefully.”

  I sat in a chair and stretched my legs out, and wished I’d grabbed a beer before I came in. “Angelica says she’ll know if Marlin’s bullshitting us if she can talk to him face to face.”

  “No doubt she can, but we can’t let her do it.”

  “Exactly what I told her, but… you know how she is.”

  “Hardheaded stubborn woman? Yeah. I know.”

  “And yet she’s sitting in the dark with my sleeping kids so I could come up to see if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  “It’s really too bad she’s a woman because she’d make a great brother.”

  “No argument from me.”

  Viper was looking through a constant volley of shifting screens as Brain and I talked, and I nodded towards him. “Anything out of the ordinary going on out there?”

  “Nothing. We have five teams of two people handling a limited patrol while they wear Kevlar vests and safety hats, and they’re reporting all quiet as well.”

  “Do you need me to relieve any of the men on our gate?”

  “No, I have them on a two-hour rotation.”

  I nodded in approval. It’s not so hard to stay alert when walking on patrol, but standing still… if you aren’t careful you zone out and miss shit. “If you need someone else fresh, let me know. I assume the bar’s closed?”

  “Yeah, don’t want to risk our patrons’ safety.”

  Losing a Saturday night would be a big revenue hit, but I agreed with the decision. “We’ll have to somehow show the public it’s safe to bring their bikes to the bike shop. We’re going to take a hit from this all around.” I rubbed my eyes as I remembered another issue. “I have to return the kids by eight in the morning so she can get them ready for church.”

  He looked at me in disbelief a dozen heartbeats and shook his head. “Okay, we’ll send guards out with you, but they’ll wait outside her neighborhood while you take them in. I assume you plan to come back here?”

  “Yeah, and go back to fucking sleep. I hope dinner at Duke’s is still on. If not, I might try to work out an alternate place with Randall.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” He sighed and took his headpiece off. “You’re in charge for about fifteen minutes. I’m going downstairs to wear my wife out so she gets a good night’s sleep. I hope to be in a better mood when I return.”

  I went through the training so I can handle the control room, but I’m rarely asked to man it. I’m better utilized with my physical presence being seen, since I apparently scare the shit out of people by just glancing at them.

  When Brain returned twenty minutes later I could smell Harmony on him, and I grinned at the smile on his face. “They’re on the way in.” I handed him the headset and walked to the computer he kept behind a proxy in Russia. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to read the news articles about the bike shop, and about any gang related activity in the past week.”

  “Go to it.”

  I stopped when the four who’d left came back, and listened to Duke on the phone with Marlin. They set a meet with Duke, Brain, Marlin, and Razor at a Waffle House, and agreed both sides could have three more people in the parking lot. Duke asked Bash, Horse, and Tiny to act as guards from the parking lot, and they all left on their bikes out the front gate this time.

  Dawg took over Brain’s headset, and I went back to reading news articles until they arrived.

  The foursome were all small talk as they ordered and cut up with the waitress. Bash turned in a circle a few times and we could see undercover cops all around — watching and probably listening.

  Duke and Marlin spoke in generalities, and while they didn’t get anything resolved, they made a show to the cops that the MC and Disciples weren’t at war and the situation was no longer volatile.

  I went back downstairs as they pulled into the compound, and told Angelica that Bash would likely have a short debrief and then he should be all hers. I hugged her as I told her how much I appreciated her helping with the kids, and she said she’d enjoyed spending time with them. I knew sitting in the dark hadn’t been fun, but I also knew she’d been playing games on her phone, so perhaps she’d enjoyed the quiet time. The clubhouse can be fun when it’s full, but it can also get overwhelming at times.

  I put sweatpants on over my boxers and crawled back into bed between my kids, making sure the alarm was set for six thirty so we could get up, get ready, and go out to eat before I took them home.

  Chapter 26

  Gonzo

  I knew Connie was going to be pissed when she found out we stayed at the clubhouse last night, but I hadn’t understood just how angry she’d be.

  She immediately understood it had something to do with the shooting at our bike shop, and according to her I should’ve called her so she could cut her date short and the kids could go home where people don’t shoot each other up.

  I opened my mouth to point out she’s a danger to them to because of her job, but I realize
d we weren’t going to get anywhere if we tried to tear each other down. I took a breath and told the kids to run upstairs and put the clothes in their bags in the laundry hamper and put everything else where it belonged. I motioned Connie into the den and asked, “How was your date?”

  “None of your business and don’t change the subject.”

  Her scent told me it’d been a dismal failure. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

  She started to argue, but shut her mouth and shook her head. “I can’t believe you put the kids in danger.”

  “You and I both have jobs with an element of danger. You’ve done what you can to negate the danger as much as possible, and I’ve done everything I can think of so far and will do more as I see things I can do. It turns out the danger was minimal, but we didn’t know it last night so we brought everyone into the clubhouse, just to be safe. If it were widely known that you’re important to me, I’d have brought you in as well.”

  She sat on one of the chairs but didn’t say anything, and I added, “The twins thought we changed venues because it turned out there was a party at the clubhouse. There’s a little kids’ play room and a big kids’ room just off the main clubhouse great room, with two-way glass so adults can see in but kids can’t see out. They got to play with other children their age — many they’d met at the picnic — and they had a blast. I was in there with them most of the time, and Angelica hung out with them the entire time so she was there for them when I needed to step out of the room.”

  I saw the question forming and I reminded her, “Angelica is Bash’s wife.”

  “I know you won’t purposely put the kids in danger, but I worry they’ll get caught in the crossfire. You have to admit your life has more danger in it than mine.”

  “I’m not sure it does. We almost always know when we need to go on lockdown to keep our people safe. If you’re ever abducted, or if they get the twins, it’s doubtful you’ll have any warning.” I sat on the sofa. “I’m not sure it matters, though. We both have danger associated with our jobs, and we both try to stay safe despite the inherent dangers.”