by KJ Dahlen
“Why do you say that? What could he do to the Triad?”
Audrey was shaking. “I don’t know but its going to be bad. Dale never does anything small.” She threw herself at Carson and when his arms wrapped around her she wailed, “Please don’t let him get me! I’ll leave here as soon as its gets dark but please don’t let him find me. Please, I don’t want to die.”
Carson could feel her shaking in his arms. He could almost smell her fear and even Remmy crowded against her. Remmy was his service dog and usually only protected him but this woman was so out of her mind with terror he was giving her comfort the only way he knew how.
Carson turned his head and looked out the window. The Triad was moving away now and Dale whoever he was, was leaving as well. Carson carried her over to the bed and sat down on it with her in his arms. Audrey still shook but when he whispered that, the man was gone now she began to settle down.
Remmy was still standing next to them both and after a long while Audrey timidly reached out her hand and began stroking his fur. “Forgive me,” she whispered after a while. She wouldn’t look up at him but instead, she kept her face buried in his chest.
“Forgive you for what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I made a fool of myself.” She acknowledged.
Nah, sweetheart, you didn’t.” Carson shrugged. “We all have our own demons. This Dale, whoever he is, is your demon. You can’t help that anymore than anyone else can.” He paused then looked down at the top of her head. “But I think you need to tell Slammer and the others about this prick. If there is a threat to the Triad, they need to be warned about it.”
She looked up at him. “Do you think he would listen and maybe even believe me?”
“I don’t know the man well enough to say one way or the other but you still need to tell him.”
Audrey stared at him and then looked around at her room. After a few minutes, she finally nodded. “I know, I should have done this before but I was too worried about Dale finding me and finishing what he started five years ago.”
“What was it he started five years ago?” Carson wanted to know.
“I’d rather not say,” Audrey told him. “I-I just don’t want you or anyone hurt on account of me.”
Chapter Two
A while later, Carson escorted her out to the main room. He took her by the hand and led her over to where Slammer and Shotgun were sitting.
When she realized what he was doing, Audrey began fighting back. “No, please don’t. Don’t make me do this, not right now!” she begged him.
This caught everyone’s attention and they all turned to see what was causing her to fuss.
Slammer frowned and watched as Carson pulled her over to their table. “What’s going on here?” He looked from Carson to Audrey and back.
“Audrey has something to tell you, something she should have told you five years ago.” Carson held her hand tightly as she kept trying to free herself. He didn’t trust her to run away rather than face this.
Audrey sighed then settled herself. She would face this now and be done with it. She only prayed they would allow her to stay until at least nightfall, so she the darkness would cover her tracks.
“Maybe you should sit down and tell us what you’ve been hiding.” Slammer growled. He watched as Audrey sat down quickly and Carson sat down beside her. Slammer didn’t know what secrets Audrey had but he couldn’t imagine they were all that bad. Nothing that would get them killed at any rate.
“Maybe it would be better if I just left here.” Audrey looked down at her fingers. “He might not come after you guys, if I just left. He doesn’t know where I am right now and then he might never know you gave me a safe place to stay.” She looked up at Carson. “Can’t we just do it that way?” She wet her lips. “Please?”
Carson looked into her eyes and slowly shook his head. “That’s running away, not facing your demon. You need to stand up to him once and for all.”
Audrey shook her head. “You don’t understand. This demon will slit my throat.”
“Who the hell are you guys talking about?” Slammer growled.
Audrey raised her head and stared at the club’s prez. “We’re talking about a monster name Dale McCormick. A man so vile, he thinks nothing of a human life. He was raised in the lap of luxury and was never told no until I told him enough. That day, I watch something so horrible wash over him and it brought out the worst in him that I’d ever seen.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “For a few horrible hours, he was the devil himself.”
“Just who is this Dale McCormick?” Shotgun wanted to know.
“Wait a minute, is that Senator’s Sean McCormick’s kid?” Booker asked. “I’ve heard about the Senator and I’m wondering how or why the man is still in office. He is as crooked as that street down the hill that all the locals think is so dammed funny...”
“And he taught his son that same sort of crooked road very well.” Audrey shivered.
“So how did you get to know this man?” Slammer asked.
“I was in the wrong place at the right time?” Her statement ended up being more of a question rather than a statement. “Dale needed a fall girl and I fell for his line of bullshit. I didn’t realize that’s all it was until it ws too late.”
“And that means what?” Shotgun asked.
“My real name is Jorie Walters. My father was running against Sean for a seat in the senate for Nevada. McCormick pulled every dirty trick in the book. He totally destroyed my dad, but there were just enough people that were loyal to dad that he couldn’t win over and he was fighting back. Then a month before the election, when it looked like my dad was winning back the votes he needed, there was an accident. My dad’s car was run off the road and both he and his driver were killed when the car flipped seven times before it exploded in a ditch.” She shook her head. “When the police pulled the car out, there was clear evidence someone else forced the vehicle off the road.”
“Did they ever find the other driver?” Grinder asked.
“No they never did but then they wouldn’t have would they?” Audrey asked. “The next time I saw either of them again, was the night of my father’s funeral. They turned it into a photo shoot for their campaign. I had several of my father’s friends kick them and their photographers out. I was so distraught, I couldn’t deal with them anymore. The newspapers the next morning really laid it on McCormick. It was not the way he’d wanted it to go and he blamed me for the bad press. I tried to tell them I had nothing to do with it but he didn’t want to hear it. That’s when Dale came to see me. He came to try and get my backing for his father. I laughed at him and told him to get the hell out of my house. Then he began talking about what he and his father could do to me if I didn’t cooperate. He said that he could be my friend or my enemy and I didn’t want him as my enemy. I told him to get out of my house. He leaned in close to me and warned me not to be the same kind of fool my father was. He ran his hand down my cheek and told me I wouldn’t live long if I was. I reached for the phone to call the police and he hit me. He slammed his hand into my head and I went down. Then a felt a burning pain in my back and I just sort of lost it for a moment after that. We struggled and I kicked out at him. Then I heard him scream. I forgot I had heels on and the heel hit his face near his eye. There was blood all over the place and then his men came running. They couldn’t get in the house and Dale was trying to get to me. I kept kicking at him. I knew he was hurt and I also knew he was going to kill me if he got his hands on me. I felt I was fighting for my life. “
For a moment, the entire room was silent.
Swiping at fresh tears, Audrey finished her story, “His hands were around my throat when his men broke down my door. I was clawing, kicking and fighting for my life. Then Dale screamed again and his hands finally let go of my neck. Somehow, I had grabbed a letter opener and stabbed his leg with it. I didn’t even realize it. One of his men grabbed mine and squeezed it so hard that he broke my hand, then he
and the other man got Dale out of the house.” Audrey stared at her hands in her lap again. “I knew I had to get away from there. I was bleeding and had a broken hand. I was able to get some medical help but I knew I couldn’t stay in Nevada. The pain in my back was due to a stab wound and if I had gone to the hospital, the doctors would have reported the attack. I knew Sean wouldn’t let this go and I knew Dale wouldn’t let it go either. I heard through a friend that Dale lost his eye and would walk with a limp for the rest of his life. I also heard that they had charges waiting for me of attempted murder. I could never go home again without running the risk of going to jail. I got as far as San Francisco before I collapsed. I spent a few days under a false name in a small hospital but I when I left, I knew I had to find another place to stay where I could hide. I ended up here. It took me a while but I recovered.”
Shotgun nodded. “I remember those first weeks you were here. You were moved slowly and no one knew why.”
“And you saw this man outside the walls today?” Slammer asked as he glared.
She nodded. “He was in the group with the Triad.” She swallowed hard. “That man is pure evil and if he’s mixed up with the Triad then there is something heavy coming down.”
“You can’t just say that without proof,” Slammer told her.
“I know, but I’ve watched his father turn a good state into a corrupt one and there’s been no one there to stop him. Anyone who tries is crushed. The fact that Dale is here with the Triad is disturbing because you can bet he’s up to no good and the one taking the blame when something goes wrong won’t be him, it will be the Triad. They just don’t know it yet.”
Slammer slammed his large fist down hard on the table. “Fucking hell. This could be bad. We can’t warn Tommy if we don’t know what kind of deal he’s mixed up in with this Dale bastard.”
“If Dale even thinks this is where I’ve been hiding, he’ll burn this place down to the ground and not even ask if it true or not. He’s just that kind of guy,” Audrey assured them all. “He hates me because I dared to fight back and I hurt him, instead of him hurting me.”
“So why did you lie to us when you first came here?” Grinder asked.
“I couldn’t run the risk one of them would hear where I was,” Audrey admitted. She looked up to Slammer. “Isn’t there any way you can warn your friend Tommy about Dale? Knowing Dale, what he’s got in mind for him is going to destroy the Triad.”
“All I can do is try but Tommy isn’t going to like me sticking my nose into his business.”
“Would he rather lose his Triad than hear a word of warning?” Quincy asked as she sat down beside Booker.
“All you have to do is tell him he possibly has a poisonous snake in the organization,” Audrey suggested. Then if he interested, you can fill him in on Dale. Even if he were an enemy, I would warn him. Dale needs the tables turned on him and so does his father. They both deserve to spend time behind bars.”
“What all do you know about Dale’s business dealings?” Grinder asked.
“My father had a file on what he thought Dale was doing. He was just setting up a drug route from Costa Rica under a coffee plantation. He was using the coffee beans to cover the scent of the drugs and getting them past customs. My father was outraged and gave me a copy of everything he had on the McCormicks just before the accident that killed him. That was five years ago now. Can you imagine what he’s doing now?”
“What’s the name of this plantation?” Mammoth asked. “Seems to me I heard something on the streets about the Triad buying a coffee plantation. I heard it from a patron at one of our bars. I wasn’t paying too much attention but the guy who was talking was saying something about finally getting a premium coffee from Costa Rica. That was a couple of weeks ago now, before this thing with Anaconda started up.”
“We might be too late,” Audrey claimed. “If Tommy has bought into the plantation already, he’s already a drug dealer and he doesn’t even know it yet. But he will and probably sooner than he thinks when Dale springs his little blackmail scheme on him.”
“Blackmail?” Slammer asked.
“Oh yeah, Dale will threaten to ruin Tommy and the Triad if he doesn’t go along with him. He will bring in the drugs and off load them after they’ve cleared customs. Tommy will still get the coffee export but Dale will have his drugs free and clear. My father had already worked out the method, but he just didn’t know who the sap was going to be.” She glared at Slammer. “I guess we know who’s he’s been setting up don’t we?”
“What’s the name of the plantation?” Grinder asked.
“He renamed it the Dragon Rose Plantation. It was the old Weston coffee plantation. He just rebranded the coffee.”
Grinder snapped his eyes over to Slammer. “Dragon Rose?”
Slammer growled. “He’s been planning this all along.”
“He’s using the Dragons as a tie to the Triad.” Shotgun snarled. “Shit, we gotta stop this if we can.”
“I hear you but all we got right now is speculation. We need real proof,” Slammer told them all.
Audrey got up and went to her bedroom. When she returned, she handed Slammer a flash drive. “These are my father’s files. They’re five years old so some of that information is probably no good anymore but Dale’s coffee plantation is on there. At least it’s a place to start.”
Slammer nodded. “I’ll let him know, I can’t make him pay attention, but maybe he’ll take the warning and check things out for himself.” He shrugged. “It’s all we can do anyway.”
Chapter Three
Slammer waited until much later before he sent Tommy a warning about Dale and the Dragon Rose plantation. He included the information Audrey’s dad had in his files. He just wanted to give the man a head’s up on what Dale was doing. He also told him he didn’t want Tommy to get caught up in a bad situation if he didn’t want that. Then he left it up to the leader of the Triad.
Meanwhile, they continued to pursue the finding of the Chinese gold. Slammer had a couple of the brothers on the roof watching over the compound. As they had no idea where Venom had disappeared to, they didn’t want to get caught by surprise if and when he came back.
That evening, Slammer stood in the doorway looking out over the compound.
Shotgun joined him. “How are things going boss?”
“Things are quiet at the moment, VP.” Slammer drawled.
“Isn’t quiet a good thing?”
“Perhaps.” Slammer looked over at the other man. “Texas has located the post we need as a starting point. Using the old maps they found, he researched the area and found the stump of the old cross.”
“That’s a good thing.” Shotgun nodded then paused to look at his friend. “What’s really bothering you tonight?”
“I haven’t heard back from Tommy on this other deal.”
Shotgun sighed. “I know. But you got a warning to him anyway. That’s about all you can do without sticking your nose in his business. We both know how that would turn out. Tommy wouldn’t like it much and I can’t say, as I would blame him. We wouldn’t want someone else sticking their nose in our business.”
“I know.” Slammer as he looked back inside the clubhouse. He saw Audrey cleaning the tables off. Shaking his head he commented, “We have to protect her against the threat Dale and Sean pose against her. Without getting caught in the process.”
Shotgun stared at him. “And just how are we going to do that? I mean the without getting caught part. This bastard had her father killed and hasn’t been caught yet.” He snorted. “Senator Sean McCormick owns Nevada. He controls everything over there, including the press.”
Slammer smiled and his eyes twinkled. “But see my friend, we don’t live in Nevada. He doesn’t control shit here. I think we need to do a little recon and find out what’s really going on over there. Find out what fingers he’s got in what pies and expose the man’s carnal weaknesses. What do you think?”
Shotgun smiled. “A smear cam
paign to flush out the guilty party? Just the game I like to play...I like it. Where do we start?”
Slammer grinned. “We follow the money. But we go undercover for this one and I know just the person we need for this job.”
“Lord help us all,” Shotgun whispered under his breath.
Yeah, Shotgun knew exactly who Slammer was talking about. An old friend who had gone off the deep end ten years ago. Patrick “The Whisperer” Macklin.
Patrick was the best at finding secrets. He could go anywhere and get anything from the web and the darker side of the web. The funny thing was he could be in California and make it seem like he was anywhere in the world. Patrick was also a conspiracy theorist. Nothing made him crazier and greedier for information than a politician who had secrets.
“He could get what we’d need to take the Senator down in no time, but we have to move fast.” Slammer nodded. “We need to strike before they have a chance to figure out who set them up.”
“I want to take them both down,” Shotgun stated. “Audrey deserves some kind of closure for what they did to her father. She has been a good person the entire time she’s been here.”
Slammer agreed as he nodded.
“She would take a bullet for my kid too, and almost has in fact.”
“Probably for any of us. Good thing some of the women here can cleanse that shit out that we had with those three Bunnies. You do know I won’t allow anymore in right?”
Shotgun grinned. “I would stop you if you did. The men can go elsewhere for tail. We don’t need that crap here under our roof.”
“I have a feeling that flash drive her father had was only the tip of what he has going on,” Slammer commented. “But it gave us a place to start. Patrick should be able to get down to the newer nitty gritty.”
“Good, we have enough of a problem when people are as corrupt as these two pigs seem to be. A certain type of man gets a little money under their belts and the greed takes over then suddenly, there is never enough green to satisfy that monster on their back. It’s the same when you get a taste of power, you always want more and more.”