“They would tell you that?” Hawk asked.
“Yeah. I saw trucks with names on them and faces of the drivers. I saw crates they would haul into different establishments they owned around the city. People they scared. Streets they owned. I didn’t even realize what I’d seen until the DEA came reigning down on their family compound.”
“Compound?” Hawk asked.
“Yeah. All the Iron Souls members live in this trailer park they call ‘the compound.’ All permanent members live there, that’s just how it rolls with them.”
“And the DEA found the compound.”
“Yeah. I was there when they busted it up.”
“Fuck me, Syd,” he said.
“There were gunshots from all around. I-... I crawled behind trailers and just ran. I ran until I couldn’t breathe, then one of the members came around the corner and gave me a lift home. I went back to my Mom’s, threw all Emery and I’s shit into bags, went to pick her up from school, and I just drove. I drove and raced and weaved in and out of cars, trying my best to get us the fuck out of town before…”
Tears were streaming down my face as Hawk reached out to me, but I stumbled back from his touch. I didn’t want to feel his skin against mine. I didn’t want to drink up his warmth.
I wanted to get out.
I needed to get out.
“I couldn’t snitch on the club that took me in. Pregnant. Alone. Running and confused. They took me in without a second thought, especially with my ties to The Road Rebels.”
“They know about your fucking history with us?” Hawk asked.
“We just ran, and I couldn’t think of anywhere else to come but here,” I said breathlessly. “They’re coming after me to build a case, aren’t they? They know I was there. I bet they know I know shit. Fuck. Holy shit. Emery. What’s this going to do to Emery?”
I felt my blood pressure skyrocketing. I felt my hands shaking. My vision was blurred with tears, and I felt like I was going to be sick. I rushed out of the room and slammed into the downstairs bathroom, with Hawk following me close. The stomach bile and coffee rising up in my throat as I vomited into the sink.
Hawk tried to hold my hair back, but all I did was push him away.
“The DEA’s followed you here,” he said.
I could hear the anger in his voice.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think-”
“That’s your problem, Syd. You don’t think. You don’t think about your actions and the consequences they could have. You just bounce around with your freeform lifestyle, and you leave behind anyone in your path that might give a shit about you.”
“The fuck are you talking about?” I asked.
“It was a knee-jerk reaction to leave us in the first fucking place,” he said as his face reddened. “Then it was a knee-jerk reaction to not tell me about Emery.”
“You know what would’ve happened if-”
“Shut up!” he roared.
My eyes widened, and I stumbled back against the toilet.
“It was a knee-jerk reaction to hang out with the Iron Souls. It was a knee-jerk reaction to run, and it was a knee-jerk reaction to run here. And now, you’ve put the only fucking family you ever had in danger with your bullshit because you claim you had nowhere else to go. You wouldn’t have even had this problem had you just fucking stayed, Syd!”
Tears were pouring down my face as I finally felt my strength rush back to my legs. I pushed past Hawk, almost knocking him off his feet as I ran out to the guesthouse.
Good thing I hadn’t unpacked our bags yet.
“The Road Rebels don’t need the DEA hanging around here, especially with the shipments we’ve got coming in,” he said.
“Read you loud and clear,” I said as I gathered up Emery and I’s laundry.
“We’ve worked too fucking hard to keep this shit under wraps for someone running from their past to just show the fuck up after six years.”
“Got it, Hawk!” I exclaimed.
I shoved our shit into bags, and that got his attention.
“What’re you doing?” he asked.
“Another one of my knee-jerk reactions, I suppose.”
“No, no, no. You can’t just leave. You’re not taking my daughter away from me again. Syd, do you hear me!?”
He grabbed down onto my arm so hard I knew it’d leave a mark later. He whipped me around in the backyard, almost taking me to my knees as I shrieked. My heel came down onto his foot before my knee came up into his stomach. I was in survival mode. Whatever I had to do to protect my daughter is what I would do now.
And I sure as hell wasn’t leaving her here.
I ran into the house and grabbed my keys. I ripped open the door to the garage and tossed our shit in. I ran upstairs as Hawk finally peeled himself from the ground, stumbling towards the house as he tried to catch his breath.
I was coming down the stairs with a very tired Emery as he stumbled in through the back sliding door.
“Please. Don’t take my daughter from me,” he said.
“Should’ve thought about that before you unloaded on me,” I said, tears streaming down my face.
“Syd. Please. Don’t go. I can protect you.”
“You can’t even protect me from yourself,” I said as I buckled Emery in. “You said it yourself: The Road Rebels don’t need the DEA around. And if they followed me, they’ll follow me right out of town.”
“Please don’t go,” he said.
I felt his hand come down to me and I looked up into his green eyes. They were dark. Stormy. Aching with regret as they shone with unshed tears. My heart ached for him as my arm throbbed. I wanted to stay. I wanted to believe he could take care of us. But he was right. My decision to run from the only family I’d ever known resulted in everything I was battling now.
And the least I could do was protect them now. Especially when they didn’t realize they needed protecting.
“I’ll call you when we’re safe,” I said as I opened the garage door.
“Syd. Syd! No. Please don’t do this. Come on. You’ve got my daughter!”
He was banging on the window as Emery yawned in her seat. I had to get out of here before he said anything else. Before he said something to her.
Before he said something, he would regret for the rest of his life.
“Sydney! Please!”
I peeled out of the garage as Emery fell back asleep. I watched Hawk run after us in my rearview mirror. Tears streamed down my face as the light sounds of Emery’s snores wafted into my ear from the back seat of my van.
She looked just like her father, even when she slept.
Chapter 11
Hawk
I watched Sydney drive off with Emery like it was nothing. And even though I wanted to hop on my bike and go after them, I couldn’t. The DEA was fucking snooping around here because of her, and I had to make sure I notified the group. This could fuck everything up with the shipment, and I had bigger fish to fry right now.
But I couldn’t shake the idea that someone might follow them.
I hopped onto my bike and followed the path I knew Syd would take. I saw her van racing down the road, dodging in and out of traffic as she swerved around corners. I watched the van wobble on its chassis, worry plaguing my gut as I thought about Emery dodging around in the backseat. She must be petrified, not understanding what was going on at all.
I followed them all the way out to the highway, looking around for any signs of a black sedan before I reluctantly turned around and headed back.
I had no idea if I was ever going to get my daughter back, but I had to cast that to the back of my mind. At that very moment, I had to be a Road Rebel. Not a father. While I was infuriated with Syd, and while I was pissed off, she put all of us in danger because of the shit choices she made with her life. I knew her mindset was to protect Emery, but she screwed her family in the process.
I cranked it into gear and started for the bar. I kept my eyes peeled on the road, look
ing for any black sedan that might crop up and try to follow me. I knew where Syd’s mind was. She felt that if she actually brought the DEA into the area, then by leaving she would take them with her. And it was a solid guess. A solid move, I had to admit. I still felt it was a knee-jerk reaction because of the way we’d yelled at one another.
The way I’d yelled at her.
The way I’d grabbed her and tried to get her to stay.
Fuck, I shouldn’t have grabbed her like that. But she was taking Emery from me. She was leaving me again. I didn’t know what else to do.
I shook the entire fight from my mind as I took all the back roads. I wanted to make sure absolutely no one would stay on my tail. I wanted to make certain I wasn’t being followed. This was serious. All the DEA had to do was have reasonable doubt that some bullshit was going down and they’d flood this entire fucking town with black sedans. We had people riding on this deal. Debts that had to be paid. Trips that were going to be taken. Bank accounts that were drying up. We had to lay low after our last shipment almost got caught, which meant we were already hanging on by a thread.
Already on someone else’s radar.
I parked my bike and busted into the bar. Mac and Fox were in the corner, sitting there just nursing a couple of beers. I strode through the bar, commanding attention as I hooked my eyes onto them. Mac looked at me and immediately saw the sternness of my gaze, and he stood, with Fox following not too far behind.
“We got a problem,” I said.
“Church,” Mac said. “Now.”
Mac got on his phone while Fox got on his. We settled our tab and left the bar, hopping onto our bikes and scooting up to the mechanic shop. The moment we walked in, Fox flipped the switch on the wall. Talon had wired up the entire mechanic shop with a scrambling device. That meant if something serious was going down and we really needed some genuine privacy, we could flip that switch and no one could hear us. No planted bugs. No hacked cell phones. No nothing.
“The fuck’s going on?” Mac asked.
“Wait until everyone gets here,” I said. “I’m only gonna explain it once.”
Fox’s eyes were on fire. The last thing he wanted was for this shipment to be ruined. He was the one that suggested we go with the warehouse location again. He was the one that suggested this would be a good way to get us some cash flow while flying under the radar. He knew if this fell through, Mac would have his fucking head on a platter.
All I needed to do was keep Syd’s name out of it.
Both Talon and Snake piled into the shop. The locked the door behind them and quickly came to sit down. They were all looking at me, wondering what the fuck was going on, and the moment I opened my mouth I heard them all sigh in frustration.
“The DEA’s poking around,” I said.
“What?” Mac asked.
“I fucking told you this shit was a bad idea,” Snake said.
“This isn’t my fault,” Fox said.
“No one’s blamin’ anyone,” Mac said. “Yet. How do you know it’s the DEA, Hawk?”
“Went to scope out the warehouse site a couple hours ago and there was a black sedan there. Don’t worry, the guys we’re paying were the ones that alerted me to it. They’re good guys. Obedient. Observant.”
“Yeah. Concrete’s solid,” Fox said.
“What did you do?” Mac asked.
“I waited until they left, then followed them. All the way out of town. About thirty minutes. They stopped at a diner in some small ass town, and I parked. Watched them for a while. It’s DEA all right.”
“Why the fuck didn’t I hear about this then?” Mac asked.
“Good question,” Talon said.
“I figured it could wait until our next session this weekend,” I said. “Until I saw a fucking black sedan outside of my house this evening.”
Not completely true, but Syd did say one of them cropped up. I wasn’t sure if it was the same one, but I had the boys so rattled it wouldn’t even matter.
“You think they fucking spotted you when you were tailing them?” Snake asked.
“Even if they had, I had a helmet on, my jacket, and jeans. They’ve wouldn’t of known who I was, especially since I switch out the license plates on my bike every so often,” I said.
“Fuck!” Mac exclaimed. “Was it the same sedan?”
“Didn’t see the license plate on the one the one outside my place, but I figured it was enough information that it couldn’t wait,” I said.
“You’re fucking right,” Mac said. “All right, so now we gotta figure out how the fuck to get these guys off our trail.”
I breathed a silent sigh of relief. They weren’t going to ask any more questions, which meant I could keep Syd’s name out of it. I saw Talon looking at me a little oddly, but I tried to shake it off. Talon was paranoid as it is, so he was probably starting to wonder if I was cooperating with the DEA.
So, I decided to abate his worries.
“And Talon, before you even fucking ask, the answer’s no,” I said.
“Of course Hawk’s not cooperating,” Snake said. “Shut the fuck up, Talon.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Talon said.
“You never fucking have to with those wild eyes,” Mac said.
“So, Mac. What do we do?” I asked.
“We could try to lose them. We’re far enough out from the shipment to where we could redirect.”
“We’d have to pull the money from those guys’ bank accounts. Issue refunds,” Fox said.
“Or at least get them temporarily transferred, which’ll raise red flags,” I said.
“And pulling the money from their accounts will be even more suspicious,” Snake said.
“We could divert and get the shipments ourselves,” Mac said. “Somewhere remote. Somewhere no one would think to look. We could do all of that without having to go back to that warehouse where they’re fucking snooping around.”
“Where would we redirect? Those drugs are already on their way in. We’d have to radio out to them, and that risks interception,” Fox said.
“Yeah. If the DEA is expecting us to panic, they’ll see that coming from a mile away,” Snake said.
“Well, you assholes got any better ideas?” Mac asked.
“I’d like to know how they fucking got onto us in the first fucking place,” Talon said.
“You know it’s been all over the news. Shit with the Iron Souls,” Fox said.
“You think they’re checking into everyone with all that shit going down?” Snake asked.
“And don’t forget, we almost got fucking caught last time. That already put us on their radars. Then the Iron Souls go and fuck up shit in our neighbor state. I’m honestly shocked they weren’t here sooner,” Mac said.
Holy fuck, as the conversation went on, I became more and more relieved. Mac was keeping his head on straight, especially with Talon ready to pull the trigger. The last thing I needed was to throw Syd into this fight. The last thing I needed was for them to figure out she was the one that brought the DEA into town.
We sat around for two hours shooting the shit when it came to plans. We tried to find ways to postpone. Divert. Reroute. Anything we could do to try and get the DEA off our tails. I was secretly hoping they would just follow Syd out of town. Just long enough for us to get this fucking shipment in. Then I could go after her. Track them down. Help them in any way necessary.
Maybe even tell the club she was back in town and that I had a beautiful daughter I wanted them to meet.
But until we could get through this shit-- until I could volley both sides of this-- she was on her own.
Then again, that’s kinda what she’d always wanted anyway.
“So, we can’t reroute. We can’t divert. We sure as hell can’t go through with the shipment as planned. What if we just turn their heads another way?” Fox asked.
“Whaddaya mean?” Snake asked.
I saw the look come over Fox’s face and I knew exactly what he was
thinking. It was the same look we all got whenever we thought about that night. That gruesome, bloody night that forever changed the course of my life, the course of Sydney’s life, and the course of the club’s life forever. I could see the hurt and guilt in his eyes. How he wished he could’ve done more for his fallen family members. We all felt guilty. We all visited that makeshift cemetery a few miles down the road. We all harbored and held close some sort of guilt.
We all suffered from some form of anxiety over it.
We all secretly wanted to get revenge for what The Devil Saints had reigned down on us that night six years ago.
“We could put them on the Devil’s tail,” Fox said.
“That would take some serious planning,” Mac said. “I’m not sure we got that kinda time.”
“But it would work. You know damn well that The Devil Saints ain’t got no morals,” Talon said.
“You got any plans going on in that head of yours?” Snake asked.
“Matter of fact, I do,” Talon said.
“Spill it,” Mac said.
“We’ve had a feud with them for years. Even before that night, we never got along. They treat their women and children like shit. Use them as fall guys and shields. They set them up for failure and ain’t got no issues taking what they feel is theirs,” Talon said.
“We get it. They’re scum. What’s your plan?” Fox asked.
“If you’d shut up long enough, I’d get to it. You guys talk enough for all of us, so sit down and listen,” Talon said.
I had to say, I was impressed with how he was handling this situation. Fox and Snake grumbled, but Mac was definitely impressed. We all sat back in our chairs and let Talon go on his little rant, but when he got to the good stuff, he really delivered.
“I happen to know The Devil Saints were behind us almost getting caught last time,” Talon said.
“You what?” Mac asked.
“I do some snooping in my spare time. Looking for ways to get them back for what they did to us,” Talon said.
“You know that ain’t safe. That could bring wrath down on the whole fuckin’ club,” Snake said.
Girth (Marked Skulls MC Book 1) Page 56