by K. J. Dahlen
“What?” Zipper’s voice was questioning.
“Zipper, this is Cassie, can you come and see me?”
“I’m a little busy right now, can it wait till morning?”
“No it can’t,” Cassie insisted. “If you can’t come to me, I’ll come to you. Ten minutes.”
“You can’t,” he insisted. “You’re on bed rest.”
“I won’t be if I have to come to you,” she told him and hung up the phone. Her thoughts were driving her crazy. Was this the reason why Deke was pulling away from her? What exactly did this man have to do with her? Was she in danger? Her hands covered her belly and she rubbed her stomach.
A few minutes later, Zipper joined her. When he sat on the edge of her bed, she flipped the laptop around to him.
He frowned when he saw the page she was looking at. “Where did you find that?”
“Apparently, when you copied the programs over, you copied your latest searches,” Cassie informed him. “Who is this guy?’ She tapped the screen.
Zipper closed his eyes for a moment and muttered under his breath, “Deke is gonna kill me.”
“If he doesn’t, I will,” Cassie threatened. “Who is he?”
“He’s your dad’s brother,” Zipper finally told her. “He might be coming after you or Paige to find out what happened to his brother.”
“And why did Deke not tell me this?”
Zipper shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him.”
Cassie growled. “Why? He won’t tell me the truth and I’d rather he didn’t lie to me. Not about this.”
“Why would you think he would lie to you?” Zipper asked.
“A lie by omission is still a lie.” Cassie shrugged. “He wouldn’t want to worry me.”
“What are you going to do?” Zipper asked.
“Is Donavan out of prison?”
“We don’t know yet,” he admitted. “We also don’t know what he’s going to do about Flynn.” He shrugged. “Hell, we didn’t know he existed until Sam told us about him.”
“How the hell did Sam even know him?”
“Sam grew up in Quincy. He knew Flynn and your mother, he also knew about Donavan. And from what I read in the newspapers, Donavan is not a nice guy. He beat the hell out of his father because his father was beating on Flynn.”
“Flynn’s entire family are nuts. There wasn’t one of them worth a damn.”
“Well, that’s true enough but Donavan just spent the last twenty years behind bars. If he’s out he’s gonna be looking for his brother. We don’t know if Flynn kept in touch with Donny or not but if he did, he might have told him about you and Paige. If Donny can’t find Flynn, he might come after one of you girls to find out what happened to his brother.”
Cassie snorted. “I don’t go by Flynn’s name and if he knows my name is Ryan he’ll figure I call myself Josette. He won’t be looking for Cassie Ryan.”
“But he might know Flynn gave Paige away and to whom. He could be looking for Max and Peggy.”
Cassie began to sweat. “You have to warn them to stay here. They can’t go home.”
“Deke said he would talk to Max.”
“Did you warn Peaches’ father as well?” Cassie wanted to know. “If Donavan gets the word Flynn is dead and by whose hand, he’ll go after Calderone.”
“Deke told him to look out for Donny.” He shrugged. “We don’t even know if Donny is out of jail yet.”
“Calderone can get that information,” Cassie told him.
“Yeah, well right now, we don’t have much information on the guy. Sam might have more but he’s not exactly on speaking terms with us.”
“What about Max?” Cassie suggested. “He grew up there too. Wouldn’t he know Donny and Sam?”
Zipper sat up straighter. “He just might. I don’t know if Deke would have realized that or not.”
Cassie moved around a bit to get to a more comfortable position. “So, I have an uncle out there somewhere that might be looking to kill me, ain’t that grand?”
“Why would he be looking to kill you?” Zipper frowned.
“I ratted my father out to Calderone,” Cassie admitted. “The night Peaches found her father again, I found mine too. He was working for Calderone under the name Theo Billini. He warned me not to say anything but I wouldn’t keep quiet. I let Calderone know exactly who brought Peaches to Janelle’s house and why. Calderone didn’t take too kindly to the news and he made Flynn pay with his life.”
“Flynn kidnapped Peaches and took her to Janelle’s house?” Zipper repeated.
“Yeah, he did. He also caused the accident that killed her mom. Calderone was not a happy guy when he ordered Flynn to be taken away.”
“Why did you rat him out?” Zipper was curious.
“My father took away everything in my life that meant anything to me, my mother, my sister and me. He threw us all away like garbage and for what? He didn’t give a shit about us, only himself. He couldn’t face the world without drugs or booze. No one has any idea what my life was like because of him. I went through hell but I survived. I think I survived because I wanted to track the bastard down and see him on his way to hell before I gave up on life. When Calderone dragged him away that night, Flynn was begging for mercy and I knew in my heart Calderone would have none and Flynn didn’t really deserve any. I was more than happy to see the fear in his eyes that night.”
Zipper sighed heavily. “I’d better let Deke know about this.”
“Yeah, you do that.” Cassie scoffed. “He knows most of it already.”
“Are you okay?” Zipper asked.
“No I don’t think I am. I expected him to be honest with me. This isn’t being honest. I know he doesn’t want me to worry but I don’t like lies and he lied to me. He can pretend he didn’t, but he did.”
Zipper got to his feet. “He just didn’t want you to fuss about something that probably won’t happen anyway.”
“I had the right to know,” she whispered.
Zipper leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Right now, all you have to worry about is those babies in your belly. Deke and the rest of us will worry about anything that threatens them and you.”
Cassie narrowed her eyes and stared at him. “I can take care of myself. I have been doing it for a long time now and I will continue to do it. I’m not some wilting violet that needs some big strong man to hold me in the dark, you know.”
“I know that. Why do you think Gator named you Spitfire?” Zipper nodded. “I will tell you one thing though, those are Deke’s babies too and he will protect his family same as me and the rest of the guys would. You aren’t alone anymore Cassie. You have us for a family and we care about what happens to you. Maybe you should think about that for a while and realize just what it means.” He turned and left the room.
Cassie sighed and laid back. Her babies moved inside her but Cassie paid them no mind. She was too busy thinking about what Zipper just said.
~* * * *~
Deke and the other sat in his office and planned. They hadn’t found any information and Donavan Rearden yet and that bothered him. When his phone rang, he answered it and listened to what Zipper had to say. When he hung up, he stared at Deacon and Iceman and he wasn’t happy at all. “Cassie found out about Donavan. She isn’t happy about it but she suggested that Max might know about him.”
“He might at that,” Deacon agreed. “He knew about Flynn, he might know about Donny too.” Shrugging he continued, “I didn’t know Donny myself, Flynn never really talked about him, and I was just a kid anyway. He was gone by the time Flynn and Jemmia got together.”
“We have to keep Max and Peggy here under our protection. If Donny is out and looking for his brother, he might go to old school friends.”
“Too bad there isn’t a way to find out who Donny hung with before he went to prison,” Iceman suggested.
“Maybe Max would know,” Deke suggested reaching for
the phone. “We’d better find him and ask while we can.”
“Did Zipper say anything else?” Deacon wanted to know.
Deke nodded. “Yeah, he said Cassie wasn’t happy about us lying to her about this mess.”
“You didn’t want her to worry about it right now,” Iceman reminded him.
“It’s still a lie according to her and I can’t blame her for being mad about it.” Deke shook his head. When Max answered the phone Deke asked him to come over, they needed to talk.
Just then, Nash, one of Iceman’s men came to the door. “Iceman, can I talk to you man?”
Iceman joined him in the hall and when he returned a few minutes later, he wore a frown.
“What now?” Deke sighed, not liking the look in the other man’s eyes.
“My guys were talking about the new developments and Axe remembered something. Another of the guys, they call him Motley anyway, his dad Fang used to know Donny Rearden. Back in the day, Fang and Donny hung out together. Motley is second generation Sinner.”
Deke sat up in his chair and scowled. “Are you telling us the Donny was a Sinner too?”
Iceman raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know but I asked Axe to call his friend and check it out. Twenty years ago was a little before my time. He said he would let us know if he found anything out.”
Deke thought about that for a moment then suggested, “Maybe we could use your group to search Boston for him.”
Iceman nodded. “If he’s there, we can find him. Let’s wait and see what Axe can find out before we start anything.”
Just then, Max came to the door and Deke invited him in. When he heard about Donny, he went pale and began to sweat. He did indeed remember Flynn’s brother. “Fuckin A…this could get very ugly when Donny finds out his brother is dead,” Max muttered.
“Why is that?” Deke asked.
“Flynn meant everything to Donny,” Max told them. “After his mother, Estelle walked out on them, Donny took Flynn under his wing and became both mother and father to the boy. His old man, Roman, wasn’t father material by any means and most days the boys came to school with bruises and black eyes. Roman drank a lot, couldn’t hold a job and made the boys steal what they could to keep him in beer. Flynn was fourteen when Donny beat Roman to death and got sent to prison. That was a couple of years before Flynn met Jemmia but yeah, he was in touch with Donny after he went to prison. He used to go every week to see him. Even when he was high, he always went to see his brother. I’m sure he told Donny about Jemmia being pregnant too.”
“Did Donny have any other friends, maybe in Boston?” Iceman asked.
Max thought about that for a moment then nodded. “Yeah, for a while be belonged to a MC called the Sinners.” He looked over at Iceman’s vest and saw the patch. “Damn, that’s your MC isn’t it?”
Iceman nodded. “That was a long time ago now. After twenty years, most of those guys are dead or gone. Most of the present group is younger.”
“True, but he had a couple of friends back then that I do remember. One was a guy by the name of Fang and the other was Ricco. Those three guys hung out all the time. We used to call them the Three Musketeers. They all got in trouble together too. They were just plain mean and didn’t care who they hurt. ”
“Ricco died a long time ago. He was shot to death in a drive by,” Iceman told them. “Fang is still around though.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t use the Sinners to search for Donny,” Deacon suggested. “We really don’t want him to know we’re looking for him.”
Deke looked over at Max. “We also don’t think you and Peggy should go back to Quincy until we find Donny. He might come looking for you to find out what happened to Flynn.”
Max nodded. “Yeah, running into Donny is not on my list of things to do. He would remember that Flynn and I used to be friends and he never did like me. According to Donny, I wasn’t cool enough to hang with him and his friends.”
“Damn,” Iceman suddenly swore.
“What?” Deke asked.
“Fang was there the night we took Peaches back to Calderone. He would have seen Flynn being dragged away by Calderone’s men and he would have heard about what happened to him.”
“Shit.” Deke got to his feet. “He’d know right where to tell the bastard to start looking for answers and where to find Cassie.”
“I’d better let Calderone know about this. He isn’t gonna be happy about it either,” Iceman added.
“We have to keep Peaches and Paige with Cassie,” Deke advised. “All three of them could be in danger.”
“Maybe we should move this back to the compound and go on lockdown until we know more about this guy,” Deacon added.
“Yeah, I think so.” Deke nodded. “I don’t want him to have the element of surprise on his side.”
~* * * *~
When they left the club, no one noticed the man hiding in the shadows of the building. His dark eyes narrowed when he saw the vest Iceman wore, but that wasn’t the one he glared at. His glare was aimed at Deke and he recognized Max from a long time ago.
His lips raised in a snarl and he vowed both men would die at his hands. He was remembering the conversation he had with an old friend two days past. Fang had been a mountain of information for him. He knew what happened to his brother and his vowed to bring his killers to justice, the old time justice way where it was an eye for an eye. Not only would Calderone Vincinti die by his hand but this woman Cassie Ryan would as well. She ratted his brother out to Vincinti and that alone, would be her death sentence. Whatever Flynn had done to her, it wasn’t worth his life.
He turned and walked away, back into the shadows. He had plans to make. As he stepped back, the sunlight sparkled on his skin and the red glow of the sun reflected off the snake tattoo on his shoulder. Donny had gotten the tattoo in prison and the snake had become a symbol of power behind bars. Donny Rearden became a legend in prison. He served his time, kept his nose clean, but held a position of power that nobody messed with. Not the other prisoners and not the guards either.
He was the man with the power behind the system. No crime could be tied to him but there were several men that ended up dead with no explanation and while the warden had his suspicions, nothing could be linked back to him. He’d served his time and been released and there was nothing that could stop him from leaving. He just wanted to see his brother again and get back to the way life should have been. That wasn’t possible now. He was on a mission to avenge his brother and he wouldn’t stop until those responsible were as cold in the ground as Flynn was.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Donny followed them out of the city. He couldn’t get too close or they would spot him, so he hung back. When he turned the last corner, he did it slow and with his lights off. He pulled into the wooded area and leaving his bike, he moved closer on foot.
When he got close enough to view everything, he knelt beside a tree and watched. He saw the five men, get off their bikes and walk inside the clubhouse. He waited until everything settled down, then noticed the men standing around the compound. He saw they were all clearly armed and making rounds of the area inside the fence. They reminded him of the guard at the prison, making rounds. They watched everyone and everything going on inside the cement walls he had called home for twenty years but they only thought they knew what was going on inside those same walls.
Making his way through the woods, Donny saw the houses behind the clubhouse. Some were small cabins but the bigger house was lit up against the coming darkness and he could see people walking around inside the home.
He decided he would start there and move along, as he needed to. Tossing a stick at the fence, he found the fence wasn’t electrified. He waited and watched as the men on the other side of the barrier made their rounds. When the coast was clear, he moved down the line a ways and began climbing over the chain link barrier.
Dropping down behind it, he made his way to the line of buildings.
When he got closer, he moved silently. Peeking in the windows, he began to track just who was in the house and where they went.
There were at least three women in there, two younger and one older. Lights beckoned him and he left his position and checked out another room at the back of the house. It was a bedroom. The color scheme was grey and black and the furniture in the room was dark stained wood. The bed and the dresser matched and there was a rocking chair in the corner of the same color.
He turned to the bed and saw another woman lying there with a huge black dog. The door was closed and the woman appeared to be asleep. He knew if he went inside, the dog would be on him before the woman could even wake up but Donny needed answers and this would get them for him.
He carefully opened the sliding glass doors and slipped inside. When he heard the dog growl, he raised the gun in his hand and whispered, “I know you can hear me and I’d rather not shoot your dog but I will in a heartbeat if you don’t call him off.”
The woman tightened her grip on Demon’s collar. She whispered the words he needed to hear and the dog kept an eye on the intruder but lowered his growl.
Donny moved into her eye range and lifted the gun to point it at her. “Know this bitch, if your dog comes after me I will shoot you, then I’ll shoot him and the three other women in the house.” He moved over to the door and slipped the lock in place. He knew it wouldn’t hold off anyone trying to bust the door in but it would hold it long enough to allow his escape.
She nodded her head in acknowledgement. “Who are you and what the hell do you want?”
Donny grinned but there was no amusement in his eyes. “My name doesn’t matter but I want some answers and I think you can give them to me.”
“What kind of answers do you seek?”
“I need to know where I can find Cassie Ryan.”
She frowned.
“Do you know her?” Donny asked.
She nodded but still didn’t say anything.