by Zoey Parker
I was shocked by the bold change in approach.
“I like the sound of that,” I told him. It meant I didn’t have to deal with Hell’s Overlords anymore.
“I thought you would.” His eyes sparkled while he spoke.
“Is that all?” I asked with a yawn.
“Yeah, that’s it. Good job tonight, Sasha.”
“Thanks.” I started to get up from the chair, but he stopped me.
“In fact, I’m really proud of how far you’ve come,” he said. “I’m impressed with the work you’ve done against the Overlords. Their president has a pretty nasty reputation, and a lot of people wouldn’t want to go up against them.”
“I’m not going up against them. I’m sneaking behind their backs,” I said with a grin. “Goodnight, Fang.” I walked through the door to his office and started making my way back to my apartment.
On the way home, as the color of the sky began to lighten, ahead of the sun, I thought about what Fang had said about how far I’d come. He’d found me on the street, barely more than a kid.
I was at the city market, a set of farmer’s market style stands set up just on the outskirts of downtown. It operated daily, with vendors selling fresh fruits and vegetables as well as countless handmade crafts. It had its own crowd, mostly throwbacks to the ’60s and ’70s, young adults born decades late. It was a great place for street kids to buy or work for their own food.
I hadn’t been interested in working at the time. I knew if I wanted anything, my lack of skills left me with one real option. I had to take what I wanted or needed.
I reached for an orange with my dirty fingers, and a perfectly clean, tanned hand clasped my wrist.
“What are you doing?” a stern voice asked me.
My first instinct had been to run, but when he didn’t let go, I looked up into his dark, sparkling eyes. He grabbed a bag of oranges, paid for them, and handed them to me. I simply stared at them and blinked.
Then, I tried pulling away again. He’d given me what I wanted, and it was time to make an exit, but he wouldn’t let me go.
“No, dear, these come with a price,” he said with a wide grin.
“I don’t have any money,” I told him. “Keep them.”
“No, it’s not money I’m after,” he added.
“What, then? Sex? You’re not getting that either,” I snapped, and tried to pull away again, but he just would not let go of me. Then, it occurred to me that the people walking by could see what was going on, and I did not want to draw attention to myself.
“Let me tell you what I want,” he said, walking me out of the market and away from the people bustling by us.
He’d been wearing that same black suit, dark red shirt, and black tie. Over the years, I wondered if he didn’t just have a closet full of the same outfit somewhere.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“I want you to work for me,” he told me calmly.
“I’m sorry?” He let go of my wrist, but I didn’t run. Instead, I stood in front of him rubbing my aching wrist.
“You heard correctly,” he answered. “I want you to work for me. I want to teach you how to do that very same thing you did in the market, but I want you to be the best at it.”
I glanced back at the market and back at him.
“You want me to steal for you?” I asked. Up until that point, I’d never considered that anyone would want to hire a thief.
“I do,” he answered with a smile.
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him.
“Listen, I can teach you how to do it professionally,” he explained.
His eyes looked deep into mine. I couldn’t look away. Before he said anything else, I could already feel in my bones that he was offering me something bigger than just a job.
“You’ll be provided for while you work for me. You won’t have to worry about anything. You want oranges? You can have all the oranges you want while you’re in my care,” he explained.
Care? At the time, I couldn’t remember the last time someone had used that word in relation to me. He hadn’t been made to force my hand since.
The sun had just started to crack the horizon when I made it home from Fang’s office. I had my newest assignment, though I didn’t trust his intel. I knew I could do it, but I didn’t expect to find anything. Since that day at the market five years ago, our relationship had reached the point where I didn’t have to wait for instructions before I went to work. I figured I’d sleep off the daylight and go after the Overlords that night.
Chapter 1
Cole
“I’m putting everyone on high alert status,” I announced to the members sitting around the boardroom table at HQ.
I looked around at the stern faces staring back at me. We all came from different backgrounds. Some of the guys grew up on the streets. Others had run from the quiet, sterile suburban life to find something with more meaning. And we had members who hit every point in between, including military vets who hadn’t been able to find a place among the normals after returning home from war.
“We’ve lost a lot of money because of this thief. We were hit on the south side again last night,” I explained. “Whoever it is, they’re good. No one sees or hears anything. They strike in the blink of an eye, when you turn to investigate a noise, when you step away for one moment to take a piss.”
“I’m sorry about that, Cole,” Andre said, raising a hand. “But at least I checked the bags when I returned. Something told me to.”
“That’s good,” I complimented him. “That’s more than we’ve been doing. See, we don’t know when they’re hitting us. Most of the time, we don’t realize it until we’re delivering the drugs. I’m surprised no one has been shot over this yet. For that, you can thank the reputation I’ve built for this MC. But it won’t be long before they start asking for more concessions than just a lower rate.” I leaned on the table, hoping they all got my meaning without having to have it spelled out.
I’d worked too hard since taking over as president of Hell’s Overlords to start losing customers because some little punk ass thief thought they could pull some bullshit on us and steal our drugs. So far, though, it felt like everyone else was just dragging their feet on this matter. They were all waiting on me to figure something out, instead of just trying to keep a better watch over our satellite stashes.
“What do we do to stop it?” Dante asked, giving me a knowing look. That was why he was my right hand man. He already knew I had something in mind. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have called a meeting.
“I’ve already put the word out that we’re moving the drugs back to HQ.”
A murmur rushed through the room as all of my senior members looked at each other. Dante smiled and nodded. We were on the same page.
“Why weren’t we made aware of this?” Gage asked.
“For security purposes, I reached out to the community myself to spread the word,” I told them.
“You paid a crackhead, didn’t you?” Dante asked, laughing at me.
“I may have,” I answered with a smile.
“This isn’t some joke, Cole,” Gage said, standing angrily, planting a hard finger down on the table.
“I never said it was, Gage.” I rolled my shoulders and cocked an eyebrow. “But let me ask you something. Whose ass is on the line here? If shit goes sideways, who do you think has to answer for it?”
“Each and every one of us,” he snapped back.
“I don’t think so. When your mouth gets you shot because the dope isn’t there, who has to answer to your family, Gage? Who was supposed to have your back in that situation? Who was supposed to make sure that we delivered what I promised to deliver? Who?” I slammed my fist down on the table.
Dante put an arm on Gage’s shoulder and pushed him back down into his chair. He shook his head when Gage looked back to see who it was, letting him know it would have been a bad idea to try to resist or start anything with him.
I sighed and
shook my head at what I was about to tell them. If they didn’t like the idea that I’d gone behind their backs to put the intel on the street, they really wouldn’t like the next piece of information I had to share with them.
“Also, in the name of security, I have had our heroin stashes shuffled around to other locations. Only the men guarding them know where they are, and they’ve been paid nicely to keep their mouths shut, even if asked by any Overlords. The only people who have access are myself and Dante.”
A wave of protests rippled through the room. I held a hand up to get everyone’s attention.
“I know what I’m doing is unorthodox. I know it’s not a popular choice. Once we solve this problem, I’ll loosen my grip, and we’ll start doing things the way we always have, but don’t think I won’t do anything I have to do in order to protect the MC. And that’s what I’m doing right now,” I explained.
“Where are the drugs, Cole?” Gage asked.
“Safe under lock and key,” I replied.
“Guys, we haven’t even heard the plan,” Dante announced. “You all want to fight, and we don’t even know what the hell Cole is doing.”
“Fuck, he doesn’t even know,” Gage chimed in.
Dante grabbed Gage by his salt and pepper mane and slammed his face into the table.
“Watch your mouth, old man,” Dante threatened.
“Dante. Gage. Are you two finished?” I asked sternly.
“I am if he is,” Dante said.
“You’re the boss, Cole.” Gage held up his hands in submission before wiping his bloody face on his old t-shirt.
Sometimes it felt like I was in charge of a bunch of children. Everyone else, of course, simply sat and watched the spectacle unfold as Gage decided to test me once again. If he hadn’t been around since the early days of the MC, I would have booted him first thing upon taking the president’s seat; but he had contacts that we needed if we were going to continue to prosper.
“Alright, guys, if we’re done showing our asses, I’d like to tell you the rest of my plan. The reason I put it out there that we’re moving our drugs to HQ is so that our thief will come to us.”
“So, we’re planning a trap?” Andre asked.
“We are. Whoever is doing this is good, Andre. They get in and out without making a sound, and they leave absolutely no trace of their presence. They don’t want us to know who they are. As both Dante and Gage have found from talking to some of the other organizations out there, no one even knows about the operation,” I explained for everyone’s benefit.
Dante and Gage has gone out for me at different times to track down our rivals and see what information they could find. They were pretty persuasive when they wanted to be; they just couldn’t work together. I’d spoken with some of our partners, and I believed them when they told me that all they’d heard were rumors that some of our deliveries had been short. No one knew anything about a thief hitting us, which also led me to believe it could have been an inside job.
“Either that, or they’re all in on it and lying to our faces,” Gage growled.
“Way to stay positive, old man,” Dante added.
“No, for once, Gage is right, Dante. There’s always a possibility that some of the folks you’ve talked to were lying to us about this. I can’t believe that everyone’s working together on this, but I would be surprised if it turned out that everyone was being completely honest with us. That would be a first.”
I looked from Dante’s face to Gage’s. Dante’s expression went sour as soon as I said Gage could have been right. Gage looked like he was fighting the urge to turn around and stick his tongue out at Dante.
“While we wait for the thief to show their face here at HQ, I want you all on high alert, like I said at the beginning of the meeting. We need eyes on all of our safe havens. I’ve got guards posted at every single one to make it look like we might have drugs there. If you hear or see anything suspicious, here, at a haven, or anywhere on the street, you call me immediately and let me know. We’ve got to catch this person before we start losing buyers because of their bullshit.”
I slammed a fist on the table to let everyone know we were done. As the seven other senior members got up to leave, Dante hung back. We watched the suspicious eyes of the MC’s leadership cut towards us with suspicion as they left the room. We listened to the murmurs.
“You’d better hope we find something soon,” Dante told me. “I don’t know how long they’re going to put up with this.”
“Well, if my suspicions are correct, it won’t be long before our little thief tries to hit us,” I said, sitting down in my chair for the first time since the meeting began.
“What are your suspicions?” Dante asked. He leaned over the table, his inked arms flexing, his dark brown beard hanging down. He tilted his shaved head, showing off the tribal ink wrapping around his bald skull. My right hand man was a badass, and he knew it.
“I’m pretty sure our thief is working on their own,” I started. When he scoffed at the idea, I continued. “If they are working for someone, it’s someone in the shadows, someone who’s been hiding out for a while, but I’m almost willing to put money on the lone wolf here.”
“If you’re right, that would explain why no one knows about it,” Dante agreed.
“Exactly, and wouldn’t it be some shit if this person was able to get by all of the watching eyes we have in the city?” I marveled. The thought of an independent rival, working only for themselves without a boss to answer to, was pretty thrilling. But it was also terrifying to think that we were being had by someone who didn’t have to answer to anybody. That meant we would probably never find them.
“It’s highly unlikely, Cole, and you know that. I’m willing to bet that at least one person has lied to us. We’re going to find out that this thief is working for someone, and we’ve already talked to someone in their organization. It’s not going to be a new boss. I can almost guarantee that,” Dante said.
I knew he was probably right, but I wanted to believe. There was something really fascinating about the idea of a rogue agent out there doing their own work. Unfortunately, we weren’t living in a movie. This was the real world, and more often than not, people able to pull off what this thief was doing had the backing of one or more of the major crime lords.
“Oh well, a fellow can dream, can’t he?” I laughed. “Too bad the days of the great lone outlaw are gone.”
“You’re still a little kid sitting in front of the TV playing cowboys and Indians, aren’t you?” Dante joked with me.
“I guess so. But tell me, which side are we?” I asked him.
“We’re the outlaws. We’re neither the good guys nor the bad guys,” Dante answered.
“I like that.” I leaned my chair back.
“So, what’s the next step, boss?” Dante asked, still leaning on the table.
“Well, now that everyone’s gone, I guess I’ll get my things and go sit downstairs while I wait for our guest of honor to show up for the drugs that aren’t here,” I told him.
“You’re going to catch them yourself?” Dante asked, astonished that I wasn’t sending a group of guys downstairs to wait.
“Of course I am. I want to be the first one to set eyes on our little thief. And if they don’t work for anyone, I’m going to offer them a job working for us,” I told him.
While he stared at me with his jaw on the floor, I got up and walked out of the room.
Chapter 2
Sasha
The Hell’s Overlords MC was headquartered in an old building they’d bought and converted into their HQ and clubhouse. At one point, the building had housed either another warehouse or some type of manufacturing plant. Unlike so many other buildings in the old industrial section of town, the Overlords had renovated the building.
The three-story brick structure was clean and well-lit. New windows had been placed in the arches in the brick façade. The garage doors in the old delivery bays were new as well. There was a f
lag out front with the Hell’s Overlords’ back patch on it. It was the Grim Reaper riding an old motorcycle. The blade of his scythe arching overhead with Hell’s written in what was supposed to be blood. Underneath the reaper and his bike was a frayed banner with Overlords burned into it.
Even at night, there were lights on inside. The Overlords never slept. I figured they had a use for each floor of the building, but I wasn’t sure what to expect once I got inside. Working for Fang, I wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with other local bosses. No one really liked Fang, and since I’d probably stolen from everyone, no one wanted to talk.