by Kline, Sandy
I try not to take offense. “We’ll see who the dumb one is when you’re sitting in prison for drug dealing.”
“We don’t deal drugs. We just offer a safe reliable transportation service; nothing more.”
“Safe and reliable? How the hell do you manage that?”
He frowns for a second and I think I have crossed the line again, then he smiles and replies.
“Yeah…I think that’s more of a second date topic, don’t you think?”
“Second date?”
“As in this is our first date so logic dictates that the next time will be our second date.”
“Who the hell said this was even a date?” I ask, putting a little fire in my voice.
I can’t be dating a cop and dating an outlaw drug dealer and gun runner. That’d be like throwing gasoline on a fire; the two don’t mix.
“It sure looks like a date Kim. We’ve got all the elements of a first date; good food, good wine, and good getting to know you stories. What part of that isn’t a date?”
“You think this is a date; fine!”
I pull two twenties and a ten out of my purse and drop it into my unfinished plate of food.
“There, that should cover my half and part of the tip as well. See you around.”
I spin on my heels and walk away in a huff. How the hell could he have been so bold as to call our meeting a date? I don’t know what I was thinking but I do know one thing for sure; that’s the last time I’ll ever be caught in the same room as him!
I’m still seething when I finally pull into my driveway. I turn the car off and extinguish my lights and am just getting out when I see his bike right behind me blocking my exit.
“Dammit! That egotistical mother fucker!” I rage as I stomp over to where he is sitting on his bike.
He has yet to take off his helmet so I just grab it and do the job for him. I rip it off his head and lift it over mine to throw it to the cement when I get the shock of my life. Sitting on the bike is none other than my brother Caleb!
The Confused…
I take two steps backward, wishing I had something behind me to collapse on. How the hell did he find me? It takes me half a minute to finally form words.
“C-Caleb…w-what are y-you doing here?” I stammer.
“Can’t a guy talk to his big sister?” He asks, flashing me an infuriating smile.
“No!” I reply. “I mean, not when he hasn’t called or written to her in ten years. Not when he suddenly up and joins the biggest, most vile motorcycle club in the state! I mean come on….what gives?”
“Can I at least come inside for a minute?”
I glance at his bike. On the tank is the club’s logo.
“Do you have to leave that in the driveway?” I ask.
His face darkens and he opens his mouth to protest. I decide maybe I should be a little diplomatic here.
“Sorry, forget it. No one will see it anyway. Come on in.”
He follows me inside and takes a seat on the couch in my living room. I sit in a chair opposite him and for a second it’s all I can do but stare. Where is my skinny geeky little brother and who is this muscular man sitting in front of me?
He’s got long hair now, down to his shoulders. He has a dragon tattoo that ends up half winding around his neck and up his jawline to his right ear. He has what tattoo artists call a full sleeve covering his left arm and some kind of tribal ink on his right shoulder. He’s wearing a wife beater and the clubs traditional vest, or cut, as he corrects me. If he wasn’t my little brother I’d actually be terrified at the sight of him. On his belt he actually has a well-worn sheath and a large K-Bar knife. Why in the world would my little brother have a huge knife? But that’s not the most shocking thing. When he sits down his vest shifts and I get a flash of the hilt of a gun on his left hip. What on god’s green earth would possess him to be carrying a gun? That can’t be legal. Nobody but the cops can carry concealed weapons in California. This state has the strictest gun laws around.
“Are you done staring?” He finally asks.
I blink my eyes. “Sorry Caleb I-”
“It’s Skull…or Iron Skull not Cal-”
“Yeah I’m not calling you that; ever! I’m still your big sister and I will never call you anything but Caleb….well maybe asshole once in a while.”
For a briefest of a second I see a flash of his old smile before it’s replaced with his tough-guy biker look. Now I feel a tiny bit better. At least I know there’s a little bit of the Caleb I knew somewhere deep down inside.
“So why’d you do it?” I ask him.
“Do what?” He asks.
“Are you kidding me? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? Why did you go and join the evilest biker gang in the state? I guess that makes you a drug dealer and gun runner now too doesn’t it?”
He just looks at me. I guess this is going to be a one-sided conversation tonight.
“Alright, let’s back up. Why’d you leave us and go with mom and that cop?”
“Wow…you’re really backing up. He was a loser that’s why and I didn’t want to turn into a loser myself.”
“You’re such a liar!” I protest. “Mom said that to you, didn’t she? You were too young to be thinking about that.”
“I was old enough to tell the difference between a criminal and a good person so I chose mom and Craig.”
“And that was the worst possible thing you could have done to dad. After all the shit he went through. He shouldn’t have even spent any time behind bars. But you had to throw it in dad’s face by siding with the cop that stole his wife. He loved you more than anyone in the world. He loved you more than he ever loved me or mom and you just spit in his face.”
“He was scary when he came back Kim. Don’t try to tell me he was normal either. I don’t know what happened to him in jail but something was wrong with him when he came back and I didn’t know him anymore. He had stopped being my dad.”
“I can’t believe you!” I rage. I’m not usually an angry or super emotional person but this has been building for more than ten years. “If you would have gone to jail for any length of time he would NEVER have given up on you like you did to him.”
“I was a kid though.” Caleb protests. “It’s different when you’re the kid.”
“You’re pathetic. So you lived with mom and that man until you were how old?”
“Nineteen I guess.”
“Then what prompted you to spit on them and join an evil outlaw biker club?”
“When did you get so fucking judgmental?” He counters.
“I just can’t believe that you were practically raised by a cop for the last five years or so and you threw that away to become a criminal even after you turned your nose down on dad after calling him a loser and criminal.”
“I guess the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.” He says.
“Wow…so pathetic. So are you going to tell me why you betrayed both dad and mom and that idiot she married?”
“Family.”
“What? No freaking way! Don’t you sit here and tell me that you joined the club so you could have a family ‘cause if you say that I know you’re so fucking full of shit ‘cause you already had a family. You just walked away from it like a coward!”
“My club gives me everything I need that I didn’t get from mom and your dad.” Caleb replies. “They would do anything for me. Seth would step in front of a bullet for me if it came to that.”
“Oh and dad wouldn’t have?” I seethe. “No one will ever sacrifice more or love you more than dad did. Whatever you’re looking for you won’t find in an outlaw gang who puts money and power above all else.”
“You’re wrong about the club Kim. We take care of each other. You just don’t like our methods.”
“Yeah sorry if I happen to be against murder, drugs, and illegal arms trafficking. I’m just weird that way. You say that prison destroyed dad, well it’s going to destroy you as well when you get ca
ught. It’s just a matter of time Caleb…just a matter of time.”
“Whatever,” He says. “I didn’t come here to argue with you Kim.”
“What’d you come here for then?”
“I don’t know. I guess when I saw you after the fight I realized I missed you. These last few years have been crazy busy with the club. I hung around for over a year before becoming a prospect and I was a prospect for almost two years so it’s been almost a three year process; a full time process.”
“Wow…I was hoping you hadn’t wasted that much of your life on them. When you want to leave, how do you get out?”
“Why would I leave my family?” He asks, then suddenly his mouth drops open but he covers fast and shuts it.
He’s not getting away with that one. “Yeah why would you leave your family? I mean you already left one so it shouldn’t be any big deal to kick another one to the curb would it? You seem to be really good at that.”
“When did you become so fucking judgmental?” He asks. He starts to say something else but changes his mind and gets up off the couch. “I think I’ve had enough. Goodbye sis, see you in another ten years.”
And just like that he walks out leaving the door open and gets on his Harley. I hear him rev the engine then the tires squeal as he peels out onto the road. That could have gone better.
Chapter Seven
Chaos
Several days later…
I see the lights long before I reach the crime scene. The entire night sky is lit up with brightly flashing red, white, and blue. Even with my windows up I can hear the warble of sirens from the various emergency departments. Having been a firefighter and now a dispatcher my ears are able to identify the approach of more police, ambulance, and fire and I am desperately praying this whole mess has nothing to do with my best friend who lives here.
I can’t help but pick up speed as I approach the chaotic scene. I stop at the edge of the taped off area and get out as fast as I can. I have just seen a sight that fills my heart with stark cold fear; Marc’s patrol car is parked halfway onto the lawn of a house. Even from here I can see the driver’s door is riddled with bullets and both his front windshield and his driver’s side window are both completely blown out. As I rush up to the cop closest to me I can feel my throat constrict as panic takes over. There’s no way he could have survived whatever made those holes.
I’m nearly shouting when I address the Deputy. He’s a Sheriff from the same station as Marc’s and I know him. He’s not Marc’s partner but still is a friend. In fact I know most of these guys by their voices if not their call signs just from working dispatch.
“Where’s Marc…where’s Marc, where’s Deputy Long!” I scream into the officer’s face.
“He’s okay Kim, take it down a notch… he’ll be okay.”
“What happened? He was shot wasn’t he? I have to see him…I have to see him please...”
Deputy Brown takes my arm and with extreme patience pulls me aside. His soft spoken voice acts as a balm to my out of control brain.
“He’s hurt, but he’ll be okay Kim. Right now the best thing we can do for him is get him to the hospital.”
“But I have to see him…please.” I plead.
Just then another Deputy, Marc’s partner runs up to us.
“It’s okay Jeff, she can see him. Marc’s actually insisting he see her before they take him in.”
Deputy Jeff Brown nods his head and relinquishes my arm. Marc’s partner, Deputy Gonzales takes my arm and leads me past a crowd of cops and emergency personnel. Off to one side I see something that makes my blood run cold. There are four bikes, each bearing the distinct club logo on the tank and I’m pretty certain one is my brother’s and another belongs to Seth. As I’m being led to the ambulance where Marc is being treated in I feel like my whole world is coming to an end. I have just begun to reconnect with my little brother and now he could be dead or at the very least headed for prison! I cannot deal with having a second family member behind bars.
When we get to the back of the ambulance I crawl in and Marc is lying there with an oxygen mask over his face. There’s a lot of blood on his arm and side. I can hear my voice climbing as I frantically both hug and search Marc for wounds.
“It looks far worse than it is Kim!” he gasps.
“Then where are you hurt?” I gasp, struggling to quell my panic.
“My vest stopped one bullets and the second one passed through my upper arm. It burns like hell but I’m fine.”
“Oh my god oh my god Marc what-”
“It’s just a flesh wound honey. It went in and out cleanly! I’ll be okay.”
“I saw some motorcycles did…was it the Soul Eaters?
He nods. “Them and some other club.”
“Do you know who was-”
“Why are you so interested in an outlaw biker gang Kim?”
“Nothing I was just…you know I’m a writer and reporter so if there’s a story here…”
I let my voice trail off as other emotions take over. My first serious relationship in…in forever just about ended violently tonight. Suddenly I look down and water’s dripping onto his chest. I start to look up for the source when it occurs to me that I am crying. I can’t believe this. I haven’t cried over a man since my father was sentenced to prison.
Then Marc takes my hand and looks into my face. “I need your phone Kim.”
And the spell is broken.
I don’t know what he wants my phone for and I’m about to ask when it hits me. I can’t believe he is lying here shot up and he’s still asking for my phone to get that video. I also can’t believe that I still have the video on my phone.
“Your phone Kim. Please give it to Deputy Gonzales please.”
“I’ll bring it to the hospital with me.” I reply. “You just worry about getting well.”
Then he turns to Deputy Gonzales. “Reynaldo, please secure her cell phone. It’s an important part of an ongoing investigation and may be vital to this crime scene.”
I cannot believe this. I can barely control my shaking hands as I hand over my cell phone.
I nod numbly as Marc says his goodbyes and the ambulance is closed up. They didn’t even give me the opportunity to ride along with him which seems odd to me given our relationship. One of the paramedics tells me he’ll be taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Clovis, the next town over. I can’t believe what is happening as I watch them take Marc away. Part of me is worrying about him but he seems okay. A bigger part of me is worried about the whole situation with my phone. I don’t understand why they need my phone right now.
I look around as Marc’s partner is leading me back to my car. I don’t see any fallen bikers lying surrounded by paramedics and I don’t see any body bags covering any bodies so I have to believe my brother and Seth are okay. I’m dying to ask my escort but I’m afraid I’ll give myself away. I take a deep breath and ask anyway.
“I saw some motorcycles back there.” I begin. “They’re the Soul Eaters right?”
He nods. “I believe so.”
“I didn’t see any body bags so I guess everyone is okay? Was Marc the only Deputy shot?”
He gives me a sharp look before answering. “No…no one was killed tonight. Two patrol officers and two bikers were taken to local hospitals before you arrived on scene. Now that’s all I can say. I’m sure your dispatch friends can fill you in on the rest.”
Walking back to the perimeter we pass by a struggle in process. Three cops are fighting to get a biker into their patrol car but he keeps bringing up his legs and using them to keep them from putting him into the car. Violently he twists around to face me and when our eyes meet we’re both stunned; it’s Seth! Suddenly he starts kicking again catching the Deputies off guard and he breaks free and rushes me. We both go down in a pile on the pavement. Our heads collide and his mouth finds my ear where he hisses something before the Deputies can drag him off.
“Get my phone! It’s on the roof of the ho
use!”
Despite being in cuffs, he momentarily locks his hands in a death grip on the lapels of my coat.
“What?” I shout.
“Evidence!” He hollers back in my ear so loud his voice distorts painfully.
“My broth…Iron Skull?” I hiss at him, trying not to be overheard.
“He’s fine.” He shouts back.
When he sees I have heard and understand he suddenly goes limp and allows them to drag him off of me where they body slam him to the ground. I can literally hear the air whoosh from his lungs as three men collapse on top of him. One Deputy actually sprays him in the face with mace even though he has stopped struggling. As he gasps for air they pick him up and throw him head first into the waiting patrol car. I almost laugh when I see one of the cops bending over and retching. It appears he got hit with the mace too.
“Are you okay Kim…Kim are you hurt?”
I look up and Deputy Gonzales is looking down at me with a genuine look of concern on his face.
“Sorry… uh yeah. I’m fine. A little bruised maybe but I’ll be fine.”
“If you’d like to come to the station we can fill out a report for you.” He suggests.
“I’d really like to just go home and crawl into bed.” I reply. “You got enough to charge him with. You don’t really need my input do you?”
“You may be right, but with guys like this the more charges you can add up on him the better. You don’t want someone like him roaming the streets in six months do you?”
I want to look him in the eyes and say I hope he is roaming the streets in less than that but I don’t dare say a word. Instead I shake my head in agreement and walk on. Back at the perimeter he lifts the tape for me to walk under.
“Now I’m going to the hospital to check in on my partner. Feel free to join us there if you like. He’ll be in the ER by the time we get there but you’re very welcome to come and wait there with us. They’ll probably keep him overnight just to watch him and monitor for infections in the wound. Some of these asshole dealers have taken to rubbing feces in their bullets before loading them.”