by Jessie Cooke
“Got it, Boss.”
“Don’t you have a meeting with the other she-devil today?”
Bruf smiled. That was an apt title for Maggie for sure. He still didn’t know what he was going to do about the Bulldog and Ediger, so he was enjoying the reprieve...something positive could come out of anything. “Yeah, I called and told her I’d be late today.”
“After you brief Smoke on all of this, go. While you’re there, find out what Amara is getting out of feeding her information if you can. At least if the red-haired she-devil knows we’re onto the Columbian one, the information she tries to feed her from here on out won’t seem as valuable.”
“Okay, Boss.” Bruf set about wrapping things up and handing off the rest to Smoke, and within an hour he was on his way to his rendezvous with Maggie. He still had no fucking clue what to tell her, and the pressure only got worse when he was almost there and he got a text from his brother that said:
“The big, bad dog tried to run today. We got him back on his leash, but it won’t be long before he chews through again. It’s time, little brother. Meet me at the compound just before dark and don’t be late...it’s going to be one hell of a good time.”
26
While Bruf and Wolf had been dealing with Cubbie, Sabrina was on her way to Devin’s. She’d received a cryptic call from him that morning. He more or less demanded she come in, but wouldn’t tell her for what. She’d had plans for lunch with her mother, so she was slightly annoyed by the time she got there, especially when the snobby woman at the counter made her sit in the waiting room with a bunch of sick people and wait. Over an hour passed before she finally went back up to the counter and said:
“Tell him I’m leaving. If he needs to see me...” The door to the back opened just then and Devin stepped out. He looked crisp and professional, as usual, and in a cold voice he said:
“Come on around to my office.” The snobby woman gave Sabrina the once-over as she walked by, and Sabrina had an inkling that maybe this was why Devin had lost interest in sex with her. For some reason the woman disliked her on sight. Maybe Devin had been having an affair. The funny thing was, she didn’t care. She just wanted to hear what he had to say and get on with her day.
Devin held the door open to his office and then told the woman not to disturb them before closing the door. The office was large and one entire wall held all of his diplomas and certificates. Another was covered in photos of him with famous people, and on some of his excursions to Third World countries where he volunteered his time and his services. Sabrina took a seat in one of the leather chairs opposite his desk and Devin took a seat in the other one. He was looking at her almost as disdainfully as the woman in the front office had been.
“What’s going on, Devin?”
He didn’t say anything. Instead he reached for an envelope on his desk and took out a photograph. Laying it down in front of her he said, “Did you know?” It was an old newspaper photograph of Bruf...from a long time ago. He was probably not even eighteen yet...and even skinny and with hair that hung down his back, she’d know those eyes anywhere. But she also saw what it was that had Devin so upset. Bruf was standing next to a muscular man with no shirt and there was a big swastika on the front of his chest. Behind them were a group of men, some of them wearing the white hoods of KKK members. The man with the swastika was holding up a sign that seemed to be accusing a doctor of murdering a young, white female. The sign had a picture of the doctor on it...a black man, and it contained some very offensive language.
With a tremor in her voice Sabrina said, “That is probably his brother, I never met him. He raised Bruf, but Bruf doesn’t belong to that...he’s not like that, anymore. He never was...he...” She didn’t know what to say and the way Devin was looking at her, like she was trash, wasn’t helping. “He’s not like that, Devin.”
“He looks like he’s like that to me.”
“Look at him. He was a kid in this picture. His brother was abusive...Bruf left that organization a long time ago and nearly died for it.”
“Hmm,” Devin said, taking out another photo. This one was in color and recent. It was a picture of Bruf with the same man only they were both probably a dozen years older. It was the Bruf she knew. They were standing next to a motorcycle. It looked like a racing bike, and they were smiling. The older man had his hand on Bruf’s shoulder. “This was taken last week.”
“Where did you get this?”
“That’s what matters? It doesn’t matter to you that your boyfriend is cavorting with white supremacists, just how I found out?”
“He’s his brother. Bruf doesn’t agree with his lifestyle...but he’s his brother...” She still didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t even concerned that Bruf was like his brother. He had no qualms whatsoever about Devin’s being black, or the baby in her belly being half African-American. He wasn’t like Ediger Cantrell...but nothing she said would convince Devin of that, and looking at the photographs, she couldn’t blame him.
“You were so insulted that I insinuated you were... ‘trash,’ was it? That’s what you told my sister and Scott, right? But look at these pictures, Sabrina. This man that you left me for...”
“Wait a minute, you broke up with me...”
“While you were off seeing your biker, Neo-Nazi boyfriend.”
“He’s not a Nazi.”
“Whatever, Sabrina. You can talk until you’re blue in the face, but I’m not buying it.”
She sighed. “Then why am I here? Did you just call me in here to humiliate me?”
“No. I called you in to sign legal papers. I want you to sign the order that we’ve had drawn up to cancel the contract between you and Melinda and Scott.”
“What? They want to cancel the contract?” Her hands went to her belly automatically. “This is Scott’s biological child...”
Devin smirked. “Too bad for you, huh? I’ll bet your biker boyfriend won’t be so interested in making you his old lady now, huh? Surely he won’t want to raise a...”
“Stop!” Devin was about to call the child in her belly the name that had been printed on that sign in the newspaper article. It made her sick. “Just stop. Bruf’s not like that, but even if he was, that’s all the more reason for Melinda and Scott to want this baby. They’re going to Dubai anyway, right?”
“Once you sign the papers, where they are won’t be of any concern to you. My sister never wants to see you again and Scott has signed off all rights to the child you’re carrying.”
“They can do that? They can just decide they don’t want this child after I did this for them?”
“Not legally,” he said. “If you refuse to sign the papers then the child will still be legally theirs. By that time, they’ll be out of the country and their attorney will arrange for the adoption.”
“The adoption?”
“They don’t want a child that is half of a woman who would condone something like this.” He pointed at the photo again. “Either you take legal responsibility, or it gets put up for adoption. My sister has been through hell with this and I won’t have you putting her through any more.”
Sabrina almost laughed. “Your sister has been through hell? What did she do? Live in a mansion and talk her best friend into getting pregnant with her husband’s baby? Poor thing.”
Devin stood up. He was always so cold. Even angry, he kept his emotions in check. Sabrina decided that she hated that about him. She’d much rather have a passionate argument than no words at all. “If you don’t want the child, you can go now.”
With a shaking hand, Sabrina picked up a pen off Devin’s desk. “Where are the papers I need to sign?”
“He’s not going to admit anything to me or anyone else.” Bruf was standing in the FBI trailer, out in the middle of nowhere. It was the spot that Maggie and her team used to meet with witnesses and plan strategies. She was sitting down, looking up at him as he paced in front of her. The decision he’d finally come to was not ideal, but it was one that he c
ould live with. He’d decided that he wanted his life back, and this was how he was going to get it. Wolf, surprisingly, had agreed with it all. Bruf had been prepared for an argument, or at least some changes to the plan...but with Wolf disgusted with Amara, and himself for letting her go free in the first place, he’d given in easily. Like Bruf, he just wanted it to be over once and for all, so that he could move on.
Maggie’s expression told him that she wasn’t happy about what he was telling her...at least not yet. “I’ve been up there for two months. I want this over. I want my life back,” he said.
“You think Ediger will just let you walk away now? He’s been grooming you to come back into his fold...you don’t see that?”
“I’m not an idiot, Maggie, so yes, I see it. But it’s not ever going to happen. To answer your question, though: no, I don’t think he’d just let me walk away. Like I said, I’m not an idiot.”
“Then what the hell are you telling me here, Bruf?”
“I’m telling you that if you give me what I want, by the end of today you can have Ediger on at least an attempted murder charge. You can solve two open cold cases and as a bonus, you’ll even get some circumstantial evidence against my brother in the FBI agent’s killing in the process.”
She sat up a little straighter and said, “I’m listening.”
“First I tell you what I get out of this. None of it is negotiable.” She nodded, and he went on. “I get full immunity from prosecution related to any and all of what I’m going to tell you.” She raised an eyebrow and he went on. “The Westside Skulls may or may not play a role in some of your investigation. If they do, they also receive full immunity...anyone affiliated.” The eyebrow looked like it was on a fishhook now, but she still didn’t interrupt. “I want your promise that the compound up there will be turned upside down and taken apart so that no one can step in and take Ediger’s place and keep it going. I want that property burned or sold. I want those racist bastards off that mountain once and for all.”
Maggie chuckled at that. “Then you’d better hope you have a lot to give me.”
“Eddie ‘Big Dog’ Soto.”
She frowned like she was trying to place the name and then said, “Should that name mean something to me?”
“It will. He’s the man that killed my mother. He recently got out of prison on burglary and terrorist threat charges. Ediger plans on killing him today...or, I should say, he plans on letting me kill him. He says he knows a spot on top of a hill where I can...and I quote...‘Beat him to a bloody pulp.’”
Maggie was suddenly interested. She stood up. “He’s taking him up there, where they murdered my agent?”
“Yes. I’m supposed to meet him there as the sun is going down. You can catch me and Ediger in the act of killing this piece of shit...but I’ve got immunity, remember. I’ll testify against Eddie. I saw him kill my mother.”
“I’ll be damned. I don’t know, though...”
“Wolf’s ex-wife, Amara, is still wanted for attempted murder. She is currently in New York living with a known wise guy...one of the Giovannis. You get her too, and Wolf and I both will testify against her...with immunity again, of course.”
“I’ll be damned,” she said, again. “Why? The Westside Skulls are notorious for not cooperating with police...handling things on their own. Why didn’t Wolf just kill Amara? That’s what law enforcement thought he did anyways – she’s been ‘missing’ for a year and a half at least.”
“Maybe Wolf is not the killer you think he is...which brings me to the last item of business on my list. The explosives used in the fire that killed those three frat boys on campus last year...you’ll find the exact same ones on the compound, in a trunk in the shop where they keep the racing bikes.” He took out a set of keys and handed them to her. “These are the keys to it. The explosives are underneath the tool box on top.”
Maggie looked at the keys and then at him. “You put them there.”
Bruf shrugged. “You can believe that...or you can collect your medal at the next ‘pat law enforcement on the back’ dinner...or whatever the hell you call them. Another unsolved case solved, and a reason to obtain a search warrant for the rest of the compound as well.”
“Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch.”
“We have a deal?”
“I’ll have to run it by my superiors.”
Bruf looked at the time and said, “You’ve got two hours. If I don’t hear from you by then, all bets are off.”
“And what if we just show up and catch you and your brother in the act of murder?”
“Good luck with that,” he said, turning to walk out the door. When he opened it she said:
“I’ll get back to you in an hour.”
27
Bruf was driving the van and Cubbie was in the passenger seat. Smoke was in the back. Cubbie had no idea what Wolf had decided as far as his fate, and he looked like he might be sick still...but Bruf had to give him points for not begging and crying. The kid had balls for a teenager...he still didn’t think he was all that bright, but he had balls.
Bruf drove them up to a cabin in Modesto about ten miles from the bottom of the path where he was supposed to meet Ediger in an hour. He’d already been by to see Maggie again and she’d given him signed, legal documents that gave him and his club immunity from whatever was about to go down that evening. He had tried calling Sabrina before he left the club. He was missing her terribly again, but most of all he was afraid that something would go sideways, and he’d never get to talk to her again. He was wondering if maybe he should have gone ahead and told her on the phone that he loved her. She didn’t answer, though, and he wasn’t going to leave it on her voicemail. Instead he’d just told her he had business to take care of, but he’d call her back later that night.
When he stopped the van, Smoke got out and opened Cubbie’s door. Bruf heard the kid take a deep breath but he stepped out of the van on his own. Bruf almost felt bad for letting the kid think they were going to kill him...almost. At least it would stick in his mind – forever. Bruf got out and led them up to the front of the cabin. Once he opened the door and they were inside, he handed Cubbie the disposable phone he had in his pocket and said, “Call stepmamma and tell her you have something big for her. Tell her that it’s huge, and too big for you to take a risk on sending the DVD in the mail or putting it into someone else’s hands. Tell her you need her to come and pick it up herself.”
Cubbie kind of chuckled, nervously. “I’ll do it, but she’s not that trusting. I doubt she’ll get on a plane and come out here. She’ll send one of Max’s guys. She’s got them all wrapped around her finger.”
Smoke rolled his eyes and spoke his first words of the afternoon, “More like wrapped up in that nasty pussy.”
Bruf laughed. “Yeah, I agree. Just do it, Cubbie. Tell her that you’re hiding out until she gets here because it’s that big...tell her it will bring Wolf to his knees. She’ll show up.”
Cubbie nodded and Bruf turned to leave. He wasn’t surprised when the kid finally said, “And then what happens?” He’d been waiting for it. He turned back around and said:
“When that bitch is where she needs to be, Wolf will deal with you.”
“You guys aren’t going to...?”
Smoke chuckled and Bruf said, “Kill you? What kind of animals do you think we are? I have to go. I’ve got to help my white supremacist brother torture a gang member and try to kill him. I’ll be back later.” He laughed to himself on the way out to the van. If you couldn’t laugh about this shit...it would kill you.
“You fuckers don’t know who you’re messing with!” Eddie Soto was naked with his hands tied in front of him and a rope that went from his hands to the back of the four-wheel-drive ATV about six feet in front of them. His face was bruised, and his nose was dripping blood. He had four guns pointed at his head...and he was still talking shit.
Bruf and Ediger smiled at each other and Bruf said, “No, Eddie, you don’t know who yo
u messed with the night you killed my mother.”
“Who’s your mother, dickwad?”
“You’ve killed so many of them that you forgot her?”
“I’ve killed a few white bitches, yeah.” That got him another slap upside the head from Ediger. Bruf waited until it looked like the dizziness passed and he took out a little black-and-white photo...the only one he still had of his mom. He held it up so that Eddie could see it in the fading light.
“This is my mother...or it was, before you put a gun to her head and made it explode. I was watching you from the barn.”
The fucker laughed. “Chickenshit hiding and watching your mom get snuffed.”
That time Bruf was the one that slammed his fist into the fucker’s head. “I was ten years old, you piece of shit. You killed her for a few pounds of weed in front of a ten-year-old kid.”
Eddie was still not smart enough to keep his mouth shut, which was good because Bruf was recording it all. “You talking about those hippie freaks in the mountains?” He smiled. “That was my first kill.” He acted like he was a hunter and talking about killing a buck. Bruf had to take a deep breath and try to talk himself down. He wasn’t carrying a gun, thanks to Maggie’s orders. If he was, he might have already used it, though, so it was a good thing. “A man never forgets his first. I kind of wished we would have had some fun with the bitch first, though. I don’t know, as nasty as they were, probably would have got some kind of disease.”
Bruf hadn’t noticed Ediger getting into the Raptor until he heard the engine rev. He put it in drive and let the slack out on the rope, pulling Eddie’s shoulders nearly out of their sockets. Eddie went off, cussing and screaming, half English, half Spanish. That only egged his brother on. He hit the gas and then the brakes, over and over several times, until the gangster was on his knees and finally losing the attitude. “Just shoot me, assholes. You fuckers! I didn’t torture the bitch, I put her out of her misery, like a sick dog. I probably did you a favor...” Ediger stepped on the gas again and dragged him about six feet. Eddie was sliding on his side, striking one rock after the other, getting beaten and bloody and screaming like a little girl. When Ediger stopped again, Eddie opened one swollen eye and looked at Bruf. “Please, man. Fucking just kill me.” Bruf smiled at him and went around to the passenger side of the Raptor. He really hated to agree with Ediger on anything, but this might be better than a bullet after all.