by Ana Stone
Maybelle entered the room and broke his train of thought. “Here is the information you asked for.”
Zeke turned to face her. For two hours they had argued about his mother’s involvement in the MC, and her alleged affair with Dillon Morris. Maybelle claimed she had proof. Zeke demanded to see it. If she wanted him to go through with the plan, she had to come clean about all of it.
He walked over to the couch as she placed the stack of folders on the coffee table. It didn’t take long to figure out that Maybelle had not been exaggerating. She had Intel on his mother that dated back to before his father’s death.
That information was something of a bitter pill to swallow. Carrie had been having an affair with Reese long before Zeke’s father died. In fact, she was with him the night Zeke’s father was killed. He finished reading and walked outside to stare up at the night sky. The deal he’d struck with Maybelle still rankled. He knew that the plan had merit. He had gone over and over it with her and could not find a flaw. Hell, it should give him exactly what he’d wanted all along, Reese out of the MC, behind bars and the rest of his family free of Reese’s evil yoke.
And yet it still didn’t sit well with Zeke. Was it pride? Did the plan that put Reese away have to be his or was achieving the objective enough? And what about his mother? Zeke didn’t have any illusions about who she was anymore. In fact, what he’d read had reminded him about a comment Eli had made to Reese. Eli had insinuated that Reese had something to do with Raff’s death.
Was that true? There was nothing in Maybelle’s information to indicate that, yet the Intel was clear. When Raff had been gunned down, Carrie was with Reese.
Zeke turned and went back inside. Maybelle was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with a cup of tea on the table in front of her.
“Did Reese kill my father?” Zeke asked.
“Yes, I believe he did.”
“You believe, or you know?”
“I believe.”
“What makes you believe that?”
She took a sip of tea before answering. “Your father came to see me, him and Eli. They were worried about Reese. He’d becoming increasingly difficult and violent, in and out of jail. And he had started to challenge Raff in church, trying to turn the club against Raff.
“Eli had discovered that Reese’s two recruits, Razr and Chopper were men he’d met in prison and both were as vile as men can be, not to be trusted. They didn’t want that kind of men to be part of the club, and were not having any luck convincing Reese to see things their way.
“If that were not enough, to add insult to injury, Carrie was siding with Reese, taunting Raff about being less of a man than his brother. That particular night, before Raff and Eli came to me, she and Raff had fought and she told him she had screwed up when she chose him. She should have chosen Reese. At least that way, her son would have a real man as a father.”
Maybelle sighed and lifted her tea cup, but did not drink. “Carrie stormed out of the house. Raff called Eli and told him what had happened and Eli suggested they come to me. Even then I had connections and they hoped I could use my connections to basically railroad Razr and Chopper out of town.
“I promised to do what I could and they left. Raff dropped Eli off at his house and was on his way home. No one knows for certain what happened. All we know is that he was found in his car, it still running at the stoplight, and he was dead with a bullet through his head.”
“But you think Reese did it.”
“Yes, I do.”
“And do you think my mother knew?”
“Yes, Ezekiel, I do.”
Zeke turned and looked through the glass of the back door. His stomach was churning and rage was starting to simmer. He could believe that Reese was evil enough to murder his own brother, but the idea that his mother would take part in killing her husband and the father of her only child was not easy to handle.
“I have to see her.” He announced.
“No, absolutely not.” Maybelle argued.
“That isn’t a request, Maybelle. Either you get her to come here or I’m going to her, but before this thing goes down, I need to know.”
Maybelle looked at him for a long time. “Fine. Call Reese and tell him I have relented and will allow him to move the drugs. But it cannot be done until tomorrow night. There are arrangements I must make. I will arrange for port security to allow him access and leave no record of it.”
Zeke’s response was to pull out his phone and make the call. He put it on speaker so that Maybelle could hear.
“Well?” Reese answered.
“We’re set.” Zeke replied. “ She’ll let us move the drugs but not until tomorrow night. She has to make arrangement with port security so there will be no record of it.”
“And you think we can trust the old bitch?”
Zeke was surprised when Maybelle spoke up. “A better question is whether I can trust you. To insure that I can, there is a provision to my agreement.”
“I should’ve fucking known. What the fuck do you want?”
“I require a hostage.”
“A hostage?”
“You heard me correctly. To insure that all you do is move the drugs, you will deliver your wife to me. When the drugs are unloaded and safely away from the port, I will have her returned home.”
There was a long pause. Zeke had to admit that he admired Maybelle’s plan. Reese would understand the hostage angle and he would also feel that Carrie would not be in any real danger from Maybelle.”
“Fine.” Reese finally said. “What time do you want her there?”
She nodded. “Have her here by noon tomorrow.”
“Don’t even think about crossing me.” Reese warned.
“Good night.” Maybelle replied then spoke to Zeke. “End the call.”
Zeke did as she asked and she rose. “I am tired and need sleep. I have much to accomplish in the morning. Can I trust you to stay here or shall I have Raymond secure you?”
“I’ll stay.”
“I have your word?”
“Yes, you have my word.”
“Very well then. Try and get some sleep, Ezekiel. Tomorrow is a pivotal day in your life.”
“Good night,” Zeke replied.
She was right. Tomorrow was likely to change his entire life. He just wasn’t sure it was going to be for the better.
*****
The sound of her phone pulled Roxy from sleep. She untangled herself from West’s embrace and picked up her phone from the night stand. It was Maybelle calling. She Heyrolled back over to nudge West. “Wake up.”
“Huh?” He opened his eyes and sat when she showed him the phone.
“Yes?” She answered, putting the call on speaker phone.
“Is West with you.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Maybelle wasted no time filling Roxy and West in on the plan. They listened without comment until Maybelle finished. “What do you want me to do?” Roxy asked.
“Nothing. You’re sitting out this dance.”
“Are you sure that’s smart?”
“I am. West and his team will need to have surveillance in place before the exchange. I want a complete timeline from the moment it goes down. Maintain twenty-four hour surveillance. When the MC has its money and goes to the port to buy the guns, I want them taken in.”
“That’ll put them in RICO violation.” West commented.
“Indeed.”
“And me?” Roxy asked.
“As I said, you’re sitting out this dance. West, get to work. I want it done before dawn.”
“I’m on it.”
The line went dead. Roxy put down the phone and looked at West. “I don’t like being shut out.”
“I know,” he replied. “But she has her reasons. And I’ll keep you in the loop.”
He swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand. Roxy watched in silence as he got his phone from the dresser and placed a call. It took less than two
minutes to give his instructions. She knew that ten seconds after the call ended, his team would be gearing up, gathering what they needed for the job.
West quickly dressed then walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I’ll call when we’re set.”
She nodded and reached for his hand. “It won’t go down until tomorrow night. Are you going to camp out all day at the port?”
“You have a better idea?”
She gave him a quick smile. “Well, you could come back and take a little nap once everything is in place.”
“Somehow I don’t think I’m going to be interested in sleeping.”
“Oh you will,” she said with promise in her tone.
“Then I’ll see you soon.” He leaned down, gave her a kiss that held a lot of promise then stood and made for the door. Just as he reached it, she called out.
“West?”
He paused to look at her. “Yeah?”
“Your memory…?”
“Still muddled. Flashes but everything’s still disjointed.”
“Will that be a hindrance?”
“Naw, I can handle it.”
“Be safe.”
“My middle name,” he quipped and left the suite.
Roxy snorted. His middle name was anything but Safe, but she knew he would take care to make sure all of the bases were covered and that all options were considered before he was satisfied that they were ready. That was West.
As for her, there wasn’t much she could do but wait. She had to report in to work in a few hours. After that, well no one said she couldn’t use her free time to do a little exploring of the area, and the port at Morehead City was one area she’d never explored. This seemed like as good a time as any for that.
With her mind made on a course of action, she snuggled back down into the bed.
Chapter Nineteen
Zeke heard the bike and turned from where he stood looking out over the water. A moment later he saw them. Reese and Carrie, on Reese’s bike. They didn’t notice him which gave him a few moments to simply watch and study them.
Even in middle-age, they were both still attractive people. He could see why they would have been attracted to one another. In her youth, Carrie was something of a bombshell and wild as the day was long. He’d seen the looks she gave Reese and understood the promise behind such a look. A man would have a hard time walking away from that kind of promise.
Reese was a handsome man. Big framed and tall, with dark hair that was just not beginning to show signs of gray, and blue eyes that had always drawn women to him like a magnet.
Yes, Zeke could understand what drew them to one another. Two attractive, wild at heart people with absolutely no morals and people that would smile at you one minute and stick a knife in your back in the next. They were definitely a match.
He watched as they climbed off the bike and went to the back door. Raymond answered and let them him. Zeke waited another couple of minutes before going to the house.
He could hear Reese’s voice when he walked in through the kitchen door and followed the sound to the study. Maybelle was sitting in a high-backed wing-chair, dressed in a dark blue jacket and matching skirt, with an ivory blouse, looking regal yet stern.
Carrie was on the sofa, her attention on Reese who stood in the middle of the room. Reese stopped in mid-sentence when Zeke entered the room. “Anything, and I mean anything happens to your mother and it’s your ass, boy. You got me? One fucking hair on her head gets damaged and I’m going to stick a fucking gun up your ass and the old bitch as well.”
Zeke ignored the threat. Reese knew that despite the hostility between he and Maybelle, she would never hurt Carrie. That wasn’t her style.
“She’ll be fine. Just be on time tonight and by midnight she’ll be back home.”
“She damn well better be. And I better see your ass there tonight.”
“Oh, I’ll be there.”
“You fucking better be.”
Reese went to the couch and leaned over to kiss Carrie. “See you tonight, babe.”
“You bet your ass,” she replied.
Reese straightened and started for the door, but paused in the threshold to address Zeke. “Remember what I said.”
“Every word.” Zeke remarked.
There was silence for a few moments after Reese left the room. Zeke took a seat in a chair across from the sofa, and beside Maybelle. He listened as Reese’s bike roared to life and the sound moved away from the house.
“Tell me how my father died,” he broke the silence.
Carrie’s eyes widened and her posture changed from one of boredom to one of tension. Her eyes darted from Reese to Maybelle and back. “What the fuck do you mean?”
“I mean I want to know how he died.”
“How the fuck should I know?”
“I think you do.”
“Like hell. I wasn’t with him.”
“Oh, that’s right, you were fucking Reese.”
Carrie’s face visibly paled and Zeke knew he’d struck pay-dirt. But she recovered and jumped to her feet. “She’s putting this shit in your head, isn’t she?” She jabbed her finger in Maybelle’s direction. “Trying to turn you against your own parents.”
“Reese isn’t my father.” Zeke pointed out.
Carrie smiled and something in her smile made Zeke’s gut clench. It was a cold smile, the kind you give to an enemy just before you blow his head off.
“That’s where you’re wrong. He is your father.”
“Just because you let him adopt—“
“He’s your fucking biological father. Raff was sterile.”
Zeke stared at her for a moment, trying to gauge if she was lying. Nothing in her eyes or stance told him she was. And that made him sick.
“That’s a lie.” He had to challenge her because he didn’t want to believe that he could be the son of a man like Reese.
“It’s the god’s fucking honest truth and if you don’t believe it, I have the DNA results in the safe at the clubhouse to prove it. He’s your fucking father, not that weak-willed, pussy Raff.”
Zeke was on his feet facing her by the time she finished speaking. He felt his fists clench by his sides and his gut tighten and knew rage was a split second away. And in the next moment, he was stumbling, reaching for support.
He could not see the study or his mother standing before him, Instead, he saw a lake. A big lake with dark water and the sun set casting brilliant colors on the still water. There was a fishing rod in his hand. Only the hands were not his. They were a child’s. Beside him sat a man. A man with dark hair, a kind face, and eyes that could have been Zeke’s own.
Love swelled inside him. It was his father.
It was Rafferty Justice. Not Reese.
As quickly as it had come, the vision departed. Suddenly he could feel Maybelle’s hand on his arm, and could hear her asking if he was all right.
His mother, Carrie, was watching with an expression devoid of concern. That struck something deep inside him. Not hurt, though. Which was odd. Shouldn’t he be feeling hurt or wounded to realize that his own mother did not love him? What kind of woman did that make her, and what kind of man did it make him to not even care?
Instead, the emotion he experienced was relief. She wasn’t his mother.
That thought had him pulling away from Maybelle. “I have to—I’ll be back.”
“Ezekiel, wait!” Maybelle followed him as he strode across the room and started down the hall toward the kitchen.
He ignored her and made his way to the kitchen door. She grabbed his arm as he opened the door. “You cannot leave.”
“I have to.” He gently pried her fingers from his arm. “I’ll be at the exchange. I promise you. But I have to leave. I have to—“
Maybelle stepped back. “She’s on duty today.”
Zeke nodded and walked out of the door. How Maybelle had known it was Roxy he had to talk to was a mystery. Why he knew he had to talk to her was another
. But whatever the reason, he had to see her. Now.
Roxy was just getting out of the patrol car in front of the diner when Zeke roared up on his bike. She stood beside the door of the car as he got off his bike.
“I need to talk to you.”
Something inside told her what he wanted to talk about had nothing to do with the two of them. At least not romantically. “Is the diner too public?”
“Yeah.”
“Then get in,” she opened the door to the patrol car.
Zeke didn’t argue. He just walked around the car, opened the passenger door and got in. Roxy pulled out and drove down to the athletic field of the high school. The parking lot was empty. She turned off the car and looked at him. “Talk to me.”
Zeke opened his mouth then closed it, ran his hands through his hair from his forehead back then closed his eyes and shook his head. “Nothing’s right. Not the way it’s supposed to be. I’m not—I’m not me.”
His words made something cold and a little frightening skitter down her spine and tingle her mind. Despite the memories that were still surfacing, she had experienced something similar. There were memories that just didn’t feel right. There was no emotion attached to them. She’d been telling herself that it was just taking time for everything to assimilate but Zeke’s words shook her. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I just…nothing seems right. It hasn’t ever since I got back here. It’s like I’m me, but only in part. Then you showed up and…and suddenly it was like I was two people. The guy who grew up and ran away from Harmony and—and someone else. Someone who loved you and lost you because I was a fool.
“And now…now even that doesn’t seem right. What the fuck, Roxy?”
Roxy didn’t know how to answer. It could be that his memories were trying to surface and causing confusion. If that was the case, she couldn’t confirm or deny anything. She knew enough about the procedure to understand that during the transitional period when the memories were breaking through to the conscious mind, the subject was extremely susceptible to suggestion. If she gave him information, it might damage the real memories.
And the frightening question rose even though she tried to push it back. What if the memories they thought were returning were not true? Could they be remembering things that had just been put into their minds? That was something she didn’t want to believe could be true, because if it could it meant she couldn’t trust anything, not even her own memories.