Out of the Shadows (Renegades)

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Out of the Shadows (Renegades) Page 23

by Ana Stone


  Did Reese know what Carrie had told Zeke? Was it possible that Reese was his father? Zeke didn’t want to consider that possibility. He’d spent too long hating Reese and didn’t want anything to interfere with his hatred.

  And now wasn’t the time to let such thoughts cloud his mind. Unless Maybelle had some heavy damn clout, he was in deep shit. He’d just shot three federal agents and it was going to take some next level pull to get him out of that. He looked in Rice’s direction.

  Rice was still standing in the bed of the truck, the tie down strap still in hand, looking dazed and afraid. At least he was unharmed.

  Within minutes the place was swarming with law enforcement. Zeke and the others in the MC were loaded into separate vehicles. As he was being ushered to a police car, West approached. “I need a word, officer,” he said to the policeman.

  The man released Zeke and stepped away.

  “What the fuck?” West asked and raised his right hand, his index finger and thumb a fraction of an inch from one another. “You were this close, you dumb shit. This close to freedom.”

  “Rice could’ve been killed.”

  “And that justifies shooting three federal agents.”

  “Not fatally.” Zeke replied.

  West shook his head. “You screwed the pooch on this one.”

  Zeke didn’t respond. He’d get one call and that call would be to his aunt. If she had as much power and influence as she claimed, she’d get him out on bail and honor their deal.

  He had no doubt that Reese and the others would go down. The feds would get them on RICO. He just had to make sure that Rice didn’t go down with them. He’d force Maybelle’s hand on that. Rice walked and Zeke would sign on with her just like he promised.

  It wasn’t the perfect solution but at least he’d be free of the MC and that was a step in the right direction. What happened after that, he’d just have to figure out as he went along.

  *****

  Roxy heard the news on the police scanner and was waiting outside West’s door for him when he returned to the hotel.

  “What the hell?” She asked the moment he arrived. “You weren’t supposed to take Zeke in. He wasn’t supposed to be involved. That wasn’t the plan.”

  “Neither was him shooting three of my men,” West replied and moved around her to unlock the door of the suite.

  “What?” She followed him in.

  “He shot three of my men.”

  “Why?”

  West shrugged. “Said he was protecting Rice.”

  “Rice isn’t a criminal. You know that. He’s just a poor sap who’s caught in a situation he can’t get out of. What’s to say that isn’t exactly what Zeke was doing? And what the hell was he doing there, anyway. He was supposed to come up with an excuse not to go.”

  “I don’t know, Roxy!” West took off his hat and slung it across the room. “All I know is three of my men were shot and it was Zeke who shot them. That wasn’t part of the goddamn plan and I had to take him in. If I hadn’t Reese would know damn well something was up.”

  “Fine!” she yelled back at him. “You did what you had to do. So get him out.”

  “Not in my power.”

  She wanted to argue with the statement but knew it to be true. No way West could have Zeke released. If he did, the MC would know Zeke wasn’t loyal and he’d be as good as dead.

  “Fine,” she turned away and headed for the door.

  “Where’re you going?”

  “To see Maybelle.”

  “She’s not going to get him out, Roxy.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Fine, waste your time.”

  “I will.”

  Roxy stomped out and ran down the stairs and outside to her car. In just over half an hour she was pounding on Maybelle’s back door.

  Raymond answered. “Ms. Justice is not available.”

  “Make her available.” Roxy demanded. “I’m not leaving.”

  Raymond closed the door in her face. Five minutes later, it opened again. Maybelle regarded her with a decidedly annoyed expression.

  “Get him out.” Roxy demanded.

  “No.”

  “No?” Roxy barked. “No? No doesn’t work. You made a deal and you have to—“

  “I have to do nothing.” Maybelle interrupted. “Ezekiel broke his word. He shot three men. Not to mention the fact that he was not supposed to take part in the exchange. His job was to find an excuse not to be there. No matter what he had to do, he was to stay away from the gun buy.

  “It’s obvious to everyone – except apparently you – that he had no intention of honoring his word. He lied to all of us. Ezekiel has no intention to leave the club.

  “We have both been duped.”

  “You don’t know that.” Roxy argued. “Maybe it’s like West said and Zeke was just trying to protect Rice from being shot. The shootings weren’t fatal. You know if Zeke had wanted those agents dead they would be. He shot to wound, not kill.”

  “The pertinent point here is that he shot.” Maybelle retorted.

  Roxy didn’t want to believe that Zeke had lied to them, used them and never intended to honor his deal. A thought occurred to her. “What if the recall activation failed?” She asked. “What if something went wrong and his mind is messed up? It’s no picnic, May. The memories don’t just surface. It’s painful and confusing and hard as hell to tell what’s real and what’s fake. What if—“

  “What if it was successful and he’s been playing us all along?” Maybelle interrupted again. “This wasn’t the plan. He deliberately deviated from the plan and did not inform anyone. Perhaps Zeke has been working against us all along.”

  “You don’t believe that.”

  “I don’t know what to believe at this juncture, Roxy and won’t until we get Intel. We need to leave Zeke exactly where he is. The MC will believe he is loyal to them and we will watch to see if someone comes to his aid. If so, then we will have our answers.”

  “I don’t believe he betrayed us.” Roxy said. “Zeke’s a lot of things but he’s not a turncoat.”

  “I hope you’re right, but until we know for sure I will not intervene on his behalf. Now, go home, or go to West. It’s time to exercise patience.”

  “Not my strong suit,” Roxy grumbled. She didn’t like it, but she knew it would do no good to argue.

  She turned and walked away, got in her car and left. She thought about going to West at the hotel but decided against it. Chances were they would just argue again and she wasn’t up for that. Besides, she needed to think and to do that she had to be alone.

  She went home, grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and went outside by the pool. She set the beer on a table then stretched out on a lounge chair and stared at the water in the pool. Dusk fell, the moon rose and tracked across the sky. The beer grew warm and the night grew humid and still she sat, staring at the water, her mind searching for answers.

  *****

  Eli was just turning out the lights in the family room when the doorbell rang. Whoever it was, they were ringing over and over. He hurried to the door. It was Carrie.

  “What are you doing here this time of the night?”

  “The feds have Reese and some others in County lockup.”

  “What?”

  She pushed by him to enter the house. Just then Stella walked into the room, wearing an old robe over a nightgown. “What are you doing here?”

  “Reese and some of the others have been arrested,” Eli answered the question.

  “Including Rice,” Carrie added.

  “Oh my god,” Stella’s hand when to her chest. “What happened?”

  Carrie flopped down on the couch. “They went to the port to make a gun buy this afternoon. All I know is they were set up and the feds busted them. Three of the feds were shot and they seized all the guns and money. They have Reese, Razr, Chopper, Harley, Six-Pack, Zeke and Rice in custody along with two of the suppliers.”

  “Who shot the agents?
” Stella asked.

  “Zeke.”

  “Oh dear god,” Stella sank into a chair and looked up at Eli. “What are we going to do?”

  “We have to get them the fuck out!” Carrie yelled.

  Eli shook his head. “Bail won’t be set until they go before a judge, and if this is federal, there’s a good chance they won’t set bail. It’s more than one strike for Reese, Razr and Chopper, maybe even Harley. They’ll level the MC with a RICO.”

  “We have to get them out.” Carrie insisted and was echoed by Stella.

  “At least Rice and Six-Pack,” Stella said. “And Zeke ̶ dear god do you think he really did shoot federal agents?”

  Eli shrugged. “I don’t know, hon, and we won’t until we can talk with someone. And right now, they won’t be allowed to speak with anyone but a lawyer. If I know Reese, he’s already called Audrey Keller. I’ll give her a call in the morning but for right now all we can do it wait.”

  “Fuck that!” Carrie said as she bounded to her feet. “I want them out. We have to go to a bondsman or something.”

  “We don’t have the cash,” Eli argued. “Not even for the ten percent a bondsman charges. The last few run-ins they’ve had have wiped the club out. Reese was using everything we had to make the gun deal. With the cash and the guns gone, we’re tapped out.”

  “Fuck!” Carrie paced back and forth, chewing on a fingernail. Suddenly, she stopped. “I have to go.”

  “Go where?” Stella asked.

  “Never mind. I’ll call you later.”

  With that, she ran out. Eli locked the door behind her and turned to look at Stella. She stood to face him. “No matter what we have to do, we’re getting Rice out.”

  “I know.” He said and opened his arms to her. “We will, mama. We will.”

  Carrie had a plan formulated by the time she pulled into Dillon Morris’s driveway. She had to maintain the appearance of being loyal to Reese and the MC. And had to keep from Reese the news Zeke had been told. Reese didn’t know he was Zeke’s real father and she had no clue how he would take it if he found out she’d kept that from him.

  She didn’t doubt that Reese would go to prison, but even inside he had contacts he could tap into and have her taken out and she wouldn’t put it past him. And Zeke was a loose cannon she’d never been able to control. She couldn’t rely on anyone but herself at this point. But if she could make sure Reese went to prison, she could find a way to control the MC.

  Two men stepped out of the darkness as she got out of the car at Dillon’s estate. His security. Dillon wasn’t about to take chances. He had a small army guarding him.

  “He home?” she asked.

  “In the back,” one of the men replied then spoke into a mike on his sleeve. “Rider’s headed around back.”

  She wasn’t particularly keen on the moniker she’d been given, but had to give Dillon credit for being accurate. She’d ridden him damn near into a coma more than once.

  Carrie made her way to the back patio where Dillon sat in a deeply cushioned chair, drink in hand, looking out over the massive pool in his back yard.

  “I didn’t expect to see you.” He set his drink on the table beside his chair and stood.

  “So you happy to see me or not?” She asked, grabbed his crotch then smiled. “Hmmm, happy.”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, you give me an instant hard on. So why’re you here?”

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  “That sounds like a sit down and have a drink conversation.”

  Carrie shrugged and sauntered over to a chair adjacent to the one Dillon had vacated. She tossed her hand bag on the table and took a seat.

  “What are you having?”

  “Yours.” She snagged his glass and took a drink.

  Dillon shrugged and walked over to the bar to fix himself a drink and then reclaimed his seat. “So, a proposition you say?”

  “You know more than half the MC was arrested today.”

  “Yes, I’m aware.”

  “Reese is going to prison. They’ll get him on RICO.”

  “I would imagine. But if you’ve come to try and talk me into using my influence to get him—“

  “I can live with him being behind bars,” she interrupted and at his surprised expression, smiled. “Just means I’m free to be with you more.”

  “I do like the sound of that, but don’t quite see where you’re going.”

  “Like I said, I can live with Reese in prison, but not the loss of revenue from the MC. So, I am asking that you help get them out. Only on bail. But use your influence to make sure that it’s Reese and Razr who go down for the drugs and the guns.”

  “And the rest of the club?”

  “Leave them to me.” She drained the glass in her hand. “Chopper’s had a thing for me as long as I can remember. With Reese and Razr in prison he’s next in line to take over as club president. Once he is, I convince him to up your percentage of the take from the drugs and also to cut you in on the guns.”

  Dillon was quiet for a few minutes. Carrie had known him long enough to figure that he was considering all the angles, and calculating how much he stood to make.

  “And if he doesn’t go for it?”

  “Then we get rid of him and set someone else up as president, someone we can control.”

  “A lot of ifs in this scenario,” he commented.

  “It will work, Dillon. And I’ll be yours.”

  She knew that carried some weight. He’d been after her for a long time to walk away from Reese, but despite his money, he just didn’t have the kind of power Reese commanded. Carrie was attracted to Reese’s brutality and liked being the old lady of a bad ass. But times had changed and it was time for her to change with them.

  Dillon wasn’t a bad ass in the way Reese was, but he commanded his own kind of power and it was power she could tap into.

  “What about your son?” he asked.

  “Same deal. Get him out and we offer him a place at the table. If he refuses, then we eliminate him.”

  “You’re willing to eliminate your own son?”

  “For a life with you, I’m willing to do just about anything. The question is, lover, just how much to do want me?”

  “Enough to say yes.” He replied and stood. “Let me make a few calls and set things in motion. Why don’t you wait for me in the bedroom?”

  “How about I wait for you naked on the dining room table? I think it’s about time for some dessert.”

  Dillon smiled. “I completely agree. I’ll be with you shortly.”

  She smiled and got up to go into the house. Things had gone exactly as she’d planned. Now all she had to do was see the plan through. Once she had control of the MC, she’d divorce Reese and marry Dillon. Then a year or so down the road, she’d arrange to become a grieving widow.

  With the MC under her thumb and Dillon’s money, the sky was the limit.

  Chapter Twenty

  Roxy stopped her car on the road at the entrance to Renegades. West had told her at noon when they met for lunch that the MC had made bail. He wasn’t sure how and wasn’t at all happy about it, but he had people watching them to make sure they didn’t skip out.

  She had tried calling Zeke a dozen times but every time the call went straight to voice mail. When she got off work, she went home and waited around, thinking he would show up at his house. When he had not come home by ten, she got in her car and drove to town.

  She spotted his truck in the parking lot of Renegades, along with a lot of other vehicles and bikes. They were either celebrating being out of jail or planning on what to do next. From the muted sounds of voices and music, she was betting on the first.

  It was probably a stupid move, but she had to talk to him, so she turned in and parked at the end of the lot close to the street. There were a few men wearing the Renegade cut standing outside the clubhouse, talking and drinking. She didn’t recognize them. Maybe they were from another charter.

  “Zeke a
round?” She asked.

  The way they looked at her was nothing new. Their eyes went first to her breasts, then down and back up. Her outfit might not have been a wise choice. A tank top and short shirt with cowboy boots.

  “Why waste time with Zeke when you got us, babe?”

  She gave them a flirtatious smile. “Maybe I’ll check back with you after I’m done with him.”

  With that, she walked around them and into the clubhouse. No one even noticed her enter. There was too much debauchery going on. Girls danced half naked to naked on the pool table. Some men were getting blow jobs or screwing some woman. Others were at the bar swilling from bottles and yelling to be heard over the music. No one was paying much attention to who came or went.

  She spotted Zeke across the room. He was sitting on the couch, his legs stretched out in front of him, with a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. Standing before him was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties, doing a strip tease for him.

  Roxy walked up behind the woman, grabbed her by the back of the neck and moved her aside. “Take a hike.”

  “What the fuck?” The girl protested.

  “I said go.” Roxy said without looking at the girl. Her attention was on Zeke who was glaring at her like she was his worst enemy.

  “You can’t just—“ The girl never got to finish her sentence. Roxy’s fist caught her in an upper cut, lifting her up and back into a wall. The girl hit the wall and slid down, unconscious. Roxy turned her attention to Zeke.

  “We need to talk.”

  The last thing Zeke wanted to do was talk to Roxy. When he was taken into custody, he wasn’t put into general population. Instead he was locked up in a cell alone. And the moment the cell door closed, something burst in his brain. It brought him to his knees the pain was so intense. He thought he was dying, but could not find the strength to call out for help. All he could do was suffer.

  It had only lasted a few moments but when it passed, he felt somehow different. He couldn’t put his finger on what the difference was. Not until he fell asleep. That’s when the dreams started. Dreams of him and Roxy. Of him and West. In places that he could not remember being but felt familiar.

 

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