by Jade Kuzma
“How’s the kid?” he asked.
“Same as he was before. Surgery stopped the bleeding. They still have to keep him sedated though. All kinds of shit can go wrong with the state he’s in.”
“If he’s a Reaper, he’ll make it. He’s tough.”
“I wouldn’t have put him up for a patch if that wasn’t the case.”
Sutton stared at me like he had something to say. I knew that I didn’t have anything to worry about from the sheriff but I couldn’t put it out in the open like that. He was still a cop regardless of what he’d done for the club. I had to watch myself around him.
“How’s the investigation going?” I asked. “You find the motherfuckers responsible for what happened?”
“Security footage hasn’t given us much,” he sighed. “Lieberman has her team all over the scene. They do a good job of not letting any evidence leak. Autopsy results on the Chinese guy won’t be done any time soon and if they are, it’ll be tough to get my hands on them.”
“Sounds like Lieberman’s got her claws in deep.”
“Not so deep that I can’t find out what she knows. If there’s a suspect out there, she’ll catch ‘em. Speaking of which… The clubhouse shooting…”
He stared at me like he was waiting for me to give him all of the details. I knew that we’d already dealt with them. Sutton might have shared his information with me but I had to be tight-lipped about mine, especially when I wasn’t sure Garnet was finished himself.
“You get the punks who did it?” I asked.
“Funny thing… They rode out of town. We had a few cruisers going after them but they were too slow.”
“Cops in this town are slow…”
I hid my smile behind a sip of coffee.
“It’s like they just disappeared,” Sutton said.
“Well, I’m sure they’ll pop up. If not, it’ll be a good thing that they don’t come back to Ivory. Don’t you think so, Sheriff?”
Sutton squinted at me. The old man might not have been very intimidating but there was something else about him that commanded a bit of respect. I guess when you’ve been dealing with punks and assholes for a lifetime all the bullshit kinda toughens you up.
The sheriff took a seat next to me and leaned in close while he whispered.
“Look… I don’t know what’s happening but the whole town is on edge. You and the club need to get to the bottom of this fast.”
I sighed, knowing there was no point in keeping this shit from him.
“We’re not exactly taking our time,” I said.
“I don’t care. The last thing Ivory needs is to be worried about random drive-bys. I give the MCs in this town a lot of leeway. BRIC knows I respect what they do as long as they keep it under the table. If this happens again, I’ll have to do something about it.”
I looked right at Sutton. I knew he was serious from the look in his eyes. I couldn’t blame the old man for feeling the way he did. He had a responsibility to Ivory as much as anybody else.
“You do your job,” I said. “We’ll do ours.”
He slowly nodded to me and leaned back in his seat. The unspoken agreement between Sutton and the MC could snap at any moment.
“Sheriff Sutton.”
Anna appeared in front of us hugging a pillow and a blanket.
“Miss Roberts,” Sutton said as he popped up to his feet.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Just checking in on the kid. How are you doing, young lady?”
“I’m doing just fine. Just getting comfortable while we wait for Nate to wake up.”
“If he knew that he’d get a chance to see you when he wakes up, I’m sure he’ll pop right up in no time.”
Sutton bowed his head to her.
“You take care now,” he said. “This old sheriff’s got some work to do even at this time of night.”
Sutton turned around and slowly shuffled out of the waiting room. Anna took the spot next to me and made herself comfortable.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“It’s just like he said. Just checking in…”
“Sutton’s a good man. I’m sure he only wants what’s best for everybody.”
“I’m sure he does.”
Anna sank deeper into her seat. She breathed softly, drifting off to sleep quickly.
I sat in the silence of the waiting room and finished the rest of my coffee. All I could do was sit here while Nate fought through his injuries. Everything else was up to the rest of the club.
Endgame: Chapter 10
DECLAN
Petey had more book smarts than every other man in the club. Ever since he was a kid, he spent most of his time reading and learning everything he could in front of a computer. I’d seen some of the shit he was capable of, so I took his word for it when it came to doing something I didn’t understand.
I watched him work over the battery and cables connected to it.
“That should be good—”
“No,” he cut me off. “You have to get the voltage just right. Too much and you’ll kill him. Not enough and it’ll feel like a massage. Just gimme a second…”
He fiddled with all of the wires in front of him. I waited patiently until he finally finished.
“There,” he said. “You’re all set.”
He gave me a nod to let me know that everything was set.
We were miles away from Ivory. There was so much abandoned land between Ivory and all of the surrounding cities that it was easy to get lost in. The old building we were in looked like an old farmhouse that was left a long time ago. There wasn’t any electricity except for the battery that Petey had hooked up to a single light bulb.
I walked up to Brawn, who was standing at the side of the small room we were in.
“Wake him up.”
Brawn followed my orders by slapping the punk in front of us. He gasped a deep breath and started shaking in his seat. With his hands and feet tied to the chair, the motherfucker wasn’t going anywhere.
“You awake, asshole?”
I crouched down in front of him. The punk started panicking, looking in every direction for an escape but there was none.
He didn’t look much different from the assholes I was used to seeing at Finn’s. Just some guy in a leather vest who thought he was a big deal because he had a leather kutte on. The logo on his chest didn’t look familiar. But it didn’t matter what club he was repping. He was all alone now.
“I asked you a question,” I said.
The man looked right at me. Blood trickled down his nose and from a cut on his forehead, courtesy of Brawn.
“What the fuck, man!” he shouted suddenly. “Let me go!”
“You’re not in any position to give orders. And just to show you that I’m not joking…”
I looked at Petey and gave him a nod. He flipped some of the switches on the battery in front of him. A current of electricity flowed through the wires and to clamps digging right into the asshole’s thighs. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. I didn’t want to. The way he gritted his teeth and started foaming at the mouth told me that Petey had done his job.
“That’s good,” I said to Petey.
Petey cut off the electricity. The man collapsed in his seat and started gasping deep breaths.
“You’re not gonna get away with this,” he said. “You’re gonna pay—”
I snapped my fingers and Petey flipped the switch. The asshole shut up as he started struggling to deal with the electricity running through his body. I trusted Petey not to kill him but it sure looked like the motherfucker was about to die.
Petey pulled the plug.
I looked the man right in the eye. I wasn’t interested in wasting any time. The clock was ticking and I had to get answers now.
“The rest of your club is dead,” I said. “They’re gone. Disappeared without a trace. Now give me the answers I’m looking for or you’re gonna join them.”
“I
don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“You just drove by and shot up my clubhouse. That shit wasn’t just random chance. Why did you do it?”
He breathed hard through his nose, glaring at me. Still not the response I was looking for.
“Petey.”
My man flipped the switched and the punk started shaking in his seat all over again. I waited a few seconds before telling Petey to stop.
“Look,” I said. “I’m not enjoying this. You’re wasting my time. Just gimme my fucking answers and you won’t have to go through it.”
He was busy trying to catch his breath. I gave him a moment before he finally said something.
“I… I can’t…” he said.
“You can’t what?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“They… They said they’ll kill me… They’d kill all of us… They had our entire club by the balls. Said they had evidence that’d get us locked up.”
“Right now, getting locked up is the last thing you need to worry about. Petey.”
“Please!” he shouted. “Don’t!”
“You’re not giving me much of a choice. You either give me a name or I tell my man here to turn up the voltage.”
“I… I don’t know… I swear!”
“Petey.”
Petey flipped the switch. The man started convulsing more violently in his seat. I looked at Brawn and the big man just stared indifferently with his arms crossed.
I waited longer than the last time before telling Petey to cut it off.
“Now,” I said as I looked the man in the eyes. “Tell me.”
The man stared at me. I could see the defeat inside of him. He didn’t have much left inside of him. I had to get the answers before it was too late.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know his name.”
“Petey—”
“He was a bald guy! He was in his 40s! He didn’t have a name. I… I don’t know who he is…”
“He didn’t just tell you to shoot my clubhouse up.”
“He said we had to do it. He said he’d turn our whole club in. Said he had all the evidence in the world to get us convicted.”
“Who was he?”
“I don’t know,” he sobbed. “I swear! He…”
“He what?”
“He said he worked for the Triads. I think he mentioned his boss. Something like Lin or Ling or something…”
Shit.
I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close.
“Are you lying to me?”
“I’m not lying! I swear… Please… That’s all I know…”
He looked a lot more pathetic than he did when he was first arguing. I would’ve felt sorry for the bastard if I didn’t know what he was capable of.
I took a step back from him and sighed.
“All right,” I said with a nod. “I believe you.”
“Good,” he sighed. “Now let me go.”
“There’s just one problem. You shot up my clubhouse. Normally, I would’ve forgiven something like that. I could repair it, no problem. But my wife was in that building when you shot at it. You tried to kill my better half.”
“Wait… Wait…”
“I can’t let that go unpunished. Brawn.”
The big man gave me a nod and grabbed the chair the punk was attached to.
“Wait! Let me go! You can’t do this!”
The man shouted as Brawn dragged him out of the room to shut him up for good. I never liked getting my hands dirty. Even with punks who did drive-bys. I would have done it myself but Brawn took some kind of pleasure in doling out the justice that needed to be handed out.
While the club’s enforcer took care of things out back, I looked at Petey.
“Where is everybody?” I asked.
“Ghost is at the hospital checking on Nate.”
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s the same as he was last time.”
“Needle?”
“Jail.”
“What?”
“He got into it with Harris. His sister was at the clubhouse when it went down. He wasn’t too happy about it. Took it out on Needle.”
“I guess it’s for the best that Needle spends the night behind bars,” I sighed. “Sully?”
“Back at Finn’s. Questioning the people who were there that night but everybody seems to have a foggy memory of what happened.”
“Yeah, no shit…”
“I don’t think there was anything for them to remember. That’s if what this guy was saying is true.”
“The Triads…”
I couldn’t get over it. If Lin really did put a hit out on us, we were in deeper than I imagined. The Chinese weren’t some random punks. This was a threat more serious than anything the club had ever had to deal with before.
My hands on my hips, I kept going over it in my head. I knew what it meant if we had to deal with Lin and his gang. It wasn’t gonna be pretty no matter what I did.
“What do you think, boss? You believe him.”
“I don’t know if I believe him or I don’t wanna believe him.”
“It would make some sense. I can’t imagine Nate shooting someone unless he was trying to defend himself. And the guy who shot at Nate knew exactly how to avoid the cameras. It was a professional.”
“Like a member of the Triads…”
I still had to put it to a vote even though it didn’t look like I had much of a choice. The clock was ticking. I had to make a decision now.
“Pres?”
“Spread the word. Start gearing up. Get ready to deal with the Triads.”
Endgame: Chapter 11
DAY THREE…
KATRINA
My brother Jordan was a member of the Winter Cobras MC. Ever since he was young, I knew how much it meant to him to have his own ride. It was inevitable that he eventually patched up.
I left Ivory to find myself like any young woman would after high school. Jordan stayed behind, dedicating himself to the club. By the time I came back home, I found that he’d worked his way all the way up to club president. I was as proud of him as any sister could be.
Jordan was always getting into trouble. Wearing a patch meant that it came with the territory. I never worried about him though because I knew that he was more than capable of taking care of himself.
Getting involved with Blake complicated things. The Cobras had a beef with the Black Reapers that stemmed so far back that nobody even knew how it started in the first place. When Blake and I got together, the two clubs managed to come to an agreement to stay at peace with each other. They weren’t friends. They never would be. For the sake of my daughter and me, the two clubs agreed not to get involved with each other.
Things were different now. The shooting at The Grindhouse wasn’t club business. It was personal. Jordan took it upon himself to try and make a point to Blake. Now they both had to spend the night in jail.
The clubhouse of the Winter Cobras was called The Bone Pit. It was a place as raucous as any other bar in town, outside of maybe Finn’s. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep that night anyway.
I huddled on a couch in one of the backrooms of the clubhouse with Bella in my arms. I thought about the shooting. I thought about Blake. I thought about my brother. But more than anything, all I wanted to do was keep my daughter safe.
All of the thoughts running through my mind exhausted me to the point that I actually drifted off to sleep.
A sudden knock at the door brought me out of my slumber. I blinked my eyes open and saw the sunlight shining in through the windows.
The door slowly opened up and my brother stepped in. He stared at me for a moment before moving forward. A couple of fresh scrapes on his face weren’t anything out of the ordinary. Always getting into trouble as usual.
“Hey…”
He pulled up a chair and took a seat down in front of me. I looked away from him, turning my
attention to my daughter in my arms as I rocked her back and forth.
“Look—”
“I know, I know,” I sighed. “You had to do what you had to do.”
“There was a drive-by shooting at his clubhouse. You almost got hurt or worse.”
“I didn’t get hurt or worse. I’m just fine.”
“You know you shouldn’t be taking this lightly. I can’t remember the last time someone tried to pull a hit on a clubhouse. This is serious.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
I did my best to keep my voice down so as not to wake my daughter up. I rocked her gently, my eyes locked on my brother.
“We’ve already been over this before,” I said. “Blake is Bella’s father. We’re engaged. Nothing is ever going to change that.”
“I know. You’re your own woman. Stubborn as ever.”
“I didn’t choose to fall in love with Blake. You can’t expect me to stop caring for him.”
“Maybe not. But that still doesn’t mean I have to stop doing my best to protect you. Now that Bella is here, I have to try even harder.”
“Then what are you doing to help Blake? You know what happened to that prospect. They’re the same ones responsible for the shooting. It’s not a secret.”
Jordan put his head down. My brother was as confident as any man I’d ever met. But at the moment, he looked as defeated as I’d ever seen him.
“Nobody knows what happened,” he said. “That shooting was a mystery. They’ve got feds working the case and they don’t know who did it.”
“You can still help.”
“You’re right. I can help. I have to do my part to make sure that you and Bella stay safe.”
“Me, Bella, and Blake.”
“I think Blake agrees with me more than you.”
I scoffed at the thought. Blake had too much pride to get along with Jordan, even if Jordan was my brother.
“What do you think—”
Before I could finish, the door opened up. Blake walked in flanked by a couple of other Cobras. He looked at the two club members and held his hands out to them.
“You wanna call your bodyguards off?” Blake said to Jordan. “You know I’m not gonna try anything.”