by Anne Hagan
“I’ll make you wish you were never born Voll. I didn’t get to be where I am because I’m some sort of chump.”
Victor’s look changed from belligerent to bewildered. “One week?”
“That would be no later than the 14th!”
“Ain’t that Valentine’s Day?”
Warren Brietland shrugged. “I don’t care what day it is! Get out of the gang business or, as I said, I’ll make you wish you were never born.”
###
“Baby, I don’t want you in the gang any more anyway. We’re getting too old for all of that,” Erin pleaded with Victor. “Besides, my grandfather is a very wealthy man. Papa left him a ton and I’m bound to inherit some of that. Until then, $200,000 a year ought to do us pretty good.”
“You’re forgetting that he said we have to get legit jobs. I ain’t workin’ no kinda job and havin’ some ass wipe tellin’ me what to do. With my boys, I make the rules.”
“Victor, my dad isn’t fronting us 200 grand a year. That’s a lot of cash we could be getting to just go and ahead and blow off. Grandpa didn’t say where we had to work or how many hours. I bet we could work on the farms a few hours here and there and slide by.” Erin shook her head and then, as a thought came to her said to him, “Look at my Uncle Daniel.”
“What about him?”
“He don’t do half of what my dad does and he’s sittin’ pretty. He just manages the oil properties. His guys do all the grunt work. He’s making so much off of Papa’s estate that Aunt Kimber don’t do nothin’ at all but coach cheerleading.”
“Are those two bitch daughters of hers getting paid?”
“I dunno. Probably not. They’re still in high school but they probably will if they go to college. Papa probably set up the same deal for them.”
Victor grunted. “Do you think they know that?”
Erin shrugged.
“Don’t you go spillin’ your guts to them,” he warned her.
“I don’t even talk to them Victor!” she responded angrily. “They’re stupid kids!”
They were both quiet for several long seconds. Finally Erin asked him, “Don’t you get tired of it all?”
He glared at his wife.
“Come on, seriously; you don’t get tired of pushing and the gang wars...the turf wars, always being on the run from the law?”
“Yeah, for your information, I do get tired of it.”
“So here’s our chance to get out of it.”
“You don’t just walk away from the life Erin.”
“You weren’t always Chief, you know. You replaced that other dude. What happened to him, Victor?” She said his name with more than a little venom.
Victor looked sheepish. “He, uh...sort of retired. Lives out in Arizona somewhere now.”
“Well, there you go. Retire.”
“That simple, huh?”
Erin nodded.
“And just how the hell do you think I’m gonna replace myself in a week? Your damn grandfather gave me a week, remember?”
“Let your crew fight it out,” she told him. “Best man wins or some such shit. Doesn’t matter. You just consider yourself officially retired.”
###
Sunday Morning, February 8th
Victor Voll walked into the run down old farmhouse they were now calling their clubhouse and looked around. He shook his head in disgust at finding most of his best men lying around drunk and hung over from partying hard the night before.
Kicking at the still sleeping ‘Traveler’ McGinnis, he called out, “Wake your ass up.”
Traveler rubbed his eyes and, through slits, looked at Chief but he didn’t move.
Victor grabbed him by the front of his shirt and half hauled him from the grubby old sofa he was laid out on. “I said get the fuck up!”
Raising his hands in defense, Traveler told Victor, “Okay, okay man. Ease up.” The slightly older man rubbed his forehead as he staggered to his feet still a little drunk from the usual Saturday night throw down. Questioning the man he never called anything but ‘Chief’, he asked him, “What’s up?”
“I’m calling a chapter meeting, pins only, that’s what’s up. It looks like most of the usual suspects are here. Get the women out of here and gather ‘em up.”
“Now Chief?”
Victor glared at Traveler, “Yes, now!”
Victor looked out at the motley assemblage of chapter members. Only about fifteen men had been readily available to meet on an early Sunday morning. They’d been the ones laying around the abandoned farmhouse they’d taken over as a clubhouse when The Boar’s Head, the old bar they used to hang out at, got a new owner who made the place a yuppie hang out.
“Order!” he called out, though the room was filled with men in various stages of their usual winter Sunday hangovers and drug withdrawals who weren’t talking much at all. “There’s only one order of business today so this will be right quick but ya’ll need to listen up.” He paused and watched as Traveler slumped even further in his chair. Shaking his head, he continued, “A serious personal issue has been brought to my attention that requires my full attention. It’s going to take me, uh, a while to resolve it.”
A few of his men looked at him curiously but most of them, he realized, were just too drunk or high or too hung over to care about what he was saying. They were only sitting there because Traveler had told them Chief called a meeting. Victor blew out a breath and moved forward with his planned speech to them anyway.
“Effective next Saturday, I’ll be stepping down as your leader.” He noticed Traveler straighten up a little in the beat up ladder back chair he was sitting on. Rat Tail and Pinch, his enforcers were also suddenly very attentive.
“Who takes over for you Chief?” Pinch called out.
Traveler half turned in his seat and looked directly at Victor. “I’m your Lieutenant...I deserve it...I earned it.”
Victor looked Walker McGinnis over. He’d come up through the ranks with Traveler but, where he’d learned to keep business and pleasure separate, Traveler never had. “Look at you;” he told the other man, “you’re a mess. You’re using your own supply. You haven’t earned anything. You don’t deserve any more right now than the lowest man here does.”
He looked around the room again. More of the men were listening now. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen; for the next week you’re going to compete to be the next Chief.”
“Compete hell!” Traveler spat out. “It’s my spot!”
Rat Tail jumped to his feet, “I bust my ass for this club Traveler. All you do is sit on yours and shoot up! I want to be Chief!” He scowled first at Traveler and then at his counterpart Pinch who glared right back at him.
“You’ll get your chance,” Victor told him as he pointed at the man. “You’ll all get your chance.” He waved a pointed finger around at the men in the room. “I ain’t goin’ anywhere until someone steps up big time.”
“Big how, Chief?” Pinch asked, getting to his own feet next to the slightly taller Rat Tail.
“I told you, you’re going to compete for the spot. You have a week, starting right now, to pull off the biggest, baddest...whatever, that you can. The man that does the most for the good of the club gets my spot.”
“Who the fuck decides that?” Pinch yelled.
“I do, of course,” Victor replied and then stood back as the room became bedlam. Men yelled and cursed him and each other. When the hubbub finally quieted a little, he moved forward to speak again but Traveler cut him off.
Rising from his chair off to one side of Victor and drawing himself up to his full height, he approached his superior. Standing face to face with him, he asked him loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, “How about if I just kill you now? How about that?”
Guns and knives appeared from around the room and three men took quick steps toward Traveler.
Victor sidestepped his unarmed number two. “Whoa!” he called out as he held up his arms and waved his hands b
ack toward the rest of the room. “Calm down. Calm down.” To Traveler he said, “Sit your dumb ass down. Nobody is killing anybody!” When the room became mostly quiet again he cautioned his men, “Anybody dies, it better fuckin’ not be anybody in this room! Got that? We’re brothers here. We don’t off each other!”
There were nods all around.
Victor looked at Traveler. “Got that?” he asked him.
“Sorry Chief.”
Traveler’s apology was clipped but Victor could see a fire in his eyes he hadn’t seen there in a couple of years.
“Go off and kill off our rivals if you want to impress for top dog.” He sighed then. “Look,” he told them, “I’m not leaving you. I’ll be around. I just won’t be your leader anymore, see? I’ll introduce your new leader to our, uh, suppliers and such but, other than that, he’s on his own to run this outfit as he sees fit. If he runs it into the ground, that’s on him and you all can fight that out amongst yourselves.”
Rat Tail looked at Victor suspiciously, “I ain’t buyin’ this. I mean, what’s in it for you? You’re getting the biggest cut now. You ain’t just walkin’ away from that.” He spat chew into a beer can. “You’re full of shit if you say you are.”
“Yeah, what’s in it for you?” Traveler asked, eyeing his Chief now as Victor had eyed him before.
“I’ll get a members cut just like most of you get when I can perform expected club duties. That’s only fair. The thing is, that might not be for a while but, trust me, we’ll be ridin’ together again one day...hopefully soon.”
Chapter 2 – Dreaming
Dana
The Same Day
Morelville, Ohio
“Just over five months,” I said out loud, to no one in particular. “We’ve been married five months.” My dog Boo just tilted her little head and stared at me.
I smiled to myself. After my divorce from Nate and then the disaster of my relationship with the first woman I’d ever dared to open myself up to, Terri, I didn’t think I’d ever find real love with anyone, but Mel had come along and shown me that I was completely wrong.
Picking Boo up, I ruffled her behind the ears and then set her in my lap. “Mommy’s not going to get any writing done today baby girl. There’s just too much on my mind.”
My thoughts turned back to Mel. She’s more than a little married to her job and it seems like I hardly get to see her these days. I would have thought things would slow down after she resolved all of those cases back in December but the holidays and now the winter weather have kept her hopping.
“I love her to death Boo,” I told our little Boston terrier. “I just wish we had more time to be together and do things.”
A knock startled me out of my thoughts. “Why didn’t you warn me someone was coming?” I softly chastised my pup. She ignored me, jumped down and headed toward the door instead, yapping excitedly.
My mama stepped into the little writing hut Mel had, had built for me on our back lot. “Mmm, toasty warm in here,” she said. “I’m sorry to interrupt your work sweetie.”
“It’s okay. What’s up?”
“You told me yesterday that Mel would be working today since both of her Lieutenants needed off so I thought I’d check on you. When she’s not here and you’re not helping in the store, you hole up in this shack and you forget to do things like eat.”
“It’s not a ‘shack’, Mama. I love my little writing hut and I did eat.”
“When?”
“Um, breakfast.
“Dana, that was hours ago. I’ve been to church and back with Faye and then your father and I had a nice lunch. I left some for you in your kitchen so why don’t you head back into the house and eat?”
“I will, I swear. There are just a few more things I want to get done before I do that.”
“Mmm,” she said again as she looked at my computer screen. It was open to a page that was titled ‘Chapter 4’ but, other than that, it was blank. “Are you stuck? What do they call it; writer’s block?”
“No. I’m not stuck. I just ended up having to do a little more research than I thought before I dove into this chapter, is all.”
“I see.”
I knew she saw right through me.
“Dana, is everything okay with you? With you and Mel, I mean?”
“Everything’s fine...great. Why do you ask?”
“You just seem a little down.”
She’s onto me! I sighed. “Honestly Mama, it’s really nothing, I’m just missing her; that’s what it is. Ever since the election, she’s had one official duty after another and, on top of that, it’s like the whole county has gone mad. It’s just been one major crime after another too. It seems like any day that she doesn’t have to work, she gets called out anyway.”
“You’re missing all the lovey-dovey newlywed stuff, aren’t you?”
“No, no. It’s not that. Not really. I just miss seeing her much at all. I just want to be able to spend some time with her.”
“What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?”
“When’s that?”
“This coming weekend!” She gave me a look like she hadn’t given me since I was a kid and got caught sneaking cookies before dinner. “So, I take it you two have no plans?”
I shook my head no. “Not that I’m aware of. I suppose I could make us a reservation somewhere. I don’t even know her schedule for next weekend though. Her work does come first right now.”
“Harrumph! We’ll just see about that.”
“Mama, please just leave it alone. It’s okay, really.”
After Mama left, I headed to the house. While the mushroom chicken dish she’d left me was heating up, I stepped into Mel’s den. Her laptop sat closed on her desk, gathering dust. She hadn’t used it in at least a couple of weeks. I sat down in her chair and waited while it booted up.
Aimlessly, I clicked the little internet icon. Her homepage opened with the day’s most recent headlines.
I heard the microwave beep as I scanned down through them, not really seeing them, and I was about to go and grab my food but then I stopped and jumped backwards a couple of articles. A headline involving Young International being lauded for helping the FBI to nail a white collar criminal caught my eye.
Clicking the link, I skimmed the story quickly and then sat, drumming my fingers on the desk, thinking. Boo circling me and yapping non-stop finally drew me out of my reverie.
Mentally, I shook myself. I’d been remembering my days in security and investigations with Young and dwelling on the past.
“Why am I such a dummy, thinking about things I can’t control?” I asked Boo. She ignored me and darted into the kitchen. I found her sitting on the floor in front of the counter where the microwave sat.
“What’s up with you little girl? You know better than to beg.”
Boo just looked at me then stood and wagged her tail as I removed the bowl.
I sat down to eat but I couldn’t get my mind off the article about Young. I’d loved working there, loved my job. Looking down at my dog, I told her, “I don’t have to work at all, you know. My settlement means I can just lay around all day with you if I want and wait for the other mama to come home. I don’t have to write; I don’t have to help out in the store...”
Boo’s ears pricked up at the mention of Mel but her eyes returned to their focus on my bowl. “This must smell really good, huh?” I watched her and she watched me. “Tell you what, I’ll give you the last bite.”
The problem is, I liked helping Mel out on the heist case back in December. My leg injury doesn’t affect the function of my brain...
Going back into the den with new resolve, I grabbed the phone and dialed the switchboard number for Young International, Inc. from memory.
“It can’t hurt to talk...”
“How may I direct your call?”
Blunt and secretive as always. “Yes, Rosita Marsh, please.” I asked for Russell Young’s gatekeeper. The switchboard wouldn’t patch me
right through to the big man; I knew that.
“One moment please.”
I smiled to myself. Rosita, my old ally, was still with the firm. She was a matronly appearing woman with a heart of gold that was probably only twelve or fifteen years older than me. Still, when I’d been with the company, I looked to her as a sort of surrogate mother figure since my own mother was so far away.
“Rosita speaking. How may I help you?”
“Hello Rosita, how the heck are ya?”
“I’m just fine,” came the tentative voice from the other end of the line.
Before she could ask who was calling I jumped right back in, “It’s Dana Rossi, Rosita. Actually it’s Dana Rossi-Crane now.”
“Dana? Well, I’ll be! I haven’t heard from you in, what’s it been three, four years?”
“Yes, unfortunately.”
“What took you so long to give me a call? You have to know I was worried about you when you left here.”
“I do know and I appreciate that. It’s just...I didn’t leave there on the best of terms and I didn’t think anyone would welcome any contact from me.”
“Nonsense! Everybody here loved you.”
The emphasis on the word ‘you’ wasn’t lost on me. “Thanks again Rosita. You’re the best.”
“Now Dana, I know you’re not calling here to butter me up so what gives?”
“I’d like to talk to Russ if I could, but I wasn’t sure if he’d be willing to take my call.”
“Why wouldn’t he? You know he’s the one who filled out all your security paperwork and talked to the background investigators that came around when you applied for that position with Customs, don’t you?”
“He did?”
“Yup, sure did. He wouldn’t let anyone else handle it. How’s that going for you anyway?”
“I’m, uh, sort of retired; injury in the line of duty.”
“Oh no! That’s too bad. What happened?”
“It’s a long story but the gist is, I was shot, but I’m fine; don’t worry.”
“Mmm, Dana. You better watch it. You’re just a little slip of a thing. You don’t need to be running around doing things that get you shot at. Doing that kind of thing better not be why you want to talk to Russ?” Her question had an accusing tone.