“You can’t threaten me, and you don’t know shit. I’m not going to see a day at State.”
“Such a shame, Tommy boy, I thought you were a smart man, the brains behind your operations,” Crank said shaking his head. Crank watched the little man. He could already tell he was one of those guys who had a Napoleon complex. He would be the fucker with a tire iron aimed at your head from behind, then boast to all his buddies how he took you down. Crank noticed the slight gleam in his eyes when he said he was the brains behind the operation. He also had an ego; good to know. “Damn Tuck, I’m disappointed, your intel must have been off.”
“Nah, man, intel was right on, but I don’t think Tommy here has been let in the loop. Do you want to do the honors, or should I?” Tuck said cracking his knuckles like he was getting ready to beat the piece of shit’s ass.
“I think I’ll see. I believe Tommy here still thinks he has a chance of walking away from this. I wonder if it has anything to do with Wells?” Crank watched the man pale at the mention of the prosecutor’s name. Well, that answered one of his questions. Carson Wells was in this up to his eyeballs; Crank would be paying him a visit very soon.
“Sorry, man, thought you knew, but your case has been reassigned, you know how it goes, caseloads and all that shit. My Prez, here, made a couple of calls, and Carson Wells found himself too busy to be involved in your case; the man didn’t even put up a fight. But since you’re so sure about your chances, maybe we’ll just go next door and talk to your buddy; heard he was much more amenable to an offer.”
Crank got up and started walking toward the door; either the guy spoke up now, or he wasn’t going to. The offer was made, the threats out there, it was up to him now. Crank didn’t even make it two steps to the door.
“What do you want to know?”
“See, I knew you were a smart one, Tommy Boy.” Crank went back and sat down. “It’s simple, all you have to do is tell me where your buddies, Slick and Spider, took off to, and you can relax during your shower time at State. We’ll even make special arrangements for someone to scrub your back, all nice and sweet like.” Crank wanted to beat this asshole into the ground, playing nice was bugging the shit out of him, but he knew he wasn’t exactly lying either. Crank would be calling in a few favors; this asshole wouldn’t make it out of the first week at State.
“I don’t know.”
“Ah, wrong answer, Tommy Boy, and that was your last chance. Guess we’ll be paying a visit to your buddy, after all.” Crank got up and started walking, and this time he wasn’t going to stop.
“No, you don’t understand.”
Crank could hear the chain’s and cuffs clanking as the man tried to stand up to stop them from leaving. He kept on rambling; Crank was listening, and he knew Tuck was too, but they were done with this piece of shit.
“Listen, they’re Nomads, they come and go as they please. Wait, Spider has a sister, Annabelle, who lives in Lexington. If he’s in the area, he stops there, but that’s all I know.” Crank kept on walking. The man slammed his hands down on the table. “What about our deal? That’s it. I don’t know any more about them.” The guy was still pleading when Tuck shut the door.
“You got that?” Crank asked.
“Yeah, I’ll get Talon and Jinx on it as soon as we’re out of here. You ready to do this again?”
“Yeah, I’m ready, but we both already know Domino isn’t going to talk, even if we threaten him. Tommy was low level. Domino isn’t, he is in deep.”
“We don’t have to go in there, no sense if it’s just for face-to-face with no results.”
“We’re going in there or at least, I am. I want this fucker to know who’s responsible for him taking his last breath when it happens. I might not be able to touch him, but I’ll make damn sure he’s touched.” Crank walked to the other door and walked right in. Domino was a big dude, not as big as Crank, but still large. In a fair fight, the guy could give him a run for his money if he had any skill. Judging by his prisons tats, he had some ability. Crank didn’t even waste his time with the game. Walking right over to the man he grabbed the front of his orange jumpsuit, lifting him from the chair.
“What, no kiss hello?” the fucker said, spitting in Crank's face when he talked.
“No kiss, mother fucker.” Crank head butted him. “Just want you to know some facts.”
“I’ve got some facts for you. The RBMC is going down, and when we’re done slicing and dicing, we’re going to take all those sweet, little women you been collecting as a bonus. I might even take your Old Lady for another ride.”
Crank didn’t hesitate, head butting the asshole again. This time the crunch of cartilage as his nose broke was music to Crank's ears; he only wished he could do more damage.
“When you’re sitting in your cell all nice and cozy, thinking you’ve got it made, and Bubba comes in and shanks your ass, I want you to remember my face because I’ll be the one causing you to take your last breath.” Crank pushed the man away from him, and he fell to the floor. The fucker started laughing.
“You have no fucking clue who you're messing with, do you? You think that little piece of snatch is worth the shit coming for you? Shit, she isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been dreaming about those screams, makes me hard,” the asshole said rubbing his crotch, still laughing.
Crank and Tuck got up and started walking toward the door, they’d said what they came to say.
“Hey, boy scouts, think this is the last you’ll hear from Satan’s Vultures? Hell, you’re stupid. Shouldn’t have pissed the big man off and took away all his pretty little toys. I’m sure your bitches will tide him over for a while though they’re a little old for his tastes.”
“Damn, Crank, looks like the Vultures have a keeper, the big man. I’m so scared,” Tuck laughed, kicking the downed man’s foot as he walked past.
“Laugh now, asshole, while there isn’t shit I can do about it, but know this. The man knows everything about you and your little club. He knows who you're fucking, who your family is, and what makes each one of you tick. That’s why it was so easy for us to find a way in. That’s why the RBMC is breathing its last breath. Give Madison a big kiss from me.”
Tuck stopped at the mention of this chick Madison’s name. Crank didn’t know who the asshole was talking about, but from the look on Tuck's face, it was someone important. Crank grabbed Tuck's arm.
“Let’s go, he’s a dead man walking, anyway.”
“I might be a dead man walking,” the fucker started to laugh all over again,
“but when I’m taking that last breath, I’ll be thinking about your pretty face, Collin McGinnis. I’ll also be thinking about how my boys are going to destroy you, and I’ll die with a smile on my face.”
As soon as Crank got out the door, he slammed it and turned on Tuck, “Who is Madison?” Tuck didn’t stop walking, barreling though Shade and another officer. As soon as they got outside, Crank grabbed his arm; Tuck whirled around on him.
“Madison, my daughter!”
“What! Since when do you have a daughter?”
“I’m not talking about this,” Tuck yelled back. “No one knows about Maddy.”
“Well, someone does,” Crank said, following him.
“Yeah, well, there’s only one way anyone could’ve found out. Our leak goes right up the chain of command. The only mention of Maddy is in a situation report from five years ago, and I made sure that shit was buried deep. It would take top-level clearance to get that information, which means this goes beyond Defiance or even Lexington.”
Chapter 12
Cathy was sitting in the little conference room at the therapy center waiting for her first visitors in over the month she’d been there. It was surreal to her—the RBMC, her friends, Crank—they had all been such a big part of her life, but over the last month while she dealt with her issues, she’d barely thought about any of them. Well, except for Crank, she thought about him every single day.
The
re was a small part of her which wondered if they would even show up. Why should they? Cathy had cut them out so completely. She stood up when she heard the doorknob turn, and when Kayla and Katie walked through the door, she walked over to them and hugged them both without hesitation.
“Damn, I’ve missed you guys, you have no idea. Shit, I don’t even think I had any idea until I saw your faces. This place is so cold, most of the time. The cold had nothing to do with the temperature it was the environment, sterile, professional nothing close to homey. That was what Cathy had been missing. It’s really good to see a familiar friendly face.”
“You know we would have come sooner, right?” Katie asked.
“Yeah, I just don’t think I was ready, but now that you’re here, I think I might have been still hiding a little. Not wanting to see the people in my life, dealing with the shit in my head hasn’t been easy, and I just…”
“Hey, none of that, we get it,” Kayla said giving her another hug. “I brought someone with me do you mind if I bring them in?”
At first, Cathy panicked; the first person she thought of was Crank. She was getting better, but she wasn’t anywhere close to being ready to see him or any of the other people from Defiance. She loved all of them, but the way they all looked at her still hurt, somehow diminished all the work she’d been doing. It was probably the wrong thing to think, but she couldn’t help it.
“Oh, don’t look like that, sister,” Katie laughed, “you’re going to like this guest. Hell, she made my day, and I only got to ride up here in the car with her.”
Okay, if it was a ‘her’ maybe she could deal with another woman. But she smiled when Kayla opened the door and Sadie strolled in, coming right for her without a command. Yeah, she could positively deal with this her. Getting on her knees, she hugged the big dog, taking time to let Sadie’s solid presence comfort her. It also made her think of Delilah, and for the first time, she let herself cry over the loss of her precious fur babies. Sadie never moved. After a while, Cathy got herself together and apologized to Katie and Kayla.
“Oh, no way, no need for apologies, we’re all friends here, you do what you need to, Cath.” Katie said.
“Thanks, it’s just, I never let myself think about what happened to Delilah and Brut. I mean I knew, Crank told me those assholes had drugged them and they died, but I just hadn’t dealt with it, I guess. Seeing Sadie, having her next to me, it just felt like it was time, you know?”
“Yeah,” Kayla said, “I get it. I wanted to ask you when you came to my house why you weren’t using your dogs to help you through this, but didn’t think it was the right time to ask or push you.”
“I love all the dogs I train, but Dah and Brut, they were my dogs. With them being gone, it seemed wrong. I don’t know, I can’t explain it. I guess I wasn’t ready yet.”
“I get that. Do you remember the first time I met you and Sadie?”
“Yeah, you were scared to death, you even asked me if I was nuts, trying to pair you with a pony,” Cathy laughed, scratching Sadie behind the ears.
“So, how’s it been going, how are you doing? Dr. Maxwell has been keeping me updated, but I want to hear it from you,” Katie asked.
“You know, going through this has been like being on a roller coaster ride. Not one of the sleek new ones where you get the butterflies in your stomach, but one of the old wood ones. Where you don’t know if, in the next turn or drop, you’ll stay on the track or plummet over the edge. Then when it’s over you feel anxious, overwhelmed, a little giddy, and still half scared out of your mind.”
“Yeah,” Kayla said, “I never thought of it that way, but you're right, it sums up the process nicely. But I do know that feeling. Those feelings aren’t going to change. Every now and then, they’ll creep up on you and take over. I know Dr. Maxwell and her group are teaching you how to identify the signs and how to get through them, but I want you to know I’m just a phone call away, any time of the day or night. If you just need to talk or whatever.”
“Thanks, Kayla, I appreciate that. I’ll take you up on that, but this has been good. I’m starting to find me. Dealing with the rape has opened up other issues I kept hidden or pushed down for so many years. Do you know I’d never once worn a pair of jeans until I was fourteen?”
“What? No way, every kid wears jeans.”
“Yeah,” Cathy laughed, “you would think that. My mother insisted I dress like a lady, and ladies wore either skirts or dresses, there were no other options. Pants were for men.”
“Damn, girl, you’re not that old; your mother had some pretty antiquated ideas.”
“That’s putting it lightly. Her version of raising a child, a daughter, was to make me into the perfect housewife. I was to know how to cook and clean, present myself properly, attend church regularly, and find a good Christian man to marry once I was through with high school. Like she had. My Dad fully agreed.”
“Wow, that sounds kind of repressive and nothing like the person I know you to be. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear anything other than jeans or yoga pants,” Katie said. “You and Crank never got married, plus, I don’t think he would exactly fit the bill of your mother’s version of a good man. And sorry, sister, I’ve seen your house, it’s clean, but not exactly tidy.”
“You could say I am the epitome of child rebellion although I didn’t do it until I turned eighteen and graduated from high school.”
“So, you just went hog wild?” Katie asked.
“Not exactly, it took some time. I knew I needed to get out, but they were so controlling, and I was so obedient. My every hour was accounted for—from getting up in the morning to my studies and even my free time, which was mostly spent at church. During my Junior year, I had to do service hours for my church study and for school. My mother decided being a candy striper was the only thing suitable. At first, I hated it, but like a dutiful daughter, I committed myself and followed through with her wishes. That’s where I met Jagger.”
“Oh, so you had a sordid affair with this Jagger,” Kayla gushed?
“Not exactly,” Cathy laughed. “Jagger was a service dog. His owner and trainer, Butch, would bring him to the hospital every Wednesday to see the patients. At first, the man and the dog freaked me out. My parents had never allowed pets in their house, and I was taught they were just filthy animals. And Butch, he was a tatted up, retired, navy seal, rough and gruff and everything in-between. He was also one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met. Blade reminds me of him, actually.”
“So, Butch and Jagger started you on your path to becoming a biker chick and dog trainer.”
“Dog trainer, yes, biker chick, not so much. Although they’re the reason I joined the Navy. The next semester, when I was supposed to log my volunteer slots, I waited until the last minute, knowing the candy striper positions would be taken and applied to help out at the local dog shelter. One where I knew Butch taught training classes.
“I worked with him for the next year and a half, learning everything I could, much to my mother’s distaste. On my eighteenth birthday, Butch took me down to the recruiter’s office, and I signed on the dotted line. With his recommendation and my previous training, after boot camp, I was accepted into a DOD joint effort, dog training program.”
“Wow, what did your parents say?”
“Nothing, I never talked to them about it. I left a note and told them my plans, even gave them the information on how to reach me if they wanted. I received one letter saying I was a disgrace to them and everything they believed in. When I came back to my senses, I could call them, and they would consider allowing me to come back. After I completed a program at church, of course. I never went back.”
“Damn, that had to have been rough.”
“Not really. I was scared, but I was determined. Plus, I met Crank shortly after I received my orders. He had a way of making me think everything was going to be better.”
“Did you talk to him about your family? How you were raised?” Kayla
asked.
“Not really. That’s the thing, I went from my parents’ house to Uncle Sam’s, still following rules and regulations, to Crank’s.”
“I don’t see Crank as the type for rules and regulations. The whole MC culture is surrounded by living free and wild,” Katie laughed,
“True, but that was what I mean about finding me. Crank didn’t expect things from me, and he was wild, the opposite of everything I knew. But I also took some things I learned from living with my parents with me like the man is always right. If he said something, whether I agreed with it or not, I would follow his lead.”
“No way, I’ve seen the two of you together. You can’t tell me in all this time, you haven’t ever fought with the man. That’s impossible.”
“Oh, we fought, but in the end, I would always back down. You have to remember, we’ve been together as a couple for over twenty years, but we’ve only been living together for about six. Between his deployments and mine, we were never in the same state long enough to do anything more than hook up before one or both of us had to leave. Then it was school for me and another re-up for him. Until he finally retired, and we moved to Defiance. Then it was getting my feet wet in the civilian sector, the RBMC, and my business.”
“Damn, when you put it that way, I can see it,” Katie said.
“For the first time in my life, I think I’m getting to know the real Catherine Torrent. Not the version my parents created or even the one I was as a soldier or who I was with Crank, but me.” Cathy laughed a little, “I know it doesn’t make sense. It’s just how I feel.”
“No, it makes a lot of sense, but that still leaves one thing open. What are you going to do about Crank? You know he would be up here in a heartbeat if you asked him to come. He asks about you every week when I call Tuck to let him know you’re doing okay,” Katie asked.
“I know, and that’s something I’m dealing with. I write to him every day in a journal, telling him what I’m going through, how I’m feeling, stuff like that. I just can’t be with him, right now. I’m afraid the new person I’m becoming or the real person I’m becoming will make him change his mind about me, about us. Then there’s the whole sexual aspect of our relationship. With what happened to me, I don’t know if I can be the woman he needs or wants. I don’t know if I can even consider getting back what we had or putting him through the process of helping me figure it out.”
Crank: Ruthless Bastards (RBMC Book 4) Page 8