by Jayne Blue
Then, Sean had started bringing people to the house that scared Beth. She’d been afraid to confide in me at first. But in my line of work, I knew every corner of Port Azrael and I recognized members of one of the most dangerous drug cartels when I saw them. Sean made all the promises guys like him usually make. They were just friends. He wasn’t involved in their businesses. Finally, Sean started disappearing for weeks at a time and Beth got followed home.
I remember that first night like it was yesterday. I found her in the last pew at San Mateo’s. She’d been waiting for me. She didn’t want to betray my brother, but she was worried about him. Then she was worried about herself. We worked out a system. She came to church twice a week and sat in that back pew. If she missed a day, I knew something was wrong.
I used to tell myself that she needed me and I had to be there for her. It was my vocation, after all. Though she was my sister-in-law, she was also a parishioner. But after a while, it became something else. I needed her. I was the one who was weak. When she cried on my shoulder, I felt the supple outlines of her body. I grew drunk with the scent of her perfume. And each week, the things Sean did grew worse. She’d recorded his conversations, documented the calls he received and where he went. There was no mistake. Sean was moving up the ranks as a major dealer for the cartel.
Then Beth wanted out. One terrible night, she confronted Sean. I had no idea she was planning it. Sean beat her within an inch of her life. Too scared to go back, I got her into the small convent associated with San Mateo’s and we met in the gardens every single day as the sisters nursed Beth back to health.
I was thinking of Beth sitting on the stone bench in front of the rose bushes. That’s where she’d always wait for me. Alone. Pale. Scared. But a fire flickered in her eyes when she saw me. That fire still burned; it flared to life when she kissed me tonight.
When I pulled into the clubhouse lot, I got the first sense that something wasn’t right. Mama usually waited in the doorway when one of us had taken off for a few days. The woman knew how unsettled I was. I think she also knew it wasn’t completely about Sean.
When I came into the main room, Mama was treating Shep at the bar. Blood ran in rivers down his chest and he hissed as she worked a needle through his shoulder.
“What the hell’s going on?” I asked. It looked like a battlefield hospital in here. I realized with horror that’s exactly what this was. Mama was almost done with Shep, but Axle lay on the table in the back of the room, his arm heavily bandaged.
Bear stormed out of the conference room. He was on his burner phone shouting orders to some of the other guys. “You tell everybody in Abilene to lay low. You get Chase, Toby, and Zig to the safehouse there.”
“Here!” Mama barked at me. She tossed me a packet of disinfectant soap. “Scrub up in the sink. I’m going to need you to hold him down while I finish these stitches. Bullet passed straight through.”
“Bullet? What the hell’s going on?”
“Ambush, that’s what!” E.Z. roared as he came out of the conference room behind Bear. “Axle and Shep were making a gun drop up the coast. Cops were waiting in the weeds. Somebody tipped ’em off.”
“Cops shot you?” I finished scrubbing up in the sink and put on a pair of purple latex gloves so I could assist Mama. Shep looked gray, but he was sitting upright. Mama’s face was hard and determined, but she wasn’t panicking. Her son’s wound wasn’t deep. It looked like the bullet had just grazed the fleshy part of Shep’s shoulder. A little more to the left and it could have shredded major arteries or done serious muscle damage. By the looks of it, he’d just have an ugly scar. Shep bore his mother’s treatment with a stony face.
“Yeah,” Shep said. “It was a rookie deputy. Got trigger happy. He was a lousy fucking shot.”
“Lucky for you!” Mama scolded.
“Just one?” I asked. It didn’t make any sense. If the cops had been tipped off we were making a drop, why wasn’t the A.T.F. on it?
“He was in the right place at the right time,” Shep answered, flinching as Mama debrided his wound. She took the needle from me. I put my hands on Shep’s shoulders and held him steady as she closed the edges of his wound.
“Axle too?” I asked.
“Nah,” Axle shouted from his position on the table. “Just got a little banged up trying to run interference and grab Shep. Nothing worse than a little road burn.”
“Well,” Mama said. “I’ve done about all I can do here.” She snapped her gloves off and put a gentle hand on her son’s back. She looked scared. I don’t think I’d ever seen her like that. Shep reached up and touched the back of her head, pulling her forward so he could kiss her.
“I’m okay, Mama. Go on home. Bear’s going to want to talk.”
She glared at her husband over Shep’s head. He was still on the phone but gave her a nod. It did nothing to placate her but Mama Bear knew the drill. I told her I’d clean up the mess. She grabbed her purse and stormed out of the clubhouse. Bear would have hell to pay with her later.
Bear snapped his burner phone shut. We were on a skeleton crew here at the house. Shep and Axle were handling the drop up the coast. The main action was taking place in Abilene. I should have been with them. Bear wouldn’t say it, but I knew he had to be thinking it.
As soon as he was sure Mama got in her car and drove off, he ran a hard hand over his face. “It’s bad,” he said.
“Did we lose anybody today?” I asked, my heart turning to ash.
“No, thank God,” Bear said. “But it was damn close. And this was too fucking coordinated. Somebody knew the crews were gonna be split today.”
“This is the Hawks!” E.Z.’s booming voice rattled the hanging beer mugs. Axle hauled himself off the back table and went to stand by Shep. I still had that weird vibe from the both of them. They knew something. Whatever it was, they weren’t saying it in front of Bear or E.Z. That couldn’t be good.
“I just got off with Chase,” Bear said. “Our suppliers in Abilene are pulling out. We aren’t going to make the shipment with our friends up north. It’s a fucking house of cards and it all just folded.”
“You think this little mishap with Axle and Shep was connected?” I asked.
“I think Galveston County deputies got the okay to rattle our guys. That’s new. And it’s not good. It was a warning shot. But it might not have been from an obvious source.”
“What do you mean?” Shep asked. His color was a little better now. He disregarded his mother’s orders and poured himself a shot of bourbon. I couldn’t blame him.
“I mean if the Hawks had enough rope to hang us, they’d have called the A.T.F., not those Barney Fife locals. You remember we heard about a hotshot new agent out of their field office wanting to make a name for himself? What’s his name? Wright? White? Anyway, I think this was just somebody’s way of letting us know they could have done worse if they wanted to.”
“Somebody.” E.Z. paced the length of the bar. “This ain’t a mystery, Bear.”
“Look,” Bear said, “We need everybody in one place. But right now, I need the others in Abilene to lay low. If Shep and Axle got ambushed, we gotta watch our asses for the next day or two. I wanna figure out just who tipped off that deputy. He could be working for the Hawks too. I don’t know how deep this goes. But yeah, this is coming to a vote sooner rather than later.”
My heart sank. For Bear to even say that meant the outcome was certain. He’d tried to hold the line as long as he could, but war was coming for the Dark Saints. From the looks of things, it was coming from all sides.
“E.Z., you’re with me,” Bear said. “We’re riding up the coast. Chase is going to meet us halfway. You three sit tight here at the clubhouse. Stay out of sight until you hear from me.”
I didn’t like the idea of Bear riding out in the open with just E.Z. to watch his six, but he’d made up his mind. Once he had, they moved quickly. I cleaned up the bloodied bandages and straightened the bar. When the front door closed,
it was Axle, me, and Shep.
“Where you been, man?” Shep wasted no time getting into my business. I realized with growing horror what it might look like to him. And it would have been my job to ride with Shep and Axle today if Bear hadn’t let me look after Beth in Crystal Falls. Would it have made a difference?
“I’ve had some ... family shit to take care of.”
A look passed between Shep and Axle. It was the same one I’d seen from them for weeks now.
“You want to clue me in on what’s going on? I know you guys. You’re acting cagey, like you know something. And you’re not bringing it to Bear. You gonna clue me in?”
“Everybody’s just antsy,” Axle said, trying to shut me down. “With good reason. Bear’s right about one thing. It was too much of a damn coincidence today. At the exact same time Shep and I get jumped, Chase and the others have hell breaking loose in Abilene. Somebody knew where we were going to be and coordinated this shit today.”
“You think it was me?” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice. I knew I wasn’t misreading the looks on their faces. I waited for one of them to point out that I was the only one AWOL during everything today.
“Calm your shit,” Axle said. “Nobody’s saying that. It’s just, everybody needs to stick close for the time being, is all. Divided, we could get conquered.”
“I told you,” I said. “I had some family business to deal with out of town.”
“Listen,” Shep said. “We’ve all got to sort out our family business. That’s what Bear was telling Chase on the phone before you walked in.”
“What do you mean?” A cold chill ran through my heart. I knew exactly what he meant. If the Hawks had declared war already, it looked more and more like Sean’s murder was the opening shot. And it meant they were going after people close to us.
I felt sick to my stomach. In my attempt to keep Beth safe, had I unwittingly led danger right to her doorstep?
“I gotta go,” I said.
“Deacon, you can’t.” Axle put a vice-like grip on my shoulder. I jerked away. He was still a little woozy from his scrape-up. Any other day, he wouldn’t have let go.
“I’ve got no choice,” I said. “You tell me ... and I mean really tell me. Has Bear put the word out to circle the wagons? Is he worried about your wives and families?”
Axle looked down and it was all the answer I needed.
“Shit,” I said under my breath. How stupid could I be? I’d ridden into Crystal Falls the other day in my cut. People had seen Beth with me. I thought Sean was the biggest danger to her. I’d been so wrong. The danger to Beth was me.
Chapter 9
Beth
Edward Albright, Esquire had a run of a few good days. But only a few. He managed to talk his way out of any sanctions by Judge Dupree over missing his motion hearing earlier in the month, but everyone knew he’d likely used the absolute last drop of goodwill he had in this town. But I also knew he hadn’t yet hit rock bottom. It seemed I had a knack for attracting lost causes. Even now.
I tried to put it out of my mind, but I felt Danny everywhere. For ten years I’d tried to tell myself that what we had was just the product of pain and desperate circumstances. It was. But seeing him again ... feeling him had my heart spinning. If I could have just buried myself in my work, that would have been okay. But with Eddie firmly off the wagon, the work was starting to dry up.
“It’ll get better,” Darlene said. “It always does.”
She more than anyone knew Ed’s cycle. I wasn’t so sure she was right and didn’t know how to say it. The trouble was, Ed wasn’t acting like he cared. In the past, he’d go off on benders, but his passion for his clients and courtroom work was always there. Now he seemed content to just sit on a barstool or never leave his house at all.
“I’m sure you’re right,” I said. I hated the worried look Darlene had on her face constantly now. I also knew some of it was directed at me. She still hadn’t asked me too many questions about Danny’s appearance at the office.
“You sure you don’t want to talk, honey?” Darlene asked.
My back went instantly up. “About Ed? What’s there to talk about? You’ve talked to him. I’ve talked to him. The judge talked to him. We both know only Ed can turn himself around at this point. He’s done it before. We just have to hope he does it again. He will. I have faith.”
Darlene sat behind her desk, absently picking at her cuticles. It was a habit of hers. Outwardly, she’d appear casual, disinterested even. That was usually when she went in for the kill.
“And your talent for evasion is just about as good as his is,” she said. “I’m talking about your man.”
My heart skipped. “My man? You’ve been watching too many soap operas, Darlene.”
She folded her hands in her lap and leveled a stare at me. “Oh, you can cut the crap right about now, Beth. Whoever that rugged hunk of bad boy was the other day, he’s got you rattled. And do not tell me this is all about Ed. That’s not what you’re worried about. You keep your cards close to the vest and I respect that. But I’ve been around you long enough to know when you’re upset by something. So come on. Spill. Let me live vicariously through you.”
“He was just an old ... friend,” I said. I’d gotten so used to lying about personal things, I barely skipped a beat on this one. Friends. Danny and I were a lot of things to each other. I suppose at one time we were at least that. But now?
“Well, if you say so. But I suppose you’d better figure out if that’s what you are pretty quick.”
I reared back a little. “Darlene, I wish I could spin some juicy story for you, but there isn’t one …”
She put a hand up. “Save it. I’m saying you better get your story straight because your ... uh ... friend ... is about to walk through the front door.”
All the blood rushed from my head straight down to my shoes. I leaned over the counter where Darlene sat. She had a full view of the front door plus a small monitor on her desk hooked to the security camera feed. She’d likely known Danny was out there before she even asked me her first question of the day about him.
I straightened my back and plastered on a smile. It was no good. Darlene had been watching me with that intent, analytical stare of hers. There was nothing to do but keep that smile in place as I turned and watched the front door open.
Danny was so tall, the top of his head nearly brushed the doorframe. He wore his leather cut again with those weathered jeans and motorcycle boots. For the first time since he’d sauntered back into my life, I realized it suited him. Or at least, he wore it more comfortably than the cassock I’d been so used to seeing him in a hundred years ago.
“Back conference room’s open,” Darlene said, smiling. I’m not sure if she meant that for my benefit or Danny’s. Every other room in the office was open. Ed hadn’t actually come in for three days.
Danny stood frozen, those piercing blue eyes cutting straight through me. “I’m sorry to just drop in on you like this. Ma’am?” He dipped his chin toward Darlene, smiling; she let out a swooning little sigh and rested her chin on her palm. She had been watching too many soap operas.
There was no way I would take Danny to the conference room or anywhere else in the building. The walls were too thin and Darlene was like a dog with a bone.
“Do you have a minute?” Danny asked, clearing his throat. I reached over Darlene’s desk and grabbed my small purse. I slung it over my shoulder and shot her a quick smile.
“Seeing as Ed’s probably not going to grace us with his presence today, I’m going to take an early lunch. I’ll be back within the hour.”
I put on a brave face for Darlene. She’d read enough into everything. Danny made another polite apology then followed me out the front door. I knew damn well Darlene would watch everything from her monitor. At least there was no sound.
“My truck’s in the shop,” I said. “I took a cab to work. We can’t talk here though.”
I couldn’t believe I
was actually suggesting this, but it seemed I had no choice. Danny gave me a slow nod and walked down the porch steps with me. There was nothing left to do but climb on the back of his Harley.
My hands trembled as I slid them around Deacon’s waist. Deacon. In that moment as he revved his engine and slid into the seat, that’s who he became. The bike felt like an extension of his body. Power. Sleek control. Total freedom. I understood instantly why he took to it.
My hair whipped behind me as we picked up speed, heading toward the highway. Deacon took the curves with expert ease. He knew exactly where he was going. I envied that about him. In a lot of ways, I’d been so unsure of things over the last ten years. I’d left everything I knew behind to start a new life. I’d done it so I could feel safe and free. I realized Danny had done the very same thing and this bike and the patch he wore were part of it. A part of me resented him a little bit for it.
He rode out to the desert just past Crystal Falls, finding the turn-off to Devil’s Hole. It was an ominous location. In the middle of nowhere under the shade of a few tall red cedar trees, three flat stones formed a semi-circle around a hole in the ground. Legend had it the hole was so deep, no one had ever been able to accurately measure it. The locals said the place was haunted by the ghosts of union sympathizers from the Civil War and Reconstruction. Those men allegedly met their fate somewhere in that bottomless pit.
Danny cut his engine and climbed off first. Then he held his hand out to me and we walked to the stone benches together.
This place. This man. Everything came flooding back to me. I’d met my fate with Danny “Deacon” Wade ten years ago on a stone bench not that different from this one. Before, we found each other before a reflecting pool behind the San Mateo church rectory. A towering statue of the Virgin Mary witnessed our sins. This time, we met before the ghosts of long-forgotten soldiers.