Gambler

by KJ Dahlen

  “How do you think she’s doing? She had a cross bow bolt tear through her leg.” Black Jack growled. He grabbed the bottle on the table and lifted it to his lips. After a good long drink, he slammed the bottle back on the table. Then he looked back at his boys. “How are your women doing?”

  Gambler shook his head. “I think it’s safe to say they’re both scared and worried. Paige won’t go back home until this bastard is caught, says she feels better surrounded by other people. Now Raine and Cricket don’t have a home to go to anymore, thanks to the same bastard.”

  “We’ll make this right.” Jack nodded.

  The three of them sat there talking for a couple of hours. It was getting late and they were thinking about going to bed when Deke, Bones and Gator came over and sat down with the three Moore men.

  “We may have a problem boys,” Deke finally broke the uneasy silence.

  “What kind of problem?” Jack frowned.

  “Max never made it home tonight.”

  Jack glanced over at the clock on the wall. It read one a.m. Paige’s dad, Max should have been home hours ago. “Did Peggy have any explanation?”

  Deke shook his head. “She said he was going to stop off and talk to someone after work but even with that, he should have been home a long time by now.”

  “Who was he going to talk too?” Gambler asked.

  “Peggy didn’t know who only that he was going to be late,” Bones replied. “She thought he got a lead on where Sinner was holed up. She said Max told her it was Amos that called him this afternoon. But I called Amos and he said he never called Max today. He said his men haven’t found anything out yet.”

  “Damn it.” Gambler slammed his glass down on the table. “He’s going after Paige’s family.”

  “Don’t forget, Max is the man who put Sinner in jail seven years ago for assaulting his daughter,” Gator, Deke’s VC reminded them all. “Sinner probably thought he owed Max for the years he spent behind bars.”

  “He only spent a couple of years in prison.” Raine nodded.

  “The bastard probably thought he shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Deke muttered. “He had two years for his arrogance to turn to hate. He probably figures he’s got nothing left to lose now.”

  “Oh, he’s gonna lose something all right,” Gambler grumbled. “He comes after my woman, he’s gonna lose his life.”

  “She’s more than just your woman.” Deke glared. “She’s family to Cassie and that means she belongs to the MC as well.”

  “When this is over she’s gonna wear my ring and my last name.” Gambler growled.

  Deke grinned madly. “Good, then you can claim Cassie too as family. You ever hurt Paige and she’ll straighten your ass out.”

  “I’m not worried about your sweet little wife.” Gambler snorted at the very idea.

  “Boy, you got a lot to learn about our Cassie.” Bones chuckled. He glanced over at Deke and they both burst out laughing.

  “They’re right, she doesn’t get riled too much anymore but you hurt her sister and she’ll take you right the hell out.” Gator chuckled. “That little bitty woman will seriously kick your ass.”

  “You got the gentle sister but don’t ever turn your back on Cassie,” Deke warned him. “ When she first showed up, she took three of my men down.” He looked around and spotted who he was searching for.” He nodded his head.” Anint that right Wiley?”

  Wiley had been standing by the wall listening. He curled his lip and nodded. “Broke one of the brother’s jaw. I was busted up too. We never even saw it coming. Some jujitsu shit.”

  Some of the men snickered.

  Gator chuckled. “So then we dubbed her Spitfire.” He winked at Deke

  Deke nodded. “And never underestimate Paige, the one thing you have to remember is she is Cassie’s twin. She may appear gentle but they might share the same temper. Paige just hasn’t been tempted yet.”

  Suddenly, a scream broke the silence. All six men glanced at one another then bolted from their chairs to the front door. As they hit the dooryard, they all saw Peggy standing there screaming at something beyond the gate. Men and women came running from all areas of the compound. All the men had weapons in their hands as they searched for the threat.

  All eyes turned and they gasped at what they saw. A man had been beaten and then with tied arms outstretched between two trees just beyond the gate, outside of the compound. It looked as if he was unconscious but whether he was alive was the real question. His body was stripped to the waist and his chest and face bore massive bruises and blood, some of it fresh but most of it had already dried on his skin. His head hung down low.

  Gator turned on a spotlight and shined it on the man. Everyone could see him now and everyone rushed toward him to help.

  Someone stepped out of the clubhouse and Gambler heard a gasp behind him. He turned and saw Paige and Cricket standing there. He, Raine and Black Jack went to them while Deke, Sam and some of the others ran for the gate.

  Mountain stood between the women and Gambler and the gate.

  They all watched as Gator and Deke cut the man down from the tree and gently laid him down on the ground. Peggy tried to force her way through the mass of men but Judge held her back.

  Judge and Hound had come running when they heard Peggy’s screams. Mountain was on the phone calling an ambulance. Judge met Gambler’s eyes and brought a distraught Peggy over to her daughter.

  “Mom...” Paige cried out as she grabbed her mother’s arms. Peggy barely glanced at her daughter as she kept her eyes on the man she knew was her husband.

  “Mom,” Paige called out loud and shook her mom.

  Peggy turned her terrified gaze at Paige.

  Paige could see the fear and tears in her mother’s eyes.

  “Oh baby,” she whispered. “It’s Max.”

  Paige shook her head in denial. “No it can’t be,” she cried out in terror. “It can’t be.”

  “But it is sweetheart. That’s your dad.” Peggy sobbed.

  “But why? Why would he do this?” Paige cried out.

  Gambler heard the heartbreak in his woman’s voice and never felt so helpless. He couldn’t protect her from this pain and the rage inside him grew. He might be able to protect her from bodily harm but he couldn’t protect her from this.

  They all waited on edge until a few minutes later when the ambulance pulled up the driveway. Paige and Gambler moved with Peggy toward the group. Just as they reached them, a shot rang out. Women screamed and ducked while the men grabbed their weapons and formed a barrier between whatever threatened them and the back of the compound where the shot came from.

  There was shouting and the sounds of a scuffle then there was silence for a few long tense minutes until a pair of men came back around the corner.

  Wiley was holding a gun on an older man.

  He had a shotgun in his hand but no one bothered him as he came to a stand near Cricket and Raine.

  “Wes?” Cricket frowned at the older man.

  “Miss Cricket,” Wes greeted her with a nod.

  “Do you know this guy?” Wiley demanded.

  Cricket nodded. “Yeah, I met him the other day. His dog Blue made friends with Dusty at his thinking place.” Cricket turned to Wes. “Is Blue ok? We heard a shot.”

  Deke and Gator walked over. “Stand down Wiley. We know him too. He helped us out before. Nice to see you again, Wes.”

  Wes nodded. “Yeah, you too. I was out in the woods hunting coon tonight and was on my way home when I saw a man watching the compound. I didn’t think he belonged here. I mean I never seen him before and he seemed almighty interested in what was going on here. I shot up in the air and he ran off. I told Blue to follow him but these guys found me before he came back.”

  “You saw this man?” Deke asked.

  Wes nodded. “Sure did.” Then he shrugged, “Well, I didn’t see him well but the moon is full tonight, so I saw him well enough.” He smiled and nodded at Mounta
in.

  Mountain nodded back. “Hey, Wes. I see you do more than heft a wrench.”

  Wes laughed and patted his shotgun. “Yep, sometimes.”

  Mountain nodded. “This man knows hotrods like no one else, guys. I wished I knew you were after him. He’s the Morgan’s mechanic. Not an enemy. So Wes, have you ever seen him in the woods before?”

  “I haven’t but I think he’s been here before,” Wes admitted.

  “And how do you figure that?” Gator demanded.

  Wes turned to the other man and stared at him for a minute. “Because Ole Blue knew his scent.”

  “Who the fuck is Blue?” Hound demanded.

  Wes reached up and scratched his ear. “Well Blue, would be my hound dog. He knows these woods front to back.”

  “Does he track?” Deke asked.

  Wes nodded.

  Deke glanced over at his dad. “Maybe we could use Blue to track him.”

  “We start hunting this mother fucker,” Bones agreed.

  “As soon as the sun comes up, we’ll all meet in the woods and track this asshole down,” Deke stated. “We’d all better at least get a couple hours rest, even if we don’t sleep.” He looked over at Wes, “Maybe you’d better stay here until sunup. You should also know he could come after you if you help us.”

  Wes shrugged but didn’t say anything.

  “I think we should send some of the brothers with Peggy and Paige,” Gator suggested.

  “Don’t worry, Gambler isn’t going to let her go alone.” Deke nodded. “But yeah, I’ll send a few brothers with them. If this psycho is looking to distract us, this might be his way into the compound.”

  “I’ll keep Cricket and Dusty with me,” Raine stated. “Maybe we should bring my ma back here. He’s already shot her once, I don’t want to give him another chance to do more damage, maybe even kill her this time.”

  “Yeah your dad might be ok with that.” Sam shrugged. “Your ma now, that might be another story.”

  Raine chuckled as he agreed. “Yeah, she’s probably lying in bed with a shotgun at her fingertips, make sure you send my dad for her, otherwise we’ll be needing another ambulance. Black Jack is about the only man I know that can settle her ass down and make her behave.”

  “Any idea how he’s supposed to get her to agree to come here?” Mountain asked.

  “Tell her I need her help with the babies and Dusty,” Cricket offered. “She’ll come if someone needs her, especially her grandkids.”

  “Ok let’s get this show on the road then, we got a mother fucker to find and take out. No one does this to a Sin’s Bastard and lives to brag about it.” Deke nodded to his men then walked over to where the ambulance was.

  Twenty minutes later, the compound was quiet again. Armed patrols were back on duty, this time sharper and more alert. Wes and the others were in the clubhouse planning their next step. Blue had shown up a few minutes before and Wes was showing the men on a map of the areas Blue had alerted him of a stranger’s scent.

  Cricket was standing at the window as usual keeping watch over the room her babies slept in. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled slightly at the bed where Molly and Dusty slept in.

  Molly hadn’t balked at the thought of joining Cricket and her grandbabies. Jack had carried her in and settled her on the bed with Dusty, then he went to join the other men to make plans of finding Sinner.

  Cricket couldn’t sleep so she was standing guard. Her mother bear was showing and she almost hoped Sinner would be fool enough to come find her. Almost...

  Chapter Twelve

  The sun had barely peeked over the eastern horizon when the members of the Sin’s Bastards MC entered the woods behind the compound. In groups of three or more, they spread out and quietly made their way through the trees. Moving quietly they fell behind Wes and Blue. Blue had picked up on Sinner’s scent and was tracking him.

  Blue found several places where Sinner had paused. The ground had been disturbed enough the men could see he’d been there and could guess what he’d done. One of the places Blue had shown them they could see that he’d climbed a tree and from his upper advantage, they could see where he’d been spying on the compound. When one of the men had gone up to a place that overlooked the back end of the compound, he reported back that he could see a good deal of the place. He had a birds’ eye view of Raine’s house and the corner view of Gambler’s house.

  Deke’s rage grew as he realized that Sinner could have been watching them longer than they had originally thought.

  When they got to the spot that Wes told them was Dusty’s thinking place, Deke and Raine searched the immediately area for anything that shouldn’t be there. He didn’t go too far but he found nothing. On the ground there was nothing they could find but when Raine looked up into the tops of the trees, he thought he saw something glint in the early morning sunlight.

  Wiley climbed up the tree to get whatever was up there and when he climbed back down, everyone gathered around to see what it was. It was a set of keys.

  Deke growled and began to curse.

  “What?” Raine asked. “Do you know who these keys belong to?”

  “Hell yes and so do you.” Deke growled. “These are Max’s keys.” He handed Raine the keyring fob.

  It was bloodstained but when Raine brushed his thumb over the dried stain, he saw the fob he took note of the picture he’d uncovered. One side of the fob held Peggy’s photo while the other side held a photo of Paige. He crushed his hand around the fob. He looked up slowly and stared at the men surrounding him. “He knew this place. He knew Dusty was coming here. He knew we would find this here too.”

  “Yes, he did,” Deke agreed with a nod of his head. “If he’s been watching us for some time now, he knows everything about us. He could have taken Dusty or Cricket any time he fucking wanted to.”

  “That motherfucker is playing games with us,” Mountain stated the obvious. “He’s playing a dangerous game isn’t he?” his words were low and dangerous.

  Raine turned his head to glare at Mountain. “Well, this is a game he won’t win.”

  “Damn right, he won’t win.”

  Most of the group nodded and some low growls could be heard.

  “Guys, I think you might want to see this,” Wes called out from a spot not too far away but far enough it was out of view of Dusty’s spot.

  Everyone turned to find the older man down on one knee searching the tamped down grass about twenty five feet away from where they stood.

  Deke, Raine and the others moved over to where Wes was and when they looked down they gasped. Dried blood covered the debris on the ground. It covered a fifteen foot circle where several spots had been flattened by something or someone being thrown down repeatedly.

  Gator moved leaves around with his foot. Underneath was something that shouldn’t have been there. It was a man’s wallet.

  Deke reached over and took the wallet in his hand. Flipping it open, he cursed and then turned the wallet around so everyone could see who it belonged too.

  “Fuck!” Raine shouted in his rage. Looking around he noticed the same rage on everyone’s face. “He brought Max here, close by almost right on top of Dusty’s thinking place to beat the hell out of him. That lousy motherfucker.”

  “Message received asshat.” Bones growled as he kicked at the ground. Dirt flew up in the air.

  Every man there looked enraged as they grumbled.

  “We need to find this prick and fast,” Deke announced.

  “We will, Prez and when we do we’ll take care of him,” Gator said.

  Deke shook his head but before he could say anything, his phone rang. Sighing in frustration, he answered the call. While he listened, his frown deepened and he said a few words then ended the call. Running his fingers through his hair, he looked at his men. “We need to find his bastard fast and when we do we need to bring him to stand before his old MC. That was Guenther, he told me he searched the flash drive found with the balance of the mo
ney Cordy stole eight years ago. They found evidence that Sinner was stealing more than just money from his club’s coffers. They want him to face a tribunal and they want to determine his fate.”

  Prez, that’s wack,” Wiley called out. “They can have whatever is left when we get done with him.”

  “Brother’s got a point, Deke,” Gator agreed. “He did enough damage here that needs to be answered for. Hell’s fire, he burnt down a house and beat the hell out of a brother.”

  “Don’t forget he shot Cricket’s dog and my mother.” Raine growled. “He owes us first, his old MC second.”

  Deke nodded. “Yeah, he does.” He ran his fingers through his hair again then nodded. “Ok, we have a three to four hour window to find this fucker and get our own before we turn him over to the Unholy.”

  “And if we can’t find him in that amount of time?” Mountain asked, “Then what?”

  “Then the Unholy get to help us search this bastard out. We’ll challenge and demand first rights,” Deke told them all. “First things first, find this fucker.”

  “We’ve been looking for him for the last few days and can’t find a trail on him,” Gator commented.

  “Why don’t you let Blue have a go then?” Wes asked quietly. When they turned to him, he shrugged.

  Everyone turned and stared at the man and his dog. Wes had been leaning up against a tree listening to the conversation. No one said a word for a long time then Bones asked, “What can that dog do that we can’t?”

  Wes shrugged. “We look around the area and see stuff, maybe we miss most of what’s right there in front of our faces, because we aren’t looking for it. Blue is a blue tick coon hound. He’s not only a great tracker but he can and often does protect those he chooses to care for. For some reason he chose Dusty. As long as the boy is around Blue will protect him.”

  “That’s great and all but can he track this fucker?” Bones asked.

  Wes nodded. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

  Bones glared at the older man but didn’t say anything.

  Deke recognized the look on his dad’s face and moved to defuse the situation. “So what do you have to do?”