Eye for an eye (The Nighthawks MC Book 5)

by Bella Knight

  “We wanna help other lesbian couples,” said Killa. “We din’ know so many lesbians need surrogates.”

  “Plus,” said Ghost, “dunno why, but sistas aren’t helped as much. We got money, too.”

  Amalie nodded. “White couples get more attention, I guess. Anyway, let’s get this done. Can we see where you work?”

  “Sure,” said Ghost. “We ken go right now.” She showed them the address, and Amalie put it in their cell phone.

  Bonnie was going over the little shop’s paperwork while sipping a cherry-lime drink. She was surprised to see a little, black, Honda four-door following Ghost and Killa on their Harleys; both had switched to three-wheelers they built themselves when they decided to get pregnant.

  She came out of the bay. “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” said Killa, coming to a stop. She stood, took off her helmet and put it in the seat. “We brought Amalie and Jayla. I gonna have a baby for them.”

  Bonnie nodded, grasping the situation. “They wanted to see where you work.”

  “Yeah,” said Killa.

  “Good,” said Bonnie. “Smart women.”

  Ghost stood, took off her helmet, and put it away in the seat as well. Amalie and Jayla came out of their car.

  “This is a motorcycle club,” said Bonnie. “My name is Bonnie. This is my shop. We work on kits and help people build or work on their own bikes. We keep a clean shop, and I’m a licensed technician. The ladies here are getting licensed, too.” She shook hands with each woman. “Come in,” she said. “Take a look.”

  “I’m Jayla, and this is Amalie,” said Jayla. “Thank you.”

  They went in, and saw a very clean shop. Two bikes were out of their boxes, parts carefully set out. Both had been started, their chassis on their mounts. Another Harley was being worked on in the back by a young man; huge with muscle, shirt off, wearing jeans. He had a halo of wiry black hair, and was carefully installing a part.

  “That’s Bear,” said Bonnie. He grunted hello. “He’s got a new part he wants to install himself.”

  “Hello,” said Jayla. “This looks really clean and well-lighted. And, I can smell oil and solder.”

  “Ghost here can solder the best line ever.” She pointed to the masks and gloves. “I’ve started to mask and glove up myself. It’s a pain, but I want to show I am with them.”

  Jayla turned to Amalie, a question in her eyes. Amalie nodded. “Killa,” she said, “Can you go in next week?”

  Killa nodded. “Let’s do two, like Ghost. One from each of ya.”

  Amalie said, “A little risky, but I get what you’re saying. We don’t know if both will implant.”

  “Do we want twins?” asked Jayla.

  Amalie stared into Jayla’s eyes. “If it happens, that’s great, but I would rather have one at a time.”

  “Agreed,” said Jayla. She turned to Killa. “One,” she said.

  “’Kay,” said Killa.

  “It was nice to meet you,” said Jayla, and shook hands with everyone except Bear.

  “Ditto,” said Amalie. She turned to Killa. “Thank you for helping us.”

  “Ain’t nothin,’” said Killa.

  “It is most definitely something,” said Amalie. “You are amazing.” She hugged Killa, then reached out for Jayla. Amalie took Jayla’s hand, and led her wife to the car.

  “Cute couple,” said Bonnie. “Now, get out of here. Don’t you have something else to do?”

  Ghost laughed. “Word,” she said. They got on their bikes, and went home to paint the living room.

  Henry took a walk, coffee cup in hand, to see the newest rescue, a cream pony. They had sold a mare to a woman with a little girl; the mare had the makings of a good jumper. She was fearless, with a good heart. The girl was studying dressage.

  The pony, he thought, makes a good addition, and good work for our horse whisperers. Nantan was feeding her an apple, and stroking her neck.

  Inola came out of the barn, and slowly crossed over to Henry. “Two separate vets and a lab say that Alo’s feed is excellent, especially for helping rescue horses. I suggest we get a logo and sell it, after we have enough for ourselves. And, weirdly, it may be good to keep some of our Wolfpack. Nantan needs help. I know this is a stupid time of year to do this, but we need more housing, permanent housing for those who choose to stay.”

  “Well, damn,” said Henry. “I’m too busy to deal with this crap.”

  “Can David do it?” David Chasing Hawk had moved into the “big house,” as they called it, and was a Paiute tribal elder and medicine man.

  “Nope,” said Henry. “He’s got his hands full trying to develop new ‘cottage industries,’ as he calls them, like ours, on the res. With cell phones and the internet, and drop shipping. If you can make it, you can sell it online and ship it anywhere in the world. The idea is to train people, or help them find out what they like to do. We’ve got amazing beaders, but that doesn’t have high profits.”

  “Why not make beadwork dresses and other things for dances? Talk to the Northern Paiutes too. The patterns are different with the Nations, so maybe other nations can be covered, too.”

  “We’ll need lots of information,” said Henry, putting his coffee cup on a fencepost and pulling out his phone. “I’ll text a few people.”

  Inola sighed. She went back to the office and pulled up the plans for the barn. She wanted a little apartment system, probably over a kitchen-like area for cutting up the veggies and fruits and putting them in the boxes. Adding another table with the cloth-bagged and ready-to-go area. There would also need to be a separate area for creating and storing the feed, and shipping it out to local farms. A third area could be used for storage, or whatever else they would be expanding to in the future. She sketched out the system, and put three small apartments over them. She decided to put one apartment on the bottom floor as well. She sketched it out.

  Inola sighed. She didn’t think there was another hundred-year-old barn available to move, but it was easier to start with a building than build a new one. It was far too hot in the desert to use shipping containers, a great way to build buildings. She called Tito, and he agreed to come down and meet her, and to call around about another old barn they could move to the property. Inola sent a text to David and Henry about the barn. David texted her back that he knew of one, about two hours away. The price was good.

  David, Inola, and Henry met Tito to look it over. It was in great shape, and they hired a barn specialist to move it. The old man who owned it was delighted with the money transferred into his account.

  Tito followed them back, and Inola found a flat spot that would be perfect, next to the current barn. Tito called his cousins, and a grader was there within two hours, followed by a metal grid and a cement mixer for a pour.

  Nantan helped both grade and pour, excited by the new barn/dorm. He called over the Wolfpack, and they went out to get wire baskets for the base, and some doors for the tabletops. The Wolfpack then learned how to build tables that could be used for the new barn; sanding and staining the wood before screwing the wire drawer shells to the tops. Some stayed to do chores, but most of the Wolfpack were there when the barn was moved. Tito had them jumping, framing the inside, while still avoiding harming the old heartwood.

  Inola was exhausted; the baby was sucking all her energy. Bella rubbed her back every morning and night. “I’m ready to cut back,” said Bella. “Cougar is taking over one of my shifts.”

  “Good,” said Inola. “Things are hopping here. We could use extra hands.”

  Bella laughed. “Really? We’ve got teens coming out our ears!”

  “Exactly!” said Inola. “Gotta keep them moving, from chores to finishing off their online classes, to helping Tito with the barn. They’re like sharks, always swimming or the system breaks down. Oddly, that means more work for us. We’ve got to make sure they are keeping up with our demand. I think half of them may stay, because we’re expanding what we do. Sister is going to need a kit
chen helper. She’s got Sofia from the res to help. That girl was on the list anyway to come here to graduate, so she’s staying down the hall and will be working with the other teens on her coursework. She just moved in. Tiny thing, all wild black hair and big black eyes.”

  “Hmm,” said Bella. “I was hoping to spend more time with you.”

  “You will,” said Inola. “Just don’t expect to sleep in.”

  Bella groaned. She worked swing. “Can I do afternoon jobs?”

  “We’ll find something for you to do. But, we generally quit doing stuff after five.”

  “Then, I’ll work on the inside of the new barn,” said Bella. “I’m getting pretty handy with a tool belt.”

  “Sounds good,” said Inola. She kissed Bella’s neck.

  Bella noticed some interesting things on her new day off. First of all, the new girl, Sofia, was great at making biscuits, and was a self-starter. She had the other teens bring her veggies to chop for the orders coming in. She also always had her tablet ready, watching videos and taking notes while things were baking. She also cleaned as she went.

  Secondly, Sister didn’t seem to have anything wrong with her vocal cords, although she never spoke. She cried out when splattered with oil; Sofia had her arm cleaned in seconds by grabbing a wet wipe. Bella wondered if she could get the answers as to where she came from; she had shown up one day and refused to talk about her past. She understood both Ute, the language spoken by the Paiutes, and Sofia’s Spanish. Bella suspected something scary had happened to her, and that she was on the run from… something. But what?

  She did something she knew may be a bad idea. What if Sister was on the run from the law? But, she took Sister’s fingerprints off a glass and gave them to an Iron Knight named Castoff, a cop. She said it was from someone passing through, that she suspected was a thief. The results were… odd. A woman named Violeta Guttierez had left a nursing home. She had been put there by her son. The nursing home was in southern Arizona. Bella looked it up; the nursing home was on the edge of a res, and had almost no information online. She looked up the son, who was living in a house owned by his mother. She then called Lily, who called her friend Daisy Chain for help.

  Lily came over, and said, “Come with me.” They met a very angry Wraith at the clubhouse. “This is way out of my jurisdiction, but I made some calls, and we’ll be met there.”

  “What’s going on?” asked Bella.

  “We’re taking a trip,” said Wraith. “It turns out darling son, name of Ben, short for Benito, stole his mother’s house and has been cashing her Social Security checks. The house is just off the res near Cedar City. He’s a low-level meth dealer. Yeah, I’m going to smash him like a bug, and use his intel to go farther up the chain. But, I’m also going to get that asswipe nailed for stealing his mother’s checks. My guess is that the nursing home needs to be investigated, too. I know Henry’s had her checked out by a doctor; Sister doesn’t seem to have any medical problems. That’s way, way out of my jurisdiction, but I want this taken care of.”

  “Damn straight,” said Bella. “She shouldn’t have to hide. Something nasty happened to her, or she would talk.”

  “Let’s do this,” said Lily.

  They took off toward Cedar City, Utah. They made good time, stopping off for drinks in St. George. They were met by a deputy, who followed them to the house; a gray building with a nice porch.

  Benito was lounging on the porch, playing the same guitar chord, over and over. “Meth head,” said Bella to Lily, on the street at the far edge of the property.

  He was a big man, with long, greasy hair and roving, bloodshot brown eyes. His nose had been broken repeatedly, and he had scars on his arms and one across the left side of his face, standing out whitely against his brown skin.

  Wraith and the deputy identified themselves, the deputy as Cedar City Police and Wraith as a federal agent. Benito rushed Wraith, attempting to hit her with his guitar. She danced out of the way, and he succeeded in smashing it against the porch railing.

  She laughed. “Good job, Ben,” she said, sweeping his legs out from under him. He fell against the wall.

  She flipped him over, and the deputy handed her his cuffs. She put them on.

  “You are under arrest for fraud, elder abuse, and assault on a federal officer.” He began cursing, mixing English, Ute, and Spanish in a steady stream of vitriol.

  Wraith kicked open the door, and immediately called for an ambulance. There was an emaciated woman on the couch, rocking back and forth, singing nonsense. The smell was atrocious. The table was covered with handmade butterfly lollipops in garish colors.

  “They’re making meth candy,” said Wraith. She had the deputy call it in, and texted her boss.

  Bella and Lily rode to a local barbecue joint and wolfed down pulled pork sandwiches and fries, and drank sodas as Wraith dealt with the mess.

  “Sister’s going to lose that house,” said Bella. “If they’ve been cooking meth, the chemicals are dangerous. The house will have to be leveled.”

  “Well,” said Lily, “she can sell the land. And, she’ll get her social security check, now.”

  “We need to see the nursing home,” said Bella.

  “We need an Iron Knight and a hidden camera.”

  “On it,” said Bella, finding a spy shop a few blocks away.

  They bought a purse with a hidden camera, and met an undercover cop named Steel at a chicken restaurant a few blocks from the nursing home. He had short gray hair and big eyes, and was dressed in battered jeans, a blue shirt, and cowboy boots.

  “Bella, Lily,” he said. “Wraith filled me in.”

  “Here’s the hidden camera we want to use,” said Bella, showing him the purse, still in its box.

  He laughed. “Don’t need it. I’ve got a nursing home inspector that’s meeting us there. Hope you kept the receipt.”

  “We did, but we’re keeping it,” said Bella. “We tend to get ourselves in nasty situations.”

  “Alrighty then,” said Steel. “Let’s go.”

  The inspector was a steely-eyed Hispanic woman, and two deputies accompanied her. The found people in atrocious conditions —tied to beds, left with full diapers and bedsores; a dirty kitchen and atrocious food, and loads of bugs. Bella and Lily were both crying, helping with the patients as they were all checked out by paramedics and loaded into ambulances.

  Finally, Bella and Lily were ushered out by a grim-faced Steel. “Go home,” he said.

  Wraith approached them. “I’ll take them home. My paperwork is done for now, but I have the feeling yours is just beginning.”

  “That’s the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” said Steel. “I’ve seen more pleasant car accidents.”

  “Thanks for the assist,” said Wraith.

  “It is my most genuine pleasure to assist the Valkyries and Nighthawks,” he said. “This is a nightmare I’m glad has ended.”

  Wraith clasped wrists with him. She guided the exhausted Bella and Lily down the street to their bikes. She had them follow her to a convenience store, where she forced them to down a bottle of water.

  “That was horrible,” said Lily. “Those poor people.”

  “I thought Sister would be mad at me for checking her out,” said Bella. “I thought that I broke her trust. Then, I was happy about nailing her kid and getting her checks back, but upset about the house. Now,” she said, tears running down her face, “now I think about what would have happened if I hadn’t checked it out.”

  Lily held Bella, and they both wept. Wraith went back in the store and bought wet wipes, which she gave to each of them when they broke the embrace.

  Lily wiped her face. “Let’s go home,” she said. “Let’s tell Sister her nightmare is over, and that the other residents where she was, are free.”

  “Henry and David are gonna be furious,” said Bella.

  “I think they should help tell her,” said Lily.

  “I’ll take all the help I can get,” said
Bella.

  They went back to the house. Sister and Sofia were making soup and brown bread. Bella tracked down Henry and David in the backyard. She took out a pitcher of tea and some glasses, then sat in the Adirondack chairs and spilled out her story. By the time she was done, both men had wet eyes.

  “Good God,” said David. “At first, I was furious with you for investigating, and that you broke the trust of that wonderful woman. Now, I am so glad you did.”

  “We need to help those people,” said Henry. “That close to the res, some of them were Paiute. We’ll get people out to help. We’ve got our own social workers. We have to use Utah people for this, but I know a few.” He pulled out his phone and sent a text.

  Bella hung her head, and, despite her belief she’d cried all the tears she had, she still managed to burst into sobs. Henry put down his phone, dragged her chair closer, and held her.

  Inola came around the house. “What did you do to my woman?” she asked.

  David rose. “I’ll talk to Sister,” he said, and went inside. Henry spilled out the story, and stood, giving Inola his chair. Inola held Bella, rocking her back and forth as she cried.

  Inside, Sister/Violeta was crying her own great, gusting sobs, sitting at the kitchen table. David held her, and Sofia stood by, helpless.

  “Watch the meal,” said Henry to Sofia. “We’ll take care of Sister.”

  “Vi,” said Sister, her voice rusty. “My name is Vi. If I had said something…”

  “Lucky for us,” said Henry, “Bella is a curious sort.”

  David patted her back. “You were badly traumatized. Trauma silenced you,” he said. “Never, ever be silent again.”

  “That nasty son of yours won’t be able to hurt you again,” said Henry. “He’s going to prison.”

  “He was raised by his father,” said Sister. “He beat him. I didn’t get custody back until he was fourteen. By then, he was already addicted to alcohol and drugs. It was too late. That boy never had a chance. Then, he got mean as a snake. He put something in my drink. I woke up in that horrible place. They drugged me. I poked a hole in my IV. I found some of my old clothes, and made it to a street. I hitchhiked. I was gonna go to the res, but I heard about the farm, the place where people went. A truck driver gave me some money, and I got an Uber. Got dropped off at the road. Found you.”