“Way to get them talking, Brother,” Mace casually observes, but there’s no censure in his tone. He knows, as well as I do, we’ve probably got all we’re going to get out of them for now.
It’s who gave them access to the app that’s the question we need answered. We might punch them to within an inch of their lives, but they’re not going to be telling what they don’t know. I’ve been around clubs long enough to know this pair are typical foot soldiers. They follow instructions, they don’t issue them.
Chapter Thirty-One
“They’ve told us everything they can,” Demon throws back over his shoulder as we make our way out of the Colorado chapter’s basement-come-torture-chamber. Once the door is closed behind us, the sounds of partying in the clubhouse reach us, along with the aroma of cigarette smoke and stale beer. A stark contrast to the begging and pleading, and odour of fear and pain we’d left behind us.
“I agree.” It’s up to Cad now to investigate and find out what he can. “Be useful if we know anyone in the pen with Mad Bull.”
“I’ll ask around.” He pauses outside his office. “You going ahead with this plan, Beef?”
“It’s not that I want to, Prez. But with the Wretched Soulz breathing down your neck, can’t see any other option but to take Stevie away.” I’m still in the clubhouse but already I’m feeling the loss.
“You’ll let us save face. But you need to be in the loop. Keep your burner phone with you so I can keep in touch.”
Cad gave it to me. He’ll be certain no one can trace either it or Stevie’s. If they could, the Jokers would have been at the cabin long before they had. I’m glad Demon wants to stay in contact. I’ll be off the grid, but not entirely. If someone’s coming for us, I’ll want to get a head's up.
“You going to let them go?”
“Yeah. Don’t want to pile up the dead bodies. Now the tracker’s removed from the dog, they won’t be able to find Stevie that way. Looks like they don’t have anything else.”
They might not. Doesn’t mean anyone else won’t.
“I’ll keep them on ice until you get clear tomorrow.”
Having heard what they’d planned for Stevie, I would have preferred that they shouldn’t be breathing. But it’s Demon’s call, and this is his clubhouse. As long as Stevie and I have a chance to get far away and can’t be followed, that’s all that matters to me.
I’m anxious to get back to Stevie, we’ve got a lot to discuss. I’ve got to persuade her to put her life in my hands rather than that of the marshals. As Demon indicates I should follow him, I sigh, regretting yet another delay. Turns out though, it’s worth my while as he leads me over to Cad.
Animatedly Cad turns his screen around to face me. There’s a driver’s ID on it, my picture, with the name Ben Carter on it.
“Ben?”
“Closest I could get to Beef. If Stevie fucks up, it might be close enough to pass scrutiny or give you a chance to come up with an excuse.”
I shake my head, it’s going to be hard getting used to a new name. At least my surname’s close to my original, Carter instead of Carson.
“I was going to go with Wayne, but that would be even more alien.”
To me too. I can’t remember the last time I used my government name, Dwayne. Always hated it, was glad to stop using it.
“What about Stevie?”
“She’s going to be Sophie. You’re newlyweds. So if she slips on the surname, it will be put down to the recent change.”
I’m not going to remind him Wraith’s old lady is called Sophie, and Stevie and she are about as far apart as you could get. He’s gone to the trouble of getting everything organised. It will have to do.
“You’re getting these printed?”
“As we speak. Got a man I use to make them authentic, he’s got a stock of the right paper and ink. You’ll have them first thing tomorrow. Oh, and Mouse is helping me set you up with a decent history. Once we’ve done that, I’ll let you know the details. Keeping as close as we can to the truth.”
A hand lands on my shoulder. “Had to stop Mouse putting your previous career as an exotic dancer.”
I swing around fast, then slap my hand on Paladin’s back, pulling him to me. “Asshole,” I tell him.
He returns my man hug then pulls away. “Pole dancing was going to be your speciality.”
“Yeah?” I grin back. “Like to see a pole that could take my weight.”
“That was the reason you gave it up. You took too many steroids.”
“Steroids my ass,” I snarl, punching his arm. “Hard work in the gym more like.” But he’s made me laugh for the first time today.
“Ignore him, he’s jealous. Mmm, you’ve got manly muscles, Beef.” Jayden’s sweet voice sounds as she comes up alongside her man.
“Don’t hear you complaining about what I can do with what God gave me,” Pal stage-whispers into her ear.
“Well, if you lovebirds are winding up to a demonstration, I got things I’d rather be doing.” I thrust my hips leaving them in no doubt as to my intentions. Then, when they both start laughing, I flip them my finger as I walk off.
I’m still smiling as I go up to my room, or rather, Demon’s old one. Seems I won’t have spent enough time in it to lay claim to ownership. I was pleased to see Pal and Jay looking so happy and settled in their new environment. If they can move somewhere totally different, grow to call strangers friends, perhaps there’s a chance for me too. Mind you, they were moving to what they could already call family. Stevie and me? Well, we’ll be totally on our own.
Doesn’t mean we can’t do it.
And, when it’s safe. We can come back.
I pause before turning the door knob. Got to get my head around it might never be safe for her to return. Tomorrow I might be walking away from the Satan’s Devils forever. Am I doing the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life? Giving up everything I am for a woman I’ve known two weeks? I rest my forehead against the wood, examining my feelings as honestly as I can. What I’d told her earlier is the complete truth. It might not have been long, but the time we’ve spent together has been intense. I may not know facts or figures, or who she was before she had to hide, but I know her, the woman inside. I know she’s who I want to spend the rest of my life with. It’s not that she’s different from Sally, what I feel for her is on another level too. If I have to leave everything behind me, she’s worth it. Despite my sadness, there’s an undercurrent of excitement too at the thought of taking a step into an unknown future, a new reality that we can shape to our will. With her, beside me, I believe I can be happy. Yes, this is the right thing to do.
Ready, I turn the handle, mentally preparing to now persuade her.
On entering the room, all that greets me is the thump thumping of Max’s tail on the floor. He may have overdone it today, as he doesn’t leap up to meet me. I go to him, sinking to my haunches and stroking him. “That leg hurting, Max? You’ll soon be up chasing rabbits. And where’s your mistress, eh?”
My first thought is the bathroom, but the door’s open and from here I can see no one is inside. Clubroom? I frown. I hadn’t seen her, but she may have been in the kitchen with Jeannie, Sindy or even Mo if Hellfire’s old lady made one of her rare visits to the compound. Stevie’s clearly left Max here to rest. I stroke him again, seeing his large brown eyes on me. Why is it dogs always look so sad?
I stand, my intention to go to find his mistress. When I do so I notice a note propped up against the dresser with my name on it.
That’s odd. Stevie’s blind.
My senses immediately on high alert, with an unsteady hand I open it and being to read it.
Beef,
I’m dictating this note, and Lennox is writing it for me. I’ll sign it so you know it’s from me.
Lennox has arranged a new place where I’ll be safe. He promises to take better care of me this time. Another marshal will be taking over from him (as Lennox fears he may have been compromised as my hand
ler). He’s taking me to him now. I don’t know where I’m going, so I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to.
I knew this would happen. Lennox has explained my testimony is too important for the government to trust me in anyone’s hands but their own. It’s why I know they can keep me safe. Their interest is served by keeping me alive.
That’s the only reason I couldn’t commit to you, Beef, though everything inside me echoes what you said. I know you too. I know you’re a good man. I know you’d do everything you can to keep me safe. But at the end of the day, I have to trust the experts. The marshals have never lost a man, or woman, yet.
I’m gutted at leaving you, and also that I’ve had to leave Max. He’s not strong enough to work yet, and I know you’ll take care of him. I would be selfish to take him with me before he’s healed. I’ve got my white stick and that will help.
I think I’m almost in love with you too. Probably more than that.
It’s best you forget me. If I can make my way back to you, I will, but we need to be realistic, and this goodbye might be final.
You’ll have a place in my heart forever. You deserve so much more than the trouble I bring, and which might never be over.
Yours, forever
There’s a scrawled signature. A blind woman’s attempt to write her name. A name she’s never seen written as it’s not the one she was born with. And there, lying where I’d found the note, the phone Cad had given her.
The roar that comes out of my mouth has Max up and growling. My fist slapping into the top of the dresser makes him bark. Without taking the time to calm him, I rush to the door and back out, leaping down the steps, my mind whirling. Did Stevie dictate that note? Or did Lennox just write what the fuck he wanted? She’d never know. She could have been tricked into signing it. That might not even be her signature.
The only thing I’m certain of is that it was Lennox who lured her away. She wouldn’t have gone with anyone else.
“Demon!” My voice thunders across the room, audible even over the blasting of the jukebox.
Sensing trouble, someone turns the music off. “What the fuck, Beef?” Demon yells almost as loudly as he walks across the room toward me.
Around me I spy men putting hands into their cuts reassuring themselves their weapons are at hand, just like my brothers would have back in Tucson. Devils are Devils. As he nears me, I thrust the piece of paper at Demon, while telling him the bare facts as I know them.
“Stevie’s gone. Lennox has taken her.”
“On it, Prez.” Thunder circles his hand around his head. Without waiting to be asked, Liz, Ink, Pyro, Skull and even the newly patched members, Wills and Dan follow him outside. Within seconds a roar of bikes can be heard as Wills comes running back inside.
“No sign of Lennox or Stevie. Brothers have gone out to see if they can pick up the trail anywhere.”
“Who’s on the fuckin’ gate?”
The two prospects behind the bar exchange looks and bow their heads. Not trusting myself to speak to prospects I’ve no authority over, I turn my back on them.
“Didn’t anyone stop him leaving with her?” I’m incensed. Anyone spotting her leaving should have come running to me.
“Hey, I’ve been here all the time,” Bomber objects fiercely. “Your girl didn’t come down this way.”
“The fuckin’ fire escape.” Paladin swears loudly. “Always said we should keep that locked after what happened to Jay.”
“It’s a fuckin’ fire escape.” Rusty slaps him around the head. “Can’t lock it.”
I don’t give a damn whether we all burn to death. Right now I’d prefer it to that feeling of dread settling in my stomach. Stevie’s gone. I might never see her again. The room’s spinning around me as all the implications set in. She’s gone. That night I had planned when my cock was going to show her how good we could be together? Gone. The loving I’d planned to do to her. Never get a chance now.
The implications cause my brain to misfire. I stare without seeing, hear sounds without listening, the rushing in my ears almost too much for me to bear. I let out a scream like a wounded animal and sink to my knees, bending my head and bowing, praying to a God I’ve no faith in to keep her safe.
“Beef, man. Brother. We’ll find her. We’ll fuckin’ find her.” It’s Pal who’s one side of me, little Jay the other. It’s her arms, her touch, I lean into and take comfort from.
“Beef, I’m so sorry. She will be okay. I feel it. I know it. She’ll come back to you, Beef.” She repeats the words, rearranging the order, then voicing her platitudes once more.
After a couple of minutes, I feel like I can function. “You can’t know it, Jay. You, we, can hope. That’s all.”
Tears are pricking in my eyes, I swipe them away. I won’t give up. If it would do any good I’d be out searching, but the local brothers know more about the routes out of town that Lennox would take. That’s where he’ll be heading. He won’t be hanging around. Now he’s got her in his clutches again he’ll have her far away, over the state line as fast as he can.
I’ve no idea of what direction he’ll be heading, no clue where to start searching.
My hopes can only be pinned that he’s honest, that he’s genuinely doing what he hopes is right for her and that he’ll do what he can to keep her safe.
What hope do I have of ever finding her?
I won’t even know her name.
“Church,” announces Demon, “as soon as the others return.”
I don’t need to ask if he thinks they’ll have caught up with them. We don’t know what start they’ve got, they could be miles away already.
Max. She left her dog. She left me.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Men all talking loudly enter church. As they pass by me their voices falter and looks of commiseration are passed my way. In between discovering Stevie missing and finding my seat at the table, a myriad of thoughts have run through my mind.
I had thought that, finally, I’d found my one, the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Fuck, I didn’t care if I didn’t end up with a family, just Stevie would have been enough to complete my life. Now I’ve got to face that what was in my head can’t have been in hers. If it was, she wouldn’t have left without a word. That note, written by a third party, doesn’t count.
As Demon takes his place at the head of the table, the last man wanders in, but the door pushes open once more.
Hellfire laughs loudly, the seriousness of the atmosphere broken as a furry head appears, and the body follows to take its place at my feet. I reach down my hand and stroke Max. He must be feeling abandoned just like me. My eyebrow raises in challenge at the prez.
Demon stares back, then shakes his head. “Fuckin’ dog doesn’t want to be left out. I suppose you want him to stay?” Not waiting for an answer, he continues, “It’s not as though he’s going to be giving away anything we discuss.”
“Unless he’s bugged,” Cad says, quite seriously.
He’s got a point. But even a dog as well trained as Max couldn’t have been told to hang around us in church. No, he’s sought out the company of the only person he now has. Nevertheless, I remove his collar, and pass it down the table.
Cad examines it for a moment, then passes it back after removing his name tag. “I’ll put this outside and check it later. Can’t be too careful after that fucking GPS.”
Knowing he’s right to be cautious, I don’t object as he leaves then returns minus the tag.
“Fuckin’ dog a member now, Prez?” Ink grins.
Mace reaches for a cigarette. “Nah, he can’t ride a bike.”
“Beef could get him a side car.”
I don’t bother pointing out there’s no way in hell I’ll be attaching a hack to my bike.
“Honorary member?” suggests Rusty.
“Whatever,” Demon remarks with a sigh. “Can we now get down to Beef’s problem?”
“Ain’t got a problem, Prez.” In some ways Max’s ap
pearance has consolidated the thoughts I’d had between finding Stevie was missing and the members having gathered for church. At the quizzical looks sent in my direction, I carry on, meeting their faces one by one. “I’m gutted she’s gone. Wasn’t what I wanted at all, but in the end, maybe this has worked out for the best.” She wouldn’t have wanted me to claim her. If she had, she wouldn’t have left. Think of the club. The brothers I’ve ridden beside for so many years. “Stevie’s done nothing but cause us trouble.” I absorb the gasps from around me, but don’t let them faze me. I’ve still got the floor, I use it. “She’s brought us into the sights of the Wretched Soulz. My solution had been to turn in my patch and take her away, but she’s saved me from making probably the worst mistake of my life. It’s best, this way, for the club. She’s gone, no one knows where and if the marshals do their job, no one will ever be able to find her.”
“Jesus, Beef. It was all I could do to hold you down…”
“Prez, yeah. My first impulse was to go out searching for her. I admit it, I wanted to claim her. But this has opened my eyes, shown me I was going about it the wrong way. That note she left? She doesn’t trust us to keep her safe. Don’t blame the girl at all, blind like that, can’t do much for herself. She’s put her faith in the marshals—”
“She fuckin’ trusts you, Beef,” a deep voice snarls by my side. Turning quickly, I’m faced with a death stare from Hell not too dissimilar from Drummer’s. Seems the prez glare doesn’t fade once you step down from the job.
My temper flares. “Does she? Walked away without a backward glance.” My voice rises in volume.
“Did she?” Thunder’s question is asked in a similar tone. “Or was she fuckin’ coerced?”
My fear, which I’m trying to tamp down.
“She might have thought she was keeping you safe. Thought her being here was placing the club in a difficult fuckin’ position.” Demon’s snarl is much like his father’s. He lets his words sink in, before adding, “You hadn’t had a chance to tell her what you were planning, to go into the details of how you were going to take her away. What would you have done, Beef, if the tables were turned and you thought she was in danger? If you feel for her as much as you say you do, I think you’d have done the same thing if you were persuaded her life was in danger if you stayed.”
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