Another thunder of footsteps comes down the stairs.
“Brought her purse in. Bitch received a call today close to midnight. Cad’s analysing her phone now.”
“Who?” Demon snaps my way. “Who were you fuckin’ talking to?”
“Connor—” I respond, but don’t have a chance to add more.
“A fuckin’ man,” Mace snarls, interrupting me. “Always a man at the bottom of it. And here I was thinking you were cosying up to Ink. Knew he was a fuckin’ fool to fall for a bitch.” He directs his words to me, and his look of disgust has me reeling and spitting out the explanation fast.
“Connor’s my brother, not a boyfriend.”
My explanation doesn’t help in the slightest, as the enforcer just scoffs. “You in this together? You got a nice supply chain going on between you?”
“No,” I cry out. “It’s not like that!”
Beef looms over me, but his eyes flick to meet those of his prez. “Seems we’ve got to the bottom of who’s bringing drugs into Pueblo. A family fuckin’ business at that. Is that why you’ve been cosying up to our brother?”
My eyes can’t open any wider. “No,” I cry out.
“Then what the fuck is it?” the VP snarls.
I’m scared. My mouth doesn’t seem to work, my brain can’t find the words. These men are terrifying.
Mace steps closer. “I’m the fuckin’ enforcer, darlin’. Prez gives me the signal, and it will be gloves off. You get what I’m putting out here? Start fuckin’ talking.”
The threat is obvious. I don’t need his pointed glance toward the implements laid out on the workbench. As if a dam’s opened, it all starts tumbling out. “My brother lives in Denver with Phil, our father…” my voice trails off. That’s not the right place to begin. I try again. “My brother left packages in mom’s house, in his old bedroom. I wasn’t aware he left them, not until tonight.”
Beef snorts loudly.
“I didn’t have a clue. Not until tonight.” Poor Mom is still in the dark. She’ll be devastated and scared when she finds out.
Demon pinches his nose, then shakes his head, he pushes Mace to one side. “Right. I’ll ask you questions. And I’ll warn you, I know when someone’s lying to me. One word that’s not truth and I’ll take the leash off Mace.” The glance he exchanges with the enforcer isn’t comforting.
I nod, having nothing to gain by lying.
“You and your brother got an operation going?”
Emphatically, I shake my head. “No. I’d never go near drugs.”
“Think you did tonight,” Demon reminds me. “You said no for yourself. Your brother?”
“I don’t know. He moved out several years back. Lives with Phil—as I said that’s our father—in Denver, but I’ve not seen him for years. He, er… Mom chucked Phil out when she realised he was a criminal. But I don’t know if he’s got anything to do with drugs. I wouldn’t have said Connor did either, but I don’t really know who he is nowadays.”
“You have much to do with your brother?”
Another shake of my head. “I don’t. Occasionally he’ll visit, but not often. It’s been almost a year since we last saw him. But he’s come a couple of times lately. He asked to stay in his old room, Mom didn’t want him to have the key to her house… Look, I’m sorry, I’m trying.” I plead with my eyes, asking for time as I try to get my thoughts straight. “When she refused, he asked to pick up some of his stuff he’d left in his bedroom. When he carried a box in to collect them, we’d assumed it was empty, but I think that’s when he left the packages of drugs. Then he’d come down with it full of old junk, so we weren’t suspicious.”
“He started visiting you, why?”
“He said he had a new business venture in Pueblo.”
“He must be the one behind the fuckin’ drug dealing,” Beef says in an aside to his prez. “And I don’t buy she knew nothing about what he was leaving.”
There’s nothing wrong with my hearing—with my common sense, perhaps, but not my ears. “I swear I didn’t know about them. And I’d point the finger at Phil. Connor would have been working with him.”
“So you’re keeping to the story that he brought in the drugs without you knowing?”
At the same time as Mace asks his disbelieving question, Beef throws out, “Was it Heroin or meth?”
“Yes,” I direct at the enforcer, and then, “How the hell do I know?” to the VP.
Beef is clearly not convinced.
“I didn’t know until tonight,” I insist.
Mace cocks his eyebrow at Demon, who nods back. He approaches me menacingly. “You got close to Ink. Fuck, at the wedding it could have been any of us, as long as you got a biker ensnared by your presumably magical pussy, you didn’t care who. Shame it wasn’t me you fucked, I’d have never been so fuckin’ stupid. So what was your plan? To cosy up to Ink to find where we weren’t looking? Were you finding where it was safe to deal?” At the stunned look on my face, he changes tack. “’Cause I don’t believe you, darlin’.” He snarls the last word. “You want me to believe you had no ulterior motive? Tell me this. You were fuckin’ him, why didn’t you speak to him, as soon as you knew there were drugs?”
Demon, clearly getting on Mace’s wavelength asks. “Or, did you tell him? Did he know you were going to be there? Did he know what you were going to do and was trying to stop you?”
“No!” I all but scream. “I didn’t know he was going to be there. I didn’t have time to try and speak to him. Yes, that had been the first thing on my mind. But I didn’t have a chance to call. No, he didn’t know I was there. He must just have recognised me. Please,” I beg them. “Please let me tell you what happened when Connor called.”
When Demon gives me a sharp nod, I try not to think of how this morning had started, with me saying goodbye to Ink with every expectation of seeing him later. Instead, I focus on what happened after Ink had bailed, and I’d gone to my own bed alone.
“I was reading in my room; the book was good, I wanted to keep on with it. It was getting late, almost midnight. My phone rang, I’d hoped it was Ink, but instead, it was my brother. That in itself is unusual, I didn’t know he still had my number, must be years since he used it.” My eyes crease as I recall the desperation in his voice. “He said he was being held by someone and they were hurting him, and that he needed me to do something for him to make them stop. If I didn’t, there was a risk they could kill him. He told me they’d broken his ribs, beat him, he sounded in pain, as if it even hurt to talk.”
“Who had him?” Beef asks the question, but his expression shows he’s finding my words hard to believe.
“He didn’t say. I asked, but he wouldn’t tell me. I got the impression they were listening to the call.”
Mace snorts.
Demon purses his lips, but his only words are, “Go on.”
“He gave me instructions. I was to open a box, take the packages, and deliver them to a man who’d be waiting for me in the vicinity of Tits Up.” I pause to take a breath. “He’d left me no time to do anything otherwise. Of course I wanted to tell Ink, but Connor said I wouldn’t see him, my brother, alive again if I didn’t do what he asked. I couldn’t risk that he was telling the truth.” I glance up, but no one looks the slightest bit convinced. “I said I’d do anything to save him, and I would. He’s my baby brother after all.” I swallow down he’d been known to take advantage of that relationship, sensing it wouldn’t do me any good. “I said, anything, and I meant it. I didn’t know what the task was. I thought he might need money, heaven knows how I was going to get it that time of night, but I’d have emptied my bank account if that’s what it would take.”
Demon’s raised chin and a quick look toward Beef gives me a slight hope they can understand such a desire to save a brother. Then he signals to me to resume.
“As I said, he’d left it until the last minute, and I had to rush to make the meet. It was only then that I found what he’d left and knew the p
ackages were obviously drugs.” I pause, then stress, “I thought about calling the cops, then realised that would get my brother locked up, that’s if he was allowed to live. I thought about calling Ink, but…” I sob, I can’t help it. Fresh tears run down my face, and I feel snot drip from my nose. “I couldn’t risk dragging him into it, or your club. This was my mess to sort. Those were my thoughts in the few precious seconds I had if I was to get there on time. I took two packages, and well, you know the rest.” I raise my watery eyes and look Demon straight in his, trying to convey how earnest I am. “It should have been me who was arrested, not Ink. I feel so fucking bad about that.” My words end on violent sobs which shake my body.
“I bet you fuckin’ do,” Mace snarls from behind me.
“She didn’t have much of a chance.” Sparky surprisingly comes to my defence. “If we hadn’t been there, it would be her sitting in jail now. Ink made a split-second decision, and well, it’s him there instead.”
“Jail is no more than she fuckin’ deserves,” barks Mace. “Ink, Christ…” his voice trails off, and he turns away and wipes at his face.
“I didn’t ask him to help me,” I cry out in desperation. I still can’t believe he got involved. Just look what happened. It would have been me arrested if he’d not intercepted. If he’d had any idea, he wouldn’t have done it, would he? In an attempt to get the scary looking enforcer to believe me, I continue, “Ink appeared out of nowhere. Took the bag from my hands. He told me to go.” And I had. “I should have stood my ground, should have stayed with him, insisted he’d given me the bag back. That was what I did wrong.” But I hadn’t. Instead I’d obeyed that tone he’d used. I have no excuse for that. I weep again, this time, more quietly.
“Ink knew.” Beef slaps one meaty fist into his palm. “Ink fuckin’ knew the cops were there.”
Ink knew?
“So why?” I wail. “Why did he step in? Why did he tell me to run? Why didn’t he leave me, as Mace said, to get what I deserved?”
It’s Sparky again who’s voice is calmer than the rest. “Because he knew, Beth. Because he knew it was you. Because if he guessed right what you were carrying, you’d have been taken by the cops. Because… he’s Ink.”
More feet on the stairs and Cad enters. He pauses at the bottom, and Demon gives him a nod.
“Got a location for this Connor fucker?”
They’re trying to find Connor?
Cad shakes his head. “Nah. Tried ringing the number, but it goes straight to voicemail. Tried several times now. From Beth’s phone and another.”
My head blasts with sudden pain. I don’t know who to worry about more, Ink, locked up in jail because of my stupidity, or Connor, because despite all that I’d done, he might have been killed anyway.
“They’ve killed him,” I cry out weakly, knowing he would have answered the call from my phone if he could. He’d have been waiting for me to confirm I’d done what he said. “Connor must be dead.”
As an anguished sound escapes me, Demon looks at me again. “You think your brother was telling the truth? He was being hurt? That he really was, is, in danger?” His tone suggests he has no patience for what I’m feeling. “Assuming you’ve told us the truth and had nothing to do with this before your brother called, could he have been using you to make the delivery as he got wind there might be trouble at the drop tonight? Could he have been using you?”
Tonight. It seems I’ve lived a whole lifetime, but it’s still only the early hours of the morning.
“It’s more likely that Beth was part of it all along.” I tune back in to hear Mace, who’s clearly not convinced of my innocence.
“Ask Ink,” I cry out, then realise that’s impossible. As incredulous eyes look toward me, I try to explain, “Ink was there when Connor was arguing about staying and then taking his gear. Ink saw him bring in a box and leave with it filled. He knows neither I nor Mom had a clue Connor had brought something into the house.”
Demon enters the conversation again. “You said you took two of the packages. There were more?”
“Eight,” I tell him. “There are eight packages of drugs left.” I raise my eyes to him. “I don’t care what happens to them, I want them out of our house. Please, can you help?”
The prez draws himself up and looks incredulous. “You have the fuckin’ nerve to sit there and ask for our help?”
“I care about my mother, she might be all I have left. She doesn’t know… what if someone else does? What if someone turns up for the rest?” My voice rises higher. “They’re worth money, aren’t they? You could take them, sell them—I don’t care…”
I’m forced to stop as there’s a roar from the bikers surrounding me.
“Shut up!” snarls Demon, to get them to stop.
But Beef is eyeing me carefully. “Drug dealers don’t offer up their stash, Prez. If she’s got eight bricks of whatever that fuckin’ shit is, she’s offering it freely. I’d bet she’s no clue of the value.”
“She could just be following her brother’s instructions.” Mace isn’t giving me an inch.
“You reckon he’d instruct her to simply hand over that shit? One brick, Mace, maybe, to get us onside. But fuckin’ eight? She could be telling the truth.” Beef turns to his prez. “She could be trying to save her skin, yes. But I warn you, Demon, don’t make the same mistake you made with Skull, before he was patched in and was the prospect Runt. Don’t go looking for answers when there may be none to be had. Focus on the information she does have instead.” His eyes flash something to Demon. I don’t know why they mentioned Skull, there must be some things Mel hadn’t shared, but his words seem to do some good.
Whatever, Demon seems to take what his VP has said at face value. “I asked you a question, Beth. Could your brother have been using you?”
I press my lips together, and more tears leak as I start speaking my thoughts aloud, “If you’d asked me a week, a day ago, I’d say he was on the wrong path, influenced too much by Phil, but that there was still a familial affection there. That he wouldn’t have wanted any harm to come to me,” I give a little shake of my head to show I haven’t finished, “as I wouldn’t want physical harm to come to him. All I can tell you is that he sounded hurt, it sounded like it was painful for him to breathe, so I believed he had broken ribs. But when you come right down to it, I don’t know my brother anymore. He could have been setting me up. There, that’s the truth of it.”
If anything, Demon’s eyes seem to darken until they become a solid black. “Either way we need to find him.”
He makes a slight turn, raising an eyebrow at Cad. Cad nods and gives him the answer he’s clearly seeking. “Haven’t been able to trace where the calls were made from, it was probably some type of cheap burner, but I can carry on digging using the signal from hers. Will involve triangulation, but I’ll get there.”
“I want men ready to roll as soon as you find out where we’re heading.”
“Want us to get to Denver so we’ll be waiting?” Mace asks.
Demon again raises a querying brow in Cad’s direction.
“I’m doing what I can. It may well be tomorrow,” he grimaces, clearly remembering the time and corrects, “later today, or even Monday before I know anything. And, you’re only assuming he’s in Denver as that’s his hometown. He could be here in Pueblo for all we know.”
That they’re searching for my brother should give me some satisfaction, but it doesn’t. He could already be dead, or, he could be having the time of his life, completely unharmed and laughing as he’d avoided the fate I’d so narrowly escaped and Ink’s suffering instead. Neither option is attractive. Alive or dead, Connor will be gone from my life. Ink. What must he be feeling? Does he now hate me for landing him in this mess? He probably regrets ever going with me. Oh God, Ink. Why did you step in? Why didn’t you just let me accept my fate? I realise I’d tuned out for a moment as Demon’s still talking.
“You find him? I want him back here. He’s got acc
ess to large quantities of drugs, and whether or not he’s the ringleader, is probably up to his neck in the new trade coming into Pueblo.”
I glance at those tools again being under no illusion what would happen if my brother’s alive and they get their hands on him. But if Connor’s whole story was concocted, I don’t feel much sympathy about the Devils hurting him. With Ink locked up, they’ll show little mercy.
“How many do you think should go?” asks Beef.
“I’ll go,” offers Thunder. His voice surprises me. I hadn’t noticed him descend the stairs, though the expression on his face shows he’s been here for most of the conversation.
“Me too,” agrees Mace.
“Four more,” Demon proposes. “Just in case we need to extricate a hostage.” But a glance in my direction shows he thinks it’s unlikely. He thinks I’ve been had. Maybe I have. Or, perhaps, he still doesn’t believe one word of my story.
“One more thing…” Cad holds up his hand and interrupts. “Don’t know what this has to do with it, but Ink already asked me to look into this Phil Foster.”
“He asked about Phil?” It must have been after last Sunday. I’m confused, why would Ink want to know about him?
Demon ignores me. “And have you?” He gestures at the tech man to give him more.
“Yeah, he’s one shady motherfucker,” Cad obliges. “Cops want him but can’t pin enough on him.” He glances my way as if to see how I’m taking it.
It’s not news to me. I’d known all my life my father was a criminal.
“Drugs?”
“That’s what I was looking for but haven’t found a connection as yet. I’ll get back to digging.” Then Cad turns to leave, presumably to resume what he was doing. I call out to him. “Cad, find Connor. Please?”
Sparky waves Cad off, and then he comes over to me. For the first time since the alley he sounds a little sympathetic. “If your brother is being held against his will, we’ll find him and get him out. If he’s not there, we’ll find out what’s happened to him.” He crouches down in front of me. “While he’s still got the rest of the drugs, he’s got a bargaining chip.”
Ink's Devil: Satan's Devils MC Colorado Chapter #5 Page 18