Bane Returns

by KJ Dahlen

  Deke interrupted him. “If it’s the one of Gambler’s son, Dusty in a sniper’s scope along with the text ‘does this belong to you” then we’ve seen it too.”

  There was a pause on the other end of the call then they all heard Bastian’s voice again, “I’m not even going to ask how but we’re on our way to Troy to figure this out. Theo might have a good idea who it is and James is running a couple of names down. I just thought I’d give you a head’s up as we’ll be there in an hour.”

  “Appreciate that man, we’ll be waiting for you,” Deke told him then ended the call.

  Black Jack glared at Deke for a moment then had to ask, “Ok Deke, just who the hell is this guy and why would the photo go to him, instead of Gambler?”

  Just then, the front door opened.

  Cricket and Raine came in. They had gotten Deke’s message too.

  Cricket hurried over to the table and looked from Black Jack to Deke, then to Gambler. “I was asked to keep this a secret but it’s time for you all to know. The man that was here before as Theo Franks was in reality, my uncle Bane Jessin. And he will be coming here to protect Dusty, his grandson.”

  The whole room groaned as they realized what her words meant. “Fucking hell girl.” Deke growled. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”

  Cricket stood there with tears running down her face. “I wasn’t sure until just before he left the last time. He came to the house to speak to me and Dusty was there too. He looked at the boy but never said anything to him. He did ask me if Dusty was his grandson and I had to tell him the truth. Bane might have been a bastard but this man wasn’t. Oh, he had a lot of Bane still in him but that time he was softer, more caring I thought. All he wanted was to put the past behind him and start over.” She lifted her head and looked Deke in the eyes. “I wasn’t sure he could do it but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then as you know, I called him for help when Bulldog came here to destroy the compound. He does care about this MC as that is where his only grandchild is.” She turned to Gambler. “I don’t know what they want with Dusty, whether it’s to bring Bane out in the open or what, but whoever they are they can’t have Dusty. He’s as much mine as he is yours and I won’t let that happen. Do you hear me, Gambler? I won’t let that happen.”

  Gambler got to his feet and marched over to where she stood. He grabbed her by the shoulders. “There isn’t a man jack here that’s going to let that happen. I’ll kill the first man who harms a hair on that boy’s head. He’s my son and I’ll be damned if I’m going to lose him, not like this. We’ll protect him.”

  Cricket threw herself at him and his arms closed around her for a moment. Then Cricket stepped back into Raine’s arms. His arms closed around her and held her close to him. “You better. Cuz if you let him get, hurt I’ll never forgive you.”

  “Baby girl, don’t even go there.” Black Jack growled. “Dusty won’t be hurt, I promise.”

  “If Bane is on his way here, you can almost guarantee that, but someone is going to die for putting his life in danger,” Cricket warned them.

  Chapter Five

  “He’ll be here in an hour or so, and we’ll have more information then,” Deke announced. “He is with Priest and so, I guess until then, we just have to wait.”

  Raine sat down. “Damn, that man is trouble any way you slice it.”

  “Maybe,” Sam muttered. “But when that shit with Bulldog went down, we were all glad he was that kind of trouble weren’t we? We all knew that was Bane, no matter what he looked like.”

  Gator glared at him.

  Sam looked over at him and shrugged. “Hey, no one ever likes my opinion, so I’m used to that.”

  Deke shook his head in usual disgust at his father’s so-called opinions.

  Cricket didn’t seem to hear their conversation, as she couldn’t sit. She paced back and forth, wringing her hands the whole time.

  Black Jack and the others watched her but didn’t know how to help her. Finally, he got up and walked over to her. He stopped her pacing and put his hands on her shoulders. “Honey, please just stop. We’re all worried about Dusty and we’ll know more about who is after him and why once your uncle gets here but until then, all we can do is wait.”

  Cricket looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Oh Jack, you don’t have any idea what kind of life Dusty and I had before we came here. From the day she told me she was pregnant, Cordy hated that baby. But she knew she could control me by using him against me. She used to threaten to get an abortion every time I pissed her off, then she said she would throw me out into the streets and never see me again. She was mean enough to do it too. After that baby was born, she wouldn’t even look at him. He became my baby from the moment she had him and I loved him so much. I fed him and held him close to my body when Cordy went off on a rant. I protected him from her crazy. I’m the one that took care of him, I brushed away his tears when he got hurt, not her. I read him stories at night, I sat up with him when he was sick, and I showed him the stars. Cordy never loved him but I sure as hell did.” She turned to look at Gambler. “I gave him to you because it was the right thing to do. I told him one day, we would find his dad and he would have a family, a real family. It tore my heart out when you took him to Maine with you. But I knew I had to let him go. You could teach him to be a good man. That was something I couldn’t do.”

  Gambler just stared at her.

  The others in the room kept quiet.

  “Then Bane came around and I was scared,” she went on. “Bane was just like Cordy, the man had no soul, no heart. When I realized this, I was glad Dusty was with you. I begged Deke and the brothers not to tell Bane about his grandson. I didn’t want Dusty to be raised by that monster. And Bane was a monster back then. He was a cold and cruel man and I hated him. Then when I thought he was dead, I almost felt sorry for the man. Almost. But I was still glad he didn’t know about Dusty. That meant Dusty was safe at least. But when Bane came back as Theo, I didn’t know what to think. I could see he was changing but I didn’t dare to hope, you know.” She paused and looked up at the ceiling as if plagued by demons.

  Raine stood and went over to her, he placed and arm around her shoulder.

  She sighed and looked back at the men in the room. “Then he was here, he came to see me. He wanted to know if I knew who he was. I did somehow. I mean I just knew. Then he asked me if Dusty was his grandson and I did not lie to him. I asked him how he was still alive and then he claimed that Bane Jessin did die in the woods that night. He told me that before he died, he finally asked my mother for forgiveness for everything he’d put her through, then he asked my dad for forgiveness too. He said he finally realized his life had been so empty and when he finally found a reason to live, he was facing his own death, then Priest offered him a do over if he was ready to start over. That he would have to leave his old life behind and he took him up on his offer.” She shivered as she told them, “I can’t help but think this is part of his old life coming back to bite him in the ass and Dusty might just be bait to drag him out of the shadows into the light. That somehow whoever is behind this, wants them both dead and that is something I don’t know if I can bear.”

  Black Jack shook his head “Oh honey, we won’t let anything happen to Dusty. You may have loved him first but we all love him now. Don’t you ever doubt that for one minute.”

  Cricket looked deep into Black Jack’s eyes. “I can’t lose him Jack, I just can’t lose him. It would be like losing a part of myself I could never get back, you know?”

  He nodded. “I know honey, we all of feel that way. That little boy has crept into our hearts too.”

  Raine stood beside her. He then led her back to the table and sat down with her in his lap.

  Amos and Jemmia had just sat there watching everyone and listening to Cricket’s story.

  Amos felt his phone vibrate. He reached in his pocket and pulled it out. Looking at the message, he growled and glared at Deke. Then he shoved his phone in Deke’s di
rection. “Joey caught this on that same website.”

  Deke picked up the phone. Glancing at the message for a long moment, he lifted his eyes to Amos and growled, “Is this fucking for real?”

  Amos shook his head and shrugged. “I have no fucking clue boss. Joey is the one who found the picture this morning and this is from him too. I just don’t know where he’s getting it from, honestly.”

  Sam leaned over to peek at the phone in Deke’s hand.

  The message read, ‘Help me stop my brother from doing something stupid and getting himself killed or killing someone else.’

  The note was unsigned and really made no sense when you thought about it. Like, who was the brother? Who was he after to kill or be killed?

  Just more questions and no real answers yet.

  “What the fuck does that even mean?” Sam asked.

  “I have no idea, Dad,” Deke grumbled. “I guess we have to wait to ask Bane when he gets here, won’t we? Just another fucking layer of questions he probably won’t answer. As always, he likes to fucking leave us in the dark, doesn’t he?” Deke looked over at Gambler and said, “Maybe you should bring Paige and Dusty here, so we can keep an eye on them.” Then he looked over at Raine, “And you should bring your kids here too.”

  Raine gave him a nod as he looked troubled, to say the least.

  Finally, Deke glanced over at Black Jack. “Whoever is out there might be watching the compound and they might even know about all the members here and their families. I don’t want anyone hurt.”

  Black Jack got to his feet and glared at Deke. “I’ll go get them. I’ll make sure they all get here safe enough.” He looked over at Raine and told him, “You stay here with her. I’ll get your family here safe enough.” Then he turned and headed out of the clubhouse, followed shortly by Gambler.

  Deke looked over at Gator, “Maybe we should lock the front gate, so we don’t get any unwanted visitors and keep everyone inside today.”

  Gator nodded. “I agree.” He got up and walked out after the other two.

  “I need to let Frankie and the boys know to watch over the House while we’re here,” Amos told Deke. “I wasn’t sure how long we’d be gone.” He turned to Jemmia, “Unless you want to go back and watch over them from there?”

  Jemmia shook her head. “I’d rather be here with my girls. They might need me.”

  Deke grinned. “You are welcome to stay if you want. I’m sure the girls will appreciate you’re being here.”

  “I’ll just let Frankie know to watch over everything then.” Amos nodded.

  Deke turned to look at the older man. “You need to get this Joey here now and you tell him to bring his computer with him. He’s the only one who knows where these messages are coming from. Zipper might be able to take this further for us.”

  Amos looked at Jemmia and scratched his whiskers. “Well now, that might be a problem boss. Joey doesn’t do well around a lot of people.”

  “What he is trying to say without actually saying it...” Jemmia frowned. “Is that Joey suffers from PTSD. The boys at the house are trying to help him but you never know what’s going to set the boy off.”

  Deke nodded. “I understand all that but we need him here. He’ll just have to get over it.”

  “Son.” Sam shook his head. “PTSD isn’t something you just get over. It’s like Cassie when she has one of her episodes. You never know what triggers them but they are bad all the same.”

  “Dad.” Deke turned to Sam. “I understand all that and I wouldn’t ask him if I didn’t need him here. It’s going to take all of our resources to track these bastards down and I’m not going to waste any help I can get. Zipper is good and I know James is better but we need everyone working together to figure this out before someone ends up dead.”

  Amos nodded. “I’ll get him here.” He reached for his phone and made the call.

  Sam nodded. “I’ll start calling the brothers to bring their families in. If this bastard can’t get to Dusty, he might start going after the MC families. I’d rather play it safe.”

  For the next few hours, the clubhouse was busy as the brothers brought their families inside the compound.

  Chapter Six

  Joey arrived but one look at the chaos inside the clubhouse had him walking out the front door again.

  Cricket saw this and went to catch up with him. “Are you Joey?”

  Joey stopped and turned to face her. He nodded slowly.

  “My name is Cricket. I belong to Raine.” She stopped a little ways away from him and didn’t try to go any closer. “I know that you want to run away and find a place you feel is safe but I’m begging you to stay. Please stay and help us figure this mess out? Not for me, not for any of the men inside that clubhouse but please stay for a nine year old boy whose only crime is who he belongs to.”

  Joey swallowed hard. “The little boy in the photograph?”

  Cricket nodded. “His name is Dusty and he’s my nephew. I’ve loved him from the day he was born. He is my heart, my soul and I can’t lose him.”

  Joey sighed heavily and pushed his fingers through his hair. He stared at the clubhouse behind her. “I want to, I really do, but I just can’t be around all those people. The noise and the chatter brings flashbacks of a time I can’t forget... it freaks me out.” He shook his head, “I’m sorry I just can’t.”

  “What would it take to get you to stay?” A gravelly voice asked from behind Cricket.

  Cricket jumped and turned around to find Sam and Deke standing behind her.

  Sam growled, “Kid, we know a little bit about PTSD, we both have seen it firsthand. We can give you a room of your own if that’s what you need to be able to help us. My son has his own IT man, name of Zipper and the people that are coming have a man named James. It’s going to take all three of you to break this puzzle and find out who’s behind the threat to Dusty and Bane. We need you kid. We can’t do this without you.”

  Joey hesitated and with his stomach rolling, he nodded. “Ok, I’ll try to stay. I can’t promise anything but I will try.”

  Cricket smiled. “That’s all I can ask.”

  Just then, a trio of vehicles stopped on the other side of the gate.

  Cricket knew the driver in the first SUV and she looked back at Deke. Nodding, she waited until he went to the front gate and opened it.

  All three vehicles drove in and parked.

  Bane got out of the SUV and marched over to Cricket. “Where is Dusty? Is he all right?” He growled.

  Cricket nodded. “Yeah, he’s fine. I had to tell them who you were.”

  Bane growled and sneered. “So much for you keeping a secret. I never should have trusted you.”

  Cricket hung her head. Then she lifted her head and met his glare straight on. “Fuck you Bane. I would do anything to protect Dusty, you lousy bastard. And I kept your secret up until today.”

  Bane lifted his hand slowly and grabbed her by the throat. His fingers squeezed together tightening slowly as he cut off the air to her lungs. Everything else faded away and he couldn’t look away from the raw courage in her eyes.

  She refused to drop her gaze and stop him.

  Her look challenged him and in a sense told him to do his worst. Everything else slipped away from him and it was as if they were only two people in the world and neither of them would give an inch. It wasn’t until he felt the cold steel of a gun being shoved into the back of his head and he heard the rough voice of Deke telling him to let her go that Bane realized they weren’t the only ones here.

  He allowed his fingers to relax their hold on her throat and he stepped back.

  Cricket still held her gaze to him as she took a few deep breaths.

  Deke still had his weapon at the back of Bane’s head.

  Bastian came to stand next to him. “Stand down.”

  Deke curled his lip. “If he makes a move like that again, I’ll just shoot first and ask questions like fucking never. Are we clear on that matter?”
/>
  “I can live with that,” Bastian agreed.

  “I want his word, not yours.” Deke growled and kept his eyes trained on Bane.

  “Yes, I understand,” Bane grumbled. “Where is the boy? I want to see him for myself.”

  “First, we have to set some rules.” Deke shook his head. “Cricket didn’t so much betray you when she finally told us who you were. She should have told us as soon as she realized but she didn’t. I get the whole second chance thing. I do and if this hadn’t come up, you would have had it.”

  Bane stood tall and glared at the other man. “Could have, should have, would have, it doesn’t matter anymore. My past will always be there anyway. Men like me, we don’t get a do over.”

  “No Bane, that isn’t right,” Cricket told him. “Everyone deserves a second chance, even you. You can change the course of your life if you want it bad enough. But that’s the thing, you have to want it bad enough to try.”

  Bane turned to stare at her. “I did want it bad enough to try, but someone out there doesn’t want to let me.”

  Cricket took a step closer to him and got right up in his face. Bane would have stepped back but she grabbed his shirt and would let him move. She snarled, “Then you do what you do best. You protect your family with everything you’ve got. You told me once you begged Grace for forgiveness for forcing yourself on her and you told her that Orrin was a better man for her because he could show her the kind of love you never could. Well step up to the plate, Uncle Bane and show them how much you’ve changed. Protect your grandson. Protect Grace’s blood, your blood.” Cricket let go of his shirt and shoved him out of her way, then she turned and went back into the clubhouse.

  Bane just stared at her disappearance and for a moment, he couldn’t believe she had challenged him. Then he shook his head. “Is she crazy?”

  Deke shook his head. “No brother, she’s pissed. That’s the mama bear coming out of her. She’s telling you, that you better not fail her, or she will go crazy on you.”