Satan’s Fury MC - Memphis

by Wilder, L.

  Even though my plans of becoming a lawyer had been derailed, I hadn’t given up. I held on to my dream of fighting the injustices of the world and became an investigative reporter for the Memphis Metro newspaper. I knew I wouldn’t be able to put criminals behind bars, but I could expose their crimes to the world—or so I thought. I had been working at the paper for over a year, and I was still stuck writing articles about construction and pet shows. After months of trying, I finally convinced my editor, Chandler Graves, to take a chance on me. He agreed to let me write a piece on the Mexican cartel, but as expected, he had conditions: my daily articles were to come first, and I could only work on my piece once they were turned in and approved. I wasn’t thrilled with the situation, but I took it, knowing I finally had an opportunity to prove myself.

  I’d been at working on my article for weeks but had gotten nowhere. I kept hitting one wall after another, but then it happened. I got the lead I’d been hoping for. My fingers were trembling, and I thought my heart would literally pound out of my chest as I stood up from my desk and peered over the wall of my small office cubicle. I quickly scanned the room for my best friend, Grace, hoping that I would find her close by. Looking around at all my colleagues working away at their desks, I was overcome with the sudden urge to shout at everyone to stop what they were doing and tell them what I’d found. Even though it would be nice to boast, this kind of news was something I could only share with Grace. She was the one person in the office who I could truly trust, and I nearly lost it when she wasn’t in her cubicle. Knowing there was only one other place she could be, I stepped out into the aisle and hurried towards the snack room. When I walked in, I found her rubbing her round belly as she gazed longingly at the snack machine. She was seven months pregnant, and with her growing appetite, she didn’t even notice when I rushed up beside her.

  “Hey! Guess what!”

  She kept her eyes glued to the candy section as she grumbled, “I’m not in the guessing kind of mood, Reece, so if there’s something you want to tell me, just tell me.”

  I reached in my pocket for a dollar bill and slipped it into the vending machine, then I quickly selected her favorite candy bar. As soon as it dropped from the slot, I grabbed it and offered it to her. Thankfully, her expression softened as she took it from my hand. “You having a rough morning?”

  “Yeah, but nothing a little chocolate won’t fix.” She took a bite of her candy bar, and with her mouth full, she asked, “So, what’s the big news?”

  I took her by the arm, pulling her over to the corner of the room, and once I felt certain no one could hear me, I whispered, “I found him. Well, I didn’t actually find him, but I’m close.”

  “What? But how?”

  “My source came through, and he came through big!” I was smiling ear to ear as I told her, “Rodrigo was seen going into an apartment right here in Memphis!”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “Nope! Apparently, he’s been in the area before on different occasions. Can you imagine? The asshole has been right under my nose, and I didn’t even know it.”

  “But why would he be here in Memphis?”

  “I’m not sure. I knew from my research that he and his brother’s cartel had been trying to expand their distribution further into the north, but I didn’t realize Memphis was included in that. Now that I have this address, maybe I can use it to track him down and—”

  “Whoa. You’re not actually considering going to that address by yourself, are you?” she asked with concern.

  “Well, yeah. Don’t you see? This kind of break is exactly what I’ve been looking for. These men have been responsible for killing thousands of people, and they’ve never had to pay for it. They just keep slipping through the cracks, and no one has been able to stop them. If I can get the right lead, I can finally write the story I’ve been wanting to and bring down these guys for good. So, yeah, I’m going to that apartment, and I’m going to figure out what the hell they’re up to.”

  “Have you talked to Graves about this?” she asked, sounding apprehensive.

  My good mood diminished the second Grace mentioned his name. “No, not yet.”

  “I know you’re excited and all, but your lead goes nowhere without his approval.”

  “I’m very aware of that, Grace.” I complained under my breath.

  “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. This whole thing is a little scary, and there’s a good chance that he’s not gonna go for it, especially since you aren’t as experienced as some of the other reporters.”

  “I can handle Graves. I just have to make him see how important going to that apartment is to my story.”

  “Well, you better think of something fast”—she motioned her hand towards the main office—“because it looks like ‘Mr. Wonderful’ is coming this way.”

  I quickly turned and let out a loud, disgruntled sigh when I saw Graves walking in our direction. I hoped that he would be pleased about my new lead, but I started to have my doubts as he made his way over to me and Grace. He gave us both a half-smile. “Afternoon, ladies.”

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Graves,” Grace answered before turning to me. “I better get back to work. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”

  She gave me a quick wink before heading back to her desk. Once she was gone, Graves looked over to me and asked, “Have you finished your piece on the new roundabout downtown?”

  “I have. I submitted it to you an hour ago.”

  With a blank expression, he answered, “That’s good to hear. After I look it over, we’ll discuss your next assignment.”

  “About that … There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

  “Okay. What’s on your mind?”

  I took a quick glance around and noticed that several other reporters had gathered around the break room. “Could we discuss it in your office?”

  “I’ve got a full plate today, Winters.”

  “I know you’re busy, but this is important.”

  “All right, but I have a meeting in fifteen.”

  “Great. I’ll only need five.”

  I followed him into his office, and once we were both seated, he asked, “So, what is it that you’d like to discuss?”

  “It’s about my article. I got a big lead this morning, and I need your approval to move on it.”

  “What kind of lead?”

  “My informant contacted me earlier, and he gave me the address for Rodrigo Navarro. As you already know, he’s one of the lead guys in the cartel I’ve been investigating. The apartment where he’s been seen is right here in the city, and I’d like the okay to go check it out.”

  He crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair and said, “You want to go check out an address you were given for a mob boss?”

  “They are looking to expand their distribution, and my source seems to think that Rodrigo is here to help get things started. I’m guessing he’s looking for a new shipping route for hauling their drugs, and if I can get close enough, I can figure out—”

  “Well, there’s no way in hell that’s going to happen.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Because these men are dangerous criminals, and I don’t want you anywhere near any of them!” he snapped. “Have you even considered what these guys would do to you if they suspected you were investigating them?”

  “I have no intention of ever letting them find out. I mean, come on, it’s not like I’m planning to just walk up and ask the guy for an interview. I’ll keep my distance and stay hidden. They’ll never even know I’m there.”

  “Oh, they’ll know you’re there, Winters.” He ran his hand roughly over his face and grumbled, “A young blonde following them around in her bright red Volkswagen. Umm … yeah. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

  “I’m not stupid, Chandler. I do know what it means to go undercover.”

  “But that’s just it. You’ve never gone undercover. You don’t know the first thi
ng about staying under the radar,” he argued.

  “Well, this is my chance to learn the ropes.”

  “I don’t know, Winters. I only agreed to this article because I knew it was important to you, but now, I’m thinking that was a mistake.”

  “It wasn’t a mistake. I can do this. I just need you to give me a chance to prove it.”

  “And what if something happens to you?”

  “Nothing is going to happen to me. Like I said, I’ll play it safe and keep my distance. I give you my word.”

  “I’ll agree to this, but with one condition—you take Myles along with you.”

  Myles Dixon was one of our top writers who covered lots of the big criminal cases in town, and I should’ve been excited to have the opportunity to work with someone like him, but I wasn’t. I wanted to do this on my own. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. Once Graves had made up his mind about something, there was no changing it. “Okay. I’ll take Myles along, but I have a condition of my own.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “The story is mine. No matter what happens, he has no input on how it’s written.”

  “Agreed.” He glanced down at his watch, then stood up and said, “I’ve got to head upstairs. Get with Myles and fill him in on the situation. If he has any questions, send him to me.”

  “Will do.”

  When I started for the door, Graves called out to me, “Winters.”

  “Yes?”

  “Myles is really good at what he does. If you play your cards right, you might learn something from him.”

  “You never know. Stranger things have happened.”

  With that, I turned and went back to my cubicle. I barely had a chance to sit down before Grace came rushing over to my desk. She wanted to hear about my meeting with Graves, and as I told her everything that was said, a mischievous smile spread across her face. Surprised by her reaction, I asked, “What’s with the look?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I was just thinking … working side by side with Myles wouldn’t be a bad thing. With that hot bod and those incredible, blue eyes, he’s all kinds of fine, and on top of that, he’s a brilliant writer. Who knows? Maybe you two will hit it off.”

  “Umm … no. I am not interested in Myles. As far as I’m concerned, he’s just a means to an end.”

  “You say that now, but after a couple of late-night stakeouts, you might see things differently,” she snickered.

  “Not a chance.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  Before I had a chance to argue, she turned and walked away. Damn. I was already feeling anxious about talking to Myles, but after my conversation with Grace, I was downright dreading it—mainly because Grace was right. In our small office, he was something to behold. He was a gifted writer who looked just like Chris Hemsworth, and it was difficult not to think of Thor whenever he walked into the room. To make matters worse, I’d only spoken with him twice, and both times, I kept the conversation brief. There was a chance he wouldn’t even remember meeting me, which made having to contact him that much harder. Knowing I had no other choice, I picked up the phone and dialed his number. After a brief conversation, we made arrangements to meet after work for a bite to eat. It would be a late night for me, but if I could convince him to work with me, it would be well worth it. As soon as I hung up the phone, I turned on my laptop and opened my notes. I wanted to be prepared when I met with Myles, so I quickly reviewed everything I’d gathered over the last month. While it wasn’t much, it was a good start, and hopefully, it wouldn’t be long before I had everything I needed to take down Rodrigo Navarro. I was determined to make him pay for the hurt he’d caused my family, and nothing was going to stand in my way.

  CHAPTER 3

  Riggs

  I’ve done some pretty fucked up things in my life, but until Cotton mentioned moving Navarro and his men, I’d never even considered digging up a fucking corpse—much less one that had been buried for several days. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea, but like the others, I believed it was the best way for the club to throw Navarro’s brother off track. As we drove over to the east side of town to retrieve the bodies, I tried to prepare myself for what we were about to encounter, but it didn’t help. Hell, I nearly lost my lunch when I saw the state of the decaying corpses, but I still managed to help my brothers get the job done. Once we had everything loaded into the back of the truck, we drove to a remote part of town in Little Rock, Arkansas. I’d done my research and found an old, abandoned warehouse that was miles away from town. When I discovered it was one of many in the area, I knew it was the perfect place to put our plan into motion.

  It was after midnight when we finally pulled up to the warehouse, and without a single street light, the entire place was surrounded in darkness. We didn’t want to take any chances on being recognized, so we left our cuts in the SUV and wore all black. We even wore dark-colored ski masks, which made it difficult for us to see as we pulled the bodies out of the truck. Once we had them inside the warehouse, we removed the plastic and positioned them, along with several of their firearms, to look like an exchange gone wrong. Knowing there was a chance the cops would know that the whole setup had been staged, we torched the place, destroying any evidence that might connect Navarro’s death back to us. Before we left, Blaze parked Navarro’s SUV at the front gate with his wallet stashed away in the glovebox.

  As soon as we were certain that no stone had been left unturned, we got in our vehicles and headed back to Memphis. We were all eager to find out if Cotton’s plan worked, so Big and I wasted no time hacking into the data base at the Little Rock Police Department. We read through every report that was filed, and at first, it looked like they were buying into the setup. As we’d hoped, they used Navarro’s car and license to connect Navarro to the scene, and it wasn’t long before they identified his remains. Unfortunately, doubts started to trickle in when the forensic coroner’s report came back. Even though there wasn’t much left of Navarro or his men, he’d determined that the actual time of death didn’t exactly match the timeline of the fire. Even so, they still believed it was associated with a bad drug exchange and didn’t share the information with the newspapers.

  Feeling confident that our plan had worked, we all gathered down at Daisy’s, the club’s diner, to grab a burger before Cotton and the others headed back home. Cyrus had closed early, leaving the entire place to the brothers, and just as we were about to finish eating, Blaze turned to Gus and asked, “Now that we’ve bought ourselves some time, are we gonna move forward with the run?”

  “I think we’re good for the end of the week, but we’re going to do things a little different this go round.” He quickly glanced over in Cotton’s direction as he continued, “Cotton’s gonna send several brothers to follow the shipment until it reaches Baton Rouge.”

  “And Ronin? Has he got things sorted with the new dock?” Shadow asked.

  Knowing he stood to lose everything if the location ever got out, Ronin had worked hard to keep his dock and all his transporting barges secured. Unfortunately, Navarro used a tracker on one of our SUVs, and we led our enemy straight to his door. It was a tough hit for the club, but an even harder hit for Ronin. He basically had to start from scratch by securing a new warehouse and a new barge. To make things even more difficult, he only had a few days to do it, so I was relieved when Gus replied, “He did, but it’s down in Mobile.”

  “Mobile, Alabama?”

  “Yeah. He said it’s even better than the last one, and he’s added more security. Murphy and I are going to check it out in the morning. If it’s as good as he says, then we should be a go for the end of the week.”

  “Good. Glad to hear it.”

  Cotton and the others were going over some minor details of their trip back home when I heard the front door rattle back and forth. I turned to see who was at the door, and my world stopped turning when I saw her standing on the other side of the glass. It had been years since I’d seen her, b
ut the second I saw those crystal-blue eyes, I knew it was Reece. She looked just as beautiful as she did that night in the bar, and I could still remember how good she felt in my arms.

  Her scent.

  The soft caress of her lips.

  The warmth of her body pressed against mine.

  The longing that burned inside of me when she walked out that door.

  I thought back to all the sleeplessness nights I spent lying in my bed wondering how I’d managed to let a girl like Reece slip through my fingers. I couldn’t deny the fact that it was my fault. I was trying to play it cool and didn’t call her right away. In fact, I didn’t pursue her at all. I was thick-headed and assumed she’d reach out to me. That didn’t happen, and by the time I’d actually pulled my head out of my ass, it was too late. My stomach twisted into a knot when I remembered the day I went to her dorm looking for her. I’d gone there after I finally called her, and the conversation was awkward at best. It was clear that she was hurt because I had waited so long to contact her, and I hoped that I could rectify things if I went to see her in person. I was surprised when Danielle, her sorority sister, answered the door. I was even more surprised when she told me that Reece had already left for Vanderbilt. Even though I already knew it, Danielle informed me that I’d fucked up in a major way. I thought about going after her, explaining that I’d made a mistake, but after my conversation with Danielle, I decided against it. Reece had gone to Vanderbilt to start a new chapter in her life, a chapter in which a man like me didn’t belong.