Chapter 10

SEAN

It was the middle of the afternoon at the Brickstone Bar. Memories of the time I had with Joshua lingered in my head and I couldn’t do anything to shake them. Laughing and joking with him in the garage. Taking him from behind up on the hillside. Even sharing a late night meal with him while we recovered from our sweaty session together.

But I had to put everything aside because now it was time to get down to business. Just because I had a lead didn’t mean it was over. Shit was just getting started.

I didn’t wait to get Cade and the other Chargers into the meeting room. We gathered around the table and everybody turned their attention to me.

“You’ve got the floor,” Cade said.

“Right…”

I shook my head, wondering where to start. I figured there was no better place than at the top.

“I saw him,” I said. “The president of the Demons. Leon. Lion. Whatever his name is.”

Everybody at the table looked around at one another like they weren’t sure to believe me.

“You saw Leon?” Kellen said, his face scrunched in confusion.

“Bald head. Tattoos from his neck and the back of his head all the way down to his fingers. I saw all of the Demons. If that’s not Leon, he sure talked like he had a lot of clout.”

“If you say he’s in charge of the Demons, then it’s probably him,” Cade said.

“All right,” Tristan said with a shrug. “So you saw Leon. What does that matter?”

“I didn’t just see him. I talked to him. He said there are races going on 55th. The mechanic I was talking to… He was souping up a bike for one of the Demons. Some asshole named Roland. No doubt he’s using that bike racing.”

“Shit,” Cade sighed. “That makes a whole lotta sense.”

Everybody at the table was silent, staring at the table while they contemplated what I told them.

“Three accidents,” Kellen said. “Three dead bodies. Single vehicle. All of them on souped-up bikes.”

“Where were those accidents?” Cade asked.

Everybody already knew the answer but Kellen answered him anyway.

“Around 55th.”

“Goddamn!” Zak said. “You did it, Sparrow. You got to the bottom of this shit.”

“Hold on,” I responded. “I didn’t really get down to anything. Just because we know the accidents are probably happening because of the races doesn’t mean we’ve gotten to the bottom of it.”

“You’re right,” Cade said.

The leader of the Chargers got up from his seat to get everybody’s attention.

“Detective Kennedy told me to take care of the West Bay. He said to clean this place up. And right now, there are a bunch of accidents happening down at those races. Putting a stop to them won’t be as simple as asking them politely.”

“Maybe we can bake them some cookies,” Tristan scoffed. “Nobody can turn down a nice batch of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies.”

“Knock it off,” Kellen said. “This is serious.”

“You think I don’t know that? A club that hasn’t been to the West Bay in years is back all of a sudden. And now they’re hosting street races while everybody is turning a blind eye to them. If we somehow manage to convince the Demons to stop, there’s no telling how we’ll get the other motorcycle clubs to pull out, too.”

“It’s gonna take a helluva lotta cookies,” Zak said.

Great.

Just like I figured. We all knew what was going on but now we were at another roadblock. Everybody at the table was looking at each other for answers that nobody had.

“We know that those accidents were from races,” Kellen said. “The Demons are involved, one way or another. We know that for sure. That’s our lead. I say that’s where we start.”

“And how exactly do we do that?” Tristan said. “I was just joking about the cookies…”

“We head down to the races ourselves. We’re riders. The same as everybody else. Sean, you said they invited you, didn’t they?”

“Got the invitation from the man himself,” I said.

“Exactly,” Kellen said. “I say we head out there. See what this shit is all about. Once we see it for ourselves, then we do something about it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Tristan said.

“What’s your problem now, Mossy?”

Tristan got up from his seat and pressed his palms against the table.

“It’s not a secret what kinda reputation we have around these parts,” he said. “People know not to fuck with us. Not just because we handle our business but because they know we’re trying to clean the streets up.”

“What are you saying?” Kellen said. “You think we go to those races and the other clubs will try to take us out?”

“I’m not saying they’ll do that. They got respect for us. But don’t you think it’s strange that this is the first time we’re hearing about the races? How come the newest guy is the only one to receive an invite? Did you think about that, Guru?”

Tristan raised his eyebrows at Kellen then plopped down in his seat. There was a growing tension in the room. Cade put his hands up before anybody could get too worked up about it.

“We’ve got our lead,” he said. “The races on 55th is where all of this shit is going down. If we don’t do something about it, Kennedy will come in and handle it himself. Not on my watch. The West Bay doesn’t need patrol cars on every block when the Chargers are around.”

“Then what are you saying?” Zak said.

“Sean… Head down to the races. Take Zak with you.”

“I’ll go, too,” Kellen said.

“Fine. You three check out what’s going on. Once you see it for yourself, then maybe you can come up with a way to put an end to this shit. Or maybe you can at least figure out how to get them to settle down.”

“They’re street races,” Tristan said. “Have you seen a race before? These motherfuckers go all out. Judging from three dead bodies showing up, I’m guessing there’s a lotta cash on the line.”

Tristan was pessimistic about everything but he was only being honest. I knew what I was getting into but now wasn’t the time to back away.

“All right,” I said as I stood up. “Leon said the races are on the weekends. I’ll head there tonight with Zak and Kellen. We’ll figure out what’s going on and see if we can come up with some answers on how to put a stop to this.”

“Souped-up rides,” Tristan muttered to himself. “Crashing and burning. That ain’t no way to ride, if you ask me. No respect for the road…”

Cade snapped his fingers and everybody started heading out of the meeting room. Just before I left, Cade put a hand on my shoulder.

“What is it?” I said.

“You did good, getting that information.”

“It was just a coincidence. You guys were checking out mechanics the same as I was.”

“But you found it. It doesn’t get any easier from here. You know we can’t stop until we put an end to this. Being a Charger means having respect for the West Bay.”

“I know. I won’t ever forget that.”

He gave me a smirk then patted me on the back. I left the meeting room and headed over to the bar. The races were tonight but I still had the whole day ahead of me.

“You feel like working a shift?”

Bryce was on the other side of the bar, taking inventory of all of the bottles of liquor on the wall. I thought about visiting Joshua but figured I would give him his space for now.

“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I can do that. Going home to visit your son?”

“The most important man in my life. Maybe you’ll figure that out one day. By the way, how is Joshua?”

Bryce raised his head up from the clipboard and grinned at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed right back at him.

“Do you want me to take this shift or not?” I said.

“Just curious. No need to get upset.”

I took Bryce’s place behind the bar and picked up where he left off. The bar was mostly empty. It would be like that for the rest of the day until the evening crowd started to come in, so I knew I had an easy day ahead of me.

Someone walked in but I didn’t pay much attention to them. I didn’t stop to look at them until they were in the corner of my eye.

“What can I get for you—”

I looked across at the man sitting there.

Roland.

The daylight shining in through the windows weren’t doing his face any favors. He had a satisfied smile on his lips while he rubbed his hands together.

“Mr. Charger… It’s good to see you.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Thought I’d stop by and say hello. See if you were interested in accepting Lion’s invitation.”

“So… That was Leon then.”

“That’s right. The man’s been in charge of the Demons for as long as I can remember. I don’t agree with how he runs things but he does run things. And if he’s inviting you to 55th, then who am I to refuse?”

Roland didn’t look like a man with any integrity but even a biker like him had some loyalty to the patch on his leather vest.

“What do you think? You up for a race?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m up for a race.”

“That’s what I like to hear. No man with a ride should ever back down from a challenge. You’ve gotta take pride in your bike.”

“Is that why you came here? Just to confirm Leon’s invitation?”

“That’s right. But as long as I’m here, I figure I’ll have a beer.”

He smiled his yellow-toothed grin at me. I reached down and grabbed a bottle for him.

“Nice place you got here,” he said as he looked around. “This is the home of the Chargers… Demons don’t got a place like this. Well, nothing as fancy anyway. But it’s something.”

He picked up his beer and took a huge gulp out of it. The way he sighed with satisfaction was annoyingly loud.

“We’ll get there one day,” he said. “I think I can take the Demons to the top. All I gotta do is keep smoking all of the poor saps they put in front of me. Of course, I’d make more money if I had a challenge.”

He swallowed the rest of his beer down like he was dying of thirst.

“Maybe I’ll find a challenge tonight.”

He pushed his empty bottle across the counter in front of me. I kept my eyes locked on him, counting the seconds until he was gone.

“Maybe you will,” I said.

He had a wheezy laugh as he got up from his seat. He didn’t do anything more as he headed for the exit.

“See you tonight.”

Even after he was gone, I was still staring at the front entrance. Tonight wasn’t gonna be simple. Not with someone like Roland and the Demons involved. I had to be ready for anything.