Chapter 22
Cops to the Rescue
It was a good thing that Jaden had caught a nap in the vehicle, because everyone turned out to welcome him back. Marlow had managed to arrange a celebration appropriate enough for the youngsters to participate in. Hammer sat on the large wrap around sofa with Alina cuddled up to his side. Something about seeing Jaden being welcomed home by his friends clawed at his gut.
“You have that look about you. What’s wrong?”
Alina had grown to know him pretty well in a short time. “I always thought that I was doing right by Jaden. Seeing him with his friends made me realize something. I tried to make my crew his friends but what he really needed was age mates. I guess I failed him in that regard.”
“You taught him something more important, how to be a good friend. He’s a big boy. I think he’s a natural born leader and has probably always made friends easily. He seems popular enough at school.”
“I’d like to believe that. God knows, his friends are dedicated to him.”
“There you go. Stop worrying, big guy. He’s fine.”
Hammer smiled. “Still can’t believe he has his own little club.”
“It’s what he knows. I’d be surprised if he’d done anything else.”
Suddenly, there was chaos around the entrances. Marlow rushed up.
“Cops are here. They have a writ or something.”
Alina asked, “What in the world is that?”
Hammer stared at the door. “I don’t know. They normally have search warrants.”
“I’m going to tell them that I brought the kids for Jaden’s party. Hopefully, they’ll let me leave with them. I’ll take them to my place until we get this whole thing sorted out.”
“Good plan. I can’t imagine what they want.” Turning to Marlow Hammer directed. “Pass the word. If they begin hauling us in, whoever is left is to take Jaden and sit on Alina and the kids. I won’t take a chance on anything happening to them.”
Marlow jerked his chin in acknowledgement and walked off. Hammer took his time going to the door. Outside the front entrance he was met with a sobering sight. There were half a dozen police cars and over a dozen law enforcement officers from two separate stations.
“What the fuck do you want?” Hammer barked the words as he stepped out the door.
“We have a writ of habeas corpus for one Jaden M. Hark. Reported missing a second time yesterday.”
Hammer barked, “He just got back from visiting relatives out of state. Kids visit relatives over the holidays all the goddamn time. Why is Jaden doing the same a fuckin’ 911 emergency?””
The officer stepped closer. “Your son has been reported missing two times in the last few weeks. Child Protective Services will need to have a look inside and speak to him.”
“Fine but the rest of you can stay the fuck outside.”
“We are required to accompany them. If we see anything concerning we’re authorized to act on it.”
“My son is talking with his friends. They wanted a little welcome home party for him. Their teacher, Miss. Stuart brought them buy. We don’t need their parents up my ass or yours because they were subjected to a police raid.”
“We aren’t authorized to talk to anyone else’s child. Have their teacher remove them from the premises immediately.”
Hammer turned to speak over his shoulder. “Miss. Stuart, the party’s over. Thanks for bringing the other kids but you all need to take off.”
“Certainly, Mr. Hark. I’ll see you at the next parent teacher conference.”
Alina ushered the youngsters out to the back lot and loaded them into her Prius. It was a tight squeeze, but none of the officers seemed to notice or care about their hasty exit. Hammer breathed a sigh of relief when they were off the property.
His crew was exactly the same degree of accommodating to law enforcement that they always were. This earned them all the usual backlash from the officers. As Jaden sat talking with CPS workers, Hammer watched the officers roaming around visually inspecting every square inch of his clubhouse. It rankled him. Though he’d left strict instructions that the weapons were all to be locked up because of having the kids around and Shelby was supposed to be burning any bloody clothing, they might have missed something. If so the officers would find it and exercise their right to ‘act’, whatever in the hell that meant.
Finally, the officer in charge approached him. “CPS has decided to take temporary custody of your son. They feel that he is to traumatized by his environment to speak honestly to them. They’re convinced that a little time in a safe environment will help.”
Hammer argued. “That’s total bullshit. You can’t just take him.”
“That’s among the least of your problems. We’re taking you and every patched member as well. We discovered your armory and you have some things in there that aren’t quite legal. With any luck it just might earn most of you some real jail time.”
“You bastard.”
“If you could turn around please. I need to cuff you.”
Since fighting would just earn him a resisting arrest charge, he turned and placed his hands behind his back. The goal was to just to get this over with as soon as humanly possible. Just as the officer slapped the cuffs on him, he began to wonder who had called Child Protective Services the second time. It wasn’t his club brothers that was for damn sure. No one would accept a report from an underage person, so that ruled out Jaden’s friends.
His blood ran cold as he realized that only left one person. Alina. She’d done it before. Maybe she got tired of waiting and lost faith in him to save Jaden. She cared deeply for his son and some small part of him could see her doing that at a low point, if she totally lost hope of recovering him any other way. Maybe when she had gone behind his back to get help from that man she worked with. Why couldn’t she have just trusted in him?
Hammer could barely look his brother’s in the face as the police loaded them into the police van. They were all getting thrown in jail, his son would certainly end up in foster care, and it was all his fault for trusting the wrong bitch. He could feel the emotional wall coming back up, slowly choking off his emotions. He’d never make a goddamn mistake like again.
The officer in charge was a real asshole. Upon arrival at the jail, he waited until last to process Hammer, forcing him to watch one brother after another being subjected to fingerprinting and mug shot photographing. Most were deadly quiet.
Bikers were a strange breed. They valued freedom and respect above most all things. Hammer was convinced the entire process of being arrested was designed to rob a man of his self-respect. It took all their personal control away, leaving them feeling thoroughly emasculated.
When it was his turn, Hammer let the officers walk him through the intake process as well. He’d been arrested before and had hated it then as well. This time was worse because Jaden was twisting in the wind and his whole crew was being locked up. Knowing it was all because he was betrayed by the woman he loved made it a hundred times more hurtful. Yet, he bore it with a quiet Dignity he didn’t quite feel.
When his opportunity came, Hammer called his attorney. To his credit, the older man responded immediately. George Cavanaugh ran a small law office. It would take his legal team days to get their head around the charges being levied against him and his crew. God only knew how long it would take to get all the motions filed with the court. Hammer had no idea if they even qualified for bail at this point.
Sitting alone in his cell, Hammer finally had time to think. Too much time to think, in fact. He replayed every moment of his son’s disappearance over in his mind. After mulling over his relationship with Alina, he came to the conclusion that because they were from different worlds, the woman could never be trusted.
Her panicked actions had brought his whole world crashing down around him. Did she even care? The honest answer was probably not. The last couple of outings had probably taught her an important lesson in how not to live the rest of her life. No, she’d not risk messing up her nice, ordered life by taking a chance on making a life with an outlaw. She was probably already putting this whole unfortunate situation behind her, now that she’d appeased her conscious by making sure Jaden was safe. Why had he fucking trusted her?