52
Butler wasn’t answering his phone. I tucked my cell back in my pocket.
Either he was annoyed with me about being close with Tania. Tough shit. Or he was keeping his distance because he’d seen me kill his Prez. A good reason.
Would he tell? I didn’t think so, but I was sure it was eating him up. Even though Jump rode Butler’s ass hard since he fucked up last year, and created roadblocks for almost every damned new idea Butler had, Jump was his Prez.
“What’s up?” asked Drac getting off his bike that he’d parked alongside mine at the Broken Blades clubhouse.
We’d come to southern Nebraska to have a chat with Notch. Had the Broken Blades been the ones responsible for the bomb in Nina’s car? That was the general consensus. They were pissed off at the Jacks and at the Flames not only for destroying their deal with the Calderas Group, but for a number of their members being arrested and a lot of their property seized (the underground warehouse was still safe, luckily).
I wasn’t convinced they were the ones responsible for the car bomb. Why would they target Nina? Why not plant a bomb on a Jack’s vehicle or bike or even at the clubhouse itself? Going after an old lady was just not done, unless she was some kind of traitor, and that was real old school. Then again, Nina had a Flame connection, Reich being her brother-in-law. Were the Blades taking care of two birds with one stone here to keep the Flames off their ass?
“I just heard that Reich and his old lady are in Rapid City to see Nina in the hospital,” I said.
“Terrific.”
“Been trying to call Butler. I wanted to give him a heads up, but he isn’t answering. Fuck it.”
“We’re going to have to pay Reich a visit at the hospital, huh? Give him the brotherly welcome,” Drac said.
“Oh yeah. We should,” I muttered under my breath. “Thank fuck I have you to remind me of my manners.”
“You’re welcome.” Drac let out a snort.
“Let’s get this shit done.” I strode over to where Notch and three of his men waited for us.
Notch only scowled at me. He had pronounced eye sockets and a long nose, wrinkly, pasty-white skin, and long thin dark hair that stuck to his head. He was the Child Catcher from “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” a movie I’d often watched at the neighbor’s house when my mom would pull her disappearing acts. The Child Catcher had spooked me, made me actually shudder and hide under the covers at night. But boogey men in the dark and vile monsters didn’t scare me no more. Notch only disgusted me. Instead of an English accent, he had a southern one, but he was just as snide, just as hostile, and as freaky as that movie villain of my memory.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he said, chewing tobacco, his lips twitching under the movement. “Although, you coming here is sullying my property.”
“What’s left of it. Ain’t much.”
“Whose fault is that?” He spat on the ground.
“Yours, for shitting on it for so many years,” I replied. “Didn’t appreciate what you had, didn’t handle it right. Your problem. Now it’s come to this. I’m here to offer you an out.”
“Sweet. I ain’t buying.” He covered his balls with a hand, a smirk on his ugly, thin face. The tall, bulky guy at his side, Pick, remained grim.
Was Notch just being cocky or cock sure?
The sneer on his face stretched from self-satisfied smirk to all out taunt. “Keeping the Flames of Hell away from my club is high on my list of priorities.”
“You don’t want to give in to me. I get that. But this is your only way to survive. I’m not demanding total annihilation here. Patch in. You know you need to. You know it’s the smart move. The strong one. You inviting outsiders into our territories is a huge mistake. You can’t see that, you’re an idiot.”
“Fuck you.”
Drac let out a heavy sigh, more like a grunt.
“You set the bomb in that old lady’s car at the Jacks?” I said. “Because you know she’s a Flame by family. Not to mention, Jump is dead because of it,” I said.
Notch crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“You’re pissed at them, pissed at us. Who the hell knows how your rancid brain works?”
He laughed, a lazy, wheezing sort of laugh, an I-got-nothing-more-to-lose-by-fucking-with-you laugh. “Oh, I like your compliments so early in the morning, I do.” He ran his tongue across his yellow teeth. “Someone set off a fire in our junkyard last night. Fucking with our business. Today’s Jump’s funeral, and I’m thinking the Jacks’ are playing games with us, but this ain’t high school, and I ain’t playing. Why don’t you let them know for me, huh, seeing as to how you all sniff each other’s panties now?”
My phone vibrated in my back pocket.
Catch. He’d called twice before, but I didn’t want to interrupt the articulate poetry that was Notch. I’d left Catch holding down the fort while Drac and I were gone. In fact, I’d been giving him plenty of extra responsibilities lately, plenty of short term runs out of town in order to keep his head in the game. He was like a caged tiger, and I didn’t want him going off again. Not now. He needed to feel the hum of work filling him, steering him. So far so good.
I lifted my chin at Notch. “You’ll come crawling to me real soon. And it’ll be too late.”
“Yeah,” he returned.
I aimed a look at Drac, and we both stalked off to our bikes where I dialed up Catch.
“Hey, Prez,” said Catch. “I thought you should know that Reich called me earlier.”
“And?”
“He’s in town and wanted access to a safe house for tonight. And get this, he wanted one in South Dakota. Said he didn’t want to cross state lines.”
A sharp prickle razored up my spine. “Then he’s up to no good in South Dakota.”
“I sent Split to open up for him. I had too much shit to do around here, plus I have that call from Texas in about an hour.”
“When’s this happening?”
“Split’s on his way now to Reich’s motel in Deadwood to meet up with him and escort him to the cabin.”
“All right. Drac and I are done with Notch, and we’re on our way to Colorado now. Keep me posted.”
I shut the phone down, and ground my jaw at the thought that Reich was on my territory using my property for fuck knows what. I wanted to head up there right now, but I couldn’t blow off this funeral we were headed to in Colorado.
Drac and I took off toward Sydney, Nebraska where we’d shoot south on Route 80 to Colorado Springs.
All through the three hour ride, all through the funeral and then a meeting with our brothers over a new shipment of guns and assorted weapons, plus special top of the line surveillance equipment Den insisted we all had to get, the thought of Reich gnawed at me, clawing at one inch of intestine at a time, the sensation twisting through me. Couldn’t shake it.
After business was taken care of, we spent the evening at our brothers’ clubhouse in Denver. The barbecue pit fire had been cleared of the steak grill and was now roaring to keep us warm in the chilly night air as we shot the shit outside. I’d just finished my third beer when my phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with the time. Midnight. And Catch’s name.
“Prez!” He was breathless, his voice stressed.
“What happened?”
“It’s Reich.”
“What about him?”
“He had Tania—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I shot up from my chair, knocking into a girl who was clearing the empties. I grabbed her arm, steadying her as I walked away from the table, my pulse speeding.
“Tania was over at Butler’s house, and—” Catch could barely sputter the words out. “Reich showed up and took her as she was leaving his place. He brought her to his hotel and then to the safe house—our goddamn safe house!—and kept her there to push Butler’s buttons or some shit. Butler called me, and I brought him and the Jacks up there and we took the fucker down and got Tania out.”
My heart pounded in my chest, everything in my field of vision was seeped in red. Tania.
No.
I’d heard a lot of shit about Reich over the years since he’d left Missouri. He was rough with women, real rough. He also got his kicks on watching other men be rough with a woman, which was just for starters.
I ground my jaw. “How’s Tania? Did he—”
“No, he didn’t fucking touch her. Not like that.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I roared.
Drac and two other men stopped mid-conversation and stared at me.
“He had her tied up, and she was fucking bleeding.” Catch’s voice wavered. He took in a deep breath. “Shit…”
My insides dropped. “What did he do to her? Tell me.”
“He—he was cutting her when we got there. I freaked. I grabbed Reich, got him down, and we brought him back. Butler took Tania with him to the Jacks. I just talked to him now and he confirmed they arrived and she’s okay.”
“I’m going up to Meager. Drac’s coming to you to hold things down. You keep that fucker tied like a hog, I don’t give a shit what he says, you hear?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. Look—”
“What else?”
“There was a Smoking Gun there with Reich.”
My heart jumped a beat, the blood surging in my veins. The enemy with Reich?
“Who? From where?”
“I don’t know his name, but he was from Kansas. Tania got a knife in him, keeping him off of Butler. The Jacks got him down, but I let him take off because, well, I had to, right?”
That goddamn treaty.
“Shit was happening so fast,” Catch muttered. “I was focused on getting my sister out of there in one piece and getting Reich in the van.”
“I’m leaving Denver now. Keep him down. Drac’s coming to you.” I shut down the call.
Drac was in my face, eyes wide. “You all right? What the hell is going on?”
“We got to leave. You get to the Farm. Reich kidnapped Tania today. Catch and Butler got her free of him. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, why he did this, but I’ve got to see her with my own eyes. I’ve got to see her, make sure she’s all right.”
“Okay—”
“I need to see her with my own eyes, make sure she’s all right.” My voice was loud, raw. I was repeating myself.
Drac gripped my arms. “Hey. Hey. Do what you gotta do. We’ll keep him down ’till you get there. Let him stew until you get back.”
“Slow cooker.” Keeping him tied, isolated, in the dark.
“Right. Slow cooker.” Drac’s long teeth dragged along his bottom lip. “You good to ride?”
“I’m good, let’s go.” I thumped his chest with a hand. “Let’s go!”
We said our goodbyes. Priest, the chapter president, gave me a quick hug.
“Sorry about cutting out,” I said. “I appreciate the hospitality today. Need to get home.”
Priest slapped me on the back. “Anytime. Always good to see you. You need back up, man? You got it.”
“Nah, we’re good, thanks. I just need to get there.”
“Ride safe, Finger.”
Priest tagged fists with Drac as I moved toward my bike.
We headed northeast for I-76 to take us out of Colorado. It would be seven hours to Meager.
I couldn’t get there fast enough.