Gunner

 

I couldn’t believe I was hosting a party for the MC at my mansion, but I was. My kitchen staff was catering, and I even had one of our members set up as a DJ. We really did have a little bit of everything in our MC. He was a professional club DJ when he wasn’t riding with us. He was thrilled to work the party.

 

As he put it, “This is something I can do for all my brothers for letting me ride with you all.”

 

Everyone was there, and while my kitchen staff ran the bar, providing everything from whiskey and light beer to the best champagne and wine money could buy, Luther and Venom manned the grill, cooking up sausages, steaks, chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, and anything else that wouldn’t fall through into the coals.

 

Sierra and I stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the pool from my—our—bedroom, and I held up my glass of whiskey. She held up her red wine. I was dressed just as the rest of the MC, in my colors, a t-shirt, and old faded blue jeans. She wore a bathing suit that made her look like she belonged on the cover of a magazine, or on the pages of that magazine’s main spread.

 

I looked out over the crowd drinking, dancing, and just hanging out on my patio. Those were all my brothers. We’d been through thick and thin together. Some had been around longer, but all had proven themselves true to the cause of The Immortal Devils. Everyone down there had contributed, even the women who came along with some of my brothers. Yes, they were contributing just by being present.

 

“Brothers,” I called out over the music. Our boy stopped the record so I could talk. “We are here today to celebrate the MC. Everyone here is Immortal. That’s for damn sure.”

 

They responded with laughter.

 

“On a serious note, though,” I continued, “we have grown this MC from five poor kids who grew up in a small rural town to fifty-plus total members right here in one chapter. We are about to start another new chapter in the legend of The Immortal Devils. With the money we are about to bring in, we are going to be able to begin expansion into other chapters in other cities.”

 

They cheered again, raising their glasses and voices to me. Sierra tightened her arm around my waist.

 

“Some of you will find yourselves promoted to chapter heads, and you will have your own men directly under you who will answer to you.” As I spoke, I imagined how large the MC could be once it started growing. There were clubs out there that were international in scope. With the success we were already enjoying, I knew it wouldn’t have been long before we made it to that size.

 

“So, as we embark upon this new stage in our journey, raise your glasses and your voices for me. To The Immortal Devils.”

 

My patio erupted with their shouts and whistles. The music started again, and I laughed as Sierra and I started back into the bedroom.

 

“What’s funny?” she asked. “I think that was a pretty good speech.”

 

“Just the fact that I’ve got them out there acting like they’re at a concert or something. Man, we never really let our hair down like this anymore. We’ve come so far from the rowdy bunch of punks we used to be, you know, so it’s just nice to watch them just be guys again,” I explained, reminding myself that Sierra hadn’t seen much of our story. All she knew was where she came in and what little she might have heard on the street prior to that. We had calmed down a lot since the early days.

 

“Well, come on,” she said, hugging me around my waist with her bare arms. “Let’s go join the fun.”

 

We walked down the spiral staircase and I saw that the TV in the living room was on. The house behind the reporter looked like Coyote’s mansion.

 

“Hold on,” I told her as I rushed down the stairs to grab the remote from the glass coffee table. I turned it up, and looked at her. “That’s Coyote’s house. Get the guys,” I rushed her.

 

While I waited for them to come in, the reporter was simply establishing the story and the shot.

 

“Notorious international crime boss, Coyote, was found today at her local estate. We aren’t sure of all the details yet, but it seems that she upset another of our local crime lords. Her estate was ransacked, leaving fifteen men who apparently guarded the property dead on her lawn.”

 

He continued as the camera crew walked through the rubble of the house.

 

“As you can see, the scene here is one of utter devastation. Whoever she upset was out for blood.”

 

They showed her office, and the shattered window, which I assumed happened when she and Sierra had fought earlier that same evening.

 

“Have they found her body yet?” Venom asked behind me as the guys came back in with Sierra.

 

Everyone watched in silence. Even the music outside had stopped.

 

“Coyote, whose real name is Amber Riley, was found on a bench with three gunshot wounds to her stomach and chest. Authorities say they believe Fairchild was left for dead, and they say it is a miracle she is still alive.”

 

I could feel the eyes on me from the men standing around me. I couldn’t admit to them that I hadn’t checked to see if she was dead because I wanted to assume she was. I couldn’t explain to them that I hadn’t killed her because at the last minute I realized I respected her as a peer. If we had worked with Coyote instead of against her over the years, our two organizations could have been huge together.

 

“You didn’t make sure she was dead?” Sierra asked.

 

“I mean, she didn’t look like she was breathing after I shot her. She was done,” I told her.

 

“It’s okay, bro. We all make mistakes,” Duncan said, patting me on the shoulder. “But it looks like it’s going to be a long time before we have to worry about her again.”

 

“Coyote, or Fairchild, is the head of a large international jewelry theft ring. The FBI is working with several international organizations now to track down known associates. Anyone who has any useful information is asked to call the FBI hotline. As of now, there are no reports of a reward being offered for the capture of several known criminals who were working for Coyote, but any help you can provide is definitely appreciated.”

 

“Appreciated.” Bryce snorted, turning to walk out.

 

“Nobody knows anything about me,” Sierra told me quietly while the others left the room. “I have only used my real name with two people—you and Coyote. Hell, I didn’t even know her real name until now.”

 

“Me either. I don’t think anyone did. She’s just been Coyote for so long,” I explained. “And none of her properties are in her name either. It’s like Coyote is a ghost, and Fairchild ceased to exist.”

 

“Unfortunately, she’s not a ghost,” Sierra reminded me.

 

“Yeah, but it won’t take much for them to put her away for a long, long time. If the FBI and international agencies were already searching for her, they have enough on her that we might not ever see her again.”

 

“True.” Sierra sighed.

 

“Look, you need to lay low for a while,” I explained. “Just until this blows over. If anyone has pictures of you to connect you to one of your aliases, that’s all it will take to put you on their radar.”

 

“I can go incognito,” she said to me with a smile. “You know, cut and dye my hair, put in some contacts to change my eye color, wear some fake glasses, change the way I dress. Maybe even go by a different alias for a while. Sierra Farrow had a very distinct look and style. Maybe I could be Kristina Kaye for a while,” she added with a wink.

 

I was both impressed and troubled by how quickly she pumped out a new name, but then I realized how similar it was to her last name, and of course, she used my name as part of it, which I thought was incredibly flattering and presumptuous.

 

“I like that one,” I told her. “It’s better than names like Lily Hughes,” I joked.

 

“Ah, but you remember it. See, you remember me, even though you weren’t Lily’s target. That was a fun one. I should have saved it for someone else. The guy I used it on was pretty lame, and the job wasn’t very prestigious, if that makes any sense.”

 

She seemed thrilled that her old boss was out of the way, and she seemed to come alive at the idea of reinventing herself. It made me think, because different people did what we did for different reasons. There were people who got into our kind of work for the money, or for the power. There were others who just couldn’t work for other people and couldn’t find anything legal to do.

 

Then, there were people like Sierra, who simply enjoyed the challenge of what she did. She also seemed to enjoy being able to act as part of her job, but if she hadn’t put on a fake name for me, I wondered how much of her powerful seductress act was really her. Then again, it made sense that if she hadn’t been putting on an act, she would still be hanging around instead of disappearing back into the underworld.

 

“This is really you, isn’t it?” I asked her.

 

“It is. That’s why I fell for you, Gunner. I was only working so much when I was around you. I couldn’t work any harder on you because you just disarmed me every time you spoke or touched me.”

 

“That’s what I thought,” I told her.

 

“Well, come on,” she said, pulling on me. “Let’s join the MC outside. Everything’s over now. Let’s enjoy some much needed downtime. And besides, I didn’t put on this bikini for nothing, you know.” She gave me her devilish grin as she pulled away from me and backed up through my door to the patio.

 

The celebration was going full swing, and before I knew it, I had a plate of food in my hand and a new drink. Our DJ was cranking out some old classic rock tunes for everyone to rock out to, and I needed to find a place to sit so I could eat the massive steak in front of me.

 

The guys had really outdone themselves this time. It had been a couple of years since we’d done anything like this, and it was really good for the MC to have it at my place. Everyone was safe, and we had private security watching over us, so we didn’t have to worry about anyone coming in and causing trouble while we partied.

 

I tried not to think about business while I sat outside, but I still had the diamond on me. I wasn’t going to leave it lying around again. We had to reach back out to our original buyer and see if we could get more money this time, especially since it had changed hands again, technically. We basically had to try to kill someone and steal from them to get it back.

 

The value had to have shot up.

 

As I watched my old lady jump into the pool, I realized that we now had access to a jewelry specialist. She had spent her entire career stealing valuable jewels. She had to know something about them. Sierra might not have realized it, but she was about to be a big help in getting someone to purchase the Sun Stone from The Immortal Devils.