Chapter Twelve
Jake
I finished lunch and went back to my room. I couldn’t wait to talk to Dana after dinner when I would be left alone. I had just about had it with this shit. I was a member of the Flaming Dragons, I shouldn’t be hiding like this. It wasn’t right. I knew several others felt the same but the VP and Billy were firm on it. So here I was, I thought, stuck in a little house at the back of town lying low while others did my hunting for me. It was embarrassing. I knew what I really wanted was to just leave it all behind and run off with my heart's desire. I had been pleased she had agreed about going off together if it came to it. I had been half sure she wouldn’t want to. I heard footsteps and then a knock on the door. I slipped the burner phone in my pocket and told them to come in.
“Hey Jake, how ya holding up?” Billy asked. He looked tired and frustrated.
“Still here, man. How did the meeting go last night?” I asked. I had been annoyed I had been kept out of it and Billy knew it.
“We are going to work together,” Billy said. “Both of our clubs have a guy off the reservation. It doesn’t look good if we can’t control our own. We are all out hunting the bastards. It shouldn’t be long now.”
I understood why both clubs would be willing to work together on this. Billy was right, it looked bad for both clubs. It was just that Tom and Mack had managed to avoid capture so far, I didn’t think more bodies looking was going to help.
“Look, Billy, let me go out. I am the perfect bait. That dumbass Mack would love to think he had a shot at me. I am the one he wants so I should be the one to go out and draw him in,” I said for the hundredth time. Billy sighed.
“Not in the cards, man. In your place I would feel the same, but the word is no go on that. I did mention it last night but no one was into it,” he said and I was surprised. I shouldn’t have been, though. Billy was nothing if not practical.
“Has it occurred to anyone how bad this is going to get if there collateral damage. If a civilian gets hurt in this thing, all hell will break loose, you know that,” I said. Billy glanced away and nodded.
“I pointed that out, too. The Presidents get it, that is why they decided to join ranks for this one thing,” Billy said.
“I hope they are careful about who they pair up. Some of ours don’t get along with some of theirs,” I said and Billy snorted.
“No shit. We are being careful. The Wolves VP Elijah is tough and too smart to let that happen. Frankly, so am I,” Billy said and I nodded agreement. He was right.
I hesitated for a moment. “I have another idea that won’t be popular,” I told him, thinking about something Dana had said the night before.
He looked at me. “Well, let me have it,” Billy said and lit a cigar, passing me one.
“What if we let the cops in on it?” I asked. That single question startled Billy.
“You’re kidding, right?” He cocked his head with an unreadable expression.
“Not the details, but if we just let them know we have two members who are taking the rivalry too far and are having a hard time corralling them,” I told him. “The ‘why’ doesn’t matter. I imagine they have noticed the increased activity, especially at this time of year.”
“You are a clever son of a bitch, I give you that. You deserve to be higher up. Unfortunately, getting both clubs to agree to that, even if I could convince our leadership, would be next to impossible,” he said honestly.
“But where the hell are they? I mean, hell, we have been all over this friggin’ town. I know that and I haven’t been allowed to look. Are they hiding in plain sight or what?” I asked. He began pacing and I leaned against the back wall.
“That’s a possibility I had thought about. I put a couple of people to initially check the most obvious places. You were right, though, they are taking this rivalry too far. Except the rivalry is club internal, did you notice that? Tom is stalking a member of his own club’s sister and Mack is trying to disgrace and hurt you, a member of his own club. It is insanity!” Billy snarled. I very much wanted to point out that blocking Dana and I from being together was equally insane in my mind, but knew that was not the time. It makes no sense, I thought. The rivalry could be a healthy thing in some cases, but in the case of Dana and I, it made no sense and hampered good relations as well. I knew Billy was not stupid, he had just proven that, yet again. Was he intentionally ignorant, or intentionally silent on the matter? That gave me something to think about. At least, until the bullet came smashing through the window.