Chapter 22
Summer
In the morning we rise early and move out of the cabin before the sun is up. As we stand outside waiting for everyone to get ready I look around. People look groggy and tired. The sound of engines come from the dirt road that leads back to the cabin. I look up and see two cars with trailers behind them. Driving the cars are Teddy and Joyce.
“Morning ladies.” Teddy says as he steps out of the car. “Aren’t you all looking lovely and fresh this morning?”
“What’s with the cars?” Roman says. “You two starting up a traveling circus?”
Jack and I laugh. The trailers are fairly big.
“It’s only a circus when you’re involved Roman, you clown.” I say.
Everyone looks at me and then breaks out in laughter.
“Damn, that was uncalled for!” Roman laughs too.
“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I’m fucking starving. Can we get some breakfast?” Jack says.
“Of course you’re hungry,” I say squeezing Jack’s arm. “Look at the size of you. You must be famished.”
“Lucky for you Jack, your friend Joyce thinks of everything.” Joyce climbs out of his car with a huge tray of coffee and donuts.
Everyone quickly flocks around Joyce and descends on the breakfast offerings. It isn’t long until it’s all gone, at one point I look over and see Jack holding four donuts. I can’t help but laugh, the man is a beast.
“Abbott wants us off the land by nine.” Teddy says after we’ve all finished breakfast. The guys and I are sitting on the porch having one last cigarette before we hit the road.
“That’s all well and good Teddy.” Roman says. “But where are we going exactly?”
Teddy looks at Joyce and then back to us. “Glad you asked Roman. Me and Joyce had a talk last night, and we’ve come up with a plan. If we’re going to hunt this Deacon bastard down then we need help right?”
“Right.” Jack answers. “Did you have someone in mind? I don’t want to get anyone else involved with this.”
“That’s good.” Joyce says. “Because we’re going to use someone who is already involved. Ivan Cardoza.”
Jack and Roman look at each for a moment and then nod quietly.
“Seems like our only real option.” Jack says after a moment’s consideration.
I look around wondering if I’ve missed something. Everyone seems to know who this Cardoza guy is apart from me. That’s when I realize how little I actually know about our current situation. Everyone else seems to be more clued in than I am. I still don’t even know what happened between Deacon and Jack.
“Excuse me.” I stand up and face the group. “But I’m feeling a little left out here. Who is Ivan Cardoza?”
“Shit, sorry Summer.” Joyce stands up and lights a cigarette. “I forgot you weren’t with us when we left yesterday. Cardoza runs a bike outfit called the Dragons in a town called Ainsville. It’s about thirty minutes from here.”
“I’d hardly call it an outfit.” Teddy chips in. “The Dragons are fucking psychopaths.”
“Jack I want to talk with you.” I say. “I feel like there’s a lot that I’m missing out on.”
“You can talk on the drive over there.” Teddy says before Jack can respond. “Right now we haven’t got the time. Me, Roman and Joyce will take one car. Jack you can follow behind us with Summer. You two can have your heart to heart then.”
“Fair enough.” Jack says standing up. “What makes you think Cardoza will help us out though? From what you guys have told me they stick to themselves. Why should they help us?”
“The Dragons don’t take debts. They only help out on an upfront basis. I went back to my shop this morning and grabbed whatever stock I had left that isn’t damaged. Including $10,000 that was in the safe. You may also notice the left over Salt Dog bikes are gone. Add a couple of shotguns and weapons, and it’s a pretty tempting offer. It’s all in the trailers.”
I look over to the trailers somewhat shocked, for something that looks seemingly innocent from the outside, there’s a whole lot of potential being tugged behind those two cars.
“And it gives us a low presence too.” Joyce adds. “Police scanners have been going wild after everything that’s happened the last few days. They’re on the lookout for bikers. This way we just look like we’re moving furniture around or something. Perfectly civilian.”
“I like these fucking guys.” Roman says with a big smile. “I’ve missed working with professionals.”
“Come on Roman, you can finish sucking our dicks on the ride over.” Teddy says looking down at his watch. “We’ve got to get the fuck out of here.”
***
It feels nice to be back in a car. Not that I’ve not enjoyed riding around on the back of Jack’s bike, but in a car you can just sit back and relax. There’s tension in the air between me and Jack however, and with no one else in the car there’s no escaping it.
“So.” Jack says bluntly. I look over and see his fists tighten on the steering wheel. We’re out on the open road a couple of cars behind the others. “What is it you think I’ve been hiding from you exactly?”
“A lot of things.” I shoot back. “Like…what the fuck actually happened between you and Deacon? I feel like everyone knows apart from me.”
Jack lights up a cigarette and sighs. “Fine.”
He explains everything from start to finish. By the time he’s finished talking I don’t know how to feel. If anything I just feel bad for acting bitchy towards Jack earlier. He’s been through some shit and he doesn’t deserve any of this. On the other hand, he killed a cop. My father and brother are both cops. I might hate their guts, but I respect their decision to protect and serve. What if the cop that Jack had killed had been my brother? From what he says, the child molesting son of a bitch deserved it, but inside I’m definitely feeling confused.
“So you think Deacon is involved in this underage trafficking thing too?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Jack sighs back. “Feel better now that you’re clued in?”
“I do thank you. I kind of wish I’d never found out. It’s a sick world that we live in.”
“It is. But as long as I’m around, I’m going to do everything I can to put a stop to shit like that.”
I stare at Jack for a moment and I feel proud. He might be an outlaw biker, but there is a good man in there. He catches me looking at him and smiles.
“What? What’s up?”
“Nothing.” I smile. “Just admiring my biker in shining armor.”
“Well I’m glad you’re in a good mood. But truth be told I’m a little astounded by your hypocrisy.”
My smile falls and the tension is back in the car instantly.
“What on earth are you talking about?” I snap.
“You say you feel left in the dark about my past. Well, now you know everything there is to know about me. Here’s what I know about you. You work at a diner. You live over the street from me. You’re originally from Manhattan too. You come from money maybe. That’s it. That’s all I fucking know. You call me a closed book? Pot kettle black.”
Jack tightens his grip on the wheel and the car lunges forward a little. Instantly I go from feeling angry to feeling guilty. He’s completely right. Jack looks over at me, waiting for an answer.
“You’re right…” I stammer. “I’m sorry. It’s not fair of me to ask you to bare your soul and not give you anything in return.”
“It’s fine.” Jack snaps. But his tone suggest it’s anything but. “I know what you’re doing. You’re keeping your distance so once this is over you can run back to the city and be done with me. It’s smart, it’ll make it easier. Keep it up.”
“You’re out of your fucking mind. I’m not trying to distance myself from you. I’m just afraid you’ll hate me if you know the truth.”
“Try me.” Jack scoffs.
I look down and notice I’m twisting my skirt between my hands tightly.
“Alright. You’re right. I do come from money. But before you start thinking that I’ve had a cushy life, you can stop. My family hate me, and I’m as good as broke.”
“Why?” Jack probes. “What happened?”
“I always got on best with my Mom. We were like a team. I loved my her so much. She was carefree, a hippie. She was always dancing, always singing. Always spreading cheer. We all loved her, my brother, my sister, my father.
Well… she got cancer, and she died five years ago. She was only fifty.”
“I’m sorry.” Jack apologizes and he sounds like he genuinely cares. “That’s horrible.”
“It’s okay. I miss her every day, but I know she’s up there somewhere spreading cheer. The death was hard on everyone in my family. My father especially. I never really got on with my dad. He was the complete opposite to my mom, a suit and tie man through and through. I don’t get what Mom ever saw in him. But she loved him until her dying breath.”
I look out the window at the passing landscape and swallow. Reliving my past is always harder than I remember.
“The money came from Mom’s side though. In her will she split her money up. She gave half to my father and split the rest between me and my siblings.”
“Okay.” Jack says.
“Well, I never liked Dad and he never liked me. I spent most of my teenage years dating the biggest assholes I could find just to try and piss him off. He didn’t like it, he accused me of being on drugs and all sorts of petty shit like that.”
“Were you on drugs?” Jack asks, and for a moment I notice his eyes flick down to my arms.
“No. But that’s what he told my brother and sister. They sided against me with him. When it came to dividing up the will, they all turned against me and froze me out of my share. I got nothing.”
“Those fucking bastards!”
“Yep. So I came out here to get away from it. I’m fucking done with them. Every now and then my sister will drip feed me some of my inheritance just to ‘keep me going’. Truth be told I think she likes lauding her power over me. I fucking hate it.”
“Okay Summer. Well I think it’s fair to say that your family fucking sucks. I don’t get what part of that story is meant to make me hate you though? If anything I just feel sorry for you.” Jack looks over at me, confusion in his eyes. I swallow hard and take a deep breath, reluctant for the next part. The part that I know he’s going to hate.
“That’s because I haven’t got to that part yet. It’s not me, it’s my family really. My brother and father.”
“Okay…” Jack glides the car across the road and takes an exit. We follow Teddy and Joyce’s car along a dirt track. Up ahead there’s an old run down cinema in the middle of the swampy wilderness. The building is old and looks like it dates back to the art deco era. “…why would I hate your family?” He says.
I sigh and push my fingers into the bridge of my nose.
“It’s their jobs.” I sit up straight and look out the window. Teddy and Joyce have pulled up ahead of us. We must be here now. This is Dragon territory.
“Don’t tell me.” Jack laughs. “They’re fucking stock brokers or some shit.”
“Worse.” I pause. “My father is Chief of Police in New York City, and my brother is the Commissioner.”
Jack slams the car to a stop and stares straight ahead.
“We can’t let the others know.”