Reagan had been out of the hospital for a week, Tank had brought her to his cabin, and they had hunkered down. He didn’t think of anything, but making sure she was okay and on the mend.  But today was going to be different.  Tank was finally going to deal with his father.  Suzie was coming over to sit with Reagan and Crash was keeping guard just in case anything happened, or the girls got another idea of setting off on their own, but first, he needed to go to Church. 

Tuck had called him this morning and told him that if his ass didn’t show up this time, he would drag him out of the cabin himself; Tank wasn’t about to test the man.  He had already pushed all his brothers away this week, but it was time for things to get back to normal.

Tank watched Reagan come from the hallway into the family room. She was still moving slowly, but every day she seemed to be getting better. He couldn’t wait for her cast to come off her wrist and the other one to heal enough for her to have more movement. 

“Hey, babe what are you up to?”

When she turned and smiled Tank couldn’t help but smile back; he loved this woman. Even black and blue or green and purple, she was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.  Tank watched as Reagan started to sit on the couch and then hurried over to her because she was having a bit of a problem getting into a comfortable position.  Sucked not having the use of both your hands, but he also kind of like that she needed him to help her. Yeah, he was a weird fucker.  Sitting down next to her Tank wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Today is the day, isn’t it?” Reagan asked.

“What day is that, babe?”

“The day that we let the outside in again, and you deal with your Dad.”

“Yeah, babe,’ Tank said with a sigh, “I have Suzie and Crash coming over. If we didn’t have Church today, then I’m sure Brass would be here, too.”

“You know, you don’t have to get me a babysitter, Tank. I learned my lesson,” Reagan said putting up her hands. “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I just wish you would wait and let me go with you to your Dad’s. I don’t like the idea of you going there alone like I know you’re planning.”

“Babe, it needs to be done.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Reagan said and laid her head on his shoulder. They heard the knock at the door, but Tank stalled just a bit, not wanting to let Reagan go. When she patted him on the leg and kissed his cheek, telling him he’d better get it, he reluctantly got up. 

“Hey, Crash, give me a minute. Come on in and make yourself comfortable. Suzie should be here soon.” Tank walked over to the back of the couch and leaned over, kissing Reagan's head. 
“Got to go, babe, see you in a couple of hours.”

“Tank, can you send someone over to storage lockers to pick up my bag? It has all the stuff in it you guys might need for this meeting.”

“Shit, babe, fuck, I forgot to tell you the storage place had a fire, most of the rooms, including my Dads, were destroyed.”

“What, are you kidding, when did that happen?” 

“Shit, babe, same night you were taken. I didn’t even think about it until now. Fuck, babe, it gets worse, someone broke into the clubhouse and took all the information you gave Tuck, too.  I’m sorry, babe, we’ll find another way to bring these assholes down.”

“Who would do that and how in the hell did they get into the Clubhouse? You guys have so much surveillance there. Damn, what else did they take? Are you guys going to be all right?”  

“Yeah, babe, apparently the person was only after the information you gave Tuck.  He has some leads, but we think it all leads back to my old man.”

“Tank, you need to go to my storage locker,” Reagan said trying to sit up. Tank pulled her back by her shoulder making her stay put.  “Tank, I locked my laptop and all the other information in there. It’s on the other end of the building. Even if the fire did get to my stuff, the laptop and drives should be safe, I put them in my lock box, it's fireproof.  Oh, and shit, I can’t believe I forgot this, but you need to see if you can get some information on some cold cases in the area, Megan Herzog and a girl named Jenny.   Billy told me and Suzie about them when he picked us up.  Both girls went missing years ago they might be connected.”

“Babe,” Tank said kissing her head again, “I still want to spank your ass red for risking yourself like you did, but hell, I couldn’t be prouder of you right now.” They heard the pipes of a motorcycle. Tank put his hand under Reagan's chin and pulled her back, so he could kiss her on the lips. “Love you, babe, be good and stay put.  I’ll call you when this is all done.”    

Tank walked out of the cabin passing Suzie on the way. He noticed she wasn’t the same, her usual bright and cheery face was sullen and looked a little pissed off.  Glancing at Brass, he also didn’t look all that happy. What the hell had happened between the two of them? Tank reached his hand out and gently grabbed her elbow.

“Hey, you doing okay, Suz?” 

“Yeah,” she smiled up at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes, “sorry, Tank, just have a lot of things on my mind. How’s Reagan doing?” 

“She’s okay, inside waiting on you. Is there anything I can do for you?” 

“No, big guy,” Suzie laughed, “I got this. Just need some more time to wrap my head around all that’s happened. Don’t worry about me, you have enough on your plate right now.”

“Suzie, we might not know each other very well, but your Reagan’s best friend, that means your important to me. If you need something, all you have to do is ask, okay?”

“Thanks, Tank,” Suzie said hugging him, “go on to your meeting. I’ll keep Reagan out of trouble for you.” 

“Thanks, darlin.”

Brass revved his engine and Tank looked over to the guy.  Damn, Brass could be a sarcastic asshole, but he was never really all that rude.  Well, he was rude, just not where Suzie was concerned. What had happened between them this week? 

“Hey, looks like you're being called, I’m going to head inside.” 

“Yeah, okay, just go right in, Crash is already in there with Reagan, make yourself at home.”

Tank didn’t wait to see if Suzie did as he said, walking to Brass instead.  When he went to talk to the man, he just revved his engine again.  Walking over, he hit Brass on the shoulder. The man had a scowl a mile long, but Tank wasn’t going to ask about it. 

“Hey, I need to make a stop at the storage lockers in town before we head to Church.”

Brass just nodded. Fuck, it wasn’t like the man to remain so quiet, he always had some type of come back. Shit, Tank didn’t have time for this today. The trip to the storage lockers went by quickly, Tank had so much shit on his mind that the time just flew by.  When they pulled up, he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The place was a mess; burnt, charred remnants of the lockers were scattered everywhere. Tank noticed a man walking through the trash and approached him.

“Hey, do you work here?” 

“Yeah.” At first it looked like the guy was going to give him some shit, but when he noticed Tank’s cut, he must have changed his mind. “This is my place, what can I do for you?” Nobody in Defiance messed with the Ruthless Bastards at least not to their faces.  

“My Old Lady had a unit here and asked me to stop by and take a look. What happened, do you know how the fire started?”

“The Fire chief said it was faulty wiring,” the guy grunted but said, “or some shit, but I just had an upgrade last year. Doesn’t make a lot of sense either because the fire was isolated to this building and they’re all connected. What unit number is your girlfriends?” 

“212” Tank responded. 

“Don’t think there’s much left.” The man whistled between his teeth. “That’s not too far from where the fire started, but you can take a look.  All the doors have been opened, just be careful. I wouldn’t be letting you in, but I don’t think I have much of a choice, now do I?” 

“Nope.” 

“Fine, 212 is at the end from the end of this building; probably safer for you two to go around the back that way you can avoid most of the mess. Tell your girl if she wants anything, she’s going to have to make arrangements because I’m having this whole row brought down in a few days.” 

“Will do.” Tank didn’t pay the man much more attention going around the building, Brass was behind him, but quiet, which was fine with him. 

When they got to Reagan's unit, it was a mess; the door was wide open and all her shit was either charred or soaked from the water hoses. Tank noticed the large lock box right away and pulled out his Leatherman’s tool. If the box did what it was supposed to and protected it contents, then the RBMC and he would have what they needed to take down Worthington, Potter, and his Dad. It only took a couple of seconds for Tank to pop the lock. Opening it up, there was Reagan’s bag, just as perfect as he had seen it before. Grabbing it he turned to Brass. 

“Let get out of here.”

“Right behind you, brother.”

Once they got back to the Clubhouse, Tank cringed when he looked down at his watch, they were late, and Tuck was going to make him pay.  Shit. He and Brass had barely made it through the door when he heard Tucks booming pissed off voice. 

“It’s about time you made an appearance, asshole.”

Tank didn’t bother making any excuses, there weren’t any to give. He was late, and he had been MIA a little too often lately, two things that were against the rules; the RBMC came first, always. 

“Okay, let’s get this shit started,” Tuck said. “A week ago, Agent Raimes came into our Clubhouse demanding all the information Reagan found on Worthington, Taylor, and Potter.  Somehow, the fucker timed it just right. Blade was the only patched member at the Clubhouse at the time. He had a warrant and Blade didn’t have any choice, but to hand over what we had. The fucker was even able to describe the documents and the thumb drive.  

There were several grumbles and pissed off voices expressing their own opinions about Raimes and what he had done, but Tank remained quiet, he already knew about Raimes and the warrant.

“Tal, you want to take it from here?”  Tuck asked.  Talon was one of those people who never met a computer he couldn’t conquer. Tank knew that when he got out of the service, several Fortune 500 companies had offered the man a job. Talon turned them all down, which had surprised Tank and a few of the other brothers. Talon was different; the man was smart as a whip, but he was also what some would say was a gentle soul. That didn’t mean he wasn’t one badass motherfucker because he was, he was just different. Tank never really got why Talon decided to join the RBMC, but then again, the MC was about being free to make your own choices, so more power to him. Tank knew he was personally happy with the information provided on a daily basis.

“The warrant was bogus,” Talon just barely got the words out of his mouth before the room erupted in chaos.  Tuck banged the gavel down on the table and the room quieted.

“What the fuck do you mean it’s bogus?  I looked at it myself, the judge that signed it lives in Defiance.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. The paperwork is all together, but nothing has been filed with the court. According to the records department, there was never a warrant issued for anything at the RBMC.  There is no paper trail, period. The one trail I did find was several large deposits to Agent Raimes from an organization called the WorTay Collective.”

“What the fuck is that?” Tank asked, but his gut already knew, he just needed confirmation. 

“That would be a shell company both Worthington and Taylor use to pay for things they don’t want others to know about. The name’s not real original, but, brother, this shit was hidden behind so many layers, I just found it this morning.”

Fuck! Tank thought, a part of him was hoping that his Dad wasn’t behind what happened to Reagan.  He wasn’t redeemable by any means, but damn, how could the man he grew up respecting above everyone else turn into such a colossal douche.  Shit. 

“The deposits line up with Raimes and the warrant, but there are others. One went to the arson investigator in the area, it lines up to the fire at the storage facility.  One went to Potter, but we know Bobby Lee turned the tables on him and shot the asshole.  Those are the recent ones; there are a few others that bring this full circle.  There are two miscellaneous payments, one on the day Addy came to the Clubhouse with the wiretap and another the day the Vultures attacked the Club.”

“Those fuckers are behind everything that happened to Addy?”  Whiskey asked, pounding his hand on the table.

“Maybe, bro, I’m still lining up the trails. Hell, I could use Reagan’s help, she’s better at following the money.”

Tank had forgotten all about the other heat signature at the cabin, and he was kind of pissed that no one thought to tell him about it. 

“What about Potter?”  Tank asked looking at Tuck and Link.

“If you would have answered our calls, then you would already know, asshole.  Potter was in the cabin waiting for Bobby. Suzie was able to tell us about their confrontation. Potter was surprised and pissed when Bobby brought Suzie instead of Reagan. They argued, and Bobby shot him, end of story. We think Potter was planning on making it look like an overdose.  We found a syringe with pure heroin, definitely meant to be lethal.”    

Fuck me, Tank thought, this shit just kept on coming. 

“If I was a betting man,” Talon cleared his throat, “someone knew what Reagan was up to and wanted to cover all their tracks.”

“Shit!” Tank abruptly stood up. “Yeah, fuck, covered all their tracks except for one, damn it.”

“Shit down, asshole, we have Reagan covered.  Doc, you’re up.”

“Fine, I never admitted Reagan or Suzie under their names. The staff that treated them both was handpicked by me, people I trust to keep their mouths shut, but that doesn’t mean that someone interested enough couldn’t have figured out what was going on. We all know how gossip spreads in this town.”

“So, we’re back to square one,” Tuck said. 

“I paid Raimes a visit,” Link spoke up, “and let him know where we stand. I don’t think he will be fucking with us for a while, but that doesn’t negate the damage he has already caused. The evidence was gone, at least, he didn’t have it at his place, and he covered his ass, too.  Taking the mission file from the Alverez case when he was here, all he has to do is report that to his superiors, and they won’t question his presences at the club.” 

“You're wrong.” Tank had heard enough, “We have everything that Reagan found.” Picking up the laptop bag, he placed it on the table and pushed it towards Talon; the man looked like he had just given him a Christmas present. 

“Reagan didn’t want to keep the information with her, so she put it in her own storage locker, in a fireproof lock box. That’s why Brass and I were late getting here, she asked us to pick it up.”

“Damn, I knew I liked that girl for a reason, smart as a motherfucker,” Tuck said. 

Tank was proud of her too, but he wanted to make something clear to everyone. 

“I don’t want Reagan involved with this any more than she already was, this shit stays with us.  She needs to heal and put all this behind her, it’s my problem now.  Understood?”

“No, brother, it’s our problem, we are in this together until the remaining fuckers are put away or gone permanently.”