***Ramrod***

 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Deeds bellows.

“Fuuuuuuuck,” I growl. “She means Arlo, doesn’t she?”

Deeds looks at me and snaps, “Put on some fucking shoes, we’re heading over to the clubhouse. I need to be in the fucking safe room to have this discussion.”

He grabs his phone, hits a button and puts it to his ear. Doll and I both put our shoes on. She takes my hoodie as Deeds starts to curse.

“Broke isn’t fucking answering his goddamned phone. Where the fuck is he?” Deeds looks at me with pain in his eyes and I don’t want to say out loud what he deep down already knows the possibilities are.

Swallowing, he shakes his head. “I fucking teamed him up with Arlo himself man...fuck.”

“Not now, Prez. We’ll get him back. Come on, we’re going. Lochlan should be there soon too.” I grab his shoulder and give it a squeeze.

Hell, I don’t even know what the fuck I can say to him. I fucking hope Broke’s alive. It’s just a few minutes until we all stroll into a dead silent clubhouse. Deeds put them all together at Depay’s house and he’s got a few standing watch around the house.

This is a threat we’ve never faced and Deeds’ face is edged with worry. The same kind I bet we all feel stabbing deep in our bones. We’re being gutted from the inside out.

The door from the clubhouse swings open as Lochlan and Chopper stroll inside. Lochlan is holding a red plastic bag with ‘Bettie’s Fabric-land’ in white letters across it. Doll is leaning against the table when Lochlan slides the bag in front of her.

“That’s for you, Doll,” he tells her.

Confused, my woman picks it up and looks inside. She pulls a piece of fabric out of the bag and has a tiny smile when she nods as Lochlan. “Thank you. You’ve bought the stuff we picked out for Hadley…you…you went back there? Why?”

“Yeah, why, fucker?” Deeds barks. “Because we’re kinda in the middle here of being killed off one by one from the inside out. Remember the hit on my ol’lady? Why the hell would you go out and buy that shit when I need you on,”

Lochlan cuts him off. “Because I needed to check something out. My suspicions were right, and I tried to fucking call you, but you didn’t pick up so I sent Broke a text instead.”

Deeds grabs a chair and motions for all of us to sit down. “When did you text him? Do you know if he read the message?”

“He did, but I didn’t get a reply, not that I really needed it because I basically just gave him a warning.” Lochlan takes a seat across from me.

“What was in the message?” I question.

Lochlan points a finger at me. “That I caught Arlo on a lie and that he shouldn’t be trusted at this point.”

“Thank fuck. Or not. Fuck.” Deeds shrugs a hand through his hair.

“What?” Chopper asks.

I meet his gaze and let him know, “Prez ordered for everyone to buddy up. He put Broke and Arlo together and we can’t get a hold of Broke, or Arlo for that matter. Because we tried to reach that fucker a moment ago and his phone goes straight to voicemail too.”

“What a fucking mess,” Lochlan mumbles before he knocks on the table in front of him and directs his attention to Doll. “Remember the old woman that was in front of us?”

Doll slowly nods.

“Well, I saw the fear in your eyes when your gaze was set on Arlo. Then he said he wasn’t in time to cover our backs when the shooting occurred because he was helping an old woman,”

“Because she fell and they helped her to her car. Please tell me they didn’t hurt that old woman.” Doll gasps.

Lochlan shakes his head. “Nah, don’t worry. The trick with lies is that you have to stick close to a hint of the truth, so they saw her walk out but that’s it. But it was something easy for me to check out because she placed an order and I got her information through the store. We paid her a visit and when we asked about something unusual, or what she remembered after she left the store, she told me she saw two large men arguing next to their bikes. She didn’t do anything more than hurry past them, got in her car and left.”

Doll takes her head in her hands. “Oh, this is so bad. When does this end? Somehow, through all of this I had a tiny hint of hope that my sister would still be alive…but she isn’t…is she? They killed her, right?” She glances around the room but none of us can give her any words…because we don’t have to. The chance she’s alive is less than zero.

Chopper shoves open a thick file that’s lying in front of him. “Lo Davis came up zero. Clearly that’s because it’s an alias Arlo only used for Doll’s family. Once Lochlan caught him on the lie it was easy as shit to build a case, and fuck…I should have done a background check when we patched him in, because we always do. Even with fucking prospects. We were too blind with,”

“That’s on me,” Deeds growls. “I should have gone through the formal steps instead of patching him in because his twin got killed.”

“Lo had a twin?” Doll questions.

Deeds rubs a hand over his mouth, thinking things through. “I guess I owe you a bit of an explanation since you’re caught up in this mess too.”

Doll swallows and nods. I place a hand on her knee and give it a squeeze to let her know I’m right here beside her if she needs me. I’m thankful when I feel her delicate fingers covering my hand.

“About three years ago, our former VP, Goffa, was killed in the line of duty. I don’t know how much your ol’man told you about us, but we handle cases here. Cases that the usual roads of justice can’t handle or can’t do anything to catch or prevent them from happening again.”

Doll gives a tight nod and keeps her eyes locked with my Prez. In this moment I’m even more proud of my woman and how she’s handling herself.

“We had a case involving missing boys, a few of them turned up dead. The cops had a straight connection to who was doing it but the evidence wasn’t holding up, so we took over. They attacked and threatened my ol’lady. They killed another little boy but my woman discovered the connection, she cracked the case wide open so we could go in and get the fuckers.” Deeds leans his head on his hand, his palm covering one eye as he continues, “We had those assholes but the little boys were still missing. Lips loves her documentaries. She was watching one and suddenly realized where they could be. So she drove over to where we were…the fucker who attacked her was on the floor, it happened so damn fast…he somehow cut himself out of his restraints and had a gun…pointed it right at us and when it went off, Goffa jumped in front of me and took the bullet that was meant for me.”

There’s dead silence in the room. I wait for Deeds to add some more but he doesn’t. “You forgot some crucial parts in there, Prez,” I tell him, because we all know how this went down; it had such an impact that we discussed every millisecond what happened in that house. “When we caught those fuckers, tied them up, Goffa was the one who was ordered to pat them down, check for weapons. He was so distracted by his twin, Arlo, getting out of jail that he failed to do so, or it never would have happened. Goffa fucked up, and knowing that he stepped up to make shit right. That’s why he caught the fucking bullet that was meant for you, but Prez…every single one of us would have done the same.”

“Because we’re fucking loyal. Too damn loyal because we didn’t fucking think and just welcomed a rat among us with open fucking arms. For fucking years, just waiting for the right time to strike,” Deeds growls.

“Lo was in jail and you guys didn’t think he would be a bad guy?” Doll asks with wide eyes.

“Want some salt to rub in some open wounds there, Doll? And stop calling that fucking rat Lo, his name is Arlo.” Lochlan sneers.

Doll’s head whips to Lochlan. Eyeing him up she comments, “Want me to rip off those hideous bracelets and shove them up your ass bead by bead?”

“Hey,” Lochlan growls. “My kid made them for me.”

I see Doll’s face fall. “Shut the fuck up, Lochlan. We’ve got better things to discuss and you don’t even have any kids. Fucker.”

Lochlan narrows his eyes at me. “People shouldn’t spit out opinions that will make a person think bad about who they are or what they wear. It’s a dirty habit.”

“A dirty habit?” Doll gasps. “You started it.”

Deeds slaps the table with an open hand. “Shut the fuck up, all of you.” All eyes are on him as he continues. “Yeah, we knew he was in jail. Goffa told us he was working undercover when a bust went south. The gang Arlo was trying to bring down found out he was a cop and they wanted him dead. Everyone was rounded up and they placed Arlo in isolation to keep him safe, not letting anyone know when they would release him. Goffa was on edge, wanted to bring him here safe. He was fucking distracted and that’s what got him killed. I shouldn’t have brought him along. I should have,”

“Should have doesn’t make any difference now.” Doll’s voice sounds pained. “If we know everything up front, the world would be a whole different place. Believe me I know, because then I wouldn’t be here and my sister would also be with me.”

Fuck. My heart gets stabbed with the thought of not having her in my life and yet that’s a double-edged sword that’s stabbed in there because of her sister.

“How long was your sister with Arlo?” Chopper questions.

Doll takes a moment before she says, “Probably four years or so?”

“So, she was with him when he was undercover, probably knew more about what he was doing, might have known he went to prison and got out.  Did she ever say something, anything?” Chopper presses.

Doll sighs. “I’ve been wrapping my brain around a lot of things. In the beginning I got lots of texts and selfies and so on, and she was very active on social media but it all died down when she met Lo…Arlo. I thought it was because she was too busy. She’s always a girl who would dive into anything head first and be consumed by it. But life happens, you know? I was busy setting things up for myself, she had her own life…when she called me out of the blue, all panicked, I didn’t think twice and drove up to meet her.”

“Where did you guys meet?” Deeds asks.

“Our grandmother’s property. The house is nothing more but a wall here and there, a ruin, and the place is overgrown, but my parents still struggle with selling the property because of sentimental reasons…anyway, we used to play out back. There was this old stone fireplace where we used to sneak off to and build a fire to make marshmallows,” Doll pauses and shakes her head, “but she wasn’t there anymore.”

“Anymore?” Lochlan raises his eyebrow.

“Yes, anymore. There were footsteps in the mud but I never saw her and I tried calling again but…nothing.” A lone tear slides down her face.

I brush it away from her cheek. “Might be she found out something she shouldn’t have.”

“Or that gang he was two-timing found him,” Chopper says as he places some papers in front of us. “I’ve looked up his case files and everything I could get my hands on…seems like there’s close to two million in cash missing. Arlo had been under investigation and besides the gang finding out he was undercover, he ripped them off too. Maybe they’ve finally caught up to him after three years?”

“Or maybe Doll’s sister found the cash,” Deeds mumbles, caught in his own thoughts before his voice raises. “Maybe she found the cash and she wanted out. Or something happened that got her spooked, or hell…maybe she even thought they’d come after you, Doll. Or she wanted out, get help…fuck. You think she was there at the place you were supposed to meet? Are you sure? Did something else look off?”

“I don’t know.” Doll’s voice cracks. “I’m not like you guys…I only noticed the footprints because it rained for two days and everything was muddy and my shoes sank in and then I saw other footprints.”

“We need to go check,” Lochlan states.

“Yeah, we do,” Deeds agrees. “But we have a few other things to handle first.”

“Kill Arlo and Rembrandt,” I growl.

“And find Broke,” Doll adds with a voice filled with emotion.

“Yes.” My Prez’s voice is filled with determination as he stands up and stalks out.