Sledge had Mack get the rental car as he pushed the gates open wide enough for her to drive it through. Once she was inside, he and the guy from the guard-shack rolled it closed and it was locked again. Mack was stopped, waiting for Steve...or Sledge...as he told her to, when she overheard him telling the guy at the gate:

“Ogre and Sid came out, but you could feel the eyes and the guns all over the place—man, it was thick. Anyway, Ogre heatedly denied that they had anything to do with Tex getting beaten. Wolf made a call to have us back off...for the time being. It woulda just been like being targets in a shooting gallery at that point if we hadn’t.”

“Was Ogre able to explain why the hell they were wearing Impaler kuttes if it wasn’t them?” the gate guy asked.

“Not that I heard. Wolf and the others are combing Oakland, trying to find out what they can, checking in with some of the Nortenos that Wolf has a relationship with up there.”

“Why aren’t you there?”

“Wolf wanted me to come back and see that things were going smoothly here because my fucking bike took a dump. I think it’s that damned transmission again. Pisses me off. I had it towed to Matthews Harley and caught a ride back in the van with the prospects. I had them drop me off because they were on their way to get groceries and shit for the lockdown and I’m not spending three hours in Wal-Mart. The rest of the guys will be back later this afternoon unless something else goes down.”

Gate-guy nodded and looked at Mack then. She turned her head quickly, trying to pretend like she hadn’t been listening in on their conversation. “You know that one?”

“Yeah,” Sledge said, with disgust in his tone. “I know her. We can trust her on the property...just don’t ever trust her in a relationship.” Mack felt a pain in her chest and wondered if Sledge would change his opinion of her if he knew the truth. But it didn’t matter anyway because she didn’t plan on sharing it with him. She had one mission only...and that was to find Charlie.

Sledge came over then, opened the passenger door of the car, and got inside. The small Honda suddenly seemed a lot smaller. She’d almost forgotten how huge he was. “Keep driving straight and follow the road around to the right.” She silently put the car in drive and followed the gravel road past the big shop. When it curved to the right another building came into view. This one had the Skulls emblem painted on the side. She assumed it was the clubhouse. Beyond that was a cute little brown cottage and a bunch of single and double-wide trailers and a few travel trailers, a small playground surrounded by trees, a garden area, and more cyclone fence. “Park in front of the clubhouse on the pavement there.” She brought the car to rest on the pavement between two older Harleys. Sledge got out of the car, so she followed suit. When they walked around to the front of the car he said, “We’re on lockdown right now so pretty much all of the families are here. It’ll be crowded in there. I have to brief the guys on what’s happening and then you and I can talk.” Mack just nodded and followed him up to the door. She took a deep breath before he pushed it open and then she followed him inside. The chatter that was going on when the door opened completely stopped once the two of them appeared in the large room. It was full of adults, mostly women, and one or two babies. Two men sat up near the bar and one old man was playing pool in the corner. The television was on and tuned to a golf game that no one seemed to be watching.

Sledge led Mack over to where the women were, and a pretty, petite, but muscular brunette stood up and gave her a friendly smile. A young blonde woman was sitting next to her and she also smiled at Mack. At least the women didn’t look like they wanted to bite her head off...at least not yet. Give Sledge and Ash time to tell them who she was and what she had done...they’d probably hate her then too. “Blair, Sabrina, this is Mackenzie. She’s an...she’s someone Ash and I know from back east.” Mack felt another pang in her chest. She used to be the person that Sledge told everything to. She was one of his biggest advocates when he was getting tormented in school. She was one of his best friends. Now, she was just someone he used to know. “Can she hang with you for a few while I brief the guys?”

“Of course,” the dark-headed woman said, “I’m Blair,” she told Mack. “And this is Sabrina. Have a seat.” Mack smiled and sat, and Blair went on, introducing her to the rest of the women. They all seemed friendly enough although a few of them looked at her with curiosity or suspicion in their eyes. “So, you’re from New York?” Blair asked her.

Mack smiled. “Yes, Manhattan.”

“How do you know Sledge and Ash?”

“We kind of grew up together. We went to the same school and we were...good friends, once.” She could hear the sadness in her own voice. She swallowed the lump in her throat and again reminded herself that she wasn’t there about Ash, or Sledge. This was about Charlie. “You don’t happen to know if Ash has heard from his sister lately, do you?”

Blair looked at Sabrina, who shook her head. “No,” Blair said. “I’m not sure I even knew Ash had a sister. He doesn’t talk a lot about his personal life. Is his sister okay?”

“I’m not sure,” Mack said. “She was mad at her mother and she took off. You know their father passed away recently?”

“Yeah,” Sabrina said. “Ash and Sledge went back to New York for the funeral a couple of months ago.”

Mack nodded. “His sister had just been having a hard time dealing with his death and it all kind of came to a head this week for her, I guess.”

“Mack!” Sledge hollered at her from across the room. She smiled at the ladies again and headed over to the office where he was standing. The two men he’d been speaking with came out and were now sitting at the bar, watching her. She walked into the room and Sledge closed the door behind her. “Have a seat,” he said. The table took up most of the room. It was oval and had skulls carved into it along with renditions of Harley Davidsons and hundreds of names. She sat in one of the chairs close to where Sledge had sat and said:

“Charlie got in a fight with Allison last night and took off. Allison called the police, but because she hasn’t been missing for 48 hours, they’re looking, but not listing her as a missing person. We’ve called all her friends, at least the ones we know of. No one has seen her. Allison thinks Ash has something to do with Charlie leaving and she told the police that. She wants them to have the local police come here. I tried to tell her that if Charlie was here, Ash would have let her know, but she’s been even more unreasonable than usual lately. I was kind of hoping Charlie had somehow made it out here, although I’m not sure how she’d do that. She has money, but she’s not old enough to drive or even get on a plane without her parents. I suppose she could have taken the bus or train...I don’t know. My biggest reason for coming out here was to let Ash know what was going on, and warn him...about Allison sending the police.” Sledge’s hard stare was making her nervous and pissing her off at the same time. The kids at school used to call him “Lurch” because he was so tall, and his voice deepened at a young age, likening him to the butler on The Addams Family. He’d been extremely thin back in those days, thanks to a nervous disorder that he’d even taken meds for at one point. He had a hard life, and no one was surprised when he left New York. They would be surprised if they saw him now, though. His body had filled out to match his height and the odd, sallow look his face used to carry was gone and replaced now by a sense of confidence that Mack was oddly proud of, even though he was still looking at her like she was garbage.

“When is she sending the police?”

Mack shrugged. “She already gave them Asher’s information. I don’t know if they have to wait until she’s officially a missing person or what. I don’t know much about it at all...or about you guys and this club. I knew Ash was going to be sick over Charlie disappearing. I just didn’t want this to stir up even more problems for him if the police showed up.”

“What is it you think the police would find here, Mack? You think we’re doing illegal stuff out here?”

“No. That’s not what I mean, St—Sledge. I’m just worried about Charlie, and I guess Ash a little bit too. I still think of them as friends...” Sledge threw his head back and laughed at that. “What’s funny?” she asked.

“You. I still have the video of my best friend’s expression the day he stood at the altar for over an hour waiting for you and they finally told him you weren’t coming. I’ve never seen anything as heart-wrenching as the look on his face...and here you sit and tell me you still think of him as a friend.” The big man shook his head, like she had a lot of nerve. Maybe she did, but they didn’t know the whole story. She still sometimes wondered if so much hurt and heartache could have been avoided if she’d just told Asher what she knew. But then she’d remind herself of his temper...and the threats that had been made...and she knew that she’d done the right thing. She didn’t address Sledge’s statement. Instead she said:

“Do you know if he’s talked to Charlie lately?”

“No idea. I know he does talk to her now from time to time. Has she run off before?”

Mack nodded. “Once, but she came home on her own after twelve hours or so.”

“Did Allison know where she went? It would be a starting point.”

Mack snorted and said, “Allison rarely knows where she is. The truth is, if I hadn’t tried to call and message her and gotten no answer, I might not be so worried. Charlie is pretty much allowed to come and go as she pleases. The only reason anyone noticed her missing was because she was supposed to hang out with her friend and didn’t show. I saw the posts on Facebook; her friend started out asking where she was and why she wasn’t answering her phone...and the messages got more worrisome after a while with her best friend begging her to reach out and at one point asking her pointblank...‘Did you really do it? Did you take off?’”

“Did you talk to the friend?”

“I tried. You know how teenagers are.” She regretted that as soon as it came out. If anyone knew how teenagers were, it was this man in front of her. He’d suffered their cruelty and their judgment more than anyone Mack had ever personally known. Sledge didn’t flinch however, and he went on:

“So, what did she say?”

“Just that she had no idea where Charlie was. Claims that Charlie didn’t tell her a thing.”

“Shit,” Sledge said. “Okay, well, I’ll pass this on to Ash and...”

“No. I want to tell Ash myself. He’s going to be freaked out by this...”

“And you think hearing it from you will soften the blow?”

“I hope so,” she told him.

“Doubtful,” Sledge said...but at least he didn’t make her leave.