Chapter Fourteen
Mastema was busy in the sound booth with Jinn, where they were still tweaking repairs on the speakers. As they worked between sets, Jinn pointed toward one of the security cameras. “Do you know who those men are?”
In addition to serving as their sound engineer, Jinn now helped Apollyon keep an eye on the security cameras while the club was open. Apollyon had gone out to use the bathroom, and to bring back drinks for himself, Jinn, and Mastema.
“No, but why are they dressed in cuts with no patches?” Mastema pointed toward the one closest to the camera. “Can you zoom in on the back of his for a second?”
Jinn increased the zoom and played with the resolution until it became obvious to both men that a large patch had once been sewn into the leather, but had been removed. “Now who do you suppose would remove the patch from a cut, but still swagger around dressed like an MC member?”
“Son of a bitch,” said Mastema. They all knew the Outlaw Dogs MC logo, and that was a dead match for it. “You okay in here until Apollyon gets back? I’ve got to find the others.”
“Go. I’m fine.”
As Mastema bounded down the stairs leading to the main floor, he spotted Vassago and Phenex. They waved him over. The other officers were already gathered in the back hallway, just outside the club.
“Who’s on the door tonight?” asked Mastema. “How the hell did they get in here?”
“There are four of them,” said Rahab. “They came in one at a time, but neither Paul nor Hank recognized them.” Rahab handed each officer a sheet of paper. “These are the names they used. Each one had ID, but it’s probably fake. Donny’s men are running the names for us now.”
Mastema scanned the names, but didn’t recognize any of them. “What’s the plan?”
“For now, we watch them. Four of us will tail them, me and Vassago will watch the door to make sure no one else gets in looking like them. Once Donny’s men run the names, they’ll alternate with us so two men are on each of these four at various times.”
“Why the fuck don’t we just kick them out?” asked Mastema.
“Because right now,” said Gorgon, “they’re nothing more than paying customers until they give us a reason not to be.”
“How fucking stupid do you have to be to dress like that and come in here?” asked Tannin. “As if we wouldn’t eventually notice their missing patches match the outline of the Outlaw Dogs MC logo perfectly.”
“If they’re here to cause trouble, we’ll know it soon enough.”
A shiver ran down Mastema’s spine. Kayla was probably down here by now. Where was she?
“Let’s decide who follows who for now,” said Tannin. They split up the men and Mastema trailed the one assigned to him, but glanced around looking for Kayla as well. Finally, he spotted her, talking to Meghan behind the bar. That was good. She’d be safe there.
About twenty minutes went by with the man Mastema followed doing nothing except nursing a beer and leaning against a table, watching the second set of dancers. If he spotted Mastema, he gave no indication of it. There was a hardness to his demeanor that Mastema found unsettling.
Once Dominic joined him, Mastema asked if running down the names had led to anything useful.
“Only that they’re all fake names. But Gene and I don’t recognize any of them, so we’ll have to resort to other measures to figure out their real names.”
“Could they be working for Vito?”
“Possibly, but considering he doesn’t want di Stefano around to deal with anymore than Donny does, I don’t know why he’d pull a fucking bone-headed move like this. He knows the set-up here by now. He knows Donny left me and Gene here.”
“Any theories on why they’re in here wearing cuts with the patches taken off?”
Dominic shrugged. “Maybe they killed the prior owners?”
All of Donny’s associates Mastema had met sported that same blasé attitude. It unnerved him at times. Mastema was about to ask Dominic another question when a commotion at the far end of the bar drew his attention. He and Dominic exchanged a glance, and abandoned the man they’d been watching to sprint toward the bar.
Two of the men they’d all been following stood next to empty stools, shouting at Meghan and Kayla. What the hell? Mastema had to push customers out of the way to get through. The men were flanked by Tannin, Phenex, Gene, and Rahab, all shouting as well.
When Gorgon and Vassago showed up, Gorgon whistled loudly, but the chaos didn’t die down. He then signaled to Tannin, and the two began to try to ease the customers away from the commotion. When Rahab joined their efforts, Mastema sprinted around to the other side of the bar and went behind it. He pulled Kayla away from the edge.
“What’s going on?”
“The tall one with the orange t-shirt under his cut ordered a drink and Meghan gave it to him, but he said she made it wrong. She offered to make it again, but he just kept yelling at her, calling her names. Then the other man chimed in. Tannin and Phenex came over first, and have been trying to calm them down ever since.”
Son of a bitch. He knew they should have escorted these assholes out the second they spotted them. The man Kayla had pointed to narrowed his eyes as he watched Mastema. Before Mastema had time to react, the man leaped over the bar and tried to grab Kayla. A woman yelled. Gene was over the bar next. Mastema pushed Kayla out of the way and stood in front of her, but the man lunged for her a second time.
As Gene grabbed the guy from behind, Kayla moved in front of Mastema and punched the man in the gut. Mastema landed his own punch in the man’s back, right over a kidney, but he still didn’t go down. Not until Gene pulled out a pistol and knocked him over the head with it.
Mastema realized who had yelled when he saw Phenex and Vassago pulling the second man off Meghan. Phenex kicked the man in the face, and he went down like a rag doll.
“Get the other two before they leave!” shouted Mastema, pointing toward the door.
Gorgon, Dominic, Rahab, and Tannin took off running. Mastema nodded toward Gene. “They’re both out.”
Gene leaped over the bar, followed by Vassago. Phenex pulled Meghan into his arms and held her. She was still swearing like a sailor, and there was a nasty bruise on her face. Mastema walked over to Kayla, who stood over the man she’d punched. She rubbed her hand, and he pulled her close. “Are you okay?”
“What the fuck is wrong with them? All she did was make him a damn drink.”
“I know.” He touched her hand. “Is it broken?”
“I don’t know. Hope not. It hurts like a bear.”
“That was one hell of a punch you gave him.”
“Fucker.” Her voice shook, and her skin was too pale.
“It’s over now.” Liar. It would never be over. Not until they’d killed every fucking one of Mad Dog’s followers, or Vito’s goons, or whoever the fuck these men really were.
“We should get them both upstairs,” said Phenex.
Mastema nodded. “Yeah. Come on. There are plenty of others to tend bar tonight.”
“I’m all right,” said Meghan. “It’s busy. I’m needed here.”
Phenex whispered something in her ear, and she nodded, wincing as he touched the bruise on her face.
“Will you take them up?” Phenex asked Mastema.
“Sure. Come on, ladies.”
On the way past the kitchen, he grabbed the first aid kit. Once they were in Meghan’s room, Mastema watched in astonishment as Kayla gently cleaned dirt off the bruise, and dabbed disinfectant on it. Add another hidden talent to her repertoire.
“What happened to your hand?” asked Meghan.
“She punched one of them. Right in the gut.”
Meghan raised her brows. “You did?”
“Yeah. Assholes.”
“Are you sure your hand isn’t broken?” asked Mastema. He held it and gently moved her fingers. “Does any of this hurt?”
“No. It’s fine. Honest.”
“Are you both all right if I get back downstairs then?”
“Yes,” said Meghan. “They need you.”
Mastema gave Kayla a long glance. “I’ll come back up as soon as I can.”
“Don’t worry about us. Go on. Make sure everything is all right down there.”
He hated leaving her, but they had a bar full of customers, dancers to protect, and two more men to find and subdue until they could figure out what the fuck was going on.
When he returned downstairs, Tannin and Rai were managing the crowd, walking among them, making sure no one had been harmed, and ensuring everyone had a drink. There were plenty of people behind the bar to serve drinks, but no dancers on stage yet. He went into the sound booth, where Jinn and Apollyon told him that Donny’s men had the other two intruders, and had taken all four men to the office Donny used.
“And Vassago called Donny,” said Jinn. “He’s on the way.”
“Are we getting someone back on stage soon?”
“Yeah. She’s ready to go. Be about five minutes.”
Most days, it paid to be protected by a Mob boss. Mastema went back to the offices, where Gorgon, Rahab, Dominic, and Gene were tying up four gagged men. They used ominous-looking items one would expect to see only in the best gangster movies.
The struggles of their four prisoners were pointless by the time Dominic and Gene put the finishing touches on their handiwork. All they could move were their heads.
“What can I do to help?” Mastema asked Gorgon. “Want me to watch for Donny?”
“Phenex and Vassago are taking care of that. See if Tannin needs help out there.”
“He and Rai have it under control.”
“Are Kayla and Meghan okay?”
“Yes. Kayla’s with Meghan. She took care of the bruise.”
“Which bruise? Her own, or Meghan’s?”
“Both. Did you see what she did?”
“Yeah. I saw her slug one of them in the gut.”
“Which one of these fuckers hit Meghan?”
Gorgon grinned, pointing toward the man whose nose was bleeding profusely. “This poor fucker. The one who seems to have tripped over Phenex’s boot and broken his nose.”
The officers and Donny’s men laughed. Did Phenex know how Meghan felt toward him? Did Meghan know Phenex had a thing for her, too? She’d been here now for two years. At first, they’d put her on kitchen duty because she was a great cook. But when Rahab discovered she also knew how to mix drinks, she’d become one of their part-time bartenders as well.
Meghan was one of their sweetbutts, but she did so many other things, and all without complaining or causing drama, that it was easy at times to forget she was only twenty-seven, and had been through hell before she’d found her way here. Only the officers knew why Meghan suffered from chronic stomach issues. They, and probably Chloe, whom she was closest to.
“Donny’s here.” Vassago’s voice pulled Mastema back to the present. He stepped aside as Vassago and Phenex entered the office, followed by Donny and two men Mastema had never seen before.
Donny pointed toward the men who had come with him. “These two take care of getting information out of people for me. Nice to see we’ll have such a large audience.”
“I need a couple of you back out in the club,” said Gorgon. He pointed toward Rahab and Phenex. “You two. Stay close to the door with Paul and Hank. Be sure they’re not only checking IDs, but really looking at people. I don’t want anymore shit happening here tonight.”
“Got it,” said Phenex. After he and Rahab left, Gorgon addressed Donny. “You okay if the four of us stay?”
“You can all stay as far as I’m concerned. It’s your club, after all. And these scum are going to tell us who the fuck they are, and why they came here tonight.”