Reed
I kept looking around nervously as we approached the border between Texas and Mexico near Laredo. It was only Seamus and me who had taken the van down to pick up the five girls we would be taking home this time. I also strapped my bike to a trailer on the back just in case. For some reason, even though I made a trade like this many times since becoming Prez of Skulls Renegade MC, I had this bad feeling in my gut. Seamus kept telling me it was because my Ol’ Lady wasn’t with me, but there was something more to it than that. It just didn’t feel like every other time.
Juan had never gotten the girls to me this fast after an order, and he seemed desperate to get these girls off his hands. His tone on the phone had even been different than before. I knew I had told Elena that I could handle this by myself while she headed up to Cincinnati to take care of business with the FBI, but I was regretting accepting the meeting now.
Like always, I was given a specific road to pull off. This one led me into an abandoned neighborhood that looked like it used to be a booming industrial district, Now, it looked like one of those ghost towns you saw on the news occasionally. It was a pretty creepy setup with warehouses and dirt blowing all around. There was even a gas station that hadn’t been visited in so long that the sign showed a gallon of gas as being under a dollar.
The place was dead quiet even though it was the middle of the day, and I hadn’t even seen a cop in sight. Maybe it was the ideal halfway point if someone was coming in from Mexico illegally. I suspected I might see a starving and squatting Hispanic family or two if I hung around long enough. But I wasn’t planning on being there any longer than I had to be. I was good at putting on a poker face, even with the worst of men, but the more women we got from Rafael and Juan, the more it made them seem like the lowest scum of the Earth. And it was hard to hold back the urge to squash them.
“Now, I’m feeling uneasy, boss,” Seamus commented, as he pulled into an old covered parking spot under a jagged piece of metal. We were at the back of an old warehouse that looked like it was once painted white but was now covered in brown dirt. The dust clouds were blowing in my face as I exited the van.
I felt for the Glock hidden in my pocket, and I peeked over to make sure Seamus had his too. This place was fuckin’ eerie, and I was going to be certain if I made it outta here alive I wouldn’t be meeting with Juan to grab the girls here again.
I walked in the dark and abandoned place, mostly open and empty besides a few abandoned boxes and packing supplies. There was still one conveyor belt shoved into the corner. Other than that, my only company was Seamus, dirt, and the shit eating monster that was waiting for me at the other end of the large, haunting room.
He was alone, which worried me even more. I knew something wasn’t right. I nodded to Seamus to give him a signal, and I saw that he tensed up around his own pocket, ready to strike if need be.
“Where are the girls?” I barked as I approached Juan with his rotting smile. He looked like a smug supervillain.
“Calm down, gentlemen. They are all in the car on the other side of the building. All five that you asked for are there. I thought that your associate here could go and load them out while the two of us had a little chat, man to man.” I narrowed my gaze at him, having no idea what shit he was playing at, wanting to talk and to separate us, but because he was alone, I decided to make the priority the girls.
“Seamus, why don’t you go see what this guy is talking about and see if you can’t get these girls into the van without a fuss. Can you handle that?” Seamus nodded, and let go of the tough grip on his gun after passing an upset glance between the two of us. I could tell he didn’t want me to be alone in there with Juan with the mood he seemed to be in, but we didn’t really have an option. I had to play this game well, whatever it was, to make sure all seven of us were going to make it back to the bar safe and sound.
“So, what’s this all about?” I asked, nodding towards Juan. I wasn’t in the mood to wait for him to get through a roundabout explanation. I didn’t take a fight stance, but I let him know he owed me an explanation.
“I came in here alone for a reason, Reed. It’s because I respect you, and I trust you. We have been business partners for a long time, haven’t we?” I nodded, not liking the way he was still insisting on going around in circles. “You see, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt here because I believe you to be totally innocent as far as in or business dealings. It doesn’t matter to me what you do to or for these women once you have them, as long as you give me the money I ask for and keep your mouth shut about what we do here.”
That feeling in my stomach was back as he began to pace with great bravado. He may have looked like a filthy shithead that was just some poor peon, but I knew him well enough to know Juan was nothing of the sort. He was a ruthless middle manager in a cartel who had a sadistic need to boss around all these young women. He had no respect, mercy, or remorse. He was a cold, hard criminal. I got the feeling that my Siren may have underestimated him. But I continued to keep my body calm and listened. I didn’t want to incite him before I knew what I was up against.
“And I always do. I don’t give a shit what you do either, if you keep doing fair business with me, Juan. Look, what’s all this talk about? First, you have us meet you in this creepy abandoned town in an old warehouse, and then you send my boy out to get the girls while you say we need to talk. Just lay it on me, Juan. What have you heard?” I tried to play dumb like I knew nothing, but there was no way this didn’t have to do with my Ol’ Lady and what she did for a living. I had been giving Juan’s girls new lives for years now, and he hadn’t cared before. Something had happened, and the FBI was probably going to need to know this the moment I made it out of that warehouse. If I made it out, that is.
“See? This is why I like you, Reed. You’re straightforward. It’s why I wanted to talk to you instead of making my assumptions. It’s why I wanted to give you a chance to explain and handle things your way before I angered Rafael with this disturbing news.” Well, at least I knew we didn’t have the whole cartel on our ass, not yet anyway. But I didn’t like his tone, even though he was seemingly friendly. “That woman of yours, the one that is the president for the Vipers, there was something not right about her. I just knew it in the way she acted. At first, I just thought she was new to the game. She had obviously just inherited that renegade group from her ruthless father and wasn’t doing a great job filling his shoes. It happens. But when I dug deeper, I found out that my original instinct was right. And because we are friends, I thought you should know because if we go down, you will go down with us.”
Shit! He was about to blow Elena’s cover. I just knew it, and I had to think quick, especially as he was giving me the chance to play dumb like I had no idea about her. But I couldn’t let this make it back to Rafael. I knew that. Anything was better than letting this cartel know Elena was with the FBI. She would be as good as dead to the cartel and to the government. I wasn’t naïve about how that shit worked. Once you fucked up, there was no more protection for you.
“Why would either of us go down, Juan? Look, this chick is hot and great in bed, that’s all I know. I guess I should be more careful who I take home with me. But, really, how bad can she be?” I played it up, making sure he thought I didn’t care for her and had no intimate knowledge beyond what her pussy felt like. I was hoping the sleazeball would buy it. I had made a good sleazeball myself when I first became Prez. Surely, I had been convincing.
“That woman is not who you think she is, Reed. She is an undercover agent for the FBI. She means to turn us all in for sex trafficking and who knows what else. My hope is that I told you in enough time for you to dispose of her before she gets too much information. I don’t want any trouble for having dealings with the wrong people, and I know you don’t ever want to meet Rafael.” There was a threat in there somewhere, but I could tell this Rafael person wouldn’t be happy with Juan if he had to come after two MCs that Juan made deals with to save his ass. There was a chance for me to get out of this unscathed and get to Elena before it was too late.
“You’re fucking kidding me?” I acted angry, forcing myself to turn red with rage. “That fucking cunt!”
“I know this must come as a shock, but she was chosen by the FBI for a reason.” I nodded, acting like I was cooling down and becoming grateful for his information. I pulled out my wad of cash for him and went to shake his hand.
“Thank you, Juan, for giving them the chance to deal with this before it’s too late. I have an entire MC full of people she could put in danger, all because I was thinking with my dick.” Juan held out his hand to shake, looking satisfied with my response, and that’s when I turned on him. It was the fastest I had ever pulled out a gun in my whole life. I shot him down in cold blood like it was the fucking wild west and ran for my life to the van, glad as hell that all the women were already in there.
“Fucking drive, Seamus!” I screamed. He looked at me with fear in his eyes. He had heard the gun shot. He took off like a bat out of hell as we saw Juan’s associate running into the warehouse to see what has happened. I got him within range and shot him. I didn’t look back to see if he was dead or only injured. We had to get the fuck out of there.
“Don’t ask any questions,” I told Seamus. “get to the next town, and we’ll split up. You get these girls home and you out that bar on lockdown. The whole club needs their pieces on them always. Protect the women. All of them.” Seamus nodded. I knew I could count on him in this time of need. He was a great friend.
I picked up my cell and dialed a number I had saved only for such emergencies as this. I called Kristie, Elena’s handler.
“I just fucking killed Juan, Kristie. I shot his associate and took the girls. He knew who Elena was. He’s more cunning than we thought. It sounded like he hasn’t told anyone yet, but because I shot him, they’ll be after us soon. They’ll kill us.” I was in a panic. “I’ve got to come for Elena. In the meantime, get your shit together and figure out what the hell we’re going to do.”
She answered in as calm a voice as she could have, and I could hear Elena in the background with John. Thank goodness, she was with them and safe right now. “Alright, we’ll do all we can to keep her safe. We’ll see you soon.”