“He’s dead?” Dax’s voice sounded about as stressed as Chopper had ever heard it. Maybe it was the connection.

“Yeah, at least I think it’s him, Dax. It was hard to tell. He was a fucking mess.” Chopper’s voice was shaky. Garrett and Zack were both listening in to the call but neither of them had said a word. Finally, Dax said:

“Zack?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“You checked this bathroom earlier?”

Zack’s face changed slightly. It was almost like a dark curtain was pulled down over his eyes. He squinted almost imperceptibly and said, “I checked the men’s and women’s bathrooms. The family bathroom was being cleaned. The man who was cleaning it went inside, checked to make sure no one was there, and then cordoned it off. I watched him do all of that and then I went to check out the stores I’d already been to. When I came back, the janitor was gone, and the wet floor sign was up.”

“But you didn’t go inside, at all.”

“Not until Chopper did, and I followed him. I’m sorry, Dax, but what is it you really want to ask me?”

“I’m just trying to figure out what happened here.”

“And what Chopper told you was exactly what happened. I mean no disrespect here, but it sounds a bit like you’re insinuating maybe there’s something I’m not telling you.”

Dax audibly sighed and said, “No, Zack. Fuck…no. I know you wouldn’t lie to me. I’m sorry if it seems that I was insinuating you would. This is just fucked up. If they start looking into this guy and they find any connection to Chopper’s bike, Chopper, or Chelsea…” He sighed again. “I don’t suppose you took off your kuttes before you went into the mall?” Zack and Chopper looked at each other and Chopper said:

“No, Dax, sorry. I didn’t even think about it. Fuck. I’m really sorry.”

“Nah, it’ll be alright. It’s just always fucking something. Garrett?” Dax sounded tired. He’d just gotten to Sturgis, but Chopper doubted he was going to enjoy his time there with all of this on his mind.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“David is tracing those numbers on the van; when they come back, find this guy and get some answers, okay? He’s also keeping in touch with a friend he has out there. Some computer geek. If there are any familiar fingerprints in that bathroom, hopefully he can catch them and get rid of them before the police get the list. He mentioned getting access to the cameras at the mall, but he couldn’t promise anything. I don’t suppose either of you noticed if there were cameras pointed at that bathroom?”

“No,” Chopper and Zack both said at the same time. Zack wasn’t smiling. He looked worried, or pissed, probably at himself for not thinking of it. It hadn’t even crossed Chopper’s mind. Everything just seemed to happen so quickly.

“You got it, boss. I’m sorry I let him get away. Fucking traffic was heavy. Everybody on their way to Sturgis.”

“Yeah, well, two hundred clubs coming through Sioux Falls might actually work to our benefit here. They won’t jump straight to us even if your faces are on those cameras. I’m sure they’re not great quality. Darwin has gotten some good quality video suppressed in court in the past. If it comes to that, and I hope it doesn’t, then we’ll just have to put our faith in him.” He changed tracks then and said, “Chopper, I need you to talk to Chelsea again and make sure she understands how important it is that she’s telling us everything.”

“She’s telling us…” Chopper wanted to automatically jump to defending her, and then he remembered who he was talking to and said, “Yeah, I’ll make sure. I’ll call her as soon as…”

“No. You need to get back to Boston. I don’t want you anywhere near that murder investigation.”

Zack cleared his throat and Garrett was looking at the phone, not Chopper. He wasn’t sure if he was being punished or if Dax just wanted to protect him. “So, you want me to come back today?”

“Yes, now.”

“On a plane?”

“No. I want you to ride that bike we got you, and make sure you stop at a few of the rally spots along the way. Don’t let anyone know you’re headed east. You’re a nomad and you’re headed the same direction as everyone else. You just prefer to ride alone. When you get back, go talk to Chelsea first and express to her just how important it is that she tell you everything. Then, get back to the ranch and stay there.”

“Dax…”

“I’m not asking you, Chopper.”

He looked at Garrett and Zack again. The look in both of their eyes told him that he was a fool if he argued. “Okay.”

Dax gave Garrett a few more instructions and when they ended the call Chopper said, “Is he pissed at me?”

Zack shrugged. “At least he doesn’t think you slit some guy’s throat.”

Garrett rolled his eyes. “You,” he said to Zack, “need to grow a thicker skin. It made sense for him to ask; you were there.” He looked at Chopper then and said, “And you need to understand that Dax will always do what’s best for his club first. If he tells you that he needs you in Boston, or Needham, or fucking Timbuktu, he has thought it through and he knows exactly what he’s doing. So, both of you need to pull your bottom lips up off the fucking floor and do what the man is telling you to do.”

Garrett finished talking, and Chopper was still staring up at the big man’s face in some form of shock. It was the most he’d ever heard him say all at once. He glanced sideways at Zack. He was smiling. A few tense seconds passed, and Zack said, “It’s a good thing you’re fucking eight feet tall or I’d break your jaw for talking to me like that.”

Garrett rolled his eyes again and flipped him off. Chopper couldn’t help but smile. He knew Zack wasn’t serious, and he knew Garrett was just trying to keep them both from saying the wrong thing and pissing Dax off. He couldn’t express how he felt about these guys, or Dax for that matter, because no matter how bad things were, he knew that somehow together they’d be able to handle it.

Two long-ass, grueling days later, Chopper pulled off the highway into Boston. He was tired, dirty, and hungry, but the first thing he did was pull over and call Chelsea. He hadn’t spoken to her in three days. He missed her, just the sound of her voice, but he hadn’t wanted to explain any of this on the phone. The latest update he’d gotten from Dax was that all the fingerprints had been intercepted and Chopper’s had been erased, and Garrett had a name and address on the guy with the silver van. It was in Iowa, though, so Garrett would have to backtrack again. The biggest piece of the puzzle was Brown-Jacket’s name and last known. His name was Desi Gardner, but he went by “Dizzy” on the street in Boston where he lived. The big news was that Dizzy was a smalltime hit man. He worked mostly for gangs and smalltime gangsters. The scary news was that if he was stalking Chelsea, someone really wanted her dead.

“Chopper?” Chelsea sounded happy to hear from him, but at the same time her voice sounded sad.

“Yeah, hey. How are you?”

“I’m okay,” she said. He didn’t know how he knew, but he was sure she was lying.

“Are you sure? Is someone bothering you again?”

“No. I’m fine, really. I just went back to work yesterday and I’m a little tired is all. Are you okay?”

“I’ll live,” he said. “Can I see you?”

“Yes, of course. I have to work the evening shift today. I go in at five.”

Chopper looked at the time. It was just after ten a.m. He’d been driving all night. By five p.m. he was likely to be comatose, and he couldn’t wait. “That’s perfect. I’ll head out to the ranch now…”

“No, I’m not at the ranch, Chopper. I’m at my apartment.”

“What? You were supposed to be at your parents’ house. What are you doing back there?” he snapped at her. He hadn’t meant to, but the damage was done.

“I’m a grown-ass woman for one thing and I really don’t owe you an explanation,” she said. Chopper already felt bad as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but he felt worse when she snapped back.

“Hey, you’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you, and on top of that I’m exhausted. I smell like dirty socks…”

Chelsea laughed. The sound was like music and it comforted him somehow. “Dirty socks, huh? Why are you back so early anyway? Did they kick you out of Sturgis because of the stench?”

He sobered slightly at the mention of Sturgis and said, “I never made it that far. I’d rather tell you about all of this in person, though. Is it okay if I come over now? I’m about fifteen minutes away.”

“Of course. I’ll see you when you get here.”

Chopper put the phone away and pulled back out into traffic. He drove as fast as he could to Chelsea’s apartment, just making sure that he didn’t go fast enough to get himself pulled over. He parked the bike out on the street and walked down the narrow sidewalk to her apartment, which sat on the far end of the complex. The location of it had probably made it easy for them to break into, and it would make it easy for them to do it again. The thought of her being there when that happened terrified him to his core. He stopped in front of the door and lifted his hand.

Chelsea opened the door before the knock even sounded. Damn, was she a sight for sore eyes. She had on a pair of cutoff sweatpants and a sweatshirt with one shoulder cut out of it. Her long hair was braided down the back, and her pretty, fresh face was scrubbed clean. Chopper hadn’t planned on attacking her off the bat, but his body had other ideas as soon as he saw her. He reached for her and pulled her body into his, crushing his mouth down on hers. He knew he needed a shower, but at least he’d brushed his teeth at his last stop. He walked her backwards and kicked the door closed behind them, then he leaned up against it and pulled her in tighter. The kiss was filled with everything he’d felt since the last time he saw her…passion, longing, need. And the best part was that she kissed him back with what felt like all the same emotions. They kissed until they’d exhausted not only the oxygen in their lungs, but most of what had been in the room. It took them both a full minute to catch their breath when he finally let her go, and when he caught his, he said:

“I’m sorry.”

Chelsea smiled. “Not what a girl wants to hear after one of the best kisses she’d ever had.”

“One of?” he asked and grinned.

“Well, I thought it was the best, but then you said you were sorry.”

He laughed and pulled her in for a hug. “I just meant I was sorry for attacking you. I hadn’t planned that. But fuck, baby…you’re so pretty, it’s dangerous for you to just walk around looking so hot.”

Chelsea laughed loudly at that and took a step back. “This is my sketching outfit, and I haven’t fixed my face or hair in two days. It’s been a ponytail or braid and make-up be damned. I know what I look like but thank you.”

“You mean you know that you’re fucking beautiful, right? You don’t need make-up, I like your braid, and that outfit…” He whistled. “That might be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

She was giggling. “You’re crazy. Come on and sit down. Do you want something to drink?”

He started to ask for a beer but caught himself. “Water is good if you have it.”

She smiled and stepped over to the little kitchenette and pulled a water out of the small fridge. Coming back over, she handed it to him and then sat down next to him on the couch. He took a drink, set the bottle down, and put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “Damn, baby, I keep forgetting how badly I stink.” He started to pull away and she gripped onto him tighter.

“You don’t stink. Stop. Tell me why you’re back so soon.” Chopper knew Dax was waiting for him to call or text. If he hadn’t been, he would have told her they could talk later and invited her to shower with him. But this business was no joke, and he needed to handle it.

“Things are kind of a mess,” he started. “First of all, Brown Leather Jacket Guy is dead.”

She sat up and looked at his face. “He’s dead? Did you…?”

He shook his head. “No. It wasn’t me. As a matter of fact, we don’t know who it was yet, but I might just shake his hand when I meet him. Chelsea, does the name Desi Gardner or ‘Dizzy’ mean anything to you?”

She drew her brows together and then shook her head, slowly. “I don’t think so.”

“What about Michael Diaz?” That was the name of the owner of the silver van, who was still in the wind. His last known was in Boston as well, but he had a place in South Dakota and the van was a recent purchase in that state.

“No. I’m sorry. Who are they?”

“Dizzy is the dead guy…the stalker. Diaz was a guy he hooked up with somewhere between here and South Dakota. Chelsea…” He didn’t want to scare her, but she needed to know what she was up against. “Dizzy was a hit man, smalltime, cheap, and not the best by far, but it was what he did for a living. Someone wanted you…”

“Dead?” She frowned.

“Yeah, baby, that’s why I snapped at you on the phone about being here alone. I’m sorry. I’m just so freaked out and worried about you. Is there anyone in your past that would have any reason to want to hurt you or kill you?” Even saying that sent a wave of nausea through him.

“No…not kill me,” she said, “or even hurt me physically, but there are some things I need to tell you and they might be related to all of this, although I’m not sure how…”

“Okay. You can tell me anything.”

She nodded. “This isn’t easy. When Wayne dropped me off at that abortion clinic that day, I didn’t go through with the abortion. I have a little boy. He’s three years old and his name is Reed.”

Chopper had not been expecting that. “You have a three-year-old boy?” he said, dumbly. It was what she’d just said; he’d heard her. She nodded, with a patient look on her face. Chopper then went even further with his stupidity and looked around the apartment and said, “Where is he?” Great, he thought. That had to look and sound like he thought she was hiding the kid in the closet. “Shit, that didn’t…I mean, I…”

She smiled sadly. “It’s okay, Chopper. Reed doesn’t live here. He lives with my parents. I have pictures of him on my phone, but not on my walls.” He looked around again; there was nothing on her walls. He hadn’t thought about it before. He’d just assumed that it had something to do with the break-in.

“Why?”

“It’s my punishment for myself,” she said. “When I think I deserve to be his mother, then I get to hang up pictures of him. Then I get bragging rights. Right now, my parents are doing what I should have been doing for the past three years and the bragging rights are all theirs, and maybe soon they will belong to my sister. She is suing for full custody of my son.”