Levi sat inside the shop, waiting for Cheney, Jackie D, Grant, and a couple of other guys to get there with the Johnsons. Cheney had sent him and a couple of prospects on ahead to get the doors open and set things up. One of the prospects disabled the alarm system and then Levi easily picked the lock on the door. The prospects were setting up the engine lifts and Levi was heating up the welding torches. They had everything ready and the big shop door opened by the time they heard the growl of the Harley engines driving up. Cheney drove in first, followed by Jackie and the others. A black van that belonged to the club backed in behind them. Once everyone was off their bikes, Cheney motioned at Grant with his hand. Grant opened the back of the van and Levi saw Spider’s parents, lying tied up and duct-taped in the back. Grant reached for the woman first and even with her legs tied together, she tried to kick him. He dodged the kick and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her out and carrying her over to one of the engine lifts. The prospects went to work then, wrapping the ropes around her wrists. She was thrashing wildly the entire time and even the silver duct tape over her mouth, didn’t stop the noise she was making completely. The look in her eyes was a clear indicator that she was condemning them all to hell. They finally got her strung up and Grant went back for the man. In contrast to his wife’s anger, he just looked sad and defeated. He didn’t even try to fight. As soon as he was secured, Cheney walked over and pulled the tape off his mouth. He let out a grunt as the hair on his upper lip and maybe a little bit of skin was taken with it. “I hope the ride was comfortable,” Cheney said with a grin. The old woman started screeching again around her tape. All it took was a look from Cheney and she shut up. “You know, I have to admit that I took Spider in as a prospect years ago because of what I knew his connections could do for the club. But you and I both know that he was nothing but a piece of shit.” Spider’s mother started her screeching again. Cheney spun around and this time he took out his gun. “I don’t usually shoot women, but I can’t say that it hasn’t happened once or twice when I was pushed too far.” She shut up again. “Keep it shut,” he told her before turning back to Spider’s old man. “As I was saying, we both know he was a piece of shit. Isn’t that right?” The old man nodded. Cheney surprised him by slamming the gun in his hand into the man’s temple. His head jerked back, he cried out, and blood began to run slowly down the side of his face while he dangled there off the floor. “Answer me, out loud! It’s why I took the fucking tape off your mouth, so you could state your case. If you don’t have anything to say to me, I can put it back on and shoot you both in the head right now.”

“Yes,” the old man said. “My son was a piece of shit. He has always been and I would have written him off a long time ago, if not for his mother.”

“He tried to kill you.”

“He was under the influence at the time…”

“Are you making excuses for him?”

“No, of course not,” Johnson said. He sighed. The blood was dripping into his eye and he was blinking rapidly as he spoke. “There was no excuse for most of what my son Michael did.”

“Then explain to me why you would pay a man two hundred thousand dollars to kill one of my brothers when he did you and the rest of the world a favor by getting rid of that cockroach.”

Mrs. Johnson started going crazy again. This time, Cheney actually pulled his arm back like he was going to hit her in the face with the gun. Before he did, the old man said, “Because he was my son!” Cheney forgot the old woman for a second and turned back to him. “Because he was my blood,” he said, sadly.

“You were his blood, and he tried to kill you…and then you set up this whole thing. You paid a man to kill Levi and that man stupidly killed the wrong person.” Cheney looked at Levi and said, “The wrong people. That girl was completely innocent. How do you feel about that, Johnson?”

Johnson’s face looked even more pained as he said, “I didn’t know that he was going to mess with the wrong bike or that he was going to go through with his plan even when he saw the girl was on the bike too.”

“Tell us, Johnson…. what was he supposed to do that night?”

“All he was supposed to do was mess with the brakes. That’s all I told him to do. I was trying to make…” He stopped and Levi saw his good eye cut over toward his wife. In a smaller voice, he said, “I just wanted him to pay a little bit for taking my son’s life. The odds were that he’d get wrapped up in the morning traffic in Memphis and realize the brakes weren’t working before he was even going too fast for it to matter.”

“Odds were, huh?” Cheney said. “Well, those odds were wrong, weren’t they?”

“I’m sorry,” Johnson said. “I’m really sorry.” With a great deal of effort, he pulled his head up and looked at Levi. “I didn’t know he would mess with the wrong bike and actually set up an accident. I didn’t know that the girl would be on it. I would have never agreed to that. I never meant for anyone else to get hurt.”

“You’re sorry,” Cheney said, sarcastically. “That changes everything.”

“No,” Johnson whispered. “It doesn’t change a thing. It’s just the truth. I wish that I had just left it all alone.”

“Too bad your ‘wish’ won’t bring that pretty girl back to life, isn’t it?” Levi saw Johnson wince again, and once again he pulled his head up and looked at Levi.

“I have nothing to gain here. I’m not stupid, I know you brought us here to kill us. So please know that my heart broke when I heard about that girl. I’m so sorry, and I know that I have no right to ask this…but please, my wife is an innocent too. Please let her go. She won’t say anything. Please, don’t hurt her.”

Cheney laughed. Levi wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but he knew that Johnson had said one true thing…he didn’t have any right to ask. “So what do you think, Levi?” Cheney asked, sarcastically. “You think the Mrs. is innocent?”

Levi looked from the man to the woman. She’d stopped thrashing when she realized her husband was going to beg for her life. He walked over to where she hung from her own engine lift and reached for the tape on her mouth. She tried swinging her legs again and her eyes grew wide. Levi pulled the tape off and she cried out. “Is it true?” he asked her. “Are you innocent in all of this?”

She looked at her husband out of the corner of her eye and with fire in her eyes, she said, “I lost my son. He was my heart and soul. But I had nothing to do with any murders.”

“So…we should kill your husband and let you go?” Levi asked.

“Let us both go,” she pleaded.

“Someone has to pay for what was done to my father and my girlfriend. You took my life from me. You may as well have just killed me.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a small smile tug at her lips. She reset her face and said:

“The man who was responsible…Matt Bledsoe…is already dead. Why can’t you leave it at that?”

“That man was a pawn. He was a down-on-his-luck, suicidal schmuck and you dangled more cash than he’d ever seen in his life in front of him to get him to agree to do this. He did it for his daughter. That doesn’t make it right, but he’s already paid the ultimate price and meanwhile, the two of you just go on living your high life, acting like you’re untouchable. It’s easy to see why Spider was such an arrogant asshole. He got it from you,” Levi told her. She looked like she wanted to scratch his eyes out as she said:

“I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Then I’ll ask you again, should I let you go and just kill your husband?” This time she didn’t even try to look in her husband’s direction as she said:

“If you need to kill someone, he was the one who set this up, not me. Let me go. I’ll move away, far away, and I won’t tell a soul what you’ve done.”

Levi looked at Johnson. He looked like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him, but he remained silent. Swallowing bile Levi asked him, “You’re willing to take the blame for all of this, while she walks away…why?”

“Because she didn’t have anything…” Levi lost his cool for a second and rushed in and grabbed him by the back of his neck. He pulled his face toward his own and saw the pain and terror in the man’s eyes up close. The other man grunted as Levi stretched the ropes that tied him, as far as they would go, and said:

“I’m giving you a chance to tell the truth here. Like you said, you have nothing to lose by telling the truth. I want to know why you would let her live, knowing that you’re going to die.” He still didn’t say anything so Levi went on, “Come on, we all know that she was the one that made Spider believe that he was so far above and better than everyone else that he could just take what he wanted, from anyone he wanted it from. She was the one that turned him into what he was, and she was the one that defended him, even after he tried to kill you. So, I doubt very seriously she is innocent here. I want to know why you would lie for her, when she’s willing to just watch you die?” Levi looked back at the wife.

“Because I love her,” Johnson whispered. The woman didn’t even flinch.

Levi let go of the man and looked at Cheney. “What do you want to do, kid?” Cheney asked him.

“Let him go, but make sure he knows his life here is over. I think he might want to donate this shop to the club…What do you think, Mr. Johnson? Would you like to make a charitable donation to a local organization? I know the Defenders would be more than capable of running this place and making it an even bigger success than it has been for you.” Cheney was smiling brightly. Levi could tell that he’d never even thought of that. He was surely planning on wiping the place out once Johnson was dead…but legal ownership of the place, that was unprecedented in their small club.

“We’re not signing our business over to you!” the woman spat.

“It’s in my name,” Johnson said, more harshly than he’d said anything thus far. “I’ll sign it over.”

“Great!” Levi said. “You spend the next week with our accountant and our president here…or however long it will take to do that legally…and then you can take what’s left of your money and leave. I don’t ever want to see you again though, because if I do…I will put a bullet in your head…do you understand?”

“Yes,” he grunted out.

“You pathetic coward!” his wife screeched. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d be nothing! This place was bought and paid for with my family money and you’re just going to give it away!”

“To save our lives,” he said, with his teeth gritted together tightly. “This place means nothing if we’re both dead.”

“If you were a real man you would have just killed him yourself like I told you to!” she snapped…and then she realized what she said. Her wide blue eyes turned on Levi. He shook his head at her in disgust and looked at Cheney and said:

“You can do whatever you want to her.” She started screeching again. Levi ignored her and walked out of the shop and toward his bike. He could hear her screams growing fainter, the further he walked away from the big metal building. He was almost to his bike when the screaming stopped. He slipped on his gloves and his skullcap and drove away.