Mace’s Madonna (Pagan Souls of Cherokee MC #5)

Mace Chapter 19

We ended up getting there just in time. We’d made our way on foot to the hiding spot the Warriors from Gastonia had been using. It was an old access road that overlooked the dilapidated house. According to them, the Outlaws never once walked that far to ensure no one was watching them. The ones who were on watch informed us of the number inside, which was half a dozen. Outside were another half dozen. They couldn’t tell us how many weapons they had inside, but we had that count based on what they saw them openly carrying on them. I wasn’t worried about firepower. A few of ours were sharpshooters and would eliminate from a distance. But they wouldn’t do that until we were in place to enter the house.

It was eleven thirty when the headlights of two vehicles were seen coming down the dirt road leading from the county road to the house. Wire, who was monitoring even while out here with us, the other wizards, and the Warriors, were reporting ongoing information.

We were rigged out. Some were due to the resources of the Dark Patriots, but a lot of it was our own stuff. We all wanted to return home, and we recalled what happened to Iceman, so we put on Kevlar vests. In addition to our personal firearms, we were outfitted with night vision. That shit was whacked to see through when you didn’t use it all the time. We’d practiced enough in the past with it to be able to adjust quickly. In order to adjust to it, we got there early and wore it as we waited.

I watched as four men got out of the front vehicle. They were scanning the area. When they were satisfied, they waved their hands. This was the signal for the two in the front seat of the second car to get out. One of them opened the backdoor on the driver’s side, and Thurman James Thacker III stepped out. I couldn’t see him super well, but the sight of him made me grit my teeth. You could tell by how he held himself and how he was dressed, which was in a three-piece suit, that he thought he was king and everyone around him was beneath him. Who wore a fancy getup like his in the dead of the night, in the middle of nowhere? An egotistical prick who thought he was God, that’s who. He’ll be learning a harsh lesson tonight.

They surrounded him and went straight to the front door. A light was on outside on the porch. Roach met him at the door. We’d seen pictures of Roach and his men and were made familiar with their names. The Outlaws who were standing guard outside didn’t approach or speak to any of Thacker’s entourage. Once they went inside, two of his men remained out on the porch. Their posture screamed bodyguards.

We were counting the minutes until we’d make our approach when Wire slithered over to where I was. I’d seen him talking to Agony and Undertaker. “You need to know this, Mace. I’m pretty sure that three of the four who went inside with Thacker are the ones you want to take your time with. The heavyset one is Leland, the trucker. The other two not in suits, I think, are the ones sent to kidnap Jessamy in the first place.”

I stiffened. “What makes you say that?”

“Since we discovered Thacker’s name, we’ve been digging. Those two are known to do his dirty work. Who else would he trust to take her? Or to be along for this meeting? I might be wrong. But just in case I’m right, you might want to keep them alive.”

“Tell the others they’re not to be killed,” I snarled.

He grinned. “I already have it being passed along. Agony said you’d say that.” With a salute, he walked off. I looked over toward Agony. He was staring at me, and when our eyes met, he gave me a slow nod. I gave him a chin lift.

Five minutes later, all the guys were told, and we were given the signal to move in. It was decided that Heath and Ben would be our sharpshooters. As soon as we eliminated the ones outside, they’d join us. Both had been in the military, just like Undertaker had. They’d been part of Army Special Forces while Undertaker had been a Navy SEAL. All four Dark Patriots owners had been SEALs and served with Reaper. All of our clubs had several members who had served in one branch or another. Their knowledge in situations like this was invaluable.

We snaked our way down from the high ground and around to where we could sneak up on the Outlaws. They would be easy to kill. Some would die from broken necks or slit throats. The idea was not to use our guns unless we had to. We didn’t want to warn those inside. However, there was no way to sneak up on the two bodyguards standing on either side of the door. We’d identified who would take out which one before we ever left our overwatch position. Some were there as backup only. As I took out my target, who died from a slit throat, I crouched there, waiting for the two on the porch to die.

When they did, it was a thing of beauty. You couldn’t even hear the shots. They went down instantly. There was no sound besides the soft thuds they made when they hit the floor. That was because Heath and Ben were using subsonic ammunition and suppressors on their guns. We remained frozen as we strained to hear if there were any shouts from inside.

When we heard nothing after a solid minute, we stood and began to converge on the house after flipping our night vision goggles up out of the way. A few guys snuck around back to come in that way. Again, the recon done by Grinder’s men told us there was a back door. By the time we were all in place and ready to breach, Ben and Heath had joined us. They must’ve run like a deer to get to us, and they weren’t even breathing hard.

Another piece of equipment that was invaluable tonight was the earpieces we were wearing. They allowed us to hear and talk to each other, making it easy for Undertaker, who was at the front door, and Agony, who was at the back, to coordinate entry through both simultaneously. The door was eased open. We didn’t know where anyone was inside, so we went for a soft entry rather than kicking in the door. However, we were ready if we walked right into them.

When I came through the front door, the house was mostly empty. There was an old stuffed couch with stuffing coming out of it against a wall and some wooden crates and chairs scattered around. We worked our way through the first floor. It was two-story. There was no one. What the hell was this? Heath, Ben, and Undertaker signaled they were going upstairs and for us to wait. I was tense, expecting to hear gunshots, but there were none. A few minutes later, they returned. Undertaker was frowning.

“There’s no one here,” he said.

“Fuck, they must’ve known we were coming and went out the back,” I said.

“No, they didn’t. There’s no way they could’ve. They’re still here. I think they’ve gone underground. Hey,” he addressed one of Grinder’s men, who came closer. I couldn’t recall what he said his name was. We weren’t wearing anything to identify us, so no one had on his cut.

“When you guys came in here that first time when it wasn’t being guarded. Did any of you search for a secret door or anything?”

He shook his head. “No, we just checked both floors, then split.”

“Alright, here’s what we’re doing. We need to stay as quiet as possible, and I want everyone to check the closets, walls, and floors for a secret door. I think they went underground. We need to get them before they escape. It’s possible there’s a tunnel under this house.”

That changed everything. My heart began to beat faster. What if they got away? We might not ever find them again, or it could take months or years to find them. It was a tense fifteen or so minutes until Fury said in our ears.

“I think I found it. Kitchen.”

We tiptoed in. We had no idea how much sound was transferred below. Fury pointed to a wall. I glanced at it. I didn’t see anything unusual about it. It had patterned wallpaper just like the rest. He hovered his hand over a section of the chair rail on the wall.

“This wallpaper here seems new, and it’s not peeling like the rest. They did it cleverly. There’s an indent right here in this wooden strip. I bet if we press it, this section opens,” he whispered.

“Everyone ready?” Agony asked. Mutters of confirmation came from us all.

“Be prepared for anything. They’ll fight to the death. We’ll have to go in a single file. Watch yourselves,” Undertaker added.

He was standing with his gun ready in front of the wall. He gave Fury a chin lift. As he did, Fury pressed on the wood, and I’ll be damned, he was right. There was a faint click, and an outline appeared as that section stood out from the rest. Fury eased it open. Following the signals given by Undertaker, we moved inside.

There were stairs leading downward. Getting to the bottom, I saw it opened into a decent-sized open area. This had more furniture and even electricity based on the lights that were on. A tunnel went off to the right. A few men were left to guard the stairs so that no one could come in behind us. The rest of us went down the tunnel. We went a hundred feet when the sound of voices was heard. They were raised. Someone wasn’t happy. We eased closer and then stopped to listen.

“I don’t want to hear any more of your goddamn excuses, Roach. You had more than one chance at getting me Jessamy. First, this idiot let her escape. Then, no one seemed to know where she went for weeks. The next thing I know, you contacted me to say you saw her with some club at a whatever somewhere in North Carolina.

“No one seemed able to tell me how she ended up with another motorcycle club. And she was wearing one of those leather vests proclaiming she belonged to some bastard named Mace. You sent out men to capture her, but they never came back. That was the second failure I had out of all of you.

“Then you watch these Pagans Souls and finally see you have a chance to get her again, but that too failed. Three strikes. I should kill every one of you right here,” Thacker snapped. At this point, Roach interjected.

“Sir, I know we’ve had several hiccups, but this club isn’t one we can outright storm their compound and take her. They might not be a big chapter, but they have other Pagan chapters and several allied clubs that can bring a lot of people down on us. We have to do this carefully. Just trying to kidnap her doesn’t work. We need a way to get to her and then get out without them being any the wiser.”

“And do you have that, or are you going to tell me more bullshit?” Thacker snarled.

“We do. See, as we set up the routes and came across clubs that might cause issues if it was known what we were doing, we worked to send in eyes and ears. It just so happens that we did that with the Pagans in Cherokee recently. The Pagans own the truck stop where Leland stopped, and she got away. Anyway, our eyes and ears reported to us that they’ve banned all outsiders from the compound as of a few days ago.”

“So, what does that have to do with you getting my Jessamy,” Thacker bellowed.

I clenched my fist at him, calling her his. I had news for him: He would never have her, and by the time I was done with him, he would wish he had never gone after her.

“It has everything to do with her. Our informant also found out that they sent all of their women and children away. They split them up, and each old lady went to one of their allies’ clubs. They drove them out with escorts and in dark-tinted cars, so no one would know who was who or where Jessamy was sent,” Roach continued. He paused after telling him what we did.

“And does this informant know which club Jessamy went to? And if so, how are you going to get her away from them if you couldn’t get her away from the Pagans!?” he shouted. The guy was escalating.

“Because our informant has a way in. Jessamy will have to talk to our person, and that will make her vulnerable. When it happens, we’ll snatch her and get out. The ones protecting her won’t know what to do. We plan to make our move tomorrow while a portion of them are at work. When we do it, we’ll snatch one of their women to use as a hostage. I doubt they’ll let us keep one of their own to free someone who isn’t even an old lady in their club,” another man said.

“Slither, you’d better hope you’re right. If you fail, I’m killing you all and finding someone else who can run this pipeline for me. We have too much moving through here to have you fuck it up.”

We’d heard enough. Agony and Undertaker exchanged speaking looks, raised their arms, and then lowered them. They moved forward at a run. We all fell in behind. When we got around the corner, we came into another open area, only this one was significantly bigger than the first one. Along the perimeter were cells, actually fucking prison cells. Thankfully, they appeared empty.

Standing around were the remaining Black Outlaws, Thacker, and the four men who had come inside with him. We spread out and had them covered from every angle before they knew what hit them. The two men Wire thought were the ones who snatched Jessamy moved as if they were going for their guns, just like the various Outlaws did. Agony snarled at them.

“We outnumber you fucks. So I wouldn’t go for your pieces, but if you want to die filled with holes, go for it.”

A couple of Outlaws didn’t heed him, and their guns didn’t clear wherever they had them before they were each shot multiple times as he promised. The remainder, seeing their brothers hitting the floor dead, dropped their hands and stood watching us warily. I guess some weren’t as stupid as they looked.

“You won’t get away with this,” Roach hissed.

“I beg to differ. We’re the ones in control. You must be Thacker, the mastermind behind all this. What kind of human beings not only sell drugs to kids and ruin lives that way but steal people and force them into servitude?” Agony asked.

“See, you’re thinking of this as all wrong. I merely provide products and merchandise to those who want it. They’re willing to pay top dollar. It’s purely business and capitalism. There’s no need for us to fight. I’m glad you’re here. Now, we can have a conversation,” Thacker replied calmly.

“What exactly do you think we have to talk about?” Undertaker asked.

“And you are?” Thacker asked him.

The smile Undertaker gave him would make a corpse shudder in fear. “I’m Undertaker, and believe me, I’ve earned that name by putting assholes and monsters just like you in the ground for good.”

Thacker waved his comment away. “There’s no need to make threats. You’re bikers, just like Roach and his men are. I’m sure we can come to an agreement. Tell me how much it’ll cost for you to turn Jessamy over to me. In fact, why not do that, and I’ll cut you in on my business. We’re always needing more muscle and allies.”

Fury rolled through me. Undertaker looked at me and gestured for me to come forward, which I did.

“You wanna answer that for him? How much will it take for you to give up Jessamy?”

Undertaker knew I would never do it, but he was making a point, so I answered him.

“There’s no amount of money or anything else you can give me, or us, to betray her and give her to you. What the fuck do you think would happen if you were to get her away from us? Surely, you don’t expect her to accept you,” I snapped.

Thacker ran his gaze up and down my body. His upper lip curled, and he gave me a look of disdain. “You must be the one they call Mace. I don’t know what you did to get her to wear that stupid leather vest proclaiming her as yours, but I can tell you, she’ll never wear it again. I saw her first. She’s mine. As for how she’ll act after I recover her, I love it when a woman fights. It makes when I finally break her all that much sweeter.” He smiled.

I lunged toward him, but Agony and Undertaker grabbed my shoulders and held me back. “Let me at him,” I growled.

“Remember the plan,” Agony whispered. This helped me to fight back my killing urge.

“Jessamy is my old lady. There’s nothing you can offer that any of us will take. I’d start worrying about myself if I were you,” I informed them.

Thacker sneered. “If you touch me, you’re all dead. And to prove a point to anyone else who might think of going against me, everyone in your pathetic little gangs will be, too. Your women and kids will be sold to the most sadistic people I know. Save us all time. You can find another woman. With the money I can give you and your club, you can buy one if you want.”

I glanced over at Agony. “This stupid fucker doesn’t get it, does he? He’s used to dealing with pieces of shit like these men and their buddies. They’d sell their own mothers. Thurman, you don’t have any negotiating power here. You’re not walking away from this, no matter what you threaten or promise. Pres, you call it.”

Thacker narrowed his eyes on me. He didn’t like me calling him by his first name or telling him nothing he did would save him. I was done talking until we got them more situated. We’d decided before we came how this would be handled. There would be no transporting them back to our area to conduct the questioning and final recon for what originally was three of them. Now, with these other men here, it might be six we were spending quality time with.

“I want Leland and the two who kidnapped Jessamy in Arizona to step over next to Thurman,” Agony stated.

His casual remark had three heads snapping to glance at him and then over at their boss. Bingo. Confirmation that they were who we thought they were. They didn’t do as told until their boss gave them a chin lift. They slowly joined him. That left Roach, Slither, and three other men. Based on their cuts, it was clear those three weren’t officers. The enforcer, treasurer, and secretary were dead on the floor. Agony nodded. Heath, Ben, and Undertaker walked up behind them and grabbed them in a choke hold, then in what seemed to be barely any effort, they snapped their necks, dropping them to the dirt floor.

The two remaining Outlaws swore and took a couple of steps back. Thacker and his men, with the exception of Leland, stayed still. Leland turned white as paper and stumbled back. I could see the panic on his face, swiftly turning into terror.

“If you stop this right now and walk away, I’ll let you live. But you have to forget about Jessamy. She’s mine,” that asshole Thacker reiterated.

“Enough talking in circles. We’ll have a few men stand as lookouts outside. Grinder and the rest of his men are in place to take care of those left behind at your clubhouse, Roach. Before this night is over, there will no longer be a Spartanburg chapter of the Black Outlaws. If any of your fellow Outlaws in the other chapters are involved, they’ll also be removed. We’re tired of bastards like you terrorizing our country and thinking you can get away with whatever the hell you want. You should’ve stayed away from Cherokee,” Agony told them.

“Heath, Blaze, Fury, and Riot, we need you outside to watch for backup. There’s a chance Thacker might have someone in the wings waiting for him to return. When he doesn’t, they could come this way,” Undertaker said so the ones he chose could hear him in the earwigs.

Heath left the basement. The other three were upstairs on the first floor. Undertaker then turned to me and Agony. “It’s all yours. If you need me to do anything, just give me a shout. Otherwise, I’m fine to watch. Mace, it’s probably not realistic to let you take care of all of them, although I understand why you would want to. We can’t stay too late, or we might draw attention on our way back. Which ones do you absolutely want in on?”

I thought a minute or two before answering. “Thacker, Leland, and the two who kidnapped her.”

“Done. Dare and Hulk, why don’t you take Cockroach and Slithershit to that corner and see what you can get out of them? I’m warning you all. If you want to die quickly and as painless as we’re willing to let you, you’ll tell us what we want to know. We’re not playing. You will tell us whether you want to or not,” Agony warned.

The two Black Outlaws pretended they weren’t scared, but you could tell they were. Thacker and his men were sneering at us. Leland was ready to pass out. Knowing he would be the weakest link, I pointed to him.

“Let’s start with this one. He’s the one who kept my woman trapped in a truck for days. He transports those poor people across multiple states,” I told Diesel and Gravel. They yanked him away from the others. He began to babble immediately. I didn’t focus on what he was saying because it wasn’t anything I was interested in, or it was what I knew already.

Glancing around the area, my gut clenched when I noted a couple of sets of manacles bolted into wood beams running along the wall. “Chain him there,” I pointed to one of them.

As they did, I called over to Undertaker. “Hey, Undertaker, when you were an enforcer with the Tres Locos. I bet you learned a lot of ways to make someone hurt and confess their sins before you killed them, didn’t you?” I asked as I grinned.

Roach and Slither’s eyes widened, and their expressions turned to absolute disbelief. They stared at Undertaker, who was looking at them, not me, when he answered. “I know more ways to take a man apart than you can imagine. What being a SEAL didn’t teach me, I taught myself. Tres Locos allowed me to perfect them.”

“Y-You were with Tres Locos out of Princeton, West Virginia? You’re that U-Undertaker?” Roach stuttered out.

“Yeah, I see you’ve heard of me.”

“Heard of you? Everyone has heard of you who are in a one-percenter club. How did you keep from going down with the rest of your club? And why are you working with these shits and not a club like ours?” Slither asked.

“Easy. I was the one who brought them down. I gave five years of my life to bringing those fuckers and their various associates down. I made sure that we tore their pipelines to pieces when it happened. I’ll be happy to do the same to yours,” he smirked.

This made them wilt. They knew what their fate was. I left Hulk and Dare, and if he wanted Undertaker to deal with them, I returned to Leland. Some of the others had placed Thacker and his two main guys in cells out of the way but made sure they had an unobstructed view of what was happening on both sides of the area.

“My woman told me how you kept her and the others locked up like animals. And how you’d rape the others. She told me the way you looked at her that you wanted to do the same to her. What stopped you?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt them. I didn’t have a choice. It was either work with all of these guys or be killed,” Leland blubbered.

“That’s no fucking excuse! You could’ve gone to the police and helped them take them down. No one put a gun to your head and made you rape those women and girls. That was all you. I bet it made you feel like a man. Let’s see if you still feel like one when we’re done. We want to know the names of other truckers involved in this and anyone else you can name. I’m going to start punching. You get a minute of rest for every name I get or route exposed. Here’s a taste, so you know whether you should take the deal or not.”

I drew back my fist and let it fly. He hadn’t seen me slip on a pair of brass knuckles. I landed the blow just below his ribs on the right side. That was his liver. He cried out as expected. I let him catch his breath after the first one. He blubbered nonsense, so I landed one right after the other on his left side. That was where the stomach was. He puked. I might not be the enforcer, but I’d studied human anatomy, and I knew what was where and how to inflict pain. This time, when I let him catch his breath, he started telling us the names of fellow truckers involved. Others asked for more details about them so the various researchers could find them. It was all being recorded so we wouldn’t forget anything.

I was kinda disappointed. Leland was a wimp and didn’t let me beat him nearly enough to have him spilling his guts. There were more than a couple of times that one of the two men with Thacker hissed at him to shut up. As for Slither and Roach, they had their own problems. They weren’t paying any attention to what Leland was saying. Their moans, groans, and screams far exceeded his. Unfortunately, he knew only a minor amount about the other truckers involved, the general routes taken, and a hand-off point. Not wanting to waste more time on him, I handed him over to Crow, who took pleasure in slitting his throat and tossing his dead body in the corner out of our way.

Walking over to see how my enforcer and VP were doing, I found that the two head Outlaws were barely conscious, and their faces looked like hamburger meat. I winced. “Did they tell you anything useful?” I asked.

“We got some. Hopefully, when we’re done and combine it all, we’ll have the whole operation. Even if we don’t, I think it can be pieced together,” Dare stated.

“You think they’re done?” Agony asked as he joined us.

“We do,” Hulk offered.

“Then let’s bring out the next round. Mace, you want one at a time or what?” Undertaker asked.

I studied the last three. The pleas of Roach and Slither barely registered before they were shot in the head. Coming to a decision, I pointed. “I want those two brought out and chained just like Leland was. I’m working up the dirtbag scale.”

Stalker and Predator went into the cell and got one, while Gravel and Diesel grabbed the other. Both men struggled, but I had no idea why. It wasn’t as if they could get away. And their weapons had been stripped from them before they were placed in there. It didn’t take long to have them manacled to the wall. I walked back and forth in front of them.

“If you’re gonna do something, then do it. Don’t stare at us all night, asshole,” the taller one snapped.

I smiled coldly at him. “You’re first. I knew one of you would volunteer. It seems you two thought it would be alright not only to kidnap my woman but to make threats about all the things you would do to her if she tried to run or didn’t behave. As if that wasn’t bad enough, you then touched her and stuck your filthy hands in her pants and your fingers inside of her. Boys, I hate to tell you, but that’s a form of rape.”

“You did what?” Thacker hollered.

“You heard me. Your men had their fingers inside of the woman you wanted,” I taunted, even though it infuriated me to know what they did.

“You know the rules! No one touches them. When I’ve had my fill, then you can do whatever you want before we sell them. Not before. Jessamy is one I can see having for a long time. She’ll take time to tame,” he snapped.

“Motherfucker, you still don’t get it. You’re not getting your filthy, raping hands on her. She’s mine. Now, pipe the fuck down while I handle these two. You’ll get your turn,” I promised.

I turned my back to him and went to work on the two fuckers in front of me. They were tougher than Leland. It took several punches to various organs and then breaking their fingers to get one to groan and try to wiggle away from the pain. Knowing that time was ticking by, I allowed others to join me. It was Agony who got them to really spew what they knew. He inserted long, thick needles through each man’s nipples. They screamed, which only had him placing more. After they had two in each nipple, they were telling us whatever they knew. It helped that Agony was twisting those needles, increasing their pain. They had a lot more information to share than the trucker had.

When we were sure we had everything we could get out of them, and they were bloody messes when we did, they were dispatched to the devil. One had a knife slammed into his throat and was left to gasp for air and bleed out. The other was shot in the neck and left to bleed to death. Others took them down from the manacles after they were gone and tossed them out of the way. That left Thacker, the one I had been looking forward to.

As much as the others deserved what they got, he was the orchestrator of it all. If he hadn’t developed the pipeline and recruited these others to join him, none of this would have happened. He gave me a disdainful sniff as he was led out of the cell. Rather than secure him to the wall like we had the others, I had a different position for him.

“Stand him right there,” I told the guys, pointing to the middle of the open area we were standing in. When they did, I went to my travel bag, which I’d brought with me. I opened it and brought out the first item. It was a long length of chain with manacles on each end. Other wooden beams above us held the ceiling up so the house wouldn’t fall on us. Tossing one end up and over the center beam, I brought it down and forced his wrists into them, and then Stalker and Predator secured them.

“Is there anything you’d like to get off your chest before I begin? I’ve got to warn you. Even if you were to tell me everything you know right now, it wouldn’t stop me from inflicting pain on you. You stole a human being. You had her terrorized and fearing for her safety and life. You’ve done it to God knows how many others who weren’t fortunate like Jessamy and got away. You forced them into slavery!” I snarled.

“Slavery has existed since the first man walked this planet. Those who have the means would force others to do their bidding. I’m simply continuing a human tradition. You act as if Jessamy’s life would be terrible with me. Sure, there would be moments of pain and punishment, but she would be living in a mansion and have every luxury possible. I’d buy her designer clothes and cover her in jewels. We’d travel.”

“And all she has to do is sleep with you and let you hurt her,” I growled.

“Among other things, yes. While she kept me happy, she’d want for nothing.”

“And when you were no longer happy?” Agony asked. Not that we didn’t already know the answer.

“Then I’d let her go and find a new pet. Whatever her fate is after I’m through isn’t my concern. I’d make sure she was given to someone who would appreciate what was left.” He smirked.

It took everything I had to keep from putting a bullet between his eyes, but deep down, I knew that was what he wanted. Not that what he said was untrue. He meant it, but to say it so bluntly told me he was afraid to suffer.

“How many women have you done this to? Kidnapped and kept as a slave?” Hulk asked.

Thacker pretended to think, then shrugged as best as he could. “Hmm, seven to ten. I lost count.”

The angry muttering this caused was expected. “Do you have any clue how many people you’ve sold through this pipeline of yours?” Undertaker asked this one.

“Over the last three years, hundreds, no, make it thousands. It’s very lucrative. I thought I had found the right partners in the Outlaws, but I now see that they were weak. Why not take their place and join me? You can’t imagine the wealth I can bring you. And adding to it using it to sell your guns and drugs to more customers will increase those revenue streams for you, just as it did them. If you’re from several clubs in different areas and states, you can help expand the pipeline,” he added, sounding eager.

“Listen, you son of a bitch! Our clubs don’t sell drugs, guns, or people. We’re not claiming to be angels or that we never did anything wrong, but we always drew the line at selling drugs and people and hurting anyone innocent,” Dare snarled.

“Such a waste,” Thacker sighed.

“I’ve heard enough of this shit. He needs to be motivated to tell us more. We want to know details on your major investors, distributors, suppliers, and everything in between. If you refuse, hold back, or lie, we’ll know, and you’ll be the one experiencing the pain,” I warned him. He gave me a cold look, then turned his head away. It was all I needed.

Thacker played games and refused to talk. It allowed me without a second of hesitancy or regret to inflict pain. I wished Payne was here. He was a sadistic man. Not that Hulk and the rest were pussies, but Payne would bring it to a whole new level. He and I had talked about torture and more several times.

There was some beating and broken bones with Thacker. Cuts and burns quickly followed those. I flayed sections of skin off his back. This got him to talk, but I knew he was holding crucial information back. He hoped that even after he was gone, what he built would remain, or he was delusional and still thought there was a way out for him. I had news for him. It would happen over all our dead bodies.

While I worked, we got word that Grinder’s men had taken care of what remained of the Outlaws at their compound. It seemed they all got drunk and high. Someone caught the clubhouse on fire. Lit candles with no one watching them can do that. They were passed out from the drugs and alcohol they ingested. All of them died. We knew the smoke had gotten to them before the flames did, but they were gone, and so was their clubhouse. Grinder said the cops and fire department were all over it, but they’d find nothing to point the finger at any of us.

I was tired, and I wanted this man dead and the rest of his organization dismantled. But more than that, I wanted to call my woman in a few hours after she woke up and tell her that it was safe for her to come home. It was this that prompted me to finish it. Wanting to make sure he’d given us everything and to inflict final pain, I removed my baby from the bag.

My road name came about when I was a prospect, and the members learned of my fascination with medieval times, knights, duels, and more. I also appreciated their weapons, one of which was a mace. For those who had no idea what one was, I’d show them. In my collection of ancient weapons, I had one. It was really just a club with a chain attached to the handle and a heavy head. Mine was all steel from the shaft to the head. All over the head were sharp protrusions. In the days of knights, when armor was worn, a mace allowed you to injure your enemy through weak spots in their armor.

When I was patched in, they decided my road name had to be Mace. I accepted it with pride and have never regretted it since. The one thing I had never done in all the years I’d been a Pagan was use it on someone. I’d done a lot of other painful things to them, but not that. Thacker would be my first and possibly only one.

When I held it up, the murmur around the room increased. I heard a hiss of breath being drawn in. Glancing over, I saw Thacker’s gaze was glued to it. There was fear there. I smiled as I walked over to him. I gave it a swing. The air whistled around it.

“You’re a lucky man, Thacker. You’re the only one who has ever made me bring my baby out to play. However, I had to when you threatened what I love and need most, Jessamy. Confess what you’re hiding, and I’ll end it quickly. Keep lying, and I’ll use this to tear you apart.”

“No, no, please, I’ve told you everything. I don’t have anything else,” he swore.

Whirling my mace over my head as I walked behind him, I extended my arm, and it thudded into his back. His high-pitched scream rang out. The protrusions, or flanges, pierced his skin and muscles, puncturing him. I jerked it hard, causing it to tear through said skin and muscle as it came out.

I swung it four times before I paused. His head hung down, and his chin rested on his chest. He was breathing like he was running a race. I walked around in front of him. I gripped his hair and jerked his head up. He was barely conscious.

“Tell me what you’re hiding, or I’m giving you more.”

“Please, no more,” he whispered.

Frustrated with his stubbornness, I landed three more to the front side. This time, when I rested, the others had to slap him awake, and I asked again. We had to get close to hear what he said, but he gave us critical information, I thought. He talked for ten minutes and then went slack. Bones came over and checked on him. He shook his head.

“He’s gone. He’s lost a lot of blood, but I don’t think that’s what did it. His heart probably gave out.”

“A bastard like him has no heart. Okay, who’s ready to finish this off and get the hell home?” Agony asked.

There were loud catcalls of agreement. We knew that to avoid leaving anything behind, we had to destroy this house and any DNA we might have left here. That meant fire. The tunnel and cells below it needed to be filled in to ensure no one could use them. It was just our luck that the Patriots brought C-4.

While they rigged it to blow and start a fire, the rest of us did a final sweep and then got the hell out of there. It was a glorious sight when it exploded, and flames danced in the night sky. We viewed it from a distance, so we could get our asses out of there before someone else saw it and called the law. Riding back home, I couldn’t wait to call Jessamy and tell her the immediate threats were gone, and she could come home. However, I’d wait a few hours to allow her to get her sleep. Besides, we had a ride home and probably church first.