Chapter Fourteen #2
The cops stiffened. “You’re part of an MC?” Tall cop asked.
Elias nodded. “Iron Wolves. We’re under Dutch’s protection until we leave.”
They relaxed. “I see,” Short cop said. “That’s all right, then. As long as Dutch knows you’re here.”
“We’re staying on the Blackthorn Riders’ land in a cabin.”
Tall cop’s eyebrows soared. “You’re staying at the old Monroe cabin?”
“It’s the only cabin out there.”
“That’s the one. Man, that cabin is rumored to be haunted.”
“Well, we haven’t seen ghosts roaming the place, so I guess we’ll be all right,” Grant said. “But we’ll be on alert. Want us to let you know if we see a ghost?”
Both cops chuckled. “Sure. Why not?” Short cop said and set his contact card on the table between Grant and Elias. “Enjoy your time in Red Rock.” The men continued on to their table a few feet away from the Fortress operatives.
“That was interesting,” Rayne said, her voice low. “I wonder what that was about.”
“Feeling us out to see if we’re legitimate,” Elias said.
“That’s why they relaxed when you mentioned that we’re under Dutch’s protection?”
He nodded. “Visiting MCs don’t stay in another club’s territory without permission. The cops wanted to know if they should expect trouble between the two clubs soon.”
“Should they?” Iona asked.
Elias’ grim expression said it all.
“How soon?”
“In the next 24 to 48 hours.”
“Wonderful.” Rayne sighed. “More sleepless nights while we wait for the MC to take a crack at us.”
“The good news is not all the members of the MC will come. Just a select number of those who are friends with Heath or Trish.”
Iona wrinkled her nose. “I have a feeling no one is Trish’s friend.”
“We certainly aren’t.”
A group of women who looked about retirement age entered the coffee shop and greeted Megan.
“Morning, ladies.”
“We’ll have the usual, dear.” A tall, slender woman beamed at the owner.
“I’ll bring your order to your table in a couple of minutes.”
“That’s fine, dear. No rush.”
The ladies settled at a table near Iona and her friends.
As soon as they sat down, the women talked.
By the time Megan arrived with their orders, Iona knew who in Red Rock was having affairs, who was working two jobs to make ends meet, who had been laid off or fired, and who was at home sick.
This last topic was the one Iona had been hoping to overhear.
“Did you hear about Merriweather, the old farmer up on Dale Hollow Road?”
The other women leaned in closer. “No. What happened?” a woman in yellow asked.
“Well, that’s the thing. Nobody knows what happened to him.”
Yellow woman scowled. “That makes little sense. Did he fall or something? You’ve got to give us a hint.”
Tall woman leaned in. “Somebody beat him to a pulp.”
The other women gasped. “Really?” Yellow shook her head. “That’s just wrong. Who would beat up an old man like that?”
Who, indeed? Iona waited for the women to come to the obvious conclusion that an MC was in the area. Everybody knew those MCs were full of dangerous criminals who wouldn’t think twice about sinking low enough to beat Merriweather.
A woman in a blue sweater said, “Oh, you know who is responsible.”
Yellow looked confused. “But I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.”
Blue leaned in closer. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Who else would be mean enough to do something so heinous to an old man?”
Iona hid her smile with her hand. Heinous? Although the topic was serious, Blue’s word choice amused her. A glance at her teammates almost sent her into fits of laughter. Their eyes twinkled and their lips twitched.
She picked up her coffee mug and sipped her drink to keep from giving in to the laughter. Wouldn’t do for the locals to realize they were eavesdropping on the conversation.
Tall sipped her tea. “You might as well tell her. She’ll keep after you until you do.”
“Why, it’s one of those troublemakers. That motorcycle gang. I don’t remember what they call themselves. But anybody with common sense knows it’s them. Rumors fly all the time about them instigating criminal activities. They’re a bunch of reprobates.”
Yellow gasped. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I am. They’re as dirty as my old scarecrow in the garden. I wouldn’t put it past them to murder us in our sleep if we gave them a reason to do it.”
“But what would they want with Merriweather? He’s practically a hermit up there. Why, I don’t think I’ve seen him in months. What could he possibly have done to make the motorcycle people angry with him?”
“Well, you know what they say about the head of the gang, right?”
“No, what?”
“Why, that you don’t tell him no. If you do, you might not live to see tomorrow. If you ask me, I think Merriweather is lucky. Instead of recovering from a beating, he could be six feet in the ground!”
After that statement, the ladies shifted topics to the craft guild’s sale set to take place in another week.
Elias picked up Iona’s trash and added it to his, then stood. “I think we got what we came for,” he whispered. “We should go before we attract unwanted attention.”
The other operatives policed their trash and followed Elias from the coffee shop.
Grant nudged Elias. “Did you feel eyes on you leaving the shop?”
“The cops. Can’t blame them. You know they were listening to the ladies’ gossip. We’re the unknowns in the area, and they’d love to place the blame on someone other than the people who live around here.”
“They’re watching us,” Rayne said as she climbed into the truck. “We should be careful about the traffic laws on the way back to the cabin. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had their buddies waiting for us, looking for an excuse to pull us over.”
“She’s right.” Grant shut the door behind her. “The locals want an excuse to look us over.”
“Let’s get out of here before they come up with something.” Iona climbed into the truck and reached over to help Elias with his seatbelt before buckling her own.
Grant climbed behind the wheel and cranked the truck. He turned to look at Elias. “One more check?”
He nodded. “Although I didn’t hear a motorcycle nearby when we were in the coffee shop, one of the MC members could have parked a distance away and walked to the lot.”
Grant pulled out his electronic signal detector and opened his door. “I’ll check outside. You check in here.”
Grant hopped out and circled the truck with his gaze locked on the black gadget on his palm, while Elias checked the interior of the truck for a listening device or a GPS tracker.
“Anything?” Iona asked Elias when he finished.
“Nope. We’re clear.”
Grant returned seconds later and returned to the driver’s seat. “No tracker.”
“They’re determined to know where we’re going,” Rayne said.
“They want to know what we’re up to. Can’t blame them.” He put the truck in gear and backed out of the slot. “We would have been more curious about strangers in our town than these guys have been.”
Throughout the journey back to the compound, the operatives remained alert. Iona felt like her head was on a swivel. She constantly shifted from one view to another, expecting an ambush that never came.
When they parked in front of the cabin, Grant turned off the engine. “What do you think, Elias?”
“Something is brewing in the background. I’m just waiting for it to ignite.”
Iona flinched. “Way to jinx the night.”
After they arrived at the cabin, Iona, Elias, Grant, and Rayne joined the other Fortress operatives in the dining room.
“Do you want lunch?” Violet asked. “We made grilled cheese sandwiches.”
Elias grimaced. “Sounds good, but I couldn’t eat a bite.”
The medic’s eyes narrowed. “Are you hurting?”
“Yeah, but that’s not why I want nothing to eat. We ate enough scones to sink a battleship at the coffee shop.”
Andre rolled his eyes. “Real hardship, that.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew how much food we ate.” Grant rubbed his stomach. “Although those scones were amazing, I don’t want to see another one, let alone eat one, for a long time.”
“Never thought I would hear that come out of your mouth.” Noah shook his head. “Who are you, and what have you done with the real Grant?”
Grant scowled as his friends laughed. “Ha ha. Look, we might have a real problem here.”
The others sobered. “What do you mean?” Seth asked. “Did anything happen while you were in Red Rock?”
“First, we ran into a couple of nosy cops. Wouldn’t surprise me to find out that they ran our plates the minute we left the coffee shop. Second, a group of gossipy ladies also ended up in the coffee shop at the same time we were there.”
“Something came of the gossipy ladies.”
Grant nodded. “A hermit farmer who lives on Dale Hollow Road apparently ran into someone’s fists multiple times. The ladies described him as beaten to a pulp.”
Elias picked up the story. “The nosy cops stopped by our table to check our weapon permits and our knuckles.”
“They must have been satisfied because you’re not in jail.”
“For now.”
Seth shifted his attention to Elias. “What do I need to know?”
“Chances are high that one group involved in this sale will try to eliminate us tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“As much as I can be. Someone bugged and tracked our SUV into Red Rock. We stripped the truck of all unwanted electronics before we returned here, but it doesn’t take a genius to know where we were going.”
“Does your famous gut tell you which group is going to strike first?”
“I wish. My gut is not that helpful.”
“Some warning is better than none. You and the others should eat something more substantial than scones. When you finish, we’ll look into Farmer Merriweather before you take a field trip.”
Elias nodded, although Iona knew he would rather not involve his friends further. Not an option, though. Echo unit had each other’s backs in good and bad situations. His teammates wouldn’t allow him to question the farmer alone. Friends. What could you do?
He rested his hand on Iona’s lower back and guided her toward the kitchen. “We’ll be back.”
“Will you be able to eat?”
“I’ll manage.”